11/08/2009

ON BROADWAY
NEW YORK — Neil Simon was the crossover comedy king of Broadway and Hollywood for three decades, beginning when “Barefoot in the Park” and three other major shows overlapped in New York in the 1960s.

Cirque-like shows coming to PPAC, Foxwoods
From the time he was 10 years old, Chris Lashua spent every waking moment on a bicycle. Now he is building bicycle-like contraptions that are at the heart of a cirque-type show that is coming to PPAC next Saturday. “Cirque Mechanics” is a blend of acrobatics, aerial acts and contortion routines linked to the operations of simple machines that takes place in a factory setting.

11/01/2009

“Widow’s Broom” flies in Festival Ballet’s improved version
PROVIDENCE — “The Widow’s Broom” may not sweep-you off your feet. But it may give you a lift.

Arts Bulletin Board: Nov. 1
AUDITIONS

Soundheim sounds off on the state of the theater
Now, the legendary composer is on stage himself, dishing with former critic Frank Rich

10/30/2009

‘Shooting Star’ shines at Trinity
“Shooting Star,” a romantic comedy written by Steven Dietz, is now playing at Trinity Rep, 201 Washington St., Providence. It’s the story of a couple who accidentally reconnect 25 years after breaking up. Our review called it charming and endearing, with crisp writing and good acting. It runs through Nov. 22. For tickets, $20 to $65, call (401) 351-4242 or visit trinityrep.com.

10/29/2009

Humor gets its due at Gamm’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’
Gamm’s “Romeo and Juliet” tells Shakespeare’s tale of young love in both its aspects

Wiggles in Kingston on Friday
Calibrate your nap schedules. Here come the Wiggles.

‘The Widow’s Broom’ lands at Veterans Memorial Auditorium
Get swept up in Halloween. “The Widow’s Broom” is this weekend at Veterans Memorial Auditorium.

Fallon, Wright team up at URI’s Ryan Center
What’s so funny? Well, this weekend at the University of Rhode Island it will be two special visitors: Jimmy Fallon and Steven Wright.

Elemental Theatre’s pared-down ‘Amadeus’ will have live orchestration
It’s the most ambitious project to date for the Elemental Theatre Collective

10/25/2009

Star-studded hits obscure Broadway’s challenges
NEW YORK — While Broadway is having one of its strongest fall seasons in overall ticket sales in recent years, that unusual financial success is being driven by the star-studded productions of three plays, obscuring challenges facing several other shows.

10/24/2009

Reminiscing and reconnecting in Trinity’s ‘Shooting Star’
PROVIDENCE— Shooting Star is bit rare, a romantic comedy that is funny, but also charming and endearing, and not removed from reality.

10/23/2009

Theater review: It’s a sunny, and raunchy, day on Avenue Q
PROVIDENCE — Puppets have their place in adult theater. It’s called Avenue Q.

10/22/2009

Horse hoofs it at RISD
See a Horse show with no equestrians. Horse, an all-male dance troupe from Taiwan, performs Saturday at 8 p.m. in the RISD Auditorium, 17 Canal Walk, Providence. The troupe blends experimental theater, mime, drama and dance. This particular show, Velocity, pertains to the various pressures that pull at people in modern society.

Prancing with the stars
A horse ballet will soon begin. The Lipizzaner Stallions return to Rhode Island this weekend.

Gamm Theatre’s Shakespeare productions a study in parallels
Tony Estrella, artistic head of Pawtucket’s Gamm Theatre, was figuring he would be exploring a couple of opposites when he decided to open the season with Much Ado About Nothing and Romeo and Juliet. These two Shakespeares provide a look at the Bard in his most hilarious moments and his most tragic.

Theater Review: Fine performances can’t rescue ridiculous ‘Anna Bella Eema’
PROVIDENCE — There are good parts of Anna Bella Eema. Unfortunately, one of them is when it ends.

Avenue Q, a sort of R-rated version of Sesame Street, now at PPAC
The Tony Award-winning Avenue Q, the long-running Broadway musical whose story is told using Sesame Street-style puppets, is on stage through Sunday at the Providence Performing Arts Center. And the show is as funny as it is clever.

