Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold - Page 11

The professional ensemble of Brunswick's Theater Project once again demonstrates its affinity for drama with classic literary origins. Its 2018 production of The Picture of Dorian Gray, adapted by Merlin Holland and John O'Connor, offers a convincing, often compelling account of Oscar Wilde's famous novel.

Portland Stage has mounted an adaptation of Isak Dinesen's short story Babette's Feast, conceived by Abigail Killeen and written by Rose Courtney, that retains the message of grace and humanity at the core of the tale, while casting the narrative in an entirely different, highly contemporaneous light. Intriguing and sometimes perplexing in its Brechtian staging, this production adheres closely to the Dinesen text and bears little resemblance to the iconic movie of 1987.

It is eighty years since Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, Our Town first tread the boards of the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ. The work was groundbreaking in its day for the way in which Wilder eschewed theatrical conventions and sought to create a new kind of play within a play. Eight decades later, the play retains its innovative feeling - not because of its metatheatre style, but rather because, in a modern digital age where audiences are consistently bombarded with noise, sensation, and spectacular fast-paced effects, Our Town continues to speak in a quiet voice that is all the more meaningful if one stops to listen.

Mad Horse Theatre continues its provocative and haunting programming this season with a gripping, poetic, and troubling production of Naomi Wallace's award-winning 1996 drama, One Flea Spare. The play, set in London in 1665 at the height of the Black Death, explores the social, sexual, and psychological interaction of four people quarantined together in a pair of rooms while the plague rages around them. Their battle for survival pits the wealthy merchant and his wife against the sailor and a young servant girl who break into their house in search of shelter. Class warfare, devastating past memories, repressed sexuality, gender politics, and intricate personal power struggles make the time of confinement a descent into hell.

The complex, sometimes conflicted, often poetic relationship between what we wear and self image and identity forms the framework of a delightful, delicately lyrical, and warmly wistful play by Nora and Delia Ephron, based on the book by Ilene Beckerman. Presented as a staged reading with a rotating cast of five actresses, Portland's Good Theater brings this exquisitely written piece to life with affectionate wisdom.

On a bitter cold blizzard day in January, the Maine theatre community was deriving some warmth and cheer by celebrating its achievements with the 2017 Broadway World Audience Choice award winners. The sixteen theatre artists voted by Maine theatre-goers as the best in each category of performing and technical achievements were selected from a group of 69 finalists, culled from over 9000 nominees rwho epresented less than % of all those in contention for the accolades, and voting for the winners was close and competitive to the very end of the process.

For the third consecutive year Maine State Music Theatre has swept the Broadway World Maine Audience Choice Awards, winning ten of the eleven categories for which it was eligible and taking home a record number of citations for its production of NEWSIES - ten awards, the most a single show has earned here. Other local theaters saw their artists and work recognized, among them the Good Theater, Mad Horse Theatre, Portland Payers, and Some Theatre. Competition was high and voting was often very close, and the runners up deserve special praise as well for being selected as finalists from over 9000 original nominations. Congratulations to all the talented artists who contribute to Maine's rich tapestry of theatre and to the BWW audience who supports live theatre! -(Carla Maria Verdino-Sullwold, Maine editor) The votes have been counted... Check out the fill list of winners for the 2017 BWW Regional Awards!

Creating magic on the Pickard main stage each summer is what Maine State Music Theatre does each season and does with consummate skill. But increasingly in recent years, MSMT has been expanding its community outreach and finding ways to attract new audiences and serve diverse and often underserved constituencies. The latest endeavor in a long list of community events was to host a holiday party for the local chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters at the MSMT rehearsal studios on Saturday, December 9, 2017.

Among the many holiday season theatrical offerings, the annual musical revue, Broadway at the Good Theater inevitably proves to be a refreshing and original approach to ushering in a season of good cheer. The 2017 production, conceived, written, and directed by Brian P. Allen, is no exception; in fact, if anything, this year's show is bigger, bolder, and full of delightful surprises.

Members of the staff of Maine State Music Theatre gathered to accept the 2017 Broadway World Critic's Choice Award. For the fifth year in a row MSMT has headed the list of Maine theatre producing extraordinary work. Maine editor Carla Maria Verdino-Sullwold's citation praised the company's 'amazing trajectory into the stratosphere, producing a 2017 that somehow astonishingly managed to top the previous blockbuster season in artistic merit and audience appeal.' Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark said the acknowledgement was made him 'very happy' and he was 'grateful to everyone at Broadway World.'

