By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick, the two brothers who conceived Something Rotten! and more recently wrote the music and lyrics for the musical Mrs. Doubtfire (Karey also wrote that book), probably have a tinge of pride that Something Rotten! – a sendup of Broadway musicals improbably set in […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt: A Parable is a brilliant indictment of organized religion and the negativity attached to innuendo and gossip. While it finds root in the Catholic Church of Shanley’s own youth, the damage to reputation and the stain on the lives of the accused could […]
By ROY BERKO Hispanic theatre is noted for its’ fictional-based literature that normally has six elements: character, plot, point of view, setting, style and theme. These are often encased in a melodramatic storyline with major family dysfunction. José Cruz González’s Under a Baseball Sky, now in production at Beck Center for the Arts, well fits […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) When the season announcement was made last year that Jefferson Performing Arts (JPA) would be producing Billy Elliot: The Musical for its final 2025 show, there was some hope expressed that the local market might be able to yield a capable actor to tackle the title role. […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) Throughout his life, Tennessee Williams knew tragedy. Whether through his sister Rose’s struggle with mental health or the loss of his lovers Bernard Dubowsky (aka Kip Kernan) and Frank Merlo, Williams knew the sting of loss and hopelessness. But as a very young man, he was unacquainted […]
By ROY BERKO A juke box musical consists of pre-existing songs which are melded into a script to tell a story. The songs, in contrast to lyrics and music, which are specifically integrated into a traditional musical’s story, don’t always smoothly transition into the juke box tale. The songs can be by one specific artist or […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) The Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Princess and the Pea” is the basis for Once Upon a Mattress, the 1959 musical that launched the Broadway career of Carol Burnett as Princess Winifred – “Fred” for short – the Wobegone. A 1996 production starring Sarah Jessica Parker […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out”) Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carré has removed any doubt about whether it could creatively pull off the first local production of Jersey Boys. In fact, the talented directing team of artistic director A. J. Allegra and choreographer and co-director Jauné Buisson have produced a very satisfying […]
By ELIZABETH SCHABINGER The Bedwetter, based on Sarah Silverman’s memoir of the same name, is an intimate look at Silverman’s year as a 10-year-old. In The Bedwetter, Sarah is a fifth grader in a new town with newly-divorced parents, a filthy mouth (thanks, dad!), and nocturnal enuresis. We follow a year in the life of […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) Sam Shepard’s powerful play about the toxic relationship between two brothers – True West – is back at the Jefferson Performing Arts’ Westwego Theater for the Performing Arts. The two-act dark comedy celebrates its 45-year anniversary this year, first introduced off-Broadway in 1980 and, two decades later, […]