The Weding Singer- Gateway Playhouse Miss Saigon- Gateway Playhouse
"(in a sweedish accent) Oh! What a lovely T-shirt you are wearing!"- Catherine Zeta-Jones refering to my ALNM shirt at the CD signing.
Say NO to drugs and YES to Jackie Hoffman Live At Joes Pub!
"ITS THE DAY OF THE SHOW YA'LL!!"-Bwaynerd
I've never seen anything at papermill but i really want to!!
"(in a sweedish accent) Oh! What a lovely T-shirt you are wearing!"- Catherine Zeta-Jones refering to my ALNM shirt at the CD signing.
Say NO to drugs and YES to Jackie Hoffman Live At Joes Pub!
"ITS THE DAY OF THE SHOW YA'LL!!"-Bwaynerd
The best regional production I've ever seen of a big musical was Miss Saigon at the Marriott Lincolnshire (near Chicago) about 10 years ago. It was an intimate production - it's an in-the-round theatre seating about 500 - and they did the helicopter scene brilliantly - without a helicopter. There was a metal latter that came down from the catwalk above the stage, and there were flashing lights, lots of fog/smoke, and the ear-shattering sound of the copter as the actors climbed up the latter and disappeared above the stage.
Although everything I saw at the Huntington was fantastic, the stand-out was probably the 2008 production of She Loves Me. Also in Boston, I saw a fantastic production of Drood at SpeakEasy Stage.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
Hands down. Les Miz. Papermill Playhouse. Absolutely phenomenal, enough to persuade me to renew my Papermill subscription. I have the privelege of living very close to the theater and plan to visit more frequently.
Scratch and claw for every day you're worth!
Make them drag you screaming from life, keep dreaming
You'll live forever here on earth.
Floyd Collins at Actors Theatre of Louisville was awesome, and had an amazing set.
They also did a kick ass production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch a few years ago.
"Who says you can't bend over backwards and eat bugs if you want to? I guess the bugs would probably say you can't do that that, but assuming that they are willing and consenting bugs, then there's no problem. Let's wig out eating bugs."
-RuPaul
"Rather than ignore those who choose to publish their opinions without actually talking to me, I am happy to dispel any rumors or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest and feel most fortunate to be working with wonderful people in the business I love."
-Neil Patrick Harris
THE VISIT at Signature was damn well perfect with Chita and George Hearn giving TONY caliber performances. Why New York has not seen this show just boggles my already addled brain. Updated On: 3/21/11 at 11:40 PM
I don't think it's entirely fair to call Les Miz at Papermill a regional production. It was essentially the first stop on the national tour. Papermill did nothing but host the production for a month and a half. They had nothing to do with putting it up.
I dont know if it's considered "Regional" but Bristol Valley Theater in Naples, NY puts on amazing shows with actors from NYC during the summer months. Had the great fortune of being an apprentice from the age of 10 to 15 and every show I saw/part of was top notch.
"Life in theater is give and take...but you need to be ready to give more then you take..."
God of Carnage currently playing at the Goodman is the best production I've seen in Chicago since The Goat or Who Is Sylvia (also at the Goodman). Jekyll and Hyde at the Alley and at Theatre Under the Stars was sensational before it was entirely reworked. And I don't remember the name of the theatre, but I never forgot the production I saw of Hair in Dallas in 1989 at a little store front amateur theatre in a strip mall. It was perfection. I liked the Broadway revival, but it didn't have the same intimacy, heart and immediacy of that little production in Dallas. The way they staged the finale was both devastating and glorious.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
Summer and Smoke at Paper Mill A Streetcar Named Desire at NJ Shakespeare
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
I agree that Ragtime at the Drury Lane Theater, Miss Saigon at Marriott, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf at Steppenwolf, Company at Cincinnati Playhouse were all great. The best production for me was Follies at Candlelight in the early 80's. I'm looking forward to seeing Chicago Shakespeare's Follies this fall. Chicago Shakespeare's productions of A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, and Passion were great too. Yesterday I saw The Big Meal at ATC. It's one of the best shows I've seen in a while and it will be produced by Playwrights Horizons in their 2011-2012 season. Watch for it.
The best I've ever seen just happened this past week.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater. Such a new, fresh, beautiful and flat out HILARIOUS production. Better than most shows I've seen on Broadway even. The cast was top notch, the direction of the show and modern music added into it was genius. Just picture Midsummer with Star Wars and Christopher Walken jokes, and Pink Floyd and Lady Gaga music - and it works beautifully. Here's a trailer: