It’s a mystery, a challenge, a puzzle, a conundrum. How do you keep theater alive and interesting, when the majority of your audience has proven their relative preference for familiar shows, revivals of familiar shows, and shows based on familiar movies or T.V. programs, and takes a wait-and-see attitude when presented with a play that …
Monthly Archives: July 2015
The Sonoma County Stage One Theatre Arts Awards – July 22, 2015
It is better, they say, to give than to receive. That must be why so many groups gather so often to give so many awards to so many people for their efforts in so many different art forms connected to so many different award-worthy fields of endeavor. Though most people in show business are buzzing …
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“Shiner” – July 16, 2015
For those who prefer not to travel far for their onstage entertainment, and like to avoid any excursions into foreign territory, there are, fortunately, a tremendous number of nearby theater companies. But for those who like experiencing the new and exotic, and don’t mind working a bit to get there, may I suggest a trip …
“Twelfth Night” – July 15, 2015
“Twelfth Night” is amongst Shakespeare’s most popular plays, in part because the story is so accessible, and the situations so universally funny. Typical of the Bard, humor and tragedy are never far from each other. A young woman, Viola, grieves for her twin brother Sebastian after surviving a shipwreck in which she believes he drowned. …
“Twelfth Night;” “Cymbeline” – July 8, 2015
There’s an old Latin saying. “Aestivo Tempori est Shakespeare!” Roughly translated: There’s no better time to watch Shakespeare than in the summertime! I don’t know when summer became so connected to the Bad Bard of Avon, but there’s no denying that the moment the weather gets nice, along comes a troupe of iambic-pentameter talking actors …
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“The Count of Monte Cristo;” and “A Long Day’s Journey Into Night” – July 6, 2015
One of the cool things about the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the current season of which I have been reporting on lately, is the way it often programs shows that cleverly comment on each other in interesting ways. This year’s festival, which runs through November 1st up in Ashland, Oregon, has one particularly creative pairing of …
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“Antony and Cleopatra;” and “Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land” – July 2, 2015
The good, the bad and the ugly. It’s not just the name of an old Clint Eastwood movie. It’s also a fitting way to think about this year’s Oregon Shakespeare Festival, currently running in Ashland on OSF’s three world-class stages. Yesterday I talked about the VERY GOOD “Head Over Heels,” a new musical by Jeff …
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“Head Over Heels” – July 1, 2015
Well, the recent Supreme Court ruling affirming marriage equality to all couldn’t be better timed, ‘cause the big celebration’s already started up in Ashland, Oregon, and this dance party’s got somethin’ special on the record player. It’s got the Go-Go’s. Well . . . it has a bunch of Go-Go songs, if not the actual …