Not least because we've been seeing a lot of plays, I haven't had much time for catching up and reporting on the ones we HAVE seen. So I'll try to do some of that today.
Since returning from the Big Apple and Memorial Day weekend, we caught three different plays in our own back yard. First was "The Importance of Being Earnest" at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, a place we return to often when we get the chance. There is almost always something interesting on stage at UNCSA, especially during the late fall, February-early March, or late April - into May, the times when productions are ready to be staged within the school's calendar year. Although tough times for everyone caused some budget cutbacks this year, there were no disappointments with this production or the earlier Timberlake Wertenbaker play we saw on campus. It continues to be surprising to me that low-cost, high-quality shows on this school's stages continue to be under-attended by the area community.
The very next night we were off to catch N.C. Black Rep's production of "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope," which had some dazzling talents on stage for a relatively short run at the Arts Council Theatre. A lot of energy, chiefly well presented, though like other shows of this sort, sometimes the disconnected stories can be a little disjointed as well, for me, anyway. It was time very well spent in any case.
Last but not least in our local show-going was "The Blonde, the Brunette, and the Vengeful Redhead," a one-woman show at Triad Stage that I thought quite impressive for the range of characters, male and female, that the actress presented. The show was interesting too, though perhaps more interesting to me than to Kathy (maybe it had been too long a day for her). Set, lighting and sound, as usual for a Triad Stage production, were very well done, and generally speaking, it was a pleasant and rewarding evening of theater.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Saturday, May 2, 2009
New York City, Part Two
We wrapped up our visit to NYC and Broadway with three more plays, all interesting or at least worth seeing to one extent or another.
First, Kathy returned with TKTS tickets to "Joe Turner's Come and Gone," one of August Wilson's ten plays from the cycle set in Pittsburgh's Hill District. It was quite well acted, and generally very interesting, but at the end it got all kind of metaphysical/ theological/mystical on us, and I lost track of it. I'm sure it meant something to some of the members of the audience. Not so for me.
We had the added bonus here of sitting next to a couple who, it turned out, were from Winston-Salem, and he had been the head of the theater department at Wake Forest for over 30 years, prior to retiring about a decade back. Delightful conversation during the breaks!
On Saturday, we took in "Exit the King" (Eugene Ionesco) and wrapped with "The 39 Steps." Ionesco was perhaps a little too deep for the likes of me, though the performances, esp. Geoffrey Rush as the 400-year-old king who was on his way out from his collapsing kingdom, were worthy. "39 Steps" was just pure fun -- very clever staging and use of only four actors to presesnt a complete story based on the Hitchcock movie of the same name. It had at least one of those scenes where a character is juggling three hats and passing them around from his head to portray three different people in the same space of time. For entertainment that doesn't really require a lot of thinking but you can be charmed by the cleverness, I recommend it!
Then it was back home to Kernersville, though we did get to see and share some of the LaGuardia space with musician Bruce Hornsby, one of our favorites -- just happened to notice him coming through security right behind us, then waiting for the flight to Richmond, Va. adjacent to where we waited for ours to Greensboro.
Great trip all the way around!
First, Kathy returned with TKTS tickets to "Joe Turner's Come and Gone," one of August Wilson's ten plays from the cycle set in Pittsburgh's Hill District. It was quite well acted, and generally very interesting, but at the end it got all kind of metaphysical/ theological/mystical on us, and I lost track of it. I'm sure it meant something to some of the members of the audience. Not so for me.
We had the added bonus here of sitting next to a couple who, it turned out, were from Winston-Salem, and he had been the head of the theater department at Wake Forest for over 30 years, prior to retiring about a decade back. Delightful conversation during the breaks!
On Saturday, we took in "Exit the King" (Eugene Ionesco) and wrapped with "The 39 Steps." Ionesco was perhaps a little too deep for the likes of me, though the performances, esp. Geoffrey Rush as the 400-year-old king who was on his way out from his collapsing kingdom, were worthy. "39 Steps" was just pure fun -- very clever staging and use of only four actors to presesnt a complete story based on the Hitchcock movie of the same name. It had at least one of those scenes where a character is juggling three hats and passing them around from his head to portray three different people in the same space of time. For entertainment that doesn't really require a lot of thinking but you can be charmed by the cleverness, I recommend it!
