Monthly Archives: January 2020
One Small Girl
Once on This Island – Broadway in Chicago
In this gorgeous National Tour, as in the Circle in the Square Broadway revival, it’s all about telling the story. Two-time Tony Award nominated director Michael Arden gets it right, even before the first notes of music. A joyfully improvised prologue unfolds by the Storytellers, and is especially played to the onstage audience, seated upstage among Dane Laffrey’s extraordinarily detailed two-story set. This magical 1990 one-act musical, with a Tony nominated book, music and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (“Ragtime,” “Anastasia”), is a heartwarming fable set on a sun-drenched island, the Jewel of the French Antilles.
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Mystery, Tension and Strong Characters
The Tasters – Rivendell Theatre
First seen last year as part of Victory Gardens’ 2019 IGNITION Festival of New Plays, Meghan Brown’s dark, sometimes humorous dystopian drama is being given a fully staged production at Rivendell. The story has a definite feeling of familiarity. Its tense, frightening plot must’ve been inspired by the current leaders of our country and their oppressive, authoritarian administration. Meghan Brown’s play and the five characters who tell her story may remind theatergoers of such powerful novels as 1984 and The Handmaid’s Tale.
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Fitting For Our Time
Top Girls – Remy Bumppo Theatre
If given the opportunity to ask any famous person from history to a dinner party, who would you invite? Well, to celebrate her big promotion at the Top Girls Employment Agency, Marlene has chosen an extremely interesting, eclectic group of strong, independent women, particularly considering the varied locales and time periods from which they come. Invited to Marlene’s soiree are the mythical Pope Joan, who was alleged to have achieved her position dressed as a man during the Middle Ages; the 19th century Scottish author and international explorer, Isabella Bird; Chaucer’s fictional Patient Griselda, from his Canterbury Tales; a 13th century Japanese concubine to the Emperor, Lady Nijo; and Dull Gret, the Flemish peasant woman who invaded hell with a brigade of women warriors, depicted in artist Peter Brueghel’s painting, Dulle Griet.
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Black Lives Matter
Sheepdog – Shattered Globe Theatre
Playwright Kevin Artigue writes for television and film, but his scintillating 90-minute one-act play may make Mr. Artigue a household name. The drama had its much-praised world premiere at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California, and it’s currently being given a powerful production by Shattered Globe Theatre at Theater Wit. The playwright’s created a gut-wrenching two-hander that seems to be ripped from today’s headlines. The drama is both arresting and thought-provoking, a play that moved some theatergoers to respond audibly to what they were experiencing. The play is undoubtedly bound to stimulate lots of post-production conversation among audiences.
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Being Human
Stop Kiss – Pride Films & Plays
Callie and Sara are two young women living in 1998 New York City. They meet, become good friends and eventually fall for each other in this 90-minute serio-comedy, by Diana Son. A sweetly touching love story, this winner of the GLAAD Media Award for Best New York Production, is told through a series of non-chronological scenes, tragically interrupted by a horrible act of violence that sends Sara into a coma. While the audience, thankfully, is spared witnessing the actual brutal attack, Callie vividly describes the unprovoked viciousness and inhumanity to other characters, including a Detective assigned to the case.
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