Paul Batterson
In 25 years of working with newspapers and magazines, Paul Batterson has had the pleasure of interviewing wide variety of people, from Phil Campbell of Motorhead to David Hasselhoff to the San Diego chicken. He was born in Columbus, graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia and spent three years in Frankfurt, Germany before returning to Columbus. He lives here with his wife, Nancy, and children Alicia and Grant.
BWW Reviews: Weathervane's GYPSY a Dark Fable with an Excellent Cast
BWW Reviews: Weathervane Continues A Summer of Dance with 42nd STREET
BWW Reviews: Page, Stace Prove Cynicism Can Be Funny in Newark Stop
BWW Reviews: PIPPIN helps Weathervane find its corner in the sky
BWW Review: SRO's TITANIC: THE MUSICAL Avoids Icebergs
BWW REVIEWS: Columbus Concert Offers a Homecoming of
Sorts for Jukes' Kazee
BWW Review: SNS Puts a Unique Stamp on Sondheim's ASSASSINS
BWW Reviews: A Square Finds A Round Space In Short North Theatre's Production Of HAIRBWW Reviews: Weathervane's GYPSY a Dark Fable with an Excellent Cast
December 26, 2018
The secondary headline to the Weathervane Production's GYPSY reads 'A Musical Fable.' The two-act, two-hour performance about the rise of burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee is more of a precautionary tale for stage mothers and child actresses everywhere.
BWW Reviews: Tuneful songs, artistic choreography in the DNA of SNS' MAMMA MIA
December 12, 2018
Near the front of the Playbill for the Short North Stage's production of MAMMA MIA is a list of all the sponsors for the musical based on a collection of ABBA songs. Sadly, 23 & Me is not among them.
BWW Reviews: SNS offers the timely, yet timeless, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES
November 5, 2018
In its latest offering, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, the Short North Stage presents a musical that is a fine cocktail of flamboyance and subtlety and leaves its audience with a powerful, timely message without overtly stating it.
BWW Reviews: ALADDIN Gives The Audience Everything They Were Wishing For
October 29, 2018
Michael James Scott must have known he had some enormous golden slippers to fill when he took over the role of the Genie in the national touring version of DISNEY'S ALADDIN, which will be in Columbus from Oct. 24 to Nov. 4. Not only will Scott be judged against the performance of the late Robin Williams, who masterfully played Genie in the movies, ALADDIN (1992) and ALADDIN AND THE KING OF THIEVES (1996), but he also had to emerge from the big blue shadows of James Monroe Iglehart who won a Tony Award for best performance by a featured actor in the Broadway musical in 2014.
BWW Reviews: HORROR SHOW Offers Both tricks and Treats for SNS audiences
October 15, 2018
If you grew up in Columbus in the 80s, the movie THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW at the Graceland Theatre was a teenage rite of passage, much like White Castle runs, midnight rounds of Putt-Putt and Little Kings Cream Ale.
BWW Reviews: Page, Stace Prove Cynicism Can Be Funny in Newark Stop
October 15, 2018
Folk singer/pop singer songwriter Wesley Stace couldn't help feeling nostalgic about sharing the stage with the Steven Page trio Oct. 12 at the Thirty-One West (located at 31 Church Street in downtown Newark, Ohio).
BWW Reviews: SNS' TOXIC AVENGER Earns a Glowing Review
August 27, 2018
Lisa Glover, Johnathon L. Jackson, Steven Michael Mooney, Sheri Sanders and Jesse Daniel Trieger could probably fit in a Honda Civic and need only one large pizza for the cast party. Yet their performances, with many of the actors taking on an exhausting list of roles, make TOXIC AVENGER seem like a much larger presentation.
BWW Reviews: PIPPIN helps Weathervane find its corner in the sky
August 7, 2018
Perhaps the Weathervane Playhouse couldn't have found a better way to close out its 50th anniversary season than finishing the summer session with PIPPIN. Written by Stephen Schwartz (WICKED, CHILDREN OF EDEN and GODSPELL), the two-act, two-and-a-half-hour musical tells the story of Pippin (Kenneth Remaklus), a prince who longs to find meaning in his life.
BWW Reviews: Weathervane's MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG dissects the death of friendships
July 23, 2018
In his review of the debut of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG in 1981, New York Times critic Frank Rich wrote, 'As we all should have probably learned by now, to be a Stephen Sondheim fan is to have one's heart broken at regular intervals.'
BWW Reviews: Weathervane Continues A Summer of Dance with 42nd STREET
July 11, 2018
When Kevin Connell started to put together the Weathervane Playhouse's slate of shows for the summer, the managing artistic director for the Newark theatre wanted to put an emphasis on dance for the Playhouse's 50th anniversary season.
BWW Reviews: Perceptions of Art Duel in Weathervane's I HATE HAMLET
June 25, 2018
As any English teacher can tell you, not everyone loves Shakespeare. For some it's like eating Brussels sprouts; it's something you know you should do but you aren't certain why and you certainly don't enjoy the process.
