Funny Money
Venice Golden Apple Dinner Theater

 McBean's Sam is, like many restaurant employees, an aspiring thespian. An Indiana boy, whose father would like him to be home for Christmas, he auditions every chance he can get. All he needs is one break. He has the talent, but it's often who you know that leads to the right audition and the right time with the absolutely right person. He is currently waiting for a call back on an important role.

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
March 2001
Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, A
Stage Right Theater

 In a perfect world, all musical comedies would begin with a song like "Comedy Tonight" (second choice, "Another Opening, Another Show"). And they'd all be performed in big-stage, small-house spaces like that at Stage Right, where the increased suspension of disbelief demanded by close-up viewing is more than redeemed by the infectious excitement traversing ]the fourth wall at such close range.

Mary Shen Barnidge
Date Reviewed:
October 2001
Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, A
Cabot Theater - Broadway Theater Center

 Skylight Opera Theater has enriched Milwaukee's theater scene twice this year, with a landmark production of the rarely performed musical, Floyd Collins, and now with a fresh and lively version of the chestnut, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To The Forum. The strength of any production of Forum rests on the ability of the leading actor, who portrays Pseudolus the slave. The role was originally created as a star turn for the late Zero Mostel, who led the Broadway cast.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
December 2000
G.I. Holiday Jukebox!
Poway Performing Arts Company

It's the early 1940s, the years of World War II. Hollywood notables are entertaining our troops. We are members of a military audience for G. I. Holiday Jukebox!, at PowPAC, being treated to a very good Stagedoor Canteen production. Our entertainers, our celebrities, are Chrissy Burns, Debbie David, Frank Remiatte and Erick Sundquist backed up on the piano by director Rick Shaffer. They are as good as their counterparts 60 years ago.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
December 2005
G.I. Jive
Florida Studio Theater - Goldstein Cabaret

 Half of G.I. Jive is devoted to the 1940s, pre-Pearl Harbor. Part II gives highlights of the WWII era. Red, white and blue brightens the introductory sparkling curtained backdrop. A huge USO eagled emblem backs the second half. In both sections, two couples (white, black) perform enthusiastically in costumes of each era, from swingy skirts and suits just short of zoot to abstracted military uniforms and hats with insignias on the brims.

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
November 2004
Game Of Love And Chance, The
Kennedy Center

 As directed by Jean-Pierre Vincent, once the head of the Comedie Francaise, Marivaux's classic story receives a charming production by the Theater des Amandiers. The Game of Love And Chance was first performed in 1730. This revival ran for more than 100 performances in France and a week in London before crossing the Atlantic for a brief visit at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater.

Barbara Gross
Date Reviewed:
June 1999
Gangstertown
Chicago's Gangstertown

 Audiences at this brand of theater don't usually ask for much, so it's a pleasure to report that the dinner and the entertainment at newly-opened Gangsterland are both much better than they have to be. The latter consists of a song-and-dance revue featuring semi-authentic 1920's hits by Gershwin, Porter, etc.

Mary Shen Barnidge
Date Reviewed:
September 1994
Gangstertown
Chicago's Gangstertown

Chicago's corrupt gangster and political history are always good for a laugh -- or a new marketing concept. The latest project to milk the good old days of bootlegging and gang warfare is Chicago's Gangstertown, a revue based on the idea that fun-loving audiences want an eating & entertainment package that takes the Roaring Twenties very lightly. (Gangstertown opens on the site of another concept piece, Dry Gulch Dinner Theater, which ran since 1980 but closed this summer.

Richard Allen Eisenhardt
Date Reviewed:
September 1994
Garage Sale
Bunbury Theater

 As he did last season with Salvage Yard, Bunbury Theater's producing-artistic director Juergen K. Tossmann has dreamed up a diverting group of blue-collar characters for Garage Sale, his second play. It's not a sequel, though the people inhabit a similar universe and exhibit the same sort of quirky behavior and spiky relationships that defined his earlier creations.

Charles Whaley
Date Reviewed:
April 2001
Gaslight
Stage Door Theater

 Patrick Hamilton's classic 1939 potboiler receives a first-rate, Broadway-quality production at American Conservatory's Stage Door Theater. The talky thriller, made into a popular movie with Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer, became the prototype for our contemporary psychological drama, paving the way for such saw-horse vehicles as The Shrike, The Little Foxes and, of course, The Heiress. The term "gaslighting" was coined after the original production, meaning "convincing someone what they see isn't there."

