KENTUCKY THEATER REVIEWS

I remember studying the Scottish play during my junior year in high school. The themes of unchecked ambition and the question of power in gender roles are significant, weighty topics for anyone, let alone teenagers. I'm happy to report that the cast of Macbeth, as part of the Young American Shakespe...

Hello, Dolly! is a true american classic, and is treated by some as the perfect musical comedy. Like many associate Ethel Merman with Gypsy or Anything Goes, the hand prints of the late great Carol Channing are forever integrated into Hello, Dolly's legacy. In 2017 it was announced that the show wou...

Way back in those days of yesteryear, the early 1990's, Jeffrey Katzenberg was celebrating his success. He had almost single-handedly guided the Walt Disney animation studio back to glory after decades of reduced returns, and he had the bright idea to try to do the same to the live-action movie musi...

This sweeping musical from the creators of Les Miserable is blazing a trail across the country....

Some Kinda There are iconic musicals that always seem to pop on some local company's schedule on a regular basis, but what of the lesser known shows that don't enjoy quite the same level of success?...

From the title and social media promotions, I had expected Sheila Callaghan's play to maybe be a light-hearted feminist comedy. I was not at all prepared for the dark, mercurial waters I found myself in. It asks a lot of the audience but rewards you with fresh, cogent theatre that might change the w...

Americans talk about racial and cultural identity as if walking on eggshells. As with so many hot button issues in the 21stcentury, we have become polarized on these topics because it is easier to lean completely into a position rather than explore the gray territory of nuance and contradiction. In ...

A wonderful score in an early work by Pasek and Paul takes center stage in DOGFIGHT....

Everybody Black is a play. On a stage. But it actually comes off like a series of television programs that one might come across channel surfing in a fit of insomnia; a fever dream of sorts in which the sleepless viewer has mysteriously slipped into a different world than they remember....

The best collaboration happens organically, perhaps an arguable point, but this production of Just Like Us, co-produced by Looking for Lilith and Teatro Tercera Llamada seems such a natural pairing, less an innovation than the appropriate result of relationships built over time. Teatro Artistic Dire...

There is nothing more infuriating than attempting several times to solve the same problem over and over again. Trying different methods and seeking advice from assorted perspectives might help lighten the burden but yields satisfying conclusions and closure. What about when it's in our culture? Wher...

A fresh new addition to the jukebox musical genre gets so much needed flare with ON YOUR FEET....

As soon as I saw Lucas Hnath's name on the docket for this current season's Humana Festival, I knew immediately which show I most wanted to see. The fact that there was a supernatural aspect to it was an added bonus. I'm happy to report that I don't feel that my anticipation was wasted....

The idea of two companies in one community doing the same show within a few months of each other poses many questions. Sometimes the rights to a popular musical become available and there is something of a feeding frenzy - a dedicated theatergoer could have availed themselves of no less than four pr...

Could I BE anymore in love with this show?...

HELLO! The Book of Mormon is in Louisville for the third time since the production started touring. The 2011 Broadway Tony Award-winning smash stands up well, and Thursday night's audience was ready to roar with delight at all the outrageous humor that skewers many religions, Western stereotypes of ...

A young man is raised with the expectation that he will follow in his father's footsteps, working in the trade and carrying on an important tradition, but instead, he wants to follow his own path and become an artist. It is a classic coming-of-age narrative of a generational and cultural shift that ...

I keep finding that theatre, even revivals of classic plays, is more often than not, about the moment. Whatever side of the aisle you find yourself, we all seem to agree that America is as divided as it has ever been, and each side has taken to viewing the other with collective disbelief. 'How can t...

On February 25, in a ceremony held at Spalding University's Columbia Theatre Ballroom, Arts-Louisville Managing Editor Keith Waits presided over an awards presentation for excellence in theatre in Louisville and the surrounding area. Categories for student, professional, and locally produced product...

There are many thoughts about life after death, most tied to one organized religion or another, but there is one less denominational fantasy afterlife...let's call it the Hollywood version, in which flights of literary fancy that violate most of the rules of Heaven are always possible....

Class conflict, the value of beauty, and the ties that bind us are just a few of the themes running through Theatre [502]'s moving new production Sergio's Museum. Set in the last days of Mexico's aristocracy, the play, the latest collaboration from playwright Steve Moulds and director Diana Grisanti...

No, it's not the movie. Nor is it the basis of the movie. But if the movie prompts you to check out this play, then everybody wins....

It is difficult to fully appreciate the volume and quality of songs written by Irving Berlin in your head at one moment. Most of us over a certain age know several, but we might not always connect each one to Berlin. We always know he was responsible for 'White Christmas', of course, and 'God Bless ...

In his program notes for this production, director Charlie Sexton states, 'Sometimes we need a night of theatre where pretense, deep subtext and the desire to change the world is stripped away...' While I can understand how John Cariani's play fits the bill, I think there is still a few moments that...