All Entries in the "Reviews" Category
Weston’s ‘La Mancha’ hurls down gauntlet to begin 80th season
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Anyone who was around in the ’60s and ’70s has probably heard at least a dozen of the hundreds of cover recordings of “The Impossible Dream,” the signature song of the musical Man Of La Mancha. Whether it was Andy Williams or Frank Sinatra or Jim Nabors […]
The ABC’s of fun abound in ‘Schoolhouse Rock, Live!’
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Anyone who raised a child and had access to television may have at least a passing knowledge of Schoolhouse Rock. But, for the uninitiated, Schoolhouse Rock was a collection of energetic, three-minute animated musicals about various academic topics that were broadcast between children’s cartoons on ABC every […]
Northern Stage delivers a farcical feast in ‘Living Together,’
first in ‘Norman Conquests’ trilogy
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC White River Junction’s Northern Stage finishes off its 2015-16 season with Alan Ayckbourn’s comic Living Together, the first in a trilogy of plays known collectively as “The Norman Conquests” (more about that later). For anyone who delights in the absurdities of Britcoms, Living Together is a feast of […]
‘The Mountaintop’ an interesting trip, with a confusing view
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC White River Junction’s Northern Stage continues its season with Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop, a fictionalized account of Martin Luther King Jr.’s final day, that begins as a realistic drama then veers into the otherworldly. And while the idea is an interesting one, the execution borders on the schizophrenic. […]
Comic ‘Baskervilles’ a howling success at Northern Stage
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC White River Junction’s Northern Stage serves up a huge helping of British silliness with The Hound of the Baskervilles, the 2007 comic adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic Sherlock Holmes novel. This featherbrained adaptation by Steven Canny and John Nicholson has a lot going for it, but […]
Northern Stage’s ‘Mad Love’ a crowd-pleaser, but carries heavy baggage
By David Lampe-Wilson © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC White River Junction’s Northern Stage approaches the dead of winter on an adventurous path with Marisa Smith’s new comedy Mad Love and judging by audience reaction during a recent preview performance, it has the potential of being a real crowd pleaser. Mad Love is a 21st-century rom-com […]
‘Mary Poppins’ offers top-drawer performances on a dazzling set
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC White River Junction’s Northern Stage enters the holiday season with the musical Mary Poppins and, as seen in a preview, there is a lot to recommend it — performances, costumes, color — but it is an uphill battle for its talented cast. Someone once described a camel as […]
‘Our Town’ a stunning inaugural play at new Barrette Center
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC White River Junction’s Northern Stage inaugurates its new home at the Barrette Center for the Arts with a heartfelt production of Thornton Wilder’s 1938 Pulitzer Prize-winning play Our Town. Viewed during a recent preview performance, Our Town stuns in its quiet simplicity. Our Town chronicles the lives of […]
Weston’s ‘Glass Menagerie’ achingly exquisite
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC Weston Playhouse buttons up its 2015 season with an achingly exquisite production of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie. This American classic is a touchstone of 20th century theater, a play that broke down barriers between actor and audience, tinkered with time and place, and turned life into very […]
‘Road to Where’ with energy, wit and intelligence it’s worth the trip
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Other Stage at Weston’s Rod and Gun Club has been transformed into a warm, intimate faux Irish pub, complete with tables and chairs at which audience members can consume a liter or two of ginger beer as they enjoy the Weston Playhouse’s latest production, The Road to […]
‘Guys and Dolls:’ Great possibilities when it finds right pace
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC High-rolling gamblers, low-life gangsters, free-spirited showgirls and sanctimonious soul savers take to the stage in a workman-like version of Guys and Dolls, playing through Aug. 22 at the Weston Playhouse. Filled with wit, heart and hummable songs, Guys and Dolls is based on Damon Runyon’s stories “The Idyll […]
Powerful vibrancy to Weston Playhouse’s lean ‘Other Place’
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC While Weston Playhouse’s Main Stage provides a space for lavish music and dance productions, its Other Stage concentrates on honing small gems in bare-bones productions. The emphasis at the Other Stage is on character and intimate playing, and its current production The Other Place offers a host of […]
WPTC’s ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ is ‘fast-paced, deliciously daffy’
By David Lampe-Wilson © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC The power of the imagination, once freed, seems limitless and releasing that power is the task set forth by Peter and the Starcatcher, the five-time Tony Award winning play now on stage at the Weston Playhouse. You really have to admire how the cast takes the stage, […]
‘Pump Boys and Dinettes’ serves up non-stop, high-octane fun
By David Lampe-Wilson © 2015-Telegraph Publishing LLC Weston Playhouse serves up a heapin’ helpin’of piping-hot, southern-fried jubilation with its opening production Pump Boys and Dinettes, an unpretentious evening of song, dance and musical fun. The show, seen during a preview performance, has a slim thread of a plot that runs through it, but that never […]
Weston’s ‘Junie B. Jones’ a sugar cookie delight for kids, adults alike
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC There are many things to look at in judging whether a show is successful or not. There are the performances, of course, but there’s also lighting, sets, costumes, staging and choreography among others. When it comes to a show for kids, however, there’s one more thing – […]
Weston’s updated ‘Uncle Vanya’ is fresh though uneven
By David Lampe-Wilson ©The Chester Telegraph – 2014 Weston Playhouse’s current production of Uncle Vanya is a decidedly mixed bag, and it takes a dedicated theatergoer to patiently separate the gold from the dross and find the rich nuggets that lie within. Americans’ exposure to classic theater is often limited, and Chekhov has not fared […]
‘A Chorus Line’ steps, kicks, then touches our hearts, again
By David Lampe-Wilson ©The Chester Telegraph – 2014 Nearly four decades after it opened on Broadway, A Chorus Line remains a “singular sensation,” at least as seen onstage at the Weston Playhouse Theater. A show primarily about dance and the dancers, the current production in Weston is cast with triple threats: they can sing, they […]
Orlandersmith takes us on her rich journey in ‘Stoop Stories’
By David Lampe-Wilson ©The Chester Telegraph – 2014 While musicals and comedies are the expected bounty of the summer theater season, a brief evening of pointed drama can stimulate the mind, so many summer theatergoers will welcome Stoop Stories, now at Weston Playhouse’s Second Stage. Theater, poetry and performance art meet in Dael Orlandersmith’s onewoman show, […]
Gales of laughter blow through Weston Playhouse in V&S&M&S
By David Lampe-Wilson You would be hard-pressed to find a more stellar evening of summer theater than Weston Playhouse’s hilarious production of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, the Tony Award-winning comedy by Christopher Durang. The play revolves around a trio of eccentric siblings who, having reached middle age, find that they have little […]
Powerful performances elevate ‘Analog and Vinyl’
By David Lampe-Wilson Weston Playhouse kicks off its 78th season with the world premiere of the musical Analog and Vinyl, a meet-cute love story with a dash of demonic doings. And while there is much to recommend it, this new musical plays less like a finished work and more like an upscale workshop. The show’s […]