Then it was back home to Kernersville, though we did get to see and share some of the LaGuardia space with musician Bruce Hornsby, one of our favorites -- just happened to notice him coming through security right behind us, then waiting for the flight to Richmond, Va. adjacent to where we waited for ours to Greensboro.
Great trip all the way around!
Friday, April 24, 2009
New York City, Part One
My wife, Kathy, and I are partway through a five-show visit to Broadway, along with a few other chores and undertakings.
We started Wednesday night by visiting the TKTS booth and, after dropping a couple of possibles as they only had "partial view" seats for them, we picked up two decent seats for Neil LaBute's "reasons to be pretty." I had heard his name many times before, but never saw one of his shows, which apparently chiefly run off-Broadway until this one. We found the show to be quite interesting, and it included a neat set, good lighting and sound, and some good acting, too, particularly the lead actor. It certainly held our interest, no matter how off-putting some of the characters were, or how challenging it was to believe some of the aspects of the relationship between the four characters visible in the show.
As for me, trying hard not to be a throwback of any kind, I still found it difficult to believe that the use of words not really acceptable in mid-range society to the extreme that they appeared in the script was necessary, or didn't even detract from the storyline after a while. I for one do NOT object to the use of selected curse words from time to time, used for emphasis and/or charactor development. But this show, I believe, could have used 10-20% as many selected words, and still have gotten the intended point across just fine. Though it would have shortened the show measurably ....
Last night, we saw "Jersey Boys," another one of those top-hits review shows but with a difference, in that it delved into the interesting and sometimes challenging real lives of the group's members, and wove the songs into the real stories being told about them. For me, that worked so much better than "Mamma Mia" or "Back to the Eighties" or others of this ilk. And the musicianship, stage technology, etc. were top notch.
Now, I'm waiting to see what Kathy finds for us at TKTS for tonight. We already have our "Exit the King" (Ionesco) and "The 39 Steps" tickets for tomorrow (Saturday.)
We started Wednesday night by visiting the TKTS booth and, after dropping a couple of possibles as they only had "partial view" seats for them, we picked up two decent seats for Neil LaBute's "reasons to be pretty." I had heard his name many times before, but never saw one of his shows, which apparently chiefly run off-Broadway until this one. We found the show to be quite interesting, and it included a neat set, good lighting and sound, and some good acting, too, particularly the lead actor. It certainly held our interest, no matter how off-putting some of the characters were, or how challenging it was to believe some of the aspects of the relationship between the four characters visible in the show.
As for me, trying hard not to be a throwback of any kind, I still found it difficult to believe that the use of words not really acceptable in mid-range society to the extreme that they appeared in the script was necessary, or didn't even detract from the storyline after a while. I for one do NOT object to the use of selected curse words from time to time, used for emphasis and/or charactor development. But this show, I believe, could have used 10-20% as many selected words, and still have gotten the intended point across just fine. Though it would have shortened the show measurably ....
Last night, we saw "Jersey Boys," another one of those top-hits review shows but with a difference, in that it delved into the interesting and sometimes challenging real lives of the group's members, and wove the songs into the real stories being told about them. For me, that worked so much better than "Mamma Mia" or "Back to the Eighties" or others of this ilk. And the musicianship, stage technology, etc. were top notch.
Now, I'm waiting to see what Kathy finds for us at TKTS for tonight. We already have our "Exit the King" (Ionesco) and "The 39 Steps" tickets for tomorrow (Saturday.)
Monday, April 20, 2009
Serious and silly
Two more plays were recently viewed, at a pretty wide divergence in terms of message and seriousness. We first saw "Our Country's Good," by playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker, chiefly performed by seniors of the UNCSA drama department, on the Performance Place Thrust Theatre stage.
