Christi Esterle - Page 2

If you've ever walked a Chartres labyrinth, you know they can be deceptive. Your path skirts the center, but you've barely started; it looks like you're on the way out when you're really heading further in. Which makes a labyrinth a fitting metaphor for both the play Lonesome Hollow and its eponymous town: twisting, deceptive, and with monsters lurking around the corner.

Vampires, slasher killers, and paranormal activity are all well and good, but for my money nothing beats the chills of a good suspense story. Uncertainty and the fear of the unknown are immensely engrossing narrative devices, compelling you to follow along even as you dread what might come next. So Wait Until Dark is, for me, the ideal Halloween experience: a tense, unsettling thriller rooted in relatable fears and all-too-human monsters.

It is my not-very-humble opinion that Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie series ranks among the best early reader books available. The pachyderm-and-porcine duo gallivant through a series of adventures in the same spirit Dr. Seuss first embraced when he started writing about felines and their headgear: all readers, regardless of age or ability level, deserve to be entertained. Elephant and Piggie's 'We Are in a Play!', the Fine Arts Center's current second stage production, takes that commitment to entertainment and runs with it in sixty minutes of lighthearted silliness, parties, dancing, unexpected drama, and good times with best friends.

It's hard not to smile at Singin' in the Rain; it's one of those shows where even the characters seem to be enjoying themselves. The joyous, energetic dance numbers, the witty one-liners, a delightfully nasty villainess, and the sparkling Hollywood glamour all make for a very good time.

Whether fighting or flirting, Elyot and Amanda deserve each other-in every sense of the term.

Although it takes some time, Theatreworks' funky take on Shakespearean comedy is ultimately hilarious and magical.

Though it stumbles on the romance, Inspire Creative makes the classic musical's deeper themes shine through.

Guys and Dolls is a classic because it works--and Fine Arts Center demonstrates why.

Caught somewhere between classical and modern modes, The Liar is a truly entertaining evening.

Written just over forty years ago, Jane Chambers' A Late Snow shouldn't be controversial anymore. Yet here it is, 2015, and the church I drive past on the way to the store has a sign out front declaring, 'DON'T GIVE IN TO THE HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA,' so it's safe to say that SET's latest production will raise eyebrows in some circles of Colorado Springs.

Her name was Lee Joseph. She passed away in 2013 at the age of 96, after what was in every sense of the term a full life. She hung around with the sort of people who got called before the HUAC, was married for a time to Arthur Herzog, Jr. (who co-wrote the Billie Holliday standard 'God Bless the Child'), and was an activist up through the later days of her life, when she marched in Occupy Wall Street protests. And she served as the basis for Vera, the punchy nonagenarian at the center of her granddaughter Amy Herzog's play 4000 Miles, now in its Colorado debut at the Fine Arts Center.

'What does it mean?'

Like its title character, Tilly has some flaws to work through but a good heart.

It's not Mary Poppins; it's Mary Jane.

Springs Ensemble tells a sweet, sad story of isolation in the age of mass communication.

The audience sits on either side of a shared backyard flanked by two houses. At first glance structurally identical, closer examination revels distinct differences. One house has a clean patio set, new curtains, and a well-tended window box of flowers. The other shows obvious signs of neglect: peeling paint, dead grass, a rusty charcoal grill tucked away in a corner.

The most successful production in Fine Arts Center history is also its most ambitious.

Take a trip back to the golden era when thrilling radio drama ruled the airwaves. It was a time of thrilling adventures, chilling suspense, and fast-pasted comic banter. A time when men were men, women were dames, and nobody complained if a baby was a cigarette mascot.

You'd think a play called Psycho Beach Party would be a little more, well....crazy. But Charles Busch's affectionate parody of 1960s beach movies seldom seems more unhinged than the cheerful teen romps it draws inspiration from. Oh, it's not all sun and fun in the sand, to be sure. There's a fair amount of sexual kink, a domineering mother who could give Margaret White a run for her money, and revelations of a tragic past, but it all feels so light. The poster for the Theatreworks production, featuring a knife-wielding beach bunny, promises a gruesome good time that the play never really delivers.