By ROY BERKO Jeanine Tesori (music) and David Lindsay-Abaire (books and lyrics) developed the creative Shrek: The Musical from DreamWorks Animation’s film and William Steig’s book of the same name. The script, which tells the tale of Shrek, who on his seventh birthday is sent out by his parents into the “Big Bright Beautiful World,” […]
By ROY BERKO Susan Hill, author of the book “The Woman in Black,” the source of the play of the same name now being staged at the Cleveland Play House (CPH), relates: “The Suffolk coast. Winter. The early Seventies. Behind the path giving onto the shingle beach and the North Sea, are marshes, mysterious places […]
By ROY BERKO God, or a facsimile thereof, in the form of Mike Polk Jr., who in his other life is a local comedian and Fox 8 personality, is appearing on the Beck Center for the Arts stage, in a mock spiritual conversation with his audience. The script, which was written by David Javerbaum, and […]
By ROY BERKO Kenneth Jones, the author of Alabama Story, now on stage at Ensemble Theatre in its Ohio premiere, stated in an interview, “In May 2000, while reading the New York Times, I came across the story of Emily Wheelock Reed, the former State Librarian of Alabama who had been challenged by a segregationist […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) There is a point in the resolution of Garson Kanin’s Born Yesterday when the character of Paul Verrall blurts out “I know you. I’ve seen your kind down here for years. What the hell do you guys want, anyway? You’ve got all the oil and all the lumber […]
By AARON KRAUSE SPRING GREEN, Wisconsin — It’s tucked away amid 110 acres of hilly woods and meadows near this town of about 1,600 in southwest Wisconsin. Indeed, you could easily miss it if you’re not on the lookout for the sign. It points a patron in the direction of the renowned destination. But there’s no […]
By ANNE SIEGEL American Players Theatre, located in rural Spring Green, Wisconsin, has added Ionesco’s rarely-performed 1962 absurdist comedy, Exit the King, to its current line-up. Playing alongside a half-dozen other shows (that focus on Restoration humor and follies, Shakespeare’s timeless themes and a hilarious rendition of Garson Kanin’s Born Yesterday), Exit the King may […]
By LOU HARRY After operating from a converted church for decades, Indiana’s most prominent professional producer of contemporary work, the Phoenix Theatre, opened its new two-stage space with Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. While the choice doesn’t exactly fit the Phoenix’s rep for presenting new work (the musical first saw […]
By ROY BERKO George Bernard Shaw’s views on religion may be summarized by his statement, “People believe anything that amuses them, gratifies them, or promises some sort of profit.” He showcased his anti-organized religion and doubt of God in his The Adventures of a Black Girl in Her Search for God,” a novella he wrote […]
By ROY BERKO Stephen Karam is one of a new breed of contemporary American playwrights. His The Humans, the Tony Award-winning Best Play of 2016 (and a Pulitzer Prize finalist) is now on stage at the Connor Palace Theatre. The young Lebanese-Irish-American writes plays about the human experience that should not be as funny as they […]