Paul Batterson - Page 2

In the end, the choir’s music prevailed over any language barrier. The cavalcade of different voices kept the mostly full theatre dancing, raising their arms in agreement, and being moved by the power of things they couldn’t understand.

It’s been over 30 years since the Shadowbox Live! theatre has had a hometown audition for its theatrical troupe in Columbus.

Vidas Barzdukas has a sign bearing a one-word message that hangs over his writing desk: Courage. Its message is simple. Finding it and following it, according to Barzdukas, is the hard part.

What did our critic think of MUMFORD & SONS' RUSHMERE TOUR at Nationwide Arena? Judging by its reception on Oct. 12, their music still speaks to their audience.

Costello came up with an intriguing mix of crowd favorites, snarling his way through his harder edged material like “The Beat,” “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea,” and “High Fidelity” and displaying his softer side with ballads like “Almost Blue” and “Poisoned Rose.”

In HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD, Albus Potter (Adam Grant Morrison) and Scorpius Malfoy (David Fine) use a Time-Turner to go back in time to try to prevent a tragedy from occurring. If Morrison could travel back to his first role, he might try to convince his younger self to stick with acting because it was going to take him to places he could never imagine. The show, which is the most expensive Broadway touring production at a cost of $23.5 million, will be performed from Oct. 12-26 at the Ohio Theatre (39 E. State Street in downtown Columbus).

What did our critic think of ORIGINAL PRODUCTION THEATRE'S BACK TALK at Abbey Theater Of Dublin? OPT found a small but powerful quartet of actors to bring Ackerman’s script to life.

“You have to prepare your soul and clear your mind as you’re getting ready to go on. I ask myself, ‘why are you sending this message?’ and ‘what does the message mean to you today?’ every day before I go out on stage.” Mary Mulovhedzi

Jimmy Mak, the head writer for the Shadowbox Live! theater troupe, isn’t one to throw an idea away. The Mak-penned “Cereal Killers” is one of eight new sketches in Shadowbox Live’s Halloween-themed FREAK SHOW, performed 7:30 p.m.

What makes this show click is its attention to detail. DelMonte said he wanted to make IN THE LAND OF OZ “theatre beyond four walls.” Project coordinator Maya Eberhardt, experience coordinator Bessie D. Smith, and project manager Brian Altiere make sure the audience’s journey is crammed with visual elements on every corner and keeps the audience moving in a steady pace.

“We all have voices in our heads. Even the people who say they don't have (that inner voice), have one. You have these little suggestions you get from somewhere that aren’t from you. In BACKTALK, we have a double love story between our inner life and our buttoned up life, and that plays out on stage.” --Rob Ackerman

Perhaps no one is more surprised Steve Hackett is doing a retrospective on THE LAMB 50 years after the fact than the guitarist himself. THE LAMB was ranked in the top ten of Rolling Stone magazine’s top 50 progressive rock albums of all time. The BBC called it a “conceptual masterpiece.” Hackett has another word for it: an anomaly.

Colin Hay, who will perform an acoustic show Nov. 2 at the Southern Theatre (21 E. Main Street in downtown Columbus), disagrees with the assessment, but the former Men at Work frontman is a man of misperceptions. For example:

What did our critic think of PIFF THE MAGIC DRAGON'S VEGAS ALL-STARS TOUR at Southern Theatre?

In the Contemporary Theatre of Ohio production ALICE BY HEART, Alice Spencer (Elise Parks) finds herself in an air raid shelter with her best friend Alfred Hallam (Ethan Zink) as the German Luftwaffe bombard London during the Blitz in World War II. To comfort Alfred, who is dying of tuberculosis, Alice tries to tell him their favorite story, Lewis Carrol’s ALICE IN WONDERLAND, from memory after her copy of the book is destroyed.

What did our critic think of AMERICAN IDIOT at At Short North Stage? In Short North Stage’s production of AMERICAN IDIOT, everything isn’t meant to be okay. The characters are disappointed, disillusioned, and defiant, and their story is depressing, dark, and disturbing.

Over the last 65 years, The Second City improv and sketch comedy school has built itself into one of the premiere comedic factories of its kind. Lorne Michaels, the creator of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, seems to draw the majority of the show’s talent from three primary sources: Second City (Chicago, New York, and Toronto), the Groundlings (primarily of Los Angeles) and the Upright Citizens Brigade (NYC).

Before he takes the stage as a part of the Second City’s 65th Anniversary Show Sept. 4 at the Southern Theatre (21 East Main Street in downtown Columbus), Rich Alfonso will go through the same ritual he always does as he prepares to perform.

After years of striving to build the Abbey Theater of Dublin into one of the more respected theaters in Columbus, director supervisor Joe Bishara put on a disaster of a musical.

Superman has his cape. The Lone Ranger has his mask. And John van der Put has a spikey green felt dragon costume. Yet once he slides into his outfit, he transforms from van der Put to Piff the Magic Dragon. The Las Vegas headliner will bring his magic show to town Sept. 10 at the Southern Theatre (21 E. Main Street in downtown Columbus).