10/18/2009

A chat with Trinity Rep’s Curt Columbus
The artistic director talks about how a season is put together and Providence’s ranking among the nation’s best theater cities.

10/17/2009

Mansion befits Dracula’s grandeur
NEWPORT — Dracula delivers drama. It marries music and movement, plot and place.

10/18/2009

Jeff Marx went from the law to ‘Avenue Q’
As a budding lawyer, Jeff Marx joined a songwriting workshop looking for clients. He’d developed a knack for writing songs when in law school, but now he was trying to make contacts.

10/15/2009

Belcourt Castle is the set for vampire story
NEWPORT — Women, watch your necks. Everyone else, just watch the show, and the setting. It should be something: Dracula.

Shooting Star marks acting couple’s return to Trinity after 15 years
It has been 15 years since actors and real-life couple Nance Williamson and Kurt Rhoads have been on stage at Trinity Rep. And things have changed a lot. Rhoads can recall watching a couple of “hustlers” duke it out in front of the porno shop that used to be across from Trinity and is now the upscale restaurant Bravo.

10/11/2009

‘Laramie Project’: An epilogue
The fence is long gone. But the image is forever seared into memories, like a brand on cattle: A near-dead college student, his flesh so beaten, bloodied and intertwined with cord that the first passers-by mistook him for a scarecrow.

‘Laramie Project’ readings are Monday
At least three local readings of The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later are scheduled for Monday. The URI theater department will be presenting a staged reading of the play at 8 p.m. in the Robert E. Will Theater in the school’s Fine Arts Center, 105 Upper College Rd. in Kingston. Associate theater professor Bryna Wortman will direct an ensemble of Rhode Island actors. Call (401) 874-5921 or 5922.

10/08/2009

Listen to what Mark Twain has to say about money
It has been 55 years since Hal Holbrook, 84, began touring Mark Twain Tonight!, the show that has won him a Tony and enchanted fans around the country. Saturday he brings the act to Veterans Memorial Auditorium, the first time he’s played Providence in years.

Theater Review: One actor, no props, 30 different characters
Ed Shea seldom steps out from behind his director’s chair, but when he does, he puts on quite a show, as he’s doing right now at his 2nd Story Theatre in Warren. Shea has taken on the role of a German transvestite in Doug Wright’s one-man Pulitzer Prize-winner I Am My Own Wife, a tour de force for any actor.

10/04/2009

Holbrook: It’s a privilege to be Mark Twain
Hal Holbrook knew next to nothing about Mark Twain when he launched his famous one-man Twain show back in the mid-1950s. But he knew he could get bookings.

10/03/2009

Theater review: ‘Young Frankenstein’ the musical is a handsome show with a good cast
If you laughed at Young Frankenstein the film, you’ll probably love the musical, which is kicking off its national tour this week at the Providence Performing Arts Center. For this is pretty much a faithful retread of the 1974 Mel Brooks classic, with all the running gags and racy humor.

10/01/2009

Frankenstein sings this week
Young Frankenstein, the new Mel Brooks musical based on his uproarious 1974 film with Gene Wilder, launches its national tour this week at the Providence Performing Arts Center. The show opened Tuesday and runs through Sunday.

Festival Ballet aims programs at children
Kids come first this year at Festival Ballet Providence. They’re the focus of the company’s 32nd season. And it begins this weekend with a new program designed specifically for children: chatterBOXtheater.

09/27/2009

‘Young Frankenstein’ leaps from Broadway to the road, Tuesday at the Providence Performing arts Center
Actor Roger Bart has cause to celebrate Tuesday. He will not only turn 47, but he’ll be opening the national tour of Young Frankenstein at the Providence Performing Arts Center.

Mel Brooks lauds ‘Young Frankenstein’ cast
Mel Brooks won’t be coming to Providence to see his baby — Young Frankenstein — launch its national tour Tuesday at the Providence Performing Arts Center. He’s been under the weather with a cold and his doctor advised against flying.