Stage
You may have noticed we theater critics often spend much of our allotted word count telling you the story of a play. To be honest, we sometimes do this to get out of writing mean things about hapless actors or directors. Other times, we can't think of much to say
We Recommend
If there's one show every theater practitioner in America "knows" is overproduced, it's Neil Simon's 1965 comedy The Odd Couple. As Lakewood Playhouse's artistic director, John Munn, pointed out to me many times, however, that reputation isn't fully deserved. I, for one, had never actually seen a
Travel
If this is your first trip to Olympia, welcome! I feel an affinity, as I've only lived here since 2007. It took months to wrap my head around the flagrantly liberal banter in Orca Books, introverted hints of "the Seattle freeze" in local taverns, and the mind-expanding pleasures of real
Stage
If there's one show every theater practitioner in America "knows" is overproduced, it's Neil Simon's 1965 comedy The Odd Couple. As Lakewood Playhouse's artistic director, John Munn, pointed out to me many times, however, that reputation isn't fully deserved. I, for one, had never actually seen a stage production of
We Recommend
Between 1853 and 1929, through both the American Civil War and World War I, the Orphan Train Movement shipped over a quarter of a million parentless children to the Midwestern states from overcrowded metropolises on the Eastern seaboard. Initiated by Calvinist minister Charles Loring Brace and
Stage
Between 1853 and 1929, through both the American Civil War and World War I, the Orphan Train Movement shipped over a quarter of a million parentless children to the Midwestern states from overcrowded metropolises on the Eastern seaboard. Initiated by Calvinist minister Charles Loring Brace and his Children's Aid Society,
We Recommend
Man of La Mancha finds Miguel de Cervantes in a dungeon with other prisoners, defending his life by narrating the story of Don Quixote, the naïve but faithful Sancho Panza, and the scrappy Aldonza. The treatment of Aldonza/Dulcinea in the musical, as opposed to the novel, is
Stage
I resolved to read Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixote (1615) after the World Library declared it the "best literary work ever written," praising it above the book of Job, the Odyssey, and Hamlet. It took a year to complete my quest. In English translation, the novel runs to 391,000 words,
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Somewhere along the way, Boeing Boeing lost its hyphen, but never lost a distinctly French, laissez-faire attitude toward sex and romance. Zach Holstine plays Bernard, in this version an American in Paris, who's happy to provide temporary lodgings for a visiting Wisconsin friend, Robert (Ken Luce). Robert is
Stage
The Guinness Book of World Records says Marc Camoletti's Boeing-Boeing (1960) is the French play most often produced around the world. I suggest Cyrano de Bergerac holds the title; but if I'm wrong, I can live with it. Either way, it's easy to see from Olympia Little Theatre's production (of
Stage
The year, I think, was 1991. I was a junior in college, and I'd paid my acting dues. Now at long last, it was time for my first main-stage lead. My actual brother Richard and I were cast as the "Schneider brothers," Leo and George respectively, in Neil Simon's 1977
Stage
I still vividly remember the night I first saw Thomas "Tennessee" Williams' The Glass Menagerie. The show concluded in a mother-daughter tableau so gorgeous, so inarguably perfect and right, that it sealed the deal on my adult fascination with theater. I'm not saying Williams makes it easy for directors. He
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I've enjoyed Rebecca Lea McCarthy's performances before, most recently in Arsenic and Old Lace at Lakewood Playhouse. In 2012, I nominated her "Doris" from Olympia Little Theatre's Same Time, Next Year for a Carvy. Turns out she's an author, too, and her second book, Writing the Diaphragm Blues and Other
Guides
I'm pleased to see Mr. Doyle breaking out as your choice for Olympia's Best Actor this year, as he's accumulated one of the most consistently solid resumés in town. I nominated him for Best Actor myself for his work in Harlequin Productions' Stardust Serenade (2011). You may remember that show
Arts
I wish I could review every show, truly, but some intrigue me far more than others. There's no point in writing and publishing a critique of Singing the Diaphragm Blues, as it runs a single weekend, but it sure does sound fascinating. I mean, how many plays offer "chickens, diaphragms,
We Recommend
Do you love animals? How 'bout dark comedy? Do Sarah McLachlan ads for the ASPCA make you projectile weep? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then do we have the show for you. Elliot Weiner (pronounced "winer") is a playwright, actor, and director most recently seen in
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Director C. Rosalind Bell's staging completes the Broadway Center's production of all 10 plays in Wilson's "Pittsburgh Cycle," one for each decade of the 20th century. (Famous installments include Fences and The Piano Lesson, each of which won a Pulitzer Prize.) Joe Turner's Come and Gone demands nuanced
We Recommend
As I watched Olympia Little Theatre's production of Educating Rita, a show it essentially ported over from Evergreen Playhouse in Centralia, I was reminded of both Oleanna and another play in love with English poetry, Margaret Edson's Wit. In this production, John Pratt (Premiere!) embodies Frank. Kaaren Spanski-Dreffin, one
Stage
Peter Turney was a Tennessee Supreme Court justice who governed that state from 1893 to 1897. His brother, Joe, made a living by transporting Negro prisoners from Memphis to the state pen in Nashville. Along the way, he picked up extra men by enticing them into craps games, arresting and
Stage
I get Frank Bryant in Willy Russell's 1980 two-hander Educating Rita; not that I've played the role, though I have costarred in a play with a similar setup, David Mamet's Oleanna (1993). In that show, a female student compensates for intellectual weaknesses by accusing her male professor of sexist behavior.
