Theatre Review: Short North Stage’s Spirited ‘Young Frankenstein’
March 6, 2020 3:45 pm
Richard Sanford
Love for the material animates the madcap frolicking of Short North Stage’s spirited production of Mel Brooks (book, music, and lyrics) and Tom Meehan’s (book) Broadway hit Young Frankenstein, directed and choreographed by Edward Carignan with assistant direction and choreography by Dionysia Williams. The play follows the outline of Brooks’ comedy film classic with Frederick […]
Theater Review: OSU’s Righteous, Heartbreaking ‘Indecent’
February 28, 2020 1:00 pm Richard Sanford
This week, OSU opened a raging, furious, beautiful local premiere of Paula Vogel’s Tony-winning historical drama Indecent, directed by Beth Kattelman. Indecent follows acclaimed Yiddish writer Sholem Asch through the joy and heartbreak of his first literary success, the play God of Vengeance. Structured as a classic theatre troupe, three men and three women play every role, divided by age of […]
Theatre Review: Imagine’s Frenetic ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum’
February 27, 2020 5:10 pm Richard Sanford
This weekend, Imagine Productions opened a jubilant, lively production of the 1962 farce A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart (book) and Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics), directed by Chris Gallagher. This blending/tweaking of every classical theater trope follows Pseudolus (Brandon Boring), a slave owned by […]
Theater Review: OSU Presents Columbus Premiere of Riveting, Relevant Historical Drama ‘Red Velvet’
February 11, 2020 12:00 pm Richard Sanford
Historical drama and varying accents can prove difficult for even experienced, adult actors, a difficulty that’s compounded for actors still learning their craft. So OSU’s local premiere of Lolita Chakrabarti’s British hit Red Velvet, set in the rough-and-tumble London theatrical scene of the 1830s (with a framing sequence in 1867), and given a vibrant mounting […]
Theater Review: Red Herring’s Gripping ‘A Doll’s House, Part 2’
January 31, 2020 10:00 am Richard Sanford
Lucas Hnath casts a long shadow as one of our greatest playwrights of ideas. Again and again, he takes people grappling with ideas and arguing about minute details – talking in a room – into captivating, rich drama. Red Herring’s area premiere of his Tony-winning sequel to Ibsen, A Doll’s House, Part 2, directed by […]
Theater Review: Short North Stage’s Acidic, Hilarious ‘The Motherf**ker with the Hat’
January 28, 2020 10:00 am Richard Sanford
Stephen Adly Guirgis is one of America’s finest stage chroniclers of struggles on the fringes of society and The Motherf**ker with the Hat might be his masterpiece. This twisted love letter to recovery and living gets a jaw-dropping production at Short North Stage, directed by Chari Arespacochaga. The Motherf**ker with the Hat follows Jackie (Raphael […]
Theatre Review: Actors’ Theatre’s Gleeful, Bawdy ‘Or’
January 23, 2020 10:00 am Richard Sanford
Actors’ Theatre presents Liz Duffy Adams’ restoration-era farce, Or, in a crackling production directed by Rowan Winterwood with the right amounts of sweet and hot. Or finds Aphra Behn (Michelle Weiser), poet and former spy, in a debtors’ prison from unpaid wages due to an untimely beheading of her boss, the King, in the rise […]
