By ROY BERKO Theater history books refer to The Black Crook, which opened in 1866 in New York, as the first musical. However, according to Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick, the conceivers of Something Rotten!, now on stage at Beck Center for the Arts, that honor should go to Omelette. Never heard of Omelette? Unless you’ve seen the hysterically funny […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) One of the funniest comedies of the big screen of 1983 was “Trading Places,” Eddie Murphy’s sophomore vehicle in which he starred opposite fellow “Saturday Night Live” alum Dan Akroyd. Borrowed in part from Mark Twain’s “The Prince and the Pauper,” the premise was simple enough. One […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) SCROLL DOWN SCROLL DOWN MORE KEEP SCROLLING This is what theatre criticism looks like when theatre critics are […]
By JACK LYONS, Special to Theatrecriticism.com With a film title like “The Jewish Jail Lady and the Holy Thief,” how could one not be intrigued? This film documentary digs deep into the telling of the true life story, warts and all, of two remarkable outlier individuals in today’s judgmental, divisive, complicated and troubled driven world, […]
By ROY BERKO What do Rogers and Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, Frank Loesser and Cole Porter all have in common? Yes, they are all composers of American musicals, but they are also just some of those who attempted, and failed, to make George Bernard Shaw’s classical Pygamlion into a musical. At one point, Shaw had given permission […]
Between the years 1848 and 1851 over four thousand Irish females took passage on ships from Ireland to Australia under the Orphan Emigration Scheme, established by Earl Grey. This action had the effect of relieving many of the workhouses and poorhouses of Ireland (already full to the brim with people seeking respite from the ravages […]
By ANNE SIEGEL (MILWAUKEE, WI.) – The most surprising thing about Get Happy: Angela Ingersoll Sings Judy Garland is that the Milwaukee Repertory Theater has taken so long to bring this show to town. The Rep has the perfect venue for this show: the intimate Stackner Cabaret, with its nightclub-style atmosphere that has audiences sitting […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out”) It seems children’s writer Roald Dahl and his dark prose will never go out of fashion. More than 30 years after his death, the genius behind tales about an improbable flying car, a wondrous chocolate factory and a giant traveling peach continues to score success with children […]
By ALAN SMASON Most lovers of literature will consider Ira Levin for his best-selling novels “Rosemary’s Baby” “The Stepford Wives,” “A Kiss Before Dying,” and “The Boys from Brazil,” all of which were transformed into successful films. But theatre lovers will almost always think of his well-crafted stage works and paramount among them is Deathtrap, which […]
By JACK LYONS, Desert Local News (PALM SPRINGS, CA.) – As the early scenes of playwright Karen Zacarias’ 2019 comedy play-with-a-bite unfolds, one would think “I’ve seen this play /story before.” But, you would be incorrect. More precisely, we’ve all seen productions of the subject matter in Native Gardens. However, playwright Zacarias brings a new […]