A musical about the darkest days of AIDS shows its student-effort roots, but provides a stirring score.
Author Archives: Justin Hayford
The Spitfire Grill runs on corn
American Blues Theater’s production finds some honesty amid the musical cliches.
Now and Then loses its place in time
The stakes are too low in this musical about the life span of a gay relationship.
Ada and the Engine is more mechanical tool than finely calibrated dramatic device
The gears keep spinning, but we never get anywhere.
The D&D-Shakespeare mash-up Love’s & Labour’s is raw, messy—and endearing
Odd’s Bodkins has created a highly idiosyncratic production steeped in quirky earnestness.
In Life on Paper, Jackalope once again turns straw into gold.
Gus Menary’s ensemble transforms Kenneth Lin’s mechanical script into a warm, nuanced production.
Bloomsday transcends its preposterous plot with nuanced musings on age and regret
It should be a trainwreck, but it’s not, just so long as you put your intellect on hold.
Ionesco’s Killing Game gets too busy with the dying
There’s not enough room in this scattershot world for ideas to deepen.
In Mad Hip Beat & Gone, two teens split Nebraska to find their bliss
Steven Dietz’s historical drama starts strong but gets “tangled up in roads.”
The Gamergate-inspired drama Non-Player Character doesn’t bother to challenge audience assumptions
It provides all the answers to the central dilemma that you’d expect.
Bright Star will try the patience of even the most tenderhearted romantic
Grief and villainy are no match for optimism, dumb luck, and a banjo.
Refuge Theatre lifts Hands on a Hardbody out of complete banality
“If you want something,” they sing, “keep your hands on it.”
Detour Guide isn’t sure where it’s going
Karim Nagi takes his audience on a tour of the Arab world beyond Aladdin.
The final 15 minutes of Dutch Masters are devastating
But Greg Keller’s script takes way too long to get there.
An Inspector Calls has all the nuance of a thermonuclear blast
Don’t worry, you won’t have any trouble following this one.