Luna GaleRebecca GilmanAurora Theatre CompanyJamie Jones, Devin S. O'Brien & Alix CuadraOn any given day in the U.S., over 400,000 kids are living in foster care environments, with at least a quarter of those placed by the courts with blood relatives in what is classified as kinship care. Social workers are assigned to each of those children to ensure where they live … [Read more...] about “Luna Gale”
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“The Hunchback of Notre Dame”
The Hunchback of Notre DameAlan Menken (Music); Stephen Schwartz (Lyrics); Peter Parnell (Book)Hillbarn Theatre Randy O'Hara (Quasimodo) & the Gargoyles Based on the 1831 novel by Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame as a stage musical retains the songs of the 1996 Disney film while keeping more of the darker, more serious elements of the novel than does the … [Read more...] about “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”
“Day 6, Shows 14-16: TheatreEddys Goes to the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival”
“Day 6: Shows 14-15, TheatreEddys Goes to the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival”Mies JulieYael FarberBaxter TheatreAssemblyThe love of another versus the love of land. Honoring roots of one’s past versus living the promise for one’s future. The leftover familiarities of colonialism versus the still unknowns of freedom. And of course, white versus black.These are … [Read more...] about “Day 6, Shows 14-16: TheatreEddys Goes to the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival”
“Day 5, Shows 13 & 14: TheatreEddys Goes to the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival”
“Day 5, Shows 13 & 14: TheatreEddys Goes to the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival”The Divide, Part 1Alan AyckbournOld Vic, Edinburgh International Festival & Karl Sydow ProductionKing TheatreThe year is 2201, and we are all gathered in a large lecture hall for “The Divide Lectures,” delivered by two professors — a man decked out in all white and a woman in all black — who … [Read more...] about “Day 5, Shows 13 & 14: TheatreEddys Goes to the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival”
“Day 3: Shows 6-9: TheatreEddys Goes to the 2017 Fringe Festival”
“Day 3 Shows 5-8: TheatreEddys at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival”Not about HeroesStephen MacDonaldFlying BridgePleasance What force drives a man who is an avid anti-war advocate in his poetry and personal stance to go back into a war he absolutely no longer believes is legitimate? Further, how could this possibly happen to two poets, two men who have developed a … [Read more...] about “Day 3: Shows 6-9: TheatreEddys Goes to the 2017 Fringe Festival”
“Day 2, Shows 2-4: TheatreEddys Goes to the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival”
“Day 2, Shows 2-4: TheatreEddys at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival”Atlantic:America & the Great WarRyan Bernsten & Desiree Staples (Writers); Christopher Anselmo (Composer)The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with the American Theatre Project, Northwestern UniversityAssemblyWith wave after wave of gloriously intertwined harmonies sweeping from the stage, the sixteen … [Read more...] about “Day 2, Shows 2-4: TheatreEddys Goes to the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival”
“La Cage aux Folles”
La Cage aux FollesHarvey Fierstein (Book); Jerry Herman (Music & Lyrics)San Francisco PlayhouseThe tempo of the overture’s tunes — familiar in music and long-memorized in words for many in the audience — quickens in direct proportion to the packed theatre’s palpable rise in energy level and anticipation. In a tease to an audience who to a person already knows where … [Read more...] about “La Cage aux Folles”
“The Four Immigrants: An American Musical Manga”
The Four Immigrants: An American Musical MangaMin Kahng (Book, Music & Lyrics)Based on Manga Yonin Shosei by Henry Yoshitaka KiyamaTheatreWorks Silicon Valley The Cast of The Four ImmigrantsThe story of immigrants arriving on the shores of the Golden State is told with songs that often sound as all-American as “Yankee Doodle” – songs with notes of jazz, … [Read more...] about “The Four Immigrants: An American Musical Manga”
“Henry IV, Parts One and Two”: Day 8, Plays 9 & 10, OSF Ashland 2017
Henry IV: Parts One and TwoWilliam ShakespeareOregon Shakespeare FestivalOregon Shakespeare Festival this season offers the rare opportunity to see what one might call William Shakespeare’s ‘Falstaff Triad.’ Along with The Merry Wives of Windsor, the third in the so-called Falstaff sequence, Henry IV, Part One and Henry IV, Part Two document parallel journeys of the … [Read more...] about “Henry IV, Parts One and Two”: Day 8, Plays 9 & 10, OSF Ashland 2017
“The Drowsy Chaperone”: Day 7, Play 8, Theatre Eddys at OSF Ashland 2017
The Drowsy ChaperoneLisa Lambert & Greg Morrison (Music & Lyrics); Bob Martin & Don McKellar (Book)Oregon Cabaret TheatreFrom the still-dark stage, we hear a squeaky, dramatic, and overly protracted sigh, followed by “I hate theatre.” But when the lights finally come up on a rather mousy, nervous-looking man in bow tie and sweater, we soon learn this Man … [Read more...] about “The Drowsy Chaperone”: Day 7, Play 8, Theatre Eddys at OSF Ashland 2017
“Shakespeare in Love”: Day 6, Play 7, Theatre Eddys at OSF Ashland 2017
Shakespeare in LoveAdapted for the Stage by Lee Hall, Based on the Screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom StoppardOregon Shakespeare Festival“Shall I compare … compare … compare thee … to a mourner’s play?”As a cast of Elizabethan characters of all shapes, sizes, and classes hover over his every word (with many looks of disbelief and disapproval of the lines he is currently … [Read more...] about “Shakespeare in Love”: Day 6, Play 7, Theatre Eddys at OSF Ashland 2017
“Disney’s Beauty and the Beast”
Disney’s Beauty and the BeastAlan Menken (Music); Howard Ashman & Tim Rice (Lyrics);Linda Woolverton (Book)Oregon Shakespeare FestivalThe first time I saw Disney’s Beauty and the Beast on the big screen as an animated film, I immediately pictured the opening number “Belle” as made for the big stage. As the song’s angelic-looking namesake roams aimlessly nose in a book … [Read more...] about “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast”
“Julius Caesar”: Day 3, Play 4, TheatreEddys at OSF Ashland 2017
Julius CaesarWilliam ShakespeareOregon Shakespeare FestivalFor anyone wondering how an electorate can switch in such a short time from electing an Obama to choosing a Trump, a re-visit of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar may send chills up the spine, especially as now being brilliantly directed by Shana Cooper at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. In the opening scene, a … [Read more...] about “Julius Caesar”: Day 3, Play 4, TheatreEddys at OSF Ashland 2017
“Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles”: Day 2, Play 2 TheatreEddys at OSF Ashland 2017
Mojada: A Medea in Los AngelesLuis AlfaroOregon Shakespeare FestivalAnyone even vaguely familiar with Euripides’ ancient, Greek play, Medea, walks into a play entitled Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles with some apprehension and an assumption that the ending is not going to be happy, that there will be blood shed. When the Spanish word “mojada” (Spanish for “wetback”) begins … [Read more...] about “Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles”: Day 2, Play 2 TheatreEddys at OSF Ashland 2017
“brownsville song (b-side for tray)”
brownsville song (b-side for tray)Kimber LeeShotgun PlayersCathleen Riddley & Davied MoralesWith sleepy eyes, we peruse the morning paper or slide through the IPhone news updates; and a too-familiar headline catches our eye. Another family mourns the shooting death of a teen or 20-something, a kid struck down by a random bullet or one meant for someone else. We … [Read more...] about “brownsville song (b-side for tray)”