Suzanne Tidwell

FEFU AND HER FRIENDS passes the Bechdel test with glowing colors a?" there are no men seen, and only mentioned briefly, even though we feel their presence as plot catalysts. As these women make soup, have water fights and practice French, read aloud from magazines and eat bourbon popsicles, cry and laugh and struggle, they mostly talk about what it is like to be women. How to make space for themselves, and hold space for other women. That is a rare thing.

Why did Stages choose THE FANTASTICKS to open The Gordy, their sparkling new home? Because it is perfect. There is no neater, lovelier piece of musical theatre. To christen a new theatre with this show makes absolute sense.

Claire Barron's edgy comedy/drama centers on a small, slightly dysfunctional family and their problems, the biggest of which is a massive storm system moving relentlessly their way.

World Series tickets may have been the hottest tickets Tuesday night, but they definitely weren't the only tickets in town. Patron lines at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts stretched across the lobby prior to opening, proof that Andrew Lloyd Webber's cornerstone musical really is 'Now and Forever Cats'.

It wasn't the comedy of broadcasters who have absolutely no information to share but share it anyway that stayed with me, nor was it watching each of these characters disintegrate into their lowest common denominators as they desperately cling to order. It was instead in their attempts, on the last night of the world, to stay connected. They hold on to their microphones (quite literally) and to each other and their unseen audiences to their last coherent moment, 'speaking to keep loneliness at bay'.

14-year-old Reyna Negret belted Aretha, tossing her hair and captivating the audience with her girl-power moves. What made Negret's performance so special is that she isn't just any teenager singing the Queen of Soul - Negret is a student at The River Performing and Visual Arts Center, Theatre Under the Stars' arts education program for children with all types and levels of disabilities.

Imagine getting ready for an evening at the theatre - most of us are excited and eager, anticipating an entertaining evening of dinner or maybe drinks with friends, then the thrill of the curtain rising. Now imagine you are a member of the population whose mode of transportation is a wheelchair or walker, or someone whose hearing or vision loss prevents the sights and sounds of the stage from being clear. Suddenly an evening out becomes a minefield of obstacles that can hinder or even prevent full enjoyment. That sense of excitement becomes anxiety. Logistics such as parking and stairs that most take for granted can easily become a barrier to an evening of music, theatre or dance.