By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) When Lin-Manuel Miranda was 17, he was exposed to the musical Rent for the first time and he became attuned to the original contemporary music and diverse casting demanded by Jonathan Larson, the show’s creative genius. That inspiration and connection to writing for theatre was reinforced when […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) When Rivertown Theaters for the Performing Arts announced two years they were mounting The Drowsy Chaperone, there were smiles on many musical theatre lovers’ faces. The reason was their previous 2011 endeavor: a joint production with Rivertown’s own artistic producers Theatre 13 – Kelly Fouchi and Gary […]
By ROY BERKO The film “Pretty Woman,” with its signature Roy Orbison song, was originally planned to be a tale about class and prostitution, but was re-conceived into a romantic comedy and opened to both critical and audience delight. Starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, it still gets a considerable audience when it is shown […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) There are times when resetting a classic work in an updated time or alternative setting makes sense to breathe new life into staid works or to give them a new perspective. Take, for instance, Jonathan Miller’s 1982 production of the English National Opera’s Rigoletto. He famously moved the 16th […]