Washing off the dust of daily life
As the Hershey Company so sagaciously observed, sometimes you feel like a nut; sometimes you don’t. Hershey may have been commenting solely on the relative, momentary gastronomic worth of an Almond Joy...
View ArticleJust like real life
Have you ever seen the movie Color of Night? Starring Bruce Willis prior to his Pulp Fiction-fueled career renaissance and co-starring an almost always-naked Jane March (as well as decidedly more...
View ArticleShe went and made it after all
If you can’t help but sing the title of this review (in your head, at least) to the melody of the opening theme to The Mary Tyler Moore Show, you probably know who Molly Ivins was. If you’re asking...
View ArticleDrinking away Christmas Eve in Conor McPherson’s ‘The Seafarer’
Christmastime and booze go together like Santa Claus and reindeer, like snow on the ground and a fire in the hearth. There’s a reason you don’t hear the term “holiday drunk” thrown around on...
View ArticleCirque Dreams Holidaze is a real Christmas circus
In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re just about up to our roasty chestnuts in the holiday season. Everywhere you turn, bells are jingling, eggs are nogging and Santas are Clausing. Battalions of...
View ArticleAnd now for something completely different
Unlike the 20-something I overheard on Pearl Street the other day exclaiming to her friends that she was “literally shitting bricks” as she awaited a call or text from some unnamed hottie she met at...
View ArticlePeak performances in new play from BETC
Color me a hopeless romantic, but I say fuck Valentine’s Day. Sure, the holiday has its liturgical and secular historical bases, but as it exists today it is nothing more than a crass, commercialized...
View ArticleSquare Product proves they’re no squares
Driving home from seeing Boulderbased Square Product Theatre’s latest, 5 Lesbians Eating A Quiche, I was reminded of the Oscar Paradox. The Oscar Paradox, according to me, is the phenomenon that Oscar...
View ArticleLove and harmony combine
People— well, some, at least — bemoan the e-assault on the printed word. Progress is making tombstones of tomes. It’s easy to believe that the days of Sunday newspapers waiting on doorsteps and...
View ArticleDown Southie
Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of knowing a few people from the area of South Boston known as Southies. To a one, they have fit the Southie stereotype: No-nonsense, hard working, loud, proud...
View ArticleDown Southie
Playwright David Lindsay-Abaire works through some issues Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of knowing a few people from the area of South Boston known as Southies. To a one, they have fit the...
View ArticleLate to the zombie party
The popular platitude to the contrary, sometimes you actually can judge a book by its cover or — in the case of theatre — a play by its title. Where a Copenhagen or a Metamorphoses could have just...
View ArticleA lie told often enough
Back in the aughts, the Bug Theatre Company consistently produced exciting, affecting theatre of a kind not commonly seen elsewhere. Its hauntingly beautiful 2003 production of Alchemy of Desire/Dead...
View ArticleNobody puts Falstaff in a corner
Now in its 57th season, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival is enjoying a wellearned renaissance. The 2014 CSF is full of interesting, high-quality offerings, chief of which is the uproarious The Merry...
View ArticleOpposites attract
During the mid-1960s when his soon-to-be-legendary career as a playwright was just taking off, Neil Simon decided to tweak the longstanding trope of the mismatched companions. Stretching back at least...
View ArticleForgiving the unforgivable
The trickiest part about The Tricky Part, Martin Moran’s 2004 Obie Award-winning play, was for Moran to tell the true story of the years of sexual abuse he endured as a child in a way that was both...
View ArticleThe church basement ladies are back
Where Hollywood can’t get enough of reboots, reimaginings and sequels — why else Jaws: The Revenge or The Expendables 3? — in live theatre, sequels are the exception rather than the rule. Perhaps in...
View ArticleJust say, “D’oh!”
Remember back in elementary school when you could get an A for effort? The end result of your effort might have earned a C, or even a D, but the dedication and hard work you put in shone through, and...
View ArticleWestward ho!
When is a meditation really an illustration? Though I don’t believe playwright Anthony Clarvoe or the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company (BETC) set out to answer, or necessarily even pose, that question...
View ArticleChristmas keeper
The world has turned all red and green. Every kid is on his or her best behavior. Christmas tree lots are springing up like mushrooms after a hard rain and lights are twinkling on houses and businesses...
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