by Karen Tortora-Lee on August 15, 2011
The Three Times She Knocked (Photo by Josh Jones)
How innocently these things can start … a knock on the door, a simple question, met with a glance that – to the person meeting those eyes – may appear to linger too long or bore in too deeply. Is this the beginning of a forbidden love affair between two already-married co-workers? Or just the planting of the seed of a what-could-be fantasy in the mind of a man already hungry to harvest a new crop of sexual obsession? For Eric (Bob D’Haene) his spark for Tara (Isabel Richardson) is set off innocently at the office, but is flamed into a bonfire each one of The Three Times She Knocked on his office door.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on August 14, 2011
Oh, you’ll love walking into the theatre at Dixon Place to watch I Light Up My Life: The Mark Sam Celebrity Autobiography – Mark Sam Rosenthal’s (Celebrity!) solo show. The music is cranking with such anthems as The Pussycat Dolls “When I Grow Up”, Katy Perry’s “Firework” and Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” and the walls are glowing with projections of Mark in his candid, semi (one assumes) nude “oops, you caught me being cute!” poses. You’ll just love walking in, almost as much as Mark Sam Rosenthal himself does.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on August 14, 2011
Ampersand: A Romeo & Juliet Story (written by Mariah MacCarthy, directed by Amanda Thompson) is just that … “A” Romeo & Juliet story – not a 100% faithful retelling of THE Romeo and Juliet story. First of all, Romeo and Juliet are both women. So, right away, by making this a gender-issue play and bringing in questions of Juliet’s orientation – questions she must ask herself as much as we the audience must ask of the play – an entirely different layer is added to this tale which is deeper and more complex. And since this layer is deeper and complex, so is the love story. There’s an urgency that doesn’t -can’t- exist in a heterosexual telling of this story, and that adds to the thoughtfulness and despair. And the hope.
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by The Happiest Medium on August 14, 2011
The Happiest Medium Review by guest contributors Anjali Koppal and Saurabh Paranjape
Craving, writer/performer Delphine Brooker’s one-act, one-woman play about her own battle with anorexia and bulimia, is a unique animal. Rather than indulging in the kind of pedantic damnation of outside societal influences that one expects, Brooker chooses to frame her narrative as a view into the inner thoughts of a bulimic girl after she has already made peace with the idea that being thin is what real beauty is all about. Thus we get some rather poignant, yet funny, anecdotes about the practical difficulties of maintaining a bulimic lifestyle in shared bathroom living situations and the bothersome battles with hunger pangs triggered by a stroll past a Parisian bakery.
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by Geoffrey Paddy Johnson on August 14, 2011
Perhaps director Greg Foro and the BAMA Theatre Company could not have asked for a better setting than the Connelly Center’s Connelly Theatre on East 4th Street to stage their production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. A miniature old world theatre stage, complete with grinning classical masks on a battered, gray painted proscenium, it quietly, without the use of scenery flats, and a minimum of props, establishes a subtly pointed atmosphere for this admirably pared down presentation of one of the English language’s greatest stage tragedies.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on August 13, 2011
Yes, we may have Fringe on the brain, but that doesn’t mean that other things aren’t going on this weekend. And, quite fittingly one of those other things is something called The OTHERS Project. Paul Bedard, co artistic director for Theater in Asylum, took a moment to chat with me about a very exciting evening of theater, music, dance, poetry and drinks that will be going on this Sunday night. Read on as Paul explains their particular definition of “asylum”, how they’re using their themes, and what their version of Frankenstein will look like …
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on August 12, 2011
I like nothing better than being naughty at the Opera. Neophytes might consider this akin to making out in the last pew of church but, actually, it’s not. I mean, really. Generally, no matter which opera you’re attending there’s all this drama unfolding in front of you … all this intense emotion, this deep passion, this hear break, this “I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN” melodrama. How could it not inspire you to get a little frisky during intermission?
Well, okay, usually it’s kinda impossible to get frisky, but a gal can dream. But wait – hold the phone. What’s this? Morningside Opera is actually encouraging frisky behavior with their latest opera, The Judgment of Paris. Just look at that poster! It’s hotter than a Russ Meyer film. I, of course, will be there. Let’s not forget these are the folks who supplied the fabulous burlesque performer Medianoche to do a strip tease during their Diva Search Karaoke – so you know they’re serious when it comes to sizzle. I chatted with Amber Youell who is a performing in Judgment of Paris, while also serving on Moringside Opera’s board of directors. Listen as she tells me how they intend to push the boundaries and seduce their audience loud and clear. Continue Reading…
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on August 11, 2011
Nothing gets us more excited at THM than a festival, and when it comes to festivals, Fringe is the one we wait for all year … the way other people wait for Christmas. Silly, silly Christmas-waiting people. Sure, getting presents is fun … for a while. But running around from theatre to theatre seeing what very well may be the next smash hit is the kind of thing that REALLY gets a gal excited. So for the next 18 days we, your faithful THM contributors — along with a few guest reviewers — will be covering 44 of the 194 shows that are out there. Here’s where we’re going. Will we see you there?
2 Burn - Ever give an apple to your teacher to get his attention? In this gay, noir drama, one college student is willing to give much more as he and his professor vie for power over language, sex, and each other.
74 Minutes of Stereo Radio Theater - A parlor game escalates into marital warfare. An ancient civilization faces death by over-enthusiasm. Comedy mates with legitimate theater for the amusement of a jaded audience. Stereo Radio Theater: Post-alternative sketch comedy for the non-attention deficit-disordered.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on August 11, 2011
Redd Tale Theatre Company has a knack for taking well-worn stories and delivering them with a fresh perspective. Currently during their “summer of creation” they are exploring the themes of what it means to be human and how our need to connect on a deeper level drives all living creatures. By currently pairing a well-known and time-honored old fashioned horror story – Frankenstein – with a newly written modern sci-fi piece – Gabriel – this talented ensemble is virtually flipping a coin for us and showing two sides of a very complex issue during one ambitious night of theatre.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on August 8, 2011
Imagine if you could re-visit a tragedy and restore the hope; take away the shadows of doubt, the shudders of despair. Imagine if you could re-visit shabby rooms, where stale air does little but circulate the layers of dust and melancholy, and breath in fresh life imbued with optimism and energy.
Imagine if you could see a classic play such as Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie from a whole other persective, one of possibility, where the “bitter” of bitter-sweet is removed and all that is left is a revving of the heart at what is yet to come. The Pretty Trap currently playing at The Acorn Theatre (Theatre Row) does just that. Written by Williams as one of the earlier drafts of Menagerie it is a sparkling one-act starring Katharine Houghton as the matriarch Amanda Wingfield.
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