By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) When the season announcement was made last year that Jefferson Performing Arts (JPA) would be producing Billy Elliot: The Musical for its final 2025 show, there was some hope expressed that the local market might be able to yield a capable actor to tackle the title role. […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) Throughout his life, Tennessee Williams knew tragedy. Whether through his sister Rose’s struggle with mental health or the loss of his lovers Bernard Dubowsky (aka Kip Kernan) and Frank Merlo, Williams knew the sting of loss and hopelessness. But as a very young man, he was unacquainted […]
By SCOTTY BENNETT There are times in a person’s life when the only rational response to the pressures of daily living is to escape into a different reality. Drugs and alcohol are often the doorways to the alternate realm. Still, sometimes, the mind of the escapee creates, in whole cloth, a new place within the […]
By SCOTTY BENNETT In the moments between daylight and evening, there is a time when it is neither day nor night. It is a time of transition, a liminal state between now and then, a twilight zone between what is here and nowhere. Welcome to Nowhere, a town somewhere in the Great Smoky Mountains of […]
By ROY BERKO A juke box musical consists of pre-existing songs which are melded into a script to tell a story. The songs, in contrast to lyrics and music, which are specifically integrated into a traditional musical’s story, don’t always smoothly transition into the juke box tale. The songs can be by one specific artist or […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) The Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Princess and the Pea” is the basis for Once Upon a Mattress, the 1959 musical that launched the Broadway career of Carol Burnett as Princess Winifred – “Fred” for short – the Wobegone. A 1996 production starring Sarah Jessica Parker […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out”) Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carré has removed any doubt about whether it could creatively pull off the first local production of Jersey Boys. In fact, the talented directing team of artistic director A. J. Allegra and choreographer and co-director Jauné Buisson have produced a very satisfying […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) It’s hard to believe, but until three years ago there had never been a revival of Funny Girl on Broadway. The starring vehicle in 1964 that turned New York phenom Barbra Streisand into a nationally known recording artist and a soon-to-be cinema star was deemed too iconic […]
By SCOTTY BENNETT One of the fascinating things about humans is how easily they mask intense feelings in a cloak of smiles and good humor. Pain, both physical and emotional, can be disguised but not completely hidden from the discerning eye. It sometimes emerges as an edgy joke or sarcastic observation. Regardless of how glimpses […]
By ELIZABETH SCHABINGER The Bedwetter, based on Sarah Silverman’s memoir of the same name, is an intimate look at Silverman’s year as a 10-year-old. In The Bedwetter, Sarah is a fifth grader in a new town with newly-divorced parents, a filthy mouth (thanks, dad!), and nocturnal enuresis. We follow a year in the life of […]