Perry Tannenbaum - Page 5

Amid a banquet of juicy roles doled out by Aaron Sorkin in his adaptation of Harper Lee's TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, Richard Thomas feasts the fullest, delivering the most powerful, staggering work I’ve seen from him in my 59+ years of watching his most memorable performances live on Broadway, live in Charlotte, and on TV.

We may have underestimated Cheri and Bill Steinkellner's musical adaptation of Paul Rudnick's SISTER ACT screenplay, moving the action from Vegas to Philly and making the show more character-driven. It actually works better on the smaller community theater stage at Matthews Playhouse than the big stage productions we've previously seen.

UNTIL THE FLOOD is an amazing, transformative theatre experience, a lesson for us all - including playwright Dael Orlandersmith, who researched it in Ferguson and St. Louis, Missouri.

With a mix of perennial favorites and time-tested originals, KAT EDMONSON made her long-anticipated Charlotte debut, charming a latenight Middle C Jazz Club audience

Stewart Goodyear was scintillating in his Charlotte Symphony debut, but the Stravinsky-Weill lineup that followed wasn't an anticlimax.

Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer Prize-winning SWEAT analyses the effects of NAFTA on steelworkers in Reading, PA - a microcosm of why blue-collar and union workers jumped out of the pockets of Democratic politicians in the 2000 election and how the seeds of xenophobic Trumpism were first planted

A late shift in venues moved the visitation of THE WOMAN IN BLACK, that famed West End perennial second in longevity to only The Mousetrap, from the Charleston Visitor Center Bus Shed - quite an intriguing choice - to Spoleto Festival USA's Festival Hall. Results are mixed.

As relevant and compelling as it was back in 2014 in responding to Michael Brown, HANDS UP is a perfect way for Three Bone Theatre to return to the Charlotte scene, more activist and more woke.

An R&J Valentine's Day theme, an ongoing Beethoven celebration, and a CHOPIN PIANO CONCERTO that few at Charlotte Symphony had likely played before were the crisscrossing storylines at the latest classics series concert at Knight Theater.

Their third dive into August Wilson's ten-play Pittsburgh Cycle, Brand New Sheriff's FENCES may be their best yet, with an outstanding cast, led by Jonavan Adams - and an outstanding director, Corlis Hayes, who has been here before.

Director Billy Ensley has lured a bevy of seasoned Charlotte musical stars to a fine looking Matthews Playhouse production of MAMMA MIA! - and he has found a sensational newcomer to ignite the action.

The latest edition of Innovative Works, BEYOND THE MINT, sends three choreographers across the street to soak in Spirit Drift's 'Immersed in Light' installation at the Mint Museum Uptown. Chelsea Dumas and Duane Cyrus are particularly successful in their quests for inspiration.

Two American warhorses, Samuel Barber's 'Adagio' and Aaron Copland's APPALACHIAN SPRING, topped the marquee, but William Brittelle's 'Si Otsedoha' stole the show at Charlotte Symphony's all-American concert at Belk Theater.

With Andrea King as a disfigured war vet going through an excruciating rehab in Three Bone Theatre's UGLY LIES THE BONE, it's a perverse pleasure to have Scott Tynes-Miller and Peter Finnegan making asses of of themselves as they make the road to recovery that much tougher.

Bartlett Sher fiddles with the legendary perfection of MY FAIR LADY, freshly illuminating the characters of Professor Higgins, Eliza, and Freddy - while risking unexpected tech difficulties.

Sometimes orchestras program pieces to meet popular demand, and at other times, they program works to meet expectations or fulfill a sense of obligation. It's so easy to yield to inertia. This past weekend's Charlotte Symphony concerts balanced both types of choices. The DVOŘÁK'S NEW WORLD SYMPHONY is so popular in the Queen City that an extra row of seats was set up at Belk Theater behind the already-packed Grand Tier.

Free Reign Theatre Company's following is surprisingly strong for a young company, but their daring and robust production of LEAR demonstrates why: they're the real deal.

With Hans Graf at the podium for the first time at Knight Theater, Charlotte Symphony and guest artist Angelo Xiang Yu were in top form on a program highlighted by Debussy's 'L'Après-midi,' Mozart's 'Turkish' Concerto, and a snippet of Piazzolla.