Larry Myers
Date Reviewed:
January 1996
Gaugin
Chopin Theater - Mainstage

 If Gauguin goes to New York -- and it has all the makings of doing so--it will require a powerhouse tenor, since only seven of the score's twenty-two songs do not have the title character singing, and composer Grant Robbin is very fond of elongated final notes delivered at soar-to-the-rafters volume.

Mary Shen Barnidge
Date Reviewed:
November 2001
Gem of the Ocean
Goodman Theater

 We're all on an adventure declares Aunt Ester, keeper of a Safe House for fugitive slaves. The adventure in this chapter of August Wilson's epic play cycle centers on water -- the Pittsburgh reservoir in which an accused thief drowns, the mighty Mississippi up which Negroes flee in secret (even though it is now 31 years after the Emancipation Proclamation), and the vast Atlantic, in whose stygian depths lie the souls of the captives who died crossing -- or committed suicide upon landing.

Mary Shen Barnidge
Date Reviewed:
May 2003
Gem of the Ocean
Milwaukee Repertory Theater - Quadracci Powerhouse Theater

 Life is an adventure, proclaims Aunt Ester, the elderly monarch of August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean. "Elderly" may be putting it mildly. Wise and sassy, this 285-year-old, white-haired woman carries the history of the African-American experience in America. Ester was brought to this country in chains as a scared, 12-year-old girl. She lived through slavery, emancipation and the troubled times still surrounding the supposedly "free" blacks.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
October 2006
Well
Broadway Theater Center - Cabot Theater

How often do you launch into something, only to find out that things don't turn out exactly the way you had imagined they would? That, in essence, is the experience faced by Lisa, the lead character in Well. She's a hip and respected performance artist, wearing skin-tight jeans and sporting a short, edgy haircut. As is often the case, her mother, Ann, is none of these things. She is a pudgy, self-absorbed, middle-aged mom. She obviously dresses for comfort, not style.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
August 2008
Anything Goes
Patio Playhouse

Every year for the fifth summer in a row, Patio Playhouse has brought a "big" show to Kit Carson Park Amphitheatre. With a cast of 26 and almost all on stage for major production numbers, Anything Goes certainly qualifies. Opening in 1934, it became the fourth longest running show of the thirties. Cole Porter's tuner, along with Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, is continually revived to run yet one more time on and off Broadway as well as throughout the land.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
August 2008
Faith Healer
Booth Theater

 The Irish playwright Brian Friel's Faith Healer is now on Broadway with an all-star cast: Ralph Fiennes, Cherry Jones and Ian McDiarmid (from "Star Wars"). It's four half-hour monologues about the career of a con man (Fiennes) whose powers occasionally work, first from his own viewpoint, a moderately interesting but not very theatrical, account of his story including a bitter insight into who comes to a Faith Healer. Fiennes is an excellent performer, but I'd rather he just simply say the words rather than act them.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
April 2006
Father, The
Roundabout Theater

 Take away a man's last vestige of pride and identity, Strindberg seems to say, and you drive him headlong into madness. Such is the direct thematic line of The Father, a psychodrama that still shocks and agitates nearly 110 years after its first publication. Beset by the women in his house, each of whom has a different approach to raising his daughter, Captain Adolf finds solace in the male hierarchy of his military duties.

David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
January 1996
Festen
Music Box Theater

 Festen is a dangerous title for a play. Does it fester? Is it a Feast? Is it a fiesta? It turns out to be closer to a Fiasco.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
April 2006
Fiddler On The Roof
Minskoff Theater

Yes, it's good to have this wonderful show back on Broadway. On the other hand (to use Tevye's expression), there are serious casting flaws.

Steve Cohen
Date Reviewed:
March 2004
Fiddler On The Roof
Minskoff Theater

The current Fiddler On The Roof, directed by David Leveaux, is a great spectacle with an imaginative set by Tom Pye, good lighting by Brian MacDevitt, and a mixture of good costumes and anachronisms (village men in 1905 didn't wear Hassidic black and white) by Vicki Mortimer, with terrific (the original) choreography by Jerome Robbins. The great songs all work well, all the women sing beautifully, and, all in all, it's a pretty good Fiddler, and since Zero Mostel or Hershel Bernardi are not doing their versions across the street, it's worth seeing. However...

