By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) Louis Armstrong has been one of the most thoroughly researched, yet still largely unknown figures. Part of the problem is that the lens of history has been deliberately clouded and that much of his life’s story was glamorized and rewritten by no less a raconteur than Armstrong himself. […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out”) October 6 will be the 20th anniversary of the kidnapping, torture and beating of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming. Shepard, a student at the nearby University of Wyoming, was targeted as a victim for aggression and violence because he was outwardly gay. Discovered tied to a remote […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) Meredith Wilson’s immortal The Music Man has been playing for the past two weeks at the Rivertown Theaters for the Performing Arts in Kenner, but unlike the signature song from Act One (“Ya Got Trouble”), this specific production has run without much of a hitch. It didn’t […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) For the past three weeks Rainbow Carnage Productions has been presenting Hedwig and the Angry Inch on the stage at Café Istanbul. With a simple, but effective set and direction by Kimberly Kaye, this is the third professional production of the John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask […]
By AARON KRAUSE LAUDERHILL, FL. — “…So hold this moment fast…and make this moment last.” Surely, these lyrics from La Cage Aux Folles are apropos for Stage Door Theatre’s great production of the beloved Harvey Fierstein-Jerry Herman musical, based on a French play. Unquestionably, we want to hold each moment fast and make each moment […]
By AARON KRAUSE MIAMI LAKES — Five Women Wearing the Same Dress may not be the most original play in the feminist/female power/sisterhood genre. But if you’re a woman who feels limited due to society’s expectations of females, this Alan Ball piece will embolden you and make you laugh frequently. One might think of Ball’s character-driven, ensemble […]
By EDWARD RUBIN Edgar Rice Burroughs’ fictional character Tarzan was a cultural sensation when it first appeared on the scene more than a century ago in 1912. Published first in serial form, the popular character leaped from magazines into “Tarzan of the Apes,” the first of many popular novels. A big hit with the public, […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) One of the most misquoted of Shakespeare’s lines is “Heavy is the head that wears the crown.” The actual line from Henry IV, Part Two is “uneasy lies the head that wears the crown,” but in the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival’s latest production of the Scottish play, […]
By AARON KRAUSE CORAL GABLES, FL. — Our desire for affirmation that others value us is sometimes as strong as our hydration needs on a sweltering day. Playwright Halley Feiffer illustrates this with penetrating insight in I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard. But praying may not be enough when others reject us. Such rejection […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) The current production of My Fair Lady at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Center garnered both plaudits and boos from those familiar with the original work because of several changes made to embolden the downtrodden character of Eliza Doolittle. The producers got special permission from the […]