We had earlier seen "After Darwin" by this same playwright, up in D.C., so thought this one might be good, too. And it was -- primarily about the "transportation" by the British of people dubbed criminals, in the late 1700s, to the Australia colony. A great deal of conflict between some of the soldiers, who were unhappy with their assignment and treated the convicts as somewhat less than human, and the governor and one soldier who saw opportunities for raising some of these people up through the power of art and theater. After a fair amount of agony, an ultimately uplifting message and moment of theatrical joy.
It seemed a little bit long to me, but I don't think that's a fault of the production, actors, directors or anything else than the fact that nearly everything I have seen lately has been a 90-to-95 minute, no intermission show. Thus, when an intermission show that runs about 2.5 hours comes along, it SEEMS long but of course, it is not. It's just normal.
The next night, we took in "Back to the 80's," a musical, so to speak, at Theatre Alliance. It bore something of a resemblance to "Mamma Mia" in that it took existing and chiefly well-known songs and tried to tie a story of high school romance around them. Which was partly successful, for me, anyway. Unfortunately, with a couple of outstanding exceptions, TA didn't manage to locate the kinds of voices that could carry that sort of music off. It was fun and upbeat, but a little hard to listen to.
We had earlier seen "After Darwin" by this same playwright, up in D.C., so thought this one might be good, too. And it was -- primarily about the "transportation" by the British of people dubbed criminals, in the late 1700s, to the Australia colony. A great deal of conflict between some of the soldiers, who were unhappy with their assignment and treated the convicts as somewhat less than human, and the governor and one soldier who saw opportunities for raising some of these people up through the power of art and theater. After a fair amount of agony, an ultimately uplifting message and moment of theatrical joy.
It seemed a little bit long to me, but I don't think that's a fault of the production, actors, directors or anything else than the fact that nearly everything I have seen lately has been a 90-to-95 minute, no intermission show. Thus, when an intermission show that runs about 2.5 hours comes along, it SEEMS long but of course, it is not. It's just normal.
The next night, we took in "Back to the 80's," a musical, so to speak, at Theatre Alliance. It bore something of a resemblance to "Mamma Mia" in that it took existing and chiefly well-known songs and tried to tie a story of high school romance around them. Which was partly successful, for me, anyway. Unfortunately, with a couple of outstanding exceptions, TA didn't manage to locate the kinds of voices that could carry that sort of music off. It was fun and upbeat, but a little hard to listen to.
Monday, April 13, 2009
From the D.C. market
Kathy and I have been spending a few days in Washington, D.C. It's Easter weekend, so there were not a whole lot of theatrical offerings floating around a normally very busy theater town, but we managed to catch two shows while waiting for tonight's heavily-theatrical event, the annual Helen Hayes Awards. Son Andy is nominated for one of his lighting designs (the Catalyst Theater Company's production of "1984" last year), so we are attending. That should be quite an experience.
Meanwhile, along with Kathy's college roommate and friend Lissa, we took in Arena Stage's production of "Crowns" at the Lincoln Theatre on Saturday night -- a very entertaining evening of music, performance and costume (especially, of course, hats). Michael Cunningham, the photographer who, with a writer, created the book on which the play is based, at that time anyway was Winston-Salem based. I'm sure many of the interviews that provided text for the show were done in our area back in N.C., so a few of the references probably meant more to Kathy and me than to many others in the audience.
Then last night, we saw our first show at Woolly Mammoth Theatre. It was also quite a good production and fine acting, though there were a few moments that I would have picked a bone, critically speaking, with the playwright or the director, depending on who was responsible. "Antebellum," however, was chiefly thought-provoking and intriguing, and it certainly held our attention, which you cannot always say.
We continue to enjoy the heavy playgoing spring!
Meanwhile, along with Kathy's college roommate and friend Lissa, we took in Arena Stage's production of "Crowns" at the Lincoln Theatre on Saturday night -- a very entertaining evening of music, performance and costume (especially, of course, hats). Michael Cunningham, the photographer who, with a writer, created the book on which the play is based, at that time anyway was Winston-Salem based. I'm sure many of the interviews that provided text for the show were done in our area back in N.C., so a few of the references probably meant more to Kathy and me than to many others in the audience.
