Photo by Drew FarrellMelody Grove in The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart THE STRANGE UNDOING OF PRUDENCIA HART4 stars (out of 5)National Theatre of Scotland@ Back Bar (Top of the Hill)Through Sept. 20 If strange be the tales that are invoked by strong drink, the National Theatre of Scotland has ginned up a production to […]
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Ray Dooley electrifies in PlayMakers’ production of An Iliad
Photo by Jon Gardiner for PlayMakers RepRay Dooley in An Iliad AN ILIAD* * * * * starsPRC2 @ Kenan Theatre, UNC campusSept. 5-9 We think of Homer as the first bard, the beginner of dramatic storytelling. But storytelling is as old as dirt: ancient, the collected dust of time that retains the human imprint. […]
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Heroic puppetry, but how late? Hot Summer Nights / Theatre Raleigh’s AVENUE Q
photo by Lauren KennedyThe cast of Hot Summer Nights / Theatre Raleigh’s AVENUE Q AVENUE Q4 stars (out of 5)Hot Summer Nights / Theatre RaleighFletcher Opera House, Progress Energy Centerthrough Aug. 19www.hotsummernightsatthekennedy.org It’s hard enough being one character on stage in a musical. In Hot Summer Nights / Theater Raleigh’s lively production of AVENUE Q, […]
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DVD+Digital: The quiet brilliance of The Artist
courtesy of the Weinstein Company It all seems a little too cute, doesn’t it? THE ARTIST is a black-and-white silent film, shot in the archaic 4:3 aspect ratio, about the Old Hollywood silent film era. And it’s French! And it won the Best Picture Oscar! I was skeptical, too—this seemed like the sort of artsy, […]
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DVD+Digital: The comic genius of Louis C.K.
Courtesy of FX Too much good TV, that’s the problem. It’s impossible to keep up with all the quality series on television these days – Mad Men, True Blood, Boardwalk Empire, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Homeland, Girls. Well, not impossible, but certainly tricky, and you have to give up things like family and […]
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When The Spinning Stopped: LES MISERABLES’ 25th Anniversary at Progress Energy Center
Deen van MeerAt the Barricade: Jeremy Hays, Max Quinlan and Chasten Harmon in LES MISERABLES LES MISÉRABLES4 stars out of 5Broadway Series South/North Carolina TheatreThrough Feb. 19 There’s a certain contradiction when a production celebrates the 25th anniversary of a world-wide musical theater phenomenon by completely discarding the original’s landmark production concept—and then cutting, according […]
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Corners cut, and an audience divided: Green Day’s AMERICAN IDIOT
Van Hughes in AMERICAN IDIOT AMERICAN IDIOT3.5 stars (out of 5)Broadway Series South / North Carolina TheatreThrough Feb. 5 Unfortunately, AMERICAN IDIOT is not—repeat, not—the great American grunge opera. Not with seven central characters this poorly defined and developed. And not with a flimsy book that reads, more than once, like a downer version of […]
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Good and evil siblings—and both with a father to match: PRC2’s brilliant A NUMBER
PRC photo by Andrea AkinRay Dooley and Josh Barrett in A NUMBER at PRC2. A NUMBER5 STARS — HIGHEST RECOMMENDATIONPlaymakers Repertory Company – PRC2Kenan Theatre, UNCThrough Sep. 11 Given that Caryl Churchill’s drama A NUMBER is at least ostensibly about cloning, you could say that each production mounted out of the theatrical DNA embedded in […]
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Lovely—but far too fleeting: Koka Booth Amphitheatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
photo by Nora MurphyLucius Robinson as Puck and Chris Muntel as Oberon in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM4 stars out of 5Koka Booth AmphitheatreClosed August 28www.boothamphitheatre.com Cary’s incremental embrace of live theater at Koka Booth Amphitheatre—still too little, if not too late—continued (and concluded) for another year with a brief but notable […]
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Diagnosis: aesthetic anorexia MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE at Burning Coal
Peace activist Rachel Corrie MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE1.5 stars (out of 5)Wait Till You See ThisBurning Coal Theatrethrough May 22 There’s minimalism. There’s out-and-out starkness. And then—unfortunately—there’s the form of aesthetic anorexia that director Tea Alagic and actor Alice Turner have come up with in this production of MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE. Throughout […]