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New This Week:
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| The Color Purple |
My take: This hit musical has been impressing everyone since its 2005 Broadway debut. "Go see it!" says Michelle Kenyon at Snoop's Theatre Thoughts. "Based on a modern classic novel and featuring a superb cast and simple but stunning production values, this is a show that needs to be seen."
The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents a staged reading of the play Hurricane Colleen on Thursday, March 29, at 7:30 pm as part of the Ignite! Festival. "Six months after their sister Colleen has died of cancer, two women rent a beach house in Melbourne, Fla., to scatter her ashes. But when a tropical depression suddenly turns into a hurricane and strange encounters with wildlife occur, the sisters struggle to ride out the storms both outside and inside. From the author of Molly's Hammer, developed in Ignite! and produced at The Rep in 2016." The reading takes place at UMSL at Grand Center, 3651 Olive. For more information: repstl.org.
My take: I was mighty impressed by Molly's Hammer when I saw it back in 2016 at the Rep Studio, so I'm inclined to recommend this reading on the basis of that alone. And the Rep's Ignite! Festival is a goo way to see new plays being born.
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| Stiff |
My take: This is a provocative piece about a little-known issue. "The absorbing drama," writes Mark Bretz at Ladue News, "is presented in an informal, casual discussion fashion, as Ward addresses the audience about her condition, informing with humorous slides which accompany her performance. She demonstrates considerable humor and courage in her presentation, aided by Galloway’s carefully crafted direction."
Held Over:
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| As It Is in Heaven Photo by John Lamb |
My take: What happens when the sweet bye and bye suddenly becomes the here and now? Arlene Hutton's 2001 Off-Broadway play examines what happens when miracles apparently become real. "There are probably a hundred ways a sweet little play like As It Is in Heaven could have gone wrong," writes Richard Green at talkinbroadway.com, "yet somehow this delicate but powerful Shaker drama emerges as both simple and free, under the direction of Deanna Jent. Cast and crew skirt every imaginable pitfall along the way". On his Stage Door blog, Steve Allen says this show "will fill you with awe at their devotion to God and community and make you laugh and cry at the touches of humanity that go beyond faith into the trials of everyday life.
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| Born Yesterday Photo by Jerry Naunheim, Jr. |
My take: A boorish bully who knows the price of everything and the value of noting blows into our nation's capital, corrupting everything he touches. No, it's not today's headlines, but rather the 1946 stage hit by Garson Kanin. The Rep's excellent production doesn't make any effort to draw the parallel with the current circus in our nation's capitol because it doesn't need to; the quality of the acting, direction, and tech all speak for themselves and the issues addressed in the script are, sadly, timeless. If I have a complaint, it's that Kanin seems to have had a bit too much faith in the average citizen's ability to avoid being bamboozled. But maybe that makes it that much more important to see this play now.
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| Menopause the Musical |
My take: This popular ensemble show has been around for a while now, having premiered in 2001 in Orlando, Florida, in a 76-seat theatre that once housed a perfume shop. It's last visit at the Westport Playhouse was ten years ago, and it seems to have lost none of it's comic shine. "Who will enjoy this," asks Ann Lemmons Pollack in a review of the show last year, "beyond women of what they call un age certain? People of both genders around them unless they have no sense of humor. That includes family, friends and co-workers. One of life's cruel jokes is that the menopause hits many households about the same time adolescence does. Here's something to tide us over." Since this is effectively a remounting of that same production, I think I'm on safe ground putting it on the hit list, as I did last January.
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