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BWW Review: KRAPP'S LAST TAPE Recalls Moments Past and Present at Theatre South
offers minimal dialogue -- and a memorable performance....
BWW Review: 'Blanche, Did Ya Know There Are Rats in the Cellar?' Circuit's BUYER AND CELLAR Clarifies That
Take a trip to Barbra's basement....
BWW Review: Playhouse on the Square Gives BILLY ELLIOT a Chance to Dance
Elton John's score enlivens Playhouse's BILLY ELLIOT....
BWW Review: Theatre Memphis Goose Steps to Glory with THE PRODUCERS
THE PRODUCERS is a knockout....
BWW Reviews: MOUNTAIN VIEW Offers a Pleasing Escape
It's hard to reconcile the name of the title character in MOUNTAIN VIEW with that of its author. 'Jocate' seems a variation on Dolly Parton's 'Jolene' (when will Appalachian characters have names like 'Sue' or 'Nancy'?), while author 'Teri Feigelson' suggests a world entirely alien to cabins and mou...
BWW Reviews: MOTOWN the Musical at Memphis Orpheum
I grew up on vinyl records, 'hit parades' and transistor radios tuned to the AM dial. I love Motown Music. But I felt skeptical about a breezy staged extravaganza about Berry Gordy's mercurial career. Five minutes into the opening medley, this stunning production won me over. This is NOT your assemb...
BWW Reviews: Playhouse's GOSPEL AT COLONUS Finds Sophocles 'Holy Rollin'
While watching THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS, the African-American version of Sophocles' OEDIPUS AT COLONUS as created by Lee Breuer (with music by Bob Telson), I was reminded of the reimagining of the Old Testament by Marc Connelly in the 1930 Pulitzer Prize-winning THE GREEN PASTURES. Like GOSPEL, THE GRE...
BWW Reviews: Hattiloo's SIMPLY SIMONE Sings and Zings
Somewhere in my prodigious vinyl collection there is at least one album by the self-proclaimed 'High Priestess of Soul,' Nina Simone; and having just seen SIMPLY SIMONE: The Music of Nina Simone, at the Hattiloo Theatre, I am taking a deep breath and planning to thumb through my myriad of records in...
BWW Reviews: Theatre Memphis' ANYTHING GOES - It's 'De-Lovely'!
It's early June in Memphis, but, with the recent success of Playhouse on the Square's KISS ME, KATE and, now, Theatre Memphis' sparkling production of ANYTHING GOES, we seem to be having, as my late grandmother might say, 'another 'cole' snap' - Cole Porter, that is. Who would not welcome the giddy ...
BWW Reviews: Circuit's SEMINAR Should Be Required Viewing
There's something intrinsically dramatic about a formidable artist/instructor who, because of whatever circumstances, finds that he or she has to step down a rung on the ladder of fame in order not to slip from that ladder altogether. It isn't necessarily a new theme that Theresa Rebeck tackles in t...
BWW Reviews: KINKY BOOTS is a Kick in the Pants!
Tim Firth and Geoff Deane first picked up the true story of W J Brooks and Co., a fifth generation Northamptonshire shoe factory that survived the 1990's by switching from classic brogues to footwear for drag queens after cheap imports flooded the market. The 2005 film Kinky Boots starred Joel Edger...
BWW Reviews: Playhouse 'Brushes Up' KISS ME, KATE
For its spring musical, Playhouse on the Square has reached several decades back and produced -- not an 'old warhorse of a musical' (sorry, Rodgers and Hammerstein) -- but a true thoroughbred, Cole Porter's sparkling, innovative (at the time) KISS ME, KATE. Just as Shakespeare himself created enduri...
BWW Reviews: Theatre Memphis Brings THE PHILADELPHIA STORY South
George Cukor's 1940 film version of Philip Barry's THE PHILADELPHIA STORY was Katharine Hepburn's return to glory after the actress had been labeled 'box office poison' after the failure of several films. 021The savvy Hepburn was able to bend MGM to her will when it wanted to film Barry's play, and ...
BWW Reviews: And BEST OF BROADWAY 2 Begat BEST OF BROADWAY 3
Once again, it's Spring; and once again, Stage Door Productions has brought professionals and nonprofessionals together to share their love of musical theatre and their talents in what is, by now, an annual event: THE BEST OF BROADWAY 3, closing this weekend at the KROC Center, is Director Brandon K...
BWW Reviews: Dia-TRIBES at Circuit
David Morgan's detailed set design for Circuit Playhouse's production of Nina Raine's TRIBES 'speaks volumes' (no pun intended) for the noisy, ego-driven family the audience is about to meet: Piano, stage left; 'intellectual' clutter scattered about; books everywhere; and - oh, yes - a liquor bottle...
BWW Reviews: Theatre Memphis' RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN - 'Blistered Sisters'
While watching the Next Stage production of Gina Gionfriddo's RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN at Theatre Memphis, I was reminded of John Van Druten's screenplay for the 1943 Warner Brothers film OLD ACQUAINTANCE. It was one of those 'women pictures' which provided thespic opportunities for the likes of actre...
BWW Reviews: Voices of the South Offers a Riveting AWAKENING
Poor 'Edna Pontellier' of Kate Chopin's THE AWAKENING - as 'corseted' by society as she is by the habiliments of the day. I'd like to imagine a tea party where she'd feel welcome. Let's see . . . whom to invite? One of Henrik Ibsen's stifled heroines - HEDDA GABLER or 'Nora' from A DOLL'S HOUSE; and...
BWW Reviews: COME BACK TO THE FIVE AND DIME, JIMMY DEAN Proves Timeless
Ed Graczyk's 1976 drama 'Come back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean' has a simple premise: It's September 30, 1975, and a small town dime store in West Texas is hosting the reunion of a James Dean Fan Club to mark the 20-year anniversary of Giant, which was filmed nearby. The underlying premise is y...
BWW Reviews: Playhouse's VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE Would Make Chekhov Giggle
I wonder if Jackie Nichols is providing on-site psychiatric help for those involved in the repertory presentations of Anton Chekhov's THE SEAGULL and Christopher Durang's VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE at Playhouse on the Square. Surely the veteran Irene Crist, performing double duty as Directo...
BWW Reviews: Hattiloo's KING HEDLEY II Gets the Royal Treatment
KING HEDLEY II Provides Powerful Theatre at Hattiloo...
BWW Reviews: Emerald Company Chases the Rainbow in STANDING ON CEREMONY
The Emerald Theatre Company at Theatre Works is currently showcasing not one, not two, not three - but nine pieces in its latest production, STANDING ON CEREMONY: THE GAY MARRIAGE PLAYS. This modest, meaningful series of vignettes - some, extremely funny; some, sad in the extreme; all, worth seeing ...
Videos
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Primary Trust Circuit Playhouse (5/08-5/31) |
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The Dreamboats Graceland Soundstage (7/03-7/03) |
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Edwin McCain and Five For Fighting Graceland Soundstage (6/05-6/05) |
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Elmiene Graceland Soundstage (7/17-7/17) |
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Suffs The Orpheum Theatre Memphis (7/28-8/02) |
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Sweeney Todd Playhouse on the Square (6/12-7/12) |
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Gladys Knight Graceland Soundstage (6/19-6/19) |
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Titanic Department of Theatre and Dance, University of Memphis (4/22-4/25) |
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Buddy Guy Graceland Soundstage (10/29-10/29) |
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Leanne Morgan Thompson Boling Arena (12/12-12/12) |
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