By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) There was a time when Tallulah Bankhead was as well known a celebrity as any who dominate the social media channels of our own time. She was the wild child of her generation, beloved as an icon of stage and screen, who hung out at the Algonquin…
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) Following the record setting production of The Producers, Mel Brooks set his sight on bringing another of his film classics from the silver screen to the stage. That film was “Young Frankenstein,” co-written with Brooks and his star Gene Wilder, who first proposed the idea to Brooks….
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) It’s taken 16 years since it first bowed at the Public Theatre and 15 years after it became a Broadway smash, but In the Heights has finally arrived, making its regional New Orleans theatre premiere. The first Lin-Manuel Miranda musical to win a Tony Award for Best Musical, In…
By ALAN SMASON Most lovers of literature will consider Ira Levin for his best-selling novels “Rosemary’s Baby” “The Stepford Wives,” “A Kiss Before Dying,” and “The Boys from Brazil,” all of which were transformed into successful films. But theatre lovers will almost always think of his well-crafted stage works and paramount among them is Deathtrap, which…
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) With its most recent production of God of Carnage, the Jefferson Performing Arts Society has taken the wraps off Yasmina Reza’s controversial work first seen here at Southern Rep in 2011, less than five years after its original premiere in French in December of 2006. This production…
By ALAN SMASON For her first one-woman show in several years, Dorian Rush has opted to mount a most unusual presentation with producers Jonathan Mares Productions and the Jefferson Performing Arts Society. It’s all about the blues, but viewed strictly from the distaff side – 100 Years of Women in Blues. Supported by pianist and…
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) If anyone questioned whether Shelbie Mac is the greatest young talent to come down the pike since the late Cynthia Owen, all doubts have been erased with her starring role in Peter Pan, currently playing the boards at the Jefferson Performing Arts Center on Airline Drive. Mac, who…