David Sedaris' Santaland Diaries has become a staple of the alternative Christmas experience a funny, sardonic, wickedly funny look at the traditions and trappings of Christmas. As such, it provides a welcome escape for as the publicity maintains mature elves with its laser-sharp wit, insightful character observation, and turn-on-a-dime humor. The brilliantly written monologue for Crumpet the Elf, adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello, has become a Christmas season favorite of its own. As such, it now plays on the stage of Theater at Monmouth's Cumston Hall with veteran actor Mike Anthony, giving a credible performance that is sure to delight the many viewers suffering from Hallmark or Macy's Santaland fatigue.

Maine boasts a vibrant, varied theatrical landscape, is home to a significant local community of fine artists, and plays host each year to artists from New York, Chicago, and all the leading regional theatres in the country. Moreover, Maine can be proud of its sophisticated, loyal, and warm-hearted audiences, who appreciate thoroughly the dedication and creativity that goes into producing professional and community theatre and who are generous with their support and acclaim. I am honored to continue to serve as Broadway World's Maine editor, and I remain excited and energized by the richness of the state's theatre scene. As we come to the end of another year, here are my personal choices of the 2017 best in Maine, grouped by theatre and show.

Maine State Ballet 's lavish performance annual performance of The Nutcracker at Merrill Auditorium is a sure sign that the Christmas season is upon us, and the 2017 production did not disappoint! Utilizing the resources of the entire company plus scores of other local dancers and extras, Artistic Director Linda MacArthur Miele once again works magic in this large venue in a performance that fills the house with joy.

You win some, you lose some; you have to roll with the punches! Maine State Music Theatre's Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark says with a broad smile. He is talking about the process of acquiring the theatrical rights to produce the shows he does each year a process which is the inevitable and crucial departure point for any theatrical season. And yet, despite Clark's seemingly sanguine attitude toward these negotiations, the reality is that crafting the sensational seasons he has each year for the company is anything but a game of chance. It is the product of planning, strategy, hard work, and the increasing respect in which MSMT is held by the industry.

The sold out house in Portland's Good Theater sat riveted in their seats throughout as the tense, soul-searching drama of J. B. Priestly's An Inspector Calls as its twists and hairpin turns, its emotional revelations and its jarring ending played itself out with a combination of subtlety and punch. Director Brian P. Allen, his cast and creative team have created a mesmerizing theatrical experience that does complete justice to Priestly's passionate and ever-relevant 1945 play.

In his directorial debut at Portland Stage, acclaimed actor Dustin Tucker has created an intriguing theatrical evening featuring a potpourri of horror tales by Maine authors, told with a mercurial blend of wit and terror. The brilliantly theatrical eighty-minute piece, which is based on six stories and short plays by John Cariani, Tess Gerritsen, Ike Hamill, Chris F. Holm, Callie Kimball and Stephen King, employs a wide variety of staging devices, and runs the gamut in tone and mood all combining for a sophisticated and satisfying experience.

Portland Stage's second season offering, Kate Hawley's 2015 play about siblings and their mother confronting dementia, Complications from a Fall, addresses an issue of consequence but while it has its moments of warmth and truth, never quite rises to the challenge of truly articulating something significant about the aging process.

The Good Theater launches its sixteenth season with a beautifully produced, bittersweet, wise, and winsome play by Laura Eason, Sex with Strangers. Despite its suggestive title, the two-character drama is not a steamy expos of passion, but rather a thoughtful exploration of the complicated world of modern relationships, the conflicting demands of attraction and affection with career and creative identity.

Madhouse Theatre in South Portland opened its season with a provocative and brilliant production of Michael Friedman's BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON. It runs until October 15, 2017.

Mad Horse Theatre in South Portland opened its 2017-2018 with another edgy, brilliant production that speaks to the company's reputation for crafting the unusual and provocative with consummate skill. That they had already programmed the 2009 Off-Broadway hit, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson before the tragic and untimely death on September 9th of its composer-lyricist Michael Friedman, only added impact to a production that is angry, powerful, funny, and hugely contemporaneous.