American Buffalo
Geva Theater - Nextstage

Interestingly, this production of American Buffalo is Geva Theatre Center's first staging of a Mamet play, although Geva has been performing American plays, particularly new ones, for several decades, and Buffalo is now a familiar modern classic. An almost perfect, tightly contained, three-character drama, the play is constantly amusing in Mamet's poetic simulation of working-class male speech and behavior while moving the three through deep-felt, basic aspirations into awful betrayal and defeat.

Herbert Simpson
Date Reviewed:
November 2006
American Iliad
Victory Theater

Donald Freed, a rare writer of political drama, returns to the subject of Richard Nixon, a character whose dark, twisted soul he unraveled in a previous one-man play, Secret Honor. This time around, Freed works on a larger canvas, one filled with portraits of such personages as J. Edgar Hoover, Clyde Tolson, JFK, Marilyn Monroe, Black Elk and Horatio Alger. The play takes place in Nixon's mind during the last 3 or 4 minutes of his life and is a reverie, a reflection, on America in the last century.

Willard Manus
Date Reviewed:
May 2001
Among the Thugs
Goodman Theater

When American journalist Bill Buford set out to explore the roots of the violent behavior exhibited by British soccer fans, he never thought his report would contradict all the common theories regarding working-class hostility and economic disenfranchisement.

Mary Shen Barnidge
Date Reviewed:
June 2001
Amorous Ambassador, The
Golden Apple Dinner Theater

American Ambassador to England Harry Douglas (gleaming-eyed Don Walker) wants to use his weekend country home to rendevous with sexy neighbor Marian (sophisticated Alison Dietz) while his wife Lois (Jenny Aldrich, so lovely you wonder why her hubbie would stray) visits a spa. Little does amorous Harry know, when he solicits butler Perkins (Ron Halvorsen, veddy proper) to be "the soul of discretion," that Perkins has just made the same promise to Debbie Douglas.

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
December 2002
Amy's View
North Coast Repertory Theater

David Hare's Amy's View contains much more than her statement, "You have to give love without any conditions at all. Just give it. And one day you will be rewarded. One day you will get it back." The play is about conflict. Resolutions are rare, as are harmonies.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
July 2005
Amy's View
Shipping Dock Theater in Visual Studies Workshop Auditorium

David Hare writes such good dialogue that he virtually dares his detractors not to appreciate his mostly disappointingly crafted plays. Amy's View is a case in point: annoyingly obvious in the point of view of its supposedly two-sided debates and typically depressing in its story of decline -- decline of the theater, decline of the economy, decline of the arts and appreciation of art, decline of the family, and, of course, decline of the British Empire. But it plays well and, despite having four acts, never tires.

Herbert Simpson
Date Reviewed:
June 2006
Anatol
Powerhouse Theater

The always adventurous BNTC took on a difficult challenge with this play, if only because its theme -- the impossibility of faithfulness in male/female relationships -- cuts against the American party line, which treats infidelity as a cardinal sin. Arthur Schnitzler, an assimilated Austrian Jew writing in the 1920s about the waning days of the Austro-Hungarian empire, rejects such a notion. In his view, infidelity is the norm, monogamy an illusion, which means men and women can't help but betray each other.

Willard Manus
Date Reviewed:
April 2001
And Neither Have I Wings to Fly
Victory Gardens Theater

The 1995 premiere production of And Neither Have I Wings To Fly by the then-debuting Seanachai Theater Company was the sort of serendipitous treasure one happens on unawares. But Ann Noble's poignant tale of two Irish sisters in 1950 seeking their individual freedom and happiness after the loss of their mother is now just another script, relying for its fulfillment on the expertise of its interpreters.

Mary Shen Barnidge
Date Reviewed:
September 2000
And Then They Came For Me
Dallas Children's Theater

When playwright James Still read Eva Geiringer Schloss' book, "Eva's Story: A Survivor's Tale," about her experiences during the Holocaust, he was moved to construct a play from its contents.

Rita Faye Smith
Date Reviewed:
April 2002
Angels in America - Part One
Southern Oregon University - Department of Theater Arts

For its final drama of the 1900s, Southern Oregon University presents Tony Kushner's acclaimed play, Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches. The play, its production and its realization lift the Department of Theater Arts to a new level of achievement, integrity and artistic courage. It will draw controversy here in this small Oregon city, more than in many of the metropolitan and international locations where Angels has been presented and gained praise.