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
May 2004
Fiddler On The Roof
Minskoff Theater

 In the current production of Fiddler on the Roof (book by Joseph Stein, music by Jerry bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, choreography by Jerome Robbins), well directed by David Leveaux, the great, classic musical is brought to wonderful fruition. Harvey Fierstein is the most entertaining Tevya since Zero Mostel. His powerful presence fills the theater -- his comic timing and nuance go beyond the vehicle itself. He's moving, with great heart, and so funny that it lifts the show beyond the writing.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
May 2005
Stuff Happens
Olney Theater Center - Muletz-Gudelsky Theater Lab

It's good to see that Olney Theater, a small, country theater in Maryland, 12 miles north of D.C. and 23 miles south of Baltimore, is still doing first rate professional work almost 60 years since I first drove there to see famous actors in straw-hat summer stock and more than 40 years since I later saw fine repertory work there after Catholic University's Theatre Department took it over. Olney has expanded to four stages but still has the old wooden actors' residence and a charming rural setting. And its production of Stuff Happens was stunning.

Herbert M. Simpson
Date Reviewed:
June 2008
Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged), The
New Village Arts Theater

After the show, I drove home in haste, went to my library, pulled out my beloved tome of the complete works of The Bard, and said a short prayer. I went to my collection of scripts and retrieved The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr. Just what had Adam Brick, Joshua Everett Johnson, and Tim Park have done to the master. They did exactly what playwright/performers Jess Borgeson, Adam Long, & Daniel Singer had written - with some hilarious embellishments.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
August 10, 2008
Misanthrope, The
Boulevard Theater

What could be more perfect than staging Moliere's comedy, The Misanthrope, during an election year? The Boulevard Theater hits the target with a production that scores on almost every level.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
August 2008
Summerfest 2008
La Mesa Women's Club

Lamplighters Community Theater's "Summerfest 2008" features six short plays with a variety from the serious to the silly to the romantic.

I was 12 years old when my middle-aged parents bought twin beds. I thought that was the end of their marriage. They were married 57 years. Watching Robert Anderson's The Footsteps of Doves, under Mark Loveless' direction, brought back those ancient memories.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
August 2008
George M!
Players of Sarasota

 Look at me! George M. Cohan is supposed to have commanded. So, too, says Steve Dawson, recreating the man who once "owned Broadway" on his road there, through vaudeville and road shows with his family act and finally as star and producer. Unfortunately, one has to look for too long at Steve surrounded by much lesser talents (notably excepting sweet Cassie Abate as sister Josie and practiced Vicki Kite as George's second wife). His "parents" would be too weak for anything but an amateur production like The Players'. There's hardly a pretense of a book and little character development.

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
March 2001
Gershwin's Gold, Rodgers' Riches
La Jolla Stage

 Paula Pierson's opening monologue for each act of Gershwin's Gold, Rodger$' Riche$ [sic] gives a bit of history and insight into the lives of George Gershwin and Richard Rodgers. Both started their careers in their mid-teens, and sadly, both their lives ended early -- Gershwin in his thirties, Rogers in his forties. G. Scott Lacy's piano styling and arrangements showcase both the familiar and the not-so-well-know songs. It's delightful to hear the intro verses to the 35 songs that make up an evening of lush romantic melodies.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
March 2002
Get A Clue!
Lamplighters Community Theater

 No doubt that Joseph Grienenberger's Get A Clue! is funny. There are enough laugh lines for two plays, with humor running the gamut of styles from slapstick to satire. The arts, especially theater, are hit with a zillion one-liners. Isn't that what comedy is all about? Yes, but the audience needs a bit of relief.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
May 2005
Getting Any…?
National Black Theater Festival

 Well, this wasn't the Upfront Comedy production promised in the National Black Theater Festival brochure, but with most of the spotlight on the chameleonic British writer/character actor Marcus Powell, the last minute switch didn't seem to matter. Powell's characterizations skewed toward the drunken, dissolute dregs of the underclass and toward nerdy romantic flops or assholes -- with the occasional lout tossed in for good measure.

Perry Tannenbaum
Date Reviewed:
August 1999
Gibson Girl
Diversionary Theater

 Seeing a world premiere of a new play is exciting. A play goes through many iterations before it is brought to the public. It begins in the mind of the playwright, who eventually commits it to paper. Then begin the readings, which become readings to selected audiences, followed by a series of rewrites. At some point, the playwright and a director feel the play is ready to be staged in front of a general audience. The director and writer, the parents, pace, fidget, and watch the audience for anticipated reactions to their progeny. Alas, most often, more rewrites.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
April 2006
Gift, The
Tiffany Theater

 Backed by Hollywood and recording-industry money, it's obvious that The Gift has its sights set on a commercial triumph far exceeding its Equity-waiver origins. The producers have assembled a top notch cast, many of whom worked with the show's director on his previous outing, the camp musical Reefer Madness whose local success is taking it to New York this fall. But with everything it has going for it, The Gift has some major problems which might just keep it from becoming another Reefer.

