Neal Weaver – Stage Raw Elect-a-Fest is a two-evening festival of new one-act plays, presented by the Eclectic Theatre Company. Program A includes 7 assorted short works. The plays range from the mildly interesting to the actively annoying, and the direction seldom does much to remedy the literary shortcomings. But the actors can’t be blamed … Read more
Terry Morgan – Stage Raw There have always been political takes of Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. Some have described it as a condemnation of the idle aristocracy, a precursor to the Russian Revolution. Others saw it as a kind farewell to a vanishing class that is being supplanted by rapacious businessmen who only find beauty … Read more
Pauline Adamek – Stage Raw In Hope Juber and Jeff Doucette’s tepid comedy, a motley crew of wanna-be actors, writers and comedians gather weekly at Sam’s Improv Workshop to develop their performance skills. The class is populated by the usual stereotypes and we soon get to know a bit of each of their backstories. Read more… … Read more
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw When the TV sitcom took over much of the space formerly occupied by traditional farce, there were fewer and fewer practitioners of this notoriously difficult genre. Michael Frayn’s Noises Off and Peter Shaffer’s Black Comedy scored notable successes. Read more…
Myron Meisel – The Hollywood Reporter The last of Neil Simon’s trilogy of quasi-autobiographical accounts of his coming-of-age years in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn, Broadway Bound stands among his plays as perhaps the most free from easy nostalgia, and therefore the most honest. In this sturdy 1986 drama, the requisite comedy arrives more or less … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw A playwright and a well-regarded translator and adapter of Moliere’s work, Freyda Thomas found inspiration for her The Gamester in Le Joueur, a late 17th century play by Jean-Francois Regnard. Read more… Now playing through August 24.
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw Is it sexual abuse when one of the participants experienced it as a love affair? Or does that merely make it more abusive? This is just one of the disturbing and provocative questions that emerge from Neil LaBute’s gripping three-character play. It is, as the playwright has observed, his most … Read more
Terry Morgan – Stage Raw The current production of Tennessee Williams’s classic A Streetcar Named Desire by The Group Rep at the Lonny Chapman Theatre is a pleasant surprise, a robust take on the material that features a strong ensemble, an outstanding Blanche, and smart direction that brings the material to vibrant life. Read more… Now playing through … Read more
Steven Leigh Morris – Stage Raw That David Melville should bring La Dolce Vita into his family-friendly outdoor staging of Shakespeare’s knotty Italian comedy makes sense. Italian comedies of the 1960s are no less dodgy, regarding their sexual politics, than the amused brutality towards a defiant spouse found in Taming of the Shrew’s central story. Independent-minded, embittered Katherine (Melissa … Read more
Terry Morgan – Stage Raw In addition to the two-show schedule Rogue Machine generally runs, the company also does things such as their late-night “Off The Clock” productions. Daphne Malfitano’s Paternus is the latest entry in this series, and while it’s enjoyable for its strong acting and some good writing, its structure is flawed and it’s too … Read more