BWW Review: SNS Puts a Unique Stamp on Sondheim's ASSASSINS
June 3, 2018
There's enormous pressure in reviewing the Short North Stage's most recent production, ASSASSINS. Imagine looking out onto the stage where John Wilkes Booth brandishes a pistol at the audience only a few feet away while the balladeer (Patrick Beasley) sings, 'Some say it was your voice had gone, some say it was the booze. Some say you killed a country, John, because of bad reviews' in the song 'The Ballad of Booth.'
BWW Reviews: Imagine steers recent graduates down Avenue Q
May 14, 2018
Each year colleges across the country come up with an odd list of commencement speakers, from Kermit the Frog (Southampton University) to Mike Tyson (Central State University), to offer pearls of wit and advice to their college graduates.
BWW Reviews: Don't miss the boat on THE KING AND I
April 26, 2018
Like the steamboat that chugs into the harbor in its opening scene, THE KING AND I keeps arriving right on time, taking a whole new passenger's list of people to an exotic land. Some of the passengers arrive at the boat's port of call, the Ohio Theatre (located on 39 East State Street in downtown Columbus) for the first time; others have made the journey time and time again.
BWW Reviews: A Square Finds A Round Space In Short North Theatre's Production Of HAIR
April 9, 2018
In the movie, 'FIELD OF DREAMS,' Annie Kinsella attacks a conservative member of the school board who wants to ban the writings of Terrance Mann with the line, 'I think if you had just experienced the Sixties ...'
BWW reviews: View from MOUNTAINTOP offers up close and personal look at Martin Luther King
March 26, 2018
Americans seem to find as much pleasure in learning about the flaws of heroes as they do in building them up in the first place. A quick search of the internet will reveal George Washington probably didn't chop down the cherry tree or that Walt Disney may not be the beloved creator people often imagine him to be.
BWW REVIEWS: Columbus Concert Offers a Homecoming of Sorts for Jukes' Kazee
March 12, 2018
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes closed out the regular set with a blazing rendition of their standard 'I Don't Wanna Go Home' at the band's March 9 appearance at the Southern Theatre (5115 21st E Main St in Downtown Columbus). However, pianist Jeff Kazee appeared to be very glad to return to one of the touchstone places in his career.
BWW Review: AN AMERICAN IN PARIS a Masterpiece of Motion, Music and Art
March 9, 2018
In most of the national tour musicals that have passed through the Ohio Theatre, dance often seems to be a submissive stepchild to storyline and song. However, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS: A NEW MUSICAL, a reimagining of the music of George and Ira Gershwin, finds the perfect marriage between music and movement.
BWW Interviews: Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes still feel like they're getting away with murder
March 1, 2018
John Lyon, also known as Southside Johnny, will be making a return to one of the milestone cities in his band's career when he and the Asbury Jukes play the Southern Theatre (21 E. Main Street in downtown Columbus) on March 9
BWW Review: SRO's TITANIC: THE MUSICAL Avoids Icebergs
February 19, 2018
As he walked out of the Columbus Performing Arts Center after viewing SRO's production of TITANIC: THE MUSICAL, one of the patrons turned to his friend and joked, 'Wow, I never saw that ending coming.'
December 26, 2018
The secondary headline to the Weathervane Production's GYPSY reads 'A Musical Fable.' The two-act, two-hour performance about the rise of burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee is more of a precautionary tale for stage mothers and child actresses everywhere.
BWW Reviews: Tuneful songs, artistic choreography in the DNA of SNS' MAMMA MIA
December 12, 2018
Near the front of the Playbill for the Short North Stage's production of MAMMA MIA is a list of all the sponsors for the musical based on a collection of ABBA songs. Sadly, 23 & Me is not among them.
BWW Reviews: SNS offers the timely, yet timeless, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES
November 5, 2018
In its latest offering, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, the Short North Stage presents a musical that is a fine cocktail of flamboyance and subtlety and leaves its audience with a powerful, timely message without overtly stating it.
BWW Reviews: ALADDIN Gives The Audience Everything They Were Wishing For
October 29, 2018
Michael James Scott must have known he had some enormous golden slippers to fill when he took over the role of the Genie in the national touring version of DISNEY'S ALADDIN, which will be in Columbus from Oct. 24 to Nov. 4. Not only will Scott be judged against the performance of the late Robin Williams, who masterfully played Genie in the movies, ALADDIN (1992) and ALADDIN AND THE KING OF THIEVES (1996), but he also had to emerge from the big blue shadows of James Monroe Iglehart who won a Tony Award for best performance by a featured actor in the Broadway musical in 2014.
BWW Reviews: HORROR SHOW Offers Both tricks and Treats for SNS audiences
October 15, 2018
If you grew up in Columbus in the 80s, the movie THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW at the Graceland Theatre was a teenage rite of passage, much like White Castle runs, midnight rounds of Putt-Putt and Little Kings Cream Ale.
BWW Reviews: Page, Stace Prove Cynicism Can Be Funny in Newark Stop
October 15, 2018
Folk singer/pop singer songwriter Wesley Stace couldn't help feeling nostalgic about sharing the stage with the Steven Page trio Oct. 12 at the Thirty-One West (located at 31 Church Street in downtown Newark, Ohio).
