The latest reviews and critic recommendations from Memphis.
From what I've gathered, the original production of CARRIE THE MUSICAL would have been a dream project for Bialystock and Bloom, THE PRODUCERS: There's something eyebrow-raising about taking Stephen King's novel CARRIE and drenching it - not just in blood, but in music and lyrics.
CINDERELLA is the only Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that was originally written for television.
Interestingly, Playhouse on the Square has opted to produce Thornton Wilder's THE MATCHMAKER rather than HELLO, DOLLY, the legendary musical that it spawned - and therein lies both the blessing and the curse: There are so many lines here that served as song cues that the specter of Jerry Herman's 'e
Two lonely people find each other in a nursing home, they hit it off, and a congenial conversation leads to a series of card games.
offers minimal dialogue -- and a memorable performance.
Take a trip to Barbra's basement.
Elton John's score enlivens Playhouse's BILLY ELLIOT.
THE PRODUCERS is a knockout.
It's hard to reconcile the name of the title character in MOUNTAIN VIEW with that of its author.
I grew up on vinyl records, 'hit parades' and transistor radios tuned to the AM dial.
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.
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
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.
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.
Tim Firth and Geoff Deane first picked up the true story of W J Brooks and Co.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
Poor 'Edna Pontellier' of Kate Chopin's THE AWAKENING - as 'corseted' by society as she is by the habiliments of the day.
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Mean Girls Playhouse in the Square (8/21-9/13) |
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Speak, Salvation, Speak Hattiloo Theatre (8/13-9/06) |
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Clown Bar Department of Theatre and Dance, University of Memphis (9/24-9/26) |
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Clue The Orpheum Theatre Memphis (9/15-9/20) |
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It's Raining Queens™ Orpheum Theatre Memphis (10/02-10/02) |
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A Revolution of Her Own!™ Deborah Sampson Poems Park (9/19-9/19) |
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Mozart’s The Secret Gardener (La finta giardiniera) The Morrow Lawn at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens (4/10-4/17) |
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The Pirates of Penzance Germantown Performing Arts Center (2/12-2/14) |
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Titanic Department of Theatre and Dance, University of Memphis (4/22-4/25) |
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Dracula, A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really Department of Theatre and Dance, University of Memphis (2/18-2/21) |
