By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) No one can ever claim that Michael McKelvey is an underachiever. Following his triumph at the Jefferson Performing Arts Society’s massive production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the artistic director at Summer Lyric Theatre at Tulane returns to JPAS with a fresh and lively holiday production […]
By ALAN SMASON New Orleanians need little excuse to have a party. They can do so at the drop of a hat and frequently do. But as quick as they celebrate Mardi Gras and revel with October’s Halloween, there is little to connect them with a modern celebration of Christmas. That is until now. Leslie […]
By AARON KRAUSE BOCA RATON, FL. — A director mounting an evergreen such as Annie doesn’t have to dig deep to unearth modern relevance. After all, the beloved musical theater classic contains practically every ingredient necessary to keep an audience emotionally invested. And in The Wick Theatre’s current funny, sunny and touching production, director Norb Joerder and […]
By AARON KRAUSE WILTON MANORS, FL. — If Alex More were a real-life struggling actor, you probably wouldn’t want to roll up his sleeves if you cannot stand the sight of injuries. Surely, those limbs would sport huge red marks, or even bruises. After all, if you were More, how could you not want pinches to ensure […]
By AARON KRAUSE CORAL GABLES, Fla. — If you wanted to write a truly satiric, but apropos commercial for Joshua Harmon’s unapologetically satiric, scorching play, Admissions, the advertisement might read something like the following: This is affirmative action and white, privileged, albeit liberal guilt on illegal drugs, alcohol as well as prescription drugs…all swallowed together. Then, […]
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 […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) When we last viewed Torvald and Nora Helmer in Henrik Ibsen’s immortal play A Doll’s House, Nora had made an irreconcilable decision. Simply put, she wanted more from life than being a wife and mother. Her purpose was to become “a human being” and not be defined by […]
By AARON KRAUSE MIAMI, Fla. — Up is down and right is wrong. It’s a phrase that could describe today’s topsy-turvy world. But in playwright Michael McKeever’s bold and imaginative re-thinking of Dracula, Bram Stoker’s 1897 Gothic horror novel, the phrase describes a quite favorable world. That is, if you’re progressive and care about causes such as equality. […]
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 […]