Tag: Vol. 34 No. 42

Riding the zeitgeist like Slim Pickens on his nuclear steed, Striding Lion InterArts Workshop remounts its hit mini rock opera, inspired by the eponymous Frank Zappa operetta on 1972’s Just Another Band From L.A. The group-conceived script expands the narrative–about an anthropomorphic mountain and his cross-country trek–expertly introducing echoes of WWII boosterism, duck-and-cover 50s propaganda, […]

We’re deep in “hey kids, let’s put on a show” territory here, and the production’s tolerable only as long as you keep that in mind. Tell yourself that the infant Easy Street Players are merely cutting their teeth on Neil Simon’s 1963 comedy about newlyweds newly moved into their first apartment, and certain problems don’t […]

Sex, cheek, and contemporary pop culture turbocharge Noble Fool Theatricals’ cleverly designed update of the Gilbert and Sullivan standby, directed by Amy Binns-Calvey. The gentlemen of Japan shed their kimonos, for example, in favor of pinstripes, cell phones, subways, and sushi bars, where they ogle porn and Little Maids in SailorMoon anime schoolgirl outfits. The […]

The scrappy Velvet Willies specialize in bare-bones Shakespeare; this show’s only design elements are a sloppily varnished plywood stage, two chairs, and costumes that are (mostly) street clothes. The result is a Hamlet mercifully free of concepts, and Jeff Harnish’s brisk, uncluttered staging does concentrate the action and focus attention on the text. Still, Peter […]

Caitlin Montanye Parrish’s new play focuses on a teenage brother and sister from a small town in north Florida as they come to terms with the death of their monstrous father. Throw in a couple of similarly troubled sidekicks–a suicidal cutter and a persecuted gay guy–and you’ve got four very sad kids. And that’s about […]