By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) When Lin-Manuel Miranda was 17, he was exposed to the musical Rent for the first time and he became attuned to the original contemporary music and diverse casting demanded by Jonathan Larson, the show’s creative genius. That inspiration and connection to writing for theatre was reinforced when […]
By JACK LYONS, Desert Local News Agatha Christie was the queen of the murder mystery genre hands down. The transfer of her novels to the stage and for viewers of the film medium only increased her fans and followers. She was the most popular author in history, second only to the Bible. However, after seven decades […]
By JACK LYONS It is said that with age comes wisdom. It is also said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The eyes of today’s beholders are currently in love with “West Side Story”, master filmmaker Steven Spielberg’s brilliant revival and updating of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” from 16th century Italy to […]
By JACK LYONS When it comes to original stories made into movies and TV films about the subject of love and marriage, one would be hard pressed to ignore the angst-filled dramas of the great Swedish filmmaker and writer-director Ingmar Bergman. Bergman brought to the screen his series of reality-based films about the lives of […]
By ANNE SIEGEL (Ashland, OREGON) – Water by the Spoonful is perhaps even more relevant today than when it was staged at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2014. The play initially appeared at the complex’s intimate Thomas Theatre, under the smart direction of Shishir Kurup. It was filmed in front of a live audience. Written […]
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By AARON KRAUSE A story that is ripe with rich, raw, and real emotion is often a tale worth musicalizing. Certainly, Frank McCourt’s award-winning memoir, “Angela’s Ashes,” is a work that fits into that category. Fortunately, composer/lyricist Adam Howell, and librettist Paul Hurt saw the musical possibilities in McCourt’s self-described “epic of woe,” a best-seller […]
By AARON KRAUSE “Hello Broadway. Gee, you’re good to see. You look good to me,” theatrical legend George M. Cohan sings. Well, George, you sure do look and sound spry yourself, considering that you’ve been dead almost 80 years. And it’s great to see you, too…especially now, as we anticipate a return to live, in-person […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) Rob Ulin must be a very happy man. He obviously has been saying his prayers and living a proper and pious life. That must be the case because his play Judgment Day recently enjoyed a filmed reading as a benefit for the Barrington Stage Company recently and three […]
By JACK LYONS It’s amazing what the human mind can understand and accomplish when it comes to the world of theatre and its sister art form the motion picture. Both are potent art forms that appeal to audiences worldwide. Creative arts practitioners of today however, are still traditionally bonded to the western culture of the Greek […]
By AARON KRAUSE All Denitra Morgan wants is for her daughter, Noelle, to remain at the high school that she feels will provide the best possible education. But to the Black, working class, single mother, her goal must seem as far-fetched as school integration before the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown vs Board of Education […]