KIMBERLY AKIMBO: A BIT OFF
I was not completely charmed by Kimberly Akimbo, which, given the musical’s popularity, might be a sign of sociopathology — or terminal jadedness. In my defense, although the whole didn’t sweep me away, I did enjoy substantial components of this Arts Club production....
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE: IT’S COMPLICATED — AND SIMPLE
To be fully successful, any production of Shakespeare in Love must capture three layers of love. The entry level to Lee Hall’s script, which is an adaptation of Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard’s screenplay for the 1998 film, is a fictional love affair between William...
CANADIAN PSYCHO: COULDN’T ANYBODY TELL?
Marlene Ginader’s new script Canadian Psycho is an idea that goes nowhere. With virtually nothing to offer, how did it make it onto the stage? In this solo piece, which the playwright is performing in its premiere production, the central character, Marlene, tell us...
SOMETHING ROTTEN! STILL FRESH
God, I love theatre students! They are so frickin’ vivacious and eager to please — which makes them the perfect match for the musical Something Rotten!, which is all about entertainment. Something Rotten! is stupid — in the best (giddiest) way possible. In Karey...
NETWORK: MADDER THIS TIME
I’m so much angrier now than I was when I first saw the movie Network — which is all about anger — in 1976. Many of us these days live in a perpetual state of political fear, frustration, and fury, which makes United Players’ decision to produce playwright Lee Hall’s...
WILDWOMAN: WAIT FOR IT
This show won me over, but it took a while. The problems I had aren’t with the production, which is excellent, but with the script — although the source material is astonishing. Playwright Kat Sandler drew inspiration for Wildwoman from the fifteenth-century history...
HARM: GO
Kelli Ogmundson delivers a perfect performance in this production. How often do I get to say that? Never? Every actor in town should see this piece of work. And so should everybody else who cares about theatre. In playwright Phoebe Eclair-Powell’s 70-minute monologue,...
FRANKLINLAND: TRAPPED IN DULL ABSTRACTION
Man, I was fighting to stay awake. On paper, Lloyd Suh’s script sounds like it might be interesting. In Franklinland, Suh has created a fantasia based on the relationship between Benjamin Franklin — the script calls him Ben — and his son William, who was born out of...
DANCEBOY: WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
I have very little to say about Danceboy because, as far as I can tell, there isn’t much to it. In Danceboy, writer and performer Munish Sharma tells us about his lifelong love of dancing, which started when he was a toddler and Bollywood movies taught him that “This...
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