SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET★★★ ½ Paul Green Theatre, Chapel Hill Through April 23 I was mildly aghast: noticeably tentative—and not always audible—voices, sometimes pitchy and off time? True, it was only a Facebook video preview for Sweeney Todd at PlayMakers Repertory Company, but as an online advertisement, it hardly instilled confidence […]
Byron Woods
Bio: Byron Woods is the INDY's theater and dance critic.Email: [email protected]: http://twitter.com/byronwoods
Posted inCulture
Broadway Composer Stephen Schwartz Halts N.C. Shows to Protest HB 2, Encourages Others to Follow
When Gov. McCrory called opposition to HB 2 “political theater,” he probably didn’t foresee a response from the national theater community. But now the curtain’s going up on the state’s first professional entertainment embargo, one whose effects have the potential to change the face of theater and other live entertainment in North Carolina. It follows […]
Posted inArt
The Triangle’s First Women’s Theatre Festival Takes Aim at Issues of Gender Parity
The roles of women in theater have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years. A landmark Princeton study in 2009 found widespread discrimination against female playwrights: Theater professionals across the country judged identical manuscripts to be significantly worse when they were submitted under women’s names rather than men’s. Works featuring women were much less likely […]
Posted inArt
Stage Magician Joshua Lozoff Returns to the Place Where He First Learned to Use His Illusion
JOSHUA LOZOFF: LIFE IS MAGIC The ArtsCenter, Carrboro Saturday, March 19, 2 & 7 p.m., $12–$18 Long before his acting career landed him in movies and TV shows like Clueless and Cheers, where he played Carla Tortelli’s son, Joshua Lozoff learned his first card trick in a children’s magic class at The ArtsCenter in 1982. […]
Posted inArt
Durham’s Ward Theatre Company Debuts With the Hottest Show—and the Hottest Tub—in Town
JACUZZI Ward Theatre Company, Durham Through March 20, $25 In the Triangle, we’ve gotten used to seeking out bleeding-edge theater in the unlikeliest places. Cinderblock palaces, former mills or packing plants, rural farms and urban greenways, streets and alleysall have served as hardscrabble venues for Little Green Pig Theatrical Concern, Bare Theatre, and Seed Art […]
Posted inTheater
Playwright Kimber Lee Indicts Systemic Neglect for a Gang Murder in Brooklyn
BROWNSVILLE SONG (B-SIDE FOR TRAY) Manbites Dog Theater, Durham Thursday, Feb. 25–Thursday, March 12 $5–$25 Kimber Lee says the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brownsville has been the kind of place that only makes the news when something bad happens. “Oh look, someone was raped or shot or stabbed in Brownsville,” Lee says. “It’s just for a […]
Posted inCulture
Theater Review: Revising A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters Pays Off in Poignancy
Love Letters ★★★ ½ Bare Theatre @ Sonorous Road Productions, Raleigh Through Feb. 28 Love Letters, A.R. Gurney’s unconventional epistolary drama from 1989, usually features two actors seated side by side on an otherwise empty stage, traversing the lifelong friendship of central characters Melissa and Andy through five decades of their correspondence. As the text […]
Posted inArt
Raleigh Little Theatre’s Sweeney Todd Is Sharp at the Point, Duller at the Edges
SWEENEY TODD Raleigh Little Theatre, Raleigh Thurs.–Sun. through March 6, $20–$27 Our well-being comes at a high karmic price: the termination of the plant and animal life we consume. This qualifies the pacifism of even the most devout Buddhist; of necessity, we are all killers. The rest is a matter of ethics and degreea question […]
Posted inCulture
Theater Review: Blue Sky is Politically Admirable. But What About Artistry?
Blue Sky ★★★ CAM Raleigh, Raleigh Through Feb. 14 When a playwright, a director, and actors are unable to create fully believable characters and situations, it’s sometimes hard to say where the difficulty lies. Often enough, gifted work in one or two categories can overcome the problems in a third; in a recent example, inspired […]
Posted inArt
The Lion King Choreographer Garth Fagan on the Raptures and Challenges of Crafting a Hit Musical
THE LION KING Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham Tuesday, Feb. 16–Sunday, March 20, $33–$83 The work for which most choreographers will be rem-embered remains a toss-up as long as they’re alive. Not so with Garth Fagan, whose five decades of fusing modern experimentation and balletic rigor with African and Caribbean dance won him a lifetime […]
