Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s musical Into the Woods premiered three years before Robert Bly’s Iron John sent men into the wilderness as part of the “mythopoetic men’s movement,” complete with sweat lodges, drum circles, chanting, and other rituals designed to restore a pre-industrialization notion of masculinity, combined with Joseph Campbell’s “hero’s journey” narratives. The […]
Tag: Jeffrey D. Kmiec
Posted inTheater Review
Flawlessly in tune
Originally conceived in the mid-70s as a vehicle for Nell Carter but opening on Broadway in 1981 with Jennifer Holliday in the role that might have been Carter’s (if Carter’s Hollywood career had not blown up), Tom Eyen and Henry Krieger’s musical about the rise of an African American girl group the Dreams (modeled on […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Earth to Kenzie has a message: kids are homeless too
There are three public performances of Lyric’s new children’s opera this weekend.
Posted inArts & Culture
Hollis Resnik is big, but the score stays small in Porchlight’s Sunset Boulevard
A great star turn can’t quite overcome the limitations of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1993 musical.
Posted inArts & Culture
The Undeniable Sound of Right Now enables an aging rockist with dying dreams
The nostalgic tones don’t resonate quite as fully with the modern music scene as they could.
Posted inArts & Culture
Frost/Nixon depicts the thoughtfulness and grace of . . . Richard Nixon?
Oh, the good old days when a former president admitted to criminal complicity on prime-time television!
Posted inArts & Culture
The School for Lies, At the Table, and seven more new stage shows to see now
A spritely update of the Molière classic and a revival of Broken Nose Theatre’s hit are among this week’s best bets.
Posted inArts & Culture
Porchlight’s Sweeney Todd puts the demon barber back in business
Porchlight Music Theatre’s intimate Sweeney Todd adds pathos to the horror in Sondheim’s masterpiece.