Al Reiss
Date Reviewed:
November 1999
Angels of Lemnos, The
Venice Little Theater - Stage II

Stage II of Venice Little Theater is known for its gutsy attempts to stage contemporary, even controversial plays, and for winning national community theater awards doing so. The Angels of Lemnos, for instance, requires a Greek chorus (however truncated in size and message), complete with masks (here worn on the backs of actors' hoods when they have to go swiftly to "normal" conversation). The set must permit multi-levels of action indoors and outdoors, weaving between past and present before a close-up audience in a rather small black box, arranged in proscenium-like format.

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
February 2004
Animal Crackers
Broadway Theater Center - Cabot Theater

If you think about where animal crackers fit on the nutritional food scale, you've got some idea where the Marx Brothers musical, Animal Crackers, fits in the theatrical food chain. Well, almost. Although it's not intellectually taxing nor filled with bold insights about the human condition, Animal Crackers is the perfect distraction from life's daily cares -- much as the original film was for audiences in 1930.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
November 2005
Anita Bryant Died For Your Sins
Florida Studio Theater - Keating Mainstage

Despite its title, Anita Bryant Died for Your Sins has little to do with her except that her crusade against homosexual rights makes gay Horace Poore, the main character, apprehensive. Despite being touted as a contemporary Our Town, the major likeness here is that Horace narrates the play. He does so by typing-out-loud the story of how he gets through life amid the events and changes of the 1960s and '70s, bound up with what happens to his family.

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
April 2004
Anna in the Tropics
Coconut Grove Playhouse - Mainstage

Playwright Nilo Cruz directs his Pultizer Prize-winning Anna in the Tropics to stunning effect in Miami at Coconut Grove Playhouse with an assist from set designer Adrian W. Jones. This is Cruz's paean to the power of story-telling, filtered through a bit of the Cuban immigrant experience of late 1920s America. Mainstage audience members are primed as they take their seats before a stage bearing only a single sidelit palm tree silhouetted against dark blue, the tree leaning into the light.

Julie Calsi
Date Reviewed:
October 2004
Annie
Iroquois Amphitheater

Crusty old Harold Gray, who wrote and drew the Little Orphan Annie comic strip from 1924 until his death in 1968, once famously defended the strip's emphasis on violence with this retort: "Sweetness and light -- who the hell wants it? What's news in the newspapers? Murder, rape, and arson. That's what stories are made of."

Charles Whaley
Date Reviewed:
June 2000
Annie
Paper Mill Playhouse

Leapin' Lizards! Can it really be time for another revival of Annie? The Paper Mill is reminding us that this is the musical's 25th anniversary. Although it seems like yesterday, it has been 19 years since the Paper Mill last staged the musical that ran five-and-a-half years on Broadway.

Simon Saltzman
Date Reviewed:
November 2002
Annie
Marcus Center for the Performing Arts

For family-friendly musicals, it's hard to beat Annie. Let us count the ways: cute kids, a dog, a billionaire's digs, fancy costumes, easily recognizable good guys and bad guys, a girl searching for her lost parents, etc. No wonder the show, based on the Depression-era comic strip "Little Orphan Annie," has endured. Now more than 25 years old, Annie continues to charm with its upbeat message, best expressed in the classic tune, "Tomorrow." Sure, the formula fairly creaks with familiarity. But there's just no stopping the curly redheaded orphan from stealing our hearts.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
March 2006
Annie Get Your Gun
Golden Apple Dinner Theater

Whoopee for the Golden Apple's respecting the great Irving Berlin by doing all the music and words that he wrote for Annie Get Your Gun. Recent p.c. "revisalizers" would have us deprived of the very funny "I'm an Indian Too" and the "Indian Ceremonial" Dance that's a choreographic high point in Golden Apple's production. Luckily, we even get the clever "Old Fashioned Wedding" that Berlin wrote for a 1966 revival.

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
May 2002
Annie Get Your Gun
Drury Lane Theater

The plot resolution -- the heroine deliberately losing a contest for love of a man who won't have her any other way -- presents problems for our egalitarian society, but Irving Berlin's score for Annie Get Your Gun remains irresistible. And once the Drury Lane ensemble demonstrate that they can sell "No Business Like Show Business" as if it were written only yesterday, we have full confidence they can pull off the rest. And they do.

Mary Shen Barnidge
Date Reviewed:
January 1996
Annie Get Your Gun
Prince Music Theater

Andrea McArdle and Jeff Coon dominate the show, which essentially is the love story of Annie Oakley and Frank Butler. Historical trappings, the Indians and show biz behind-the-scenes are welcome embellishments -- side shows, if you will -- but what drives <I>Annie Get Your Gun</I> is the plot about a woman winning a man only by allowing him to think that he's the dominant one. <BR>Coon stresses his assertive and domineering character, and he sometimes neglects the romantic legato that's in his music.

