By ANNE SIEGEL MILWAUKEE, WI – Although it’s not “official,” playwright Bill Cain and Milwaukee’s Next Act Theatre seem to be having a love affair or, at least, a mutual admiration society. Next Act already has presented three of Cain’s plays in recent years: Equivocation (2018), How to Write a New Book for the Bible […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) It’s taken 25 years for Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman to birth their baby, but Harmony: A New Musical, with direction and choreography by Warren Carlyle, is proof of the time-worn adage, “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” This time, the Off-Broadway production presented […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) The debate over mainstreaming children of special needs has raged in this country for many years with advocates on both sides making their cases. Is it advantageous to make special needs children feel inclusive and not at all different by having them work side by side with […]
By ALAN SMASON If, as the adage says, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then satire must be the epitome of adoration. Two one-act plays by famed playwright Christopher Durang and another by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa have served to turn the tables for longtime fans of Tennessee Williams, accustomed as they are to themes of […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) It’s taken more than two years to finally open the revival of Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite at the Hudson Theatre, a show that was preparing to begin previews in 2020 when the pandemic set in and closed Broadway until recent times. With real-life married stars Sarah Jessica Parker […]
By ANNE SIEGEL MILWAUKEE, WI – The Tony-nominated play Indecent, written by noted playwright Paula Vogel, comes vividly to life in this part of the Midwest. Thankfully, Milwaukee has a perfect space for it: the Cabot Theatre, a recreation of Europe’s old-style “jewel box” theaters. Both grand and gloriously decorated, the theater was created by a […]
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 ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) When Rivertown Theaters for the Performing Arts announced two years they were mounting The Drowsy Chaperone, there were smiles on many musical theatre lovers’ faces. The reason was their previous 2011 endeavor: a joint production with Rivertown’s own artistic producers Theatre 13 – Kelly Fouchi and Gary […]
By ROY BERKO The film “Pretty Woman,” with its signature Roy Orbison song, was originally planned to be a tale about class and prostitution, but was re-conceived into a romantic comedy and opened to both critical and audience delight. Starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, it still gets a considerable audience when it is shown […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) There are times when resetting a classic work in an updated time or alternative setting makes sense to breathe new life into staid works or to give them a new perspective. Take, for instance, Jonathan Miller’s 1982 production of the English National Opera’s Rigoletto. He famously moved the 16th […]