By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) While the Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival has ended this year’s presentations and its famed Scholars Conference, serious study of the playwright’s early work abounds in Outraged Hearts, the production being helmed by The Fire Weeds, a new, female-centric production company in New Orleans. The two […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) New Orleans audiences have long been enamored of local comedy genius Ricky Graham, but thanks to the regional premiere of The Prom, they are now becoming acquainted with the fictional character of Barry Glickman, a narcissistic Broadway leading man who Graham plays to his heart’s delight. But […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) The latest production of Jesus Christ Superstar bowed this weekend, presented by the Jefferson Performing Arts Society (JPAS) at the Jefferson Performing Arts Center on Airline Drive in Metairie and there is a lot to like about it including a brilliant final scene intended to suggest the […]
By ALEX MILLER In the Algonquin Room of the Placid Pines Senior Care Center, a small group of New Yorkers gather to chat, drink coffee or juice and tell the same old stories. On one side of the room is an aquarium, the inhabitants of which mirror those on the other side of the glass: […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) With a subtitle – The Carole King Musical – it’s easy to conceive that Beautiful is a musical that only concerns the life of legendary songwriter Carole King and ancillary figures in her life. In fact, the story is largely about two competing songwriting couples: composer Carole […]
By ROY BERKO Northwestern grad, Selina Fillinger, was the first Judith Barlow Prize winner, an annual student award given to work inspired by a historic female playwright. “In 2019, her play Something Clean received the Laurents/Hatcher Award.” “Her play POTUS: or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying To Keep Him Alive, premiered on […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) The producers from the Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans had already planned for a major opening night on March 8 at Marquette Theatre on the Loyola University campus. But what they could not have been prepared for was an afternoon tornado warning, torrential downpours and […]
By LOU HARRY There are Broadway shows that seem destined for long lives after the New York production folds. I’m willing to bet, for instance, that we will be seeing productions as wide ranging as Come From Away, Monty Python’s “Spamalot” and Into the Woods for a long, long time. There are others, however, that […]
By ALAN SMASON Biting satire must be carefully presented. If it doesn’t go far enough, it can come across as insincere and tepid, but if it goes too far, it can be considered as inappropriate and insensitive. George C. Wolfe’s The Colored Museum was first produced in 1986 as a study of the Black experience […]
By AARON KRAUSE “We don’t need you to tell us about (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion). We live it,” the title character says in Christopher Demos-Brown’s riveting and vital play, The Cancellation of Lauren Fein. Indeed, you would think Fein would fully embrace Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies. After all, the brilliant Biology professor is female, […]