Steve Cohen
Date Reviewed:
December 2006
Another Summer
Derby Dinner Playhouse

Landing the rights to produce the musical version of the much loved On Golden Pond play and film was quite a coup for Derby Dinner Playhouse. Ernest Thompson, who wrote both play and screenplay, has now written the musical's book as well as lyrics for composer Roy M. Rogosin's 18 songs. This is the third incarnation for the show, still very much a work in progress after short engagements in New Hampshire and Michigan. Its six-week stay here will allow for a great deal more fine tuning.

Charles Whaley
Date Reviewed:
February 2000
Antigone
Sixth at Penn Theater

I turned to the lady next to me, Greek scholar and co-host of KPBS' "A Way With Words," Martha Barnette, asking for her take on UCSD Professor Dr. Marianna McDonald's very contemporary translation of Sophocles' Antigone. The script is as current as tomorrow, spiced with current slang. Ms. Barnette's comment: extremely good. 

Antigone is a social commentary about government dictatorial policies and has had current application every time it's been performed throughout 2,443 years since it was written.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
April 2005
Anton in Show Business
Actors Theater Of Louisville

Jane Martin takes us backstage at the modern regional theater in the wickedly funny Anton in Show Business. Full of insider jokes and strange situations, the play does have something to say about modern theater, acting and friendship. It follows a doomed-from-the-start production of Chekhov's Three Sisters, presented by a fictitious San Antonio theater. The cast includes a TV star, a New York playwright and a aspiring young Texan.

Ed Huyck
Date Reviewed:
March 2000
Anton in Show Business
Actors Theater of Louisville - Bingham Theater

Another popular entry at the Humana Festival of New American Plays was Anton in Show Business, written by the mysterious Jane Martin (often thought to be a pseudonym for director Jon Jory). This spoof covers it all, from the naive ingenue (Monica Koskey), to the seen-it-all, 36-year-old veteran (Gretchen Lee Krich) and the surgery-enhanced TV star (Caitlin Miller). These three unlikely actresses all wind up in a Texas production of Chekhov's The Three Sisters. Like Chekhov's characters, they all search for meaning in a world of politics, greed and corruption.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
March 2000
Anton in Show Business
Actors Theater Of Louisville

If Jon Jory, producing director of Actors Theater of Louisville, is indeed the pseudonymous Jane Martin, playwright, as many believe, his/her Anton in Show Business is a smashing valedictory for his soon-to-end 31 years heading the renowned institution.

Charles Whaley
Date Reviewed:
March 2000
Anton in Show Business
Off-Broadway Theater

In many ways, Anton in Show Business is an ideal selection for this company's tenth anniversary production. Renaissance Theaterworks was created by a group of women to explore dramatic issues from a feminine perspective.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
October 2002
Antony and Cleopatra
Shakespeare Theater - Lansburgh

When the Romans entered, wearing high boots and World War II uniforms, I wasn't certain whether I was watching Antony and Cleopatra or the stage version of "Casablanca." If it had been the second, there might at least have been some hope of romance. Sparks. Chemistry. All of which are necessary to understand why Antony would, as Scarus said, have "kissed away kingdoms and provinces" for love of his Egyptian queen. All of which are absent between Helen Carey as Cleopatra and Tom Hewitt as Antony, who declaim rather than enact their passion.

Barbara Gross
Date Reviewed:
December 1996
Antony and Cleopatra
American Players Theater

Spring Green, WI, lies in a particularly beautiful section of the state. For 23 years, audiences have waited for the summer opening of American Players Theater, which makes its home in Spring Green. APT offers a rotating repertory of plays in its outdoor amphitheater. Most of its season typically consists of Shakespeare's plays. The two initial offerings this season consist of Antony and Cleopatra (see TotalTheater Criticopia review) and The Taming of the Shrew.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
July 2002
Anything Goes
Golden Apple Dinner Theater

As an excuse for a lot of fun songs, variations on the Charleston danced with gusto, burlesque jokes and skits tying together shipboard romances, this production of Cole Porter's old standby needs no excuses.

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
January 2002
Anything Goes
Booker High School Visual & Performing Arts Theater

Just as New York has its famed Performing Arts High School, so has Sarasota. Both have sent graduates on to careers in each's locale. This year, Sarasota's VPA Program at Booker High School has some "4s" who are likely candidates for success in college and/or arts venues. Foremost among them is smooth tenor Charlie Barnett, playing Billy Crocker, transatlantic ship stowaway and handsome romantic lead in Anything Goes.