Willard Manus
Date Reviewed:
July 2000
Gilligan's Island
TheatrX

 The storm-tossed survivors who were swept onto "Gilligan's Island" will never, never be the same. TheatrX repertory company has launched Gilligan's Island - A New Musical. The Skipper, alas, is forced to spend the entire production indisposed and confined to the outhouse. The rest of the cast, however, make up for his lack of mobility. There have been a few changes from the original sixties television show. Of course it is a musical. Characters now represent the deadly sins, but didn't they always? Mr. Howell is greed, Mrs. Howell is sloth – well, you get the idea.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
February 2001
Giulio Cesare
Rich Forum

 Now in its fifth year, the International Festival of Arts & Ideas is spread over three Connecticut cities this time. Artistic Director Paul Collard picks from far and wide to bring together presentations ranging from the popular to the challenging, just as the festival's title promises. The lone Italian entry comes from the Societas Raffaello Sanzio, an experimental theater group based in Cesena, near the Adriatic coast south of Venice. Romeo Castellucci presents a combination deconstruction and sensual exploration of the Julius Caesar theme.

David Lipfert
Date Reviewed:
June 2000
Glass Menagerie, The
Hartford Stage Company

 Glimmering crystal figurines floating high above the stage, lit shiningly by Howell Binkley, reflect the lucid beauty of the language and meaning in Tennessee Williams' autobiographical work. I've seen many incarnations of this great memory play, but this magical production of The Glass Menagerie is far and away the most rewarding. Artistic Director Michael Wilson's cleanly authentic direction focuses on the sheer loneliness of the characters and their isolation in the mean world of the Depression Years.

Rosalind Friedman
Date Reviewed:
April 2001
Glass Menagerie, The
Glenridge Performing Arts Center

 In Tenessee Williams' classic "memory play," narrator Tom recalls that his mother Amanda Wingfield is a faded, jilted Southern belle, desperate to assure a future for her lame, plain, obsessively shy daughter, Laura. Half living in a Blue-Mountain past where she entertained myriad "gentlemen callers," Amanda ceaselessly nags her son to better himself and contribute more to the family. Aspiring writer Tom can't help but identify with his father, a telephone repair man who "fell in love with long distance" yet remains prominent in a picture on the shabby apartment wall. Grinning.

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
July 2005
Glass Menagerie, The
Court Theater

 Updating an old classic, Court Theater's The Glass Menagerie is a refreshing but ultimately unsatisfying production. There's a lot to like and dislike, and it's likely to be a crowd splitter. But shows that have this effect tend to because they introduce something bold or unusual to us, and whether we like them or not, they often are the types of plays that remain in our memories much longer than shows that more or less play it safe.

Kevin Henely
Date Reviewed:
March 2006
Glass Menagerie, The
Rudyard Kipling

 For its 55th anniversary, The Glass Menagerie is being offered by two different local companies. In February, the play will be done by the Louisville Repertory Company, but first out of the starting gate is the Roundtable Theater at the Rudyard Kipling in an earnest, workmanlike production that occasionally catches fire. Peter Howard's strong performance as Tom -- more angry young man than wistful dreamer -- shifts the balance of Tennessee Williams' play to him rather than to his clinging, bossy mother Amanda, who usually carries the show.

Charles Whaley
Date Reviewed:
September 1999
Glass Menagerie, The
Milwaukee Repertory Theater - Stiemke Theater

 The Milwaukee Repertory Theater's smaller stage, the Stiemke, is typically reserved for works that 1) provoke the audience's imagination, 2) have a risque‚ or unconventional theme or 3) are more likely to pack a dramatic punch in an intimate space.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
March 2007
Glengarry Glen Ross
6th at Penn Theater

 Rarely is the power of the word executed with such exacting precision as in 6th@Penn's production of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross. Each actor, under the deft hand of director Jerry Pilato, develops the uniqueness of his character both in Mamet's words and his own physicality.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
February 2007
Glimmer, Glimmer And Shine
Mark Taper Forum

 Warren Leight, author of the successful Side Man, returns to the jazz world in his new play, which depicts the age-old war between artistic and bourgeois values. Martin and Daniel are twin brothers who once teamed up with Edddie Shine to form a hot horn section in a popular 50s swing band. The play opens up forty years later, when time and fate have conspired to shatter the bonds that knit these men together.

Willard Manus
Date Reviewed:
January 2001

Pages