BWW Reviews: SNS' TOXIC AVENGER Earns a Glowing Review
August 27, 2018
Lisa Glover, Johnathon L. Jackson, Steven Michael Mooney, Sheri Sanders and Jesse Daniel Trieger could probably fit in a Honda Civic and need only one large pizza for the cast party. Yet their performances, with many of the actors taking on an exhausting list of roles, make TOXIC AVENGER seem like a much larger presentation.
BWW Reviews: PIPPIN helps Weathervane find its corner in the sky
August 7, 2018
Perhaps the Weathervane Playhouse couldn't have found a better way to close out its 50th anniversary season than finishing the summer session with PIPPIN. Written by Stephen Schwartz (WICKED, CHILDREN OF EDEN and GODSPELL), the two-act, two-and-a-half-hour musical tells the story of Pippin (Kenneth Remaklus), a prince who longs to find meaning in his life.
BWW Reviews: Weathervane's MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG dissects the death of friendships
July 23, 2018
In his review of the debut of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG in 1981, New York Times critic Frank Rich wrote, 'As we all should have probably learned by now, to be a Stephen Sondheim fan is to have one's heart broken at regular intervals.'
BWW Reviews: Weathervane Continues A Summer of Dance with 42nd STREET
July 11, 2018
When Kevin Connell started to put together the Weathervane Playhouse's slate of shows for the summer, the managing artistic director for the Newark theatre wanted to put an emphasis on dance for the Playhouse's 50th anniversary season.
BWW Reviews: Perceptions of Art Duel in Weathervane's I HATE HAMLET
June 25, 2018
As any English teacher can tell you, not everyone loves Shakespeare. For some it's like eating Brussels sprouts; it's something you know you should do but you aren't certain why and you certainly don't enjoy the process.
BWW Review: SNS Puts a Unique Stamp on Sondheim's ASSASSINS
June 3, 2018
There's enormous pressure in reviewing the Short North Stage's most recent production, ASSASSINS. Imagine looking out onto the stage where John Wilkes Booth brandishes a pistol at the audience only a few feet away while the balladeer (Patrick Beasley) sings, 'Some say it was your voice had gone, some say it was the booze. Some say you killed a country, John, because of bad reviews' in the song 'The Ballad of Booth.'
BWW Reviews: Imagine steers recent graduates down Avenue Q
May 14, 2018
Each year colleges across the country come up with an odd list of commencement speakers, from Kermit the Frog (Southampton University) to Mike Tyson (Central State University), to offer pearls of wit and advice to their college graduates.
BWW Reviews: Don't miss the boat on THE KING AND I
April 26, 2018
Like the steamboat that chugs into the harbor in its opening scene, THE KING AND I keeps arriving right on time, taking a whole new passenger's list of people to an exotic land. Some of the passengers arrive at the boat's port of call, the Ohio Theatre (located on 39 East State Street in downtown Columbus) for the first time; others have made the journey time and time again.
BWW Reviews: A Square Finds A Round Space In Short North Theatre's Production Of HAIR
April 9, 2018
In the movie, 'FIELD OF DREAMS,' Annie Kinsella attacks a conservative member of the school board who wants to ban the writings of Terrance Mann with the line, 'I think if you had just experienced the Sixties ...'
BWW reviews: View from MOUNTAINTOP offers up close and personal look at Martin Luther King
March 26, 2018
Americans seem to find as much pleasure in learning about the flaws of heroes as they do in building them up in the first place. A quick search of the internet will reveal George Washington probably didn't chop down the cherry tree or that Walt Disney may not be the beloved creator people often imagine him to be.
BWW REVIEWS: Columbus Concert Offers a Homecoming of Sorts for Jukes' Kazee
March 12, 2018
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes closed out the regular set with a blazing rendition of their standard 'I Don't Wanna Go Home' at the band's March 9 appearance at the Southern Theatre (5115 21st E Main St in Downtown Columbus). However, pianist Jeff Kazee appeared to be very glad to return to one of the touchstone places in his career.
BWW Review: AN AMERICAN IN PARIS a Masterpiece of Motion, Music and Art
March 9, 2018
In most of the national tour musicals that have passed through the Ohio Theatre, dance often seems to be a submissive stepchild to storyline and song. However, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS: A NEW MUSICAL, a reimagining of the music of George and Ira Gershwin, finds the perfect marriage between music and movement.
BWW Interviews: Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes still feel like they're getting away with murder
March 1, 2018
John Lyon, also known as Southside Johnny, will be making a return to one of the milestone cities in his band's career when he and the Asbury Jukes play the Southern Theatre (21 E. Main Street in downtown Columbus) on March 9
BWW Review: SRO's TITANIC: THE MUSICAL Avoids Icebergs
February 19, 2018
As he walked out of the Columbus Performing Arts Center after viewing SRO's production of TITANIC: THE MUSICAL, one of the patrons turned to his friend and joked, 'Wow, I never saw that ending coming.'
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