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
April 2006
Anything Goes
Derby Dinner Playhouse

What's not to love about Derby Dinner Playhouse's sparkling take on Cole Porter's giddy romantic shipboard musical in which, indeed, Anything Goes? The dazzling music and lyrics by this native son of Peru, Indiana, are excuse enough to brush aside the silly plot and simply revel in the non-stop gorgeous and witty songs: "I Get a Kick Out of You," "You're the Top," "Easy to Love," and "It's De-Lovely," to name just a few.

Charles Whaley
Date Reviewed:
July 2001
Anything Goes
Broadway Theater Center

One of Milwaukee's top theater troupes, the venerable Skylight Opera Theater, closes its 45th season with a rousing production of Cole Porter's Anything Goes. Using the updated 1987 version of this musical evergreen, Skylight understands that it's the music that carries the evening. From "You're the Top," "I Get a Kick Out of You," "Friendship" and "It's De-Lovely," plus the title song, Anything Goes overflows with musical riches. The tunes are so wonderful that it helps to obscure the corny plot, which concerns a multitude of shipboard romances.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
May 2004
Anything Goes
Westminster Theater

Anything Goes has an interesting heritage. It began life at the Alvin Theater in New York City in November 1934. It was revived at the Orpheum Theater in 1962. In 1987 it was updated and some other Cole Porter songs were added. In between there were also film and television productions. The musical may be 73 years old, but its story is a classic, and Cole Porter's tunes are memorable. Vanguard Productions' staging, under the competent direction of Sue Murphy, features Lesley K. Person as Reno, a manipulative lady who knows how to get things done.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
July 2007
Actors Alliance Festival 2007 - Program 2
Lyceum Space

The Honking Geese is produced and directed by Dallas McLaughlin. The sketch comedy is written and performed by Nick McCann, Dallas McLaughlin, Sean O'Donnell and Brad Davis. The pieces are collectively billed as “Sketch comedy gone wild.” This is a bit of an understatement. The various pieces are quite different and produce an interesting audience response that, many times, is age-based. Some bits appeal to the general audience; some are only appreciated by the younger members. Well, something for everyone.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
July 2007
Actors Alliance Festival 2007 - Program 1
Lyceum Space

The Festival at Actors Alliance of San Diego's Program One provides a mixed bag of treats. Let's get right to them:

The Pygmalion Project, written and directed by George Soete, produced by Eric Poppick, stars Julie Inmon and Duane Weekly, as a quite backward couple from a small hamlet in Arkansas. They are contacted by a couple from New York, Amee Wood and Eric Poppick, who have strange but unidentified plans for the Arkansas lady. This is some kind of extremely extreme makeover.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
July 2007
Actors Alliance Festival 2007 - Special Program
Lyceum Space

Let the plays begin. Actors Alliance of San Diego have begun their run of short plays, and what a festive beginning this year. The Space at the Lyceum is the location of this grand event. Over thirty plays and over 100 actors and directors in five programs play the Special Program and Youthfest. Each program runs two nights. You are sure to find many plays you like with a host of excellent actors and actresses.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
July 2007
Actors Alliance Festival 2007 - Program 3
Lyceum Space

Program Three of the Actors Festival is a truly mixed bag; a wee bit of something for just about every taste. So let's get started.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
July 2007
Actors Alliance Festival 2007 - Program 4
Lyceum Space

Program Four of the Actors Alliance Festival is an interesting mix of local writers and the likes of Harold Pinter and Stephen Sondheim. Let's take a quick look at the five pieces.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
July 2007
Actors Alliance Festival 2007 - Program 5
Lyceum Space

All good things, I fear, do come to an end. Actors Alliance of San Diego's Actors Festival 2007 has but a very few more events.

Tall Tale , produced and directed by George Soete, begins Program Five. Steve Koppman penned this tale of two princes from Queens who discover the truth. One, played by Dave Rich, is overly impressed with his prowess with the opposite sex, while the other, Rob Conway, tries to cut through the thick layer of obfuscation. Amusing study of young men in action -- or is that inaction?

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
July 2007
Adding Machine, The
La Jolla Playhouse - Potiker Theater

Elmer Rice was not only a prolific writer; he was extremely versatile and covered a myriad of genres including drama, comedy, musical, romance, mystery, documentary and fantasy. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1929 for his controversial Street Scene. He may have been the first American playwright to embrace expressionism with The Adding Machine, currently playing at the Potiker Theater at La Jolla Playhouse.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
September 2007

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