Then last night, we saw our first show at Woolly Mammoth Theatre. It was also quite a good production and fine acting, though there were a few moments that I would have picked a bone, critically speaking, with the playwright or the director, depending on who was responsible. "Antebellum," however, was chiefly thought-provoking and intriguing, and it certainly held our attention, which you cannot always say.
We continue to enjoy the heavy playgoing spring!
Monday, March 30, 2009
A few playgoing reports
We've been able to get out and catch a few plays recently, and have quite a few on our upcoming list as well. So here's a report on the most recent ones.
One of our favorite weekend run-aways is to head to the charming southwestern Virginia town of Abingdon, and the two stages of Barter Theatre. We selected the one weekend on which we could catch the three shows we wanted to see - only to discover that it was also the weekend of the Bristol NASCAR races. Ouch. The hotel we normally use was about three times the usual nightly rate, but being stubborn, we went anyway. It was a lot of fun. We saw "Four Places" in Barter Two on Friday night and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" on Saturday afternoon on the main stage -- both excellent productions, for completely different reasons. Finally, we saw "Adjoining Trances" at Barter Two Saturday night, which (chiefly because of the play) was the weak link of the trip.
We followed that with a shortened adaptation of "Ghosts" by Henrik Ibsen at Triad Stage. As usual, good acting, good set, good lights, good sound ... but just not destined to be one of my favorite plays.
But the interesting continuing trend noted in these four plays -- every one of them except "Joseph" was a 90-minute (or nearly so) no-intermission show. There's been enough of that lately to really believe it IS a trend.
One of our favorite weekend run-aways is to head to the charming southwestern Virginia town of Abingdon, and the two stages of Barter Theatre. We selected the one weekend on which we could catch the three shows we wanted to see - only to discover that it was also the weekend of the Bristol NASCAR races. Ouch. The hotel we normally use was about three times the usual nightly rate, but being stubborn, we went anyway. It was a lot of fun. We saw "Four Places" in Barter Two on Friday night and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" on Saturday afternoon on the main stage -- both excellent productions, for completely different reasons. Finally, we saw "Adjoining Trances" at Barter Two Saturday night, which (chiefly because of the play) was the weak link of the trip.
We followed that with a shortened adaptation of "Ghosts" by Henrik Ibsen at Triad Stage. As usual, good acting, good set, good lights, good sound ... but just not destined to be one of my favorite plays.
But the interesting continuing trend noted in these four plays -- every one of them except "Joseph" was a 90-minute (or nearly so) no-intermission show. There's been enough of that lately to really believe it IS a trend.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
"Dearly Beloved" - just a whole lot of fun!
I've been a little slack in getting on the blog and writing up Kernersville Little Theatre's production of "Dearly Beloved," most decidedly a "Southern comedy" that may not play well in certain parts of the country but sure enough played well last Friday and Saturday nights in Kernersville. We found it a fine production, with a strong cast that had no weak links in our opinion (and believe me, that is not always the case). The set was a good one, and I had no problem hearing anyone (also not always the case with shows, not just KLT's). It was fun to see Myla O'Brien back on stage after a long gap -- and I thought she was having fun with her role, which seemed a good way to get her "stage legs" back.
The leads were fun to watch, too, and good character work by several folks I had not seen on the KLT stage before. Several folks who had had smaller roles here or elsewhere in the past, too, handled a step up quite well. Kudos, KLT and cast and crew and all!!
Now we have a little time off from plays -- but before long, a three-play weekend at Barter Theatre, "Ghosts" at Triad Stage, plays and the Helen Hayes Awards event in D.C. and an April long weekend in the Big Apple. Whee!!
The leads were fun to watch, too, and good character work by several folks I had not seen on the KLT stage before. Several folks who had had smaller roles here or elsewhere in the past, too, handled a step up quite well. Kudos, KLT and cast and crew and all!!
Now we have a little time off from plays -- but before long, a three-play weekend at Barter Theatre, "Ghosts" at Triad Stage, plays and the Helen Hayes Awards event in D.C. and an April long weekend in the Big Apple. Whee!!
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