Jack Palmer News

Let me start this review with a confession - I’m an American who had never seen a panto before last night, and I had no idea what to expect from Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I was aware of the tradition of the pantomime, but did not know the extent to how beloved it was in the UK. So it was with joy that I reviewed Goldilocks and the Three Bears

The Growing Stage, The Children's Theatre of New Jersey, located in the Historic Palace Theatre in Netcong kicks off the holiday season with 'ELF The Musical' from November 29 through December 22. Broadwayworld.com had the pleasure of interviewing Connor McKenna about his career and his role as Buddy in 'ELF' at The Growing Stage.

It has been said that neighbors are like relatives - you don't get to choose them. But if you could, the motley (yet adorable) crew in The Boys Next Door might be your choice for the folks you would like to see in the next house over. This warm and effective comedy by Tom Griffin, which opens at Newnan Theatre Company on March 7th, deals with four mentally challenged men living in a group home supervised by their young caseworker. Each member of Jack's quartet has a different degree of difficulty when coping with the world, but all embrace life as well as they can manage.

It has been said that neighbors are like relatives - you don't get to choose them. But if you could, the motley (yet adorable) crew in The Boys Next Door might be your choice for the folks you would like to see in the next house over. This warm and effective comedy by Tom Griffin, which opens at Newnan Theatre Company on March 7th, deals with four mentally challenged men living in a group home supervised by their young caseworker. Each member of Jack's quartet has a different degree of difficulty when coping with the world, but all embrace life as well as they can manage.

The Boys Next Door is a series of vignettes blending scenes from the residents' daily lives (where "little things" sometimes become both momentous and comic) with moments of great poignancy, reminding us that those with disabilities are like everyone else, wanting only to love, laugh and find some meaning and purpose in life. Bridge Players Theatre Company is producing Tom Griffin's The Boys Next Door, directed by Edwin Howard, as a part of their 43rd season: A Season of Dreams.

"The Boys Next Door"-a poignant comedy by Tom Griffin about four men with various mental disabilities living in a group home-will be the third play of the Hampton Theatre Company's 2017-2018 season, opening on March 22 at the Quogue Community Hall and running through April 8.

As a prelude to this play, vintage cartoons from the 1930's were projected onstage as the audience entered to take their seats. Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie, which introduced Mickey Mouse, was animated by Ub Iwerks, who (we are informed on titles between the shorts) soon left Disney to make his own cartoons for MGM, including Flip the Frog, an example of which followed hard upon. Before curtain, we were also treated to Betty Boop, and all of the cartoons were in stark black & white. Playwright Eli Keel identifies this period as the 'Golden Age of Animation', a time when the form was almost literally being invented. The end of the decade would bring Snow White, often described, somewhat inaccurately, as the first feature-length animated film. That it was in full color underscores the rapid development of the technology and the storytelling. However much the late 1940's and 1950's are celebrated for the rise of Disney's commercial empire, Keel has chosen the most interesting and fertile period of animation creativity in which to set his story.

'The Boys Next Door'-a poignant comedy by Tom Griffin about four men with various mental disabilities living in a group home-will be the third play of the Hampton Theatre Company's 2017-2018 season, opening on March 22 at the Quogue Community Hall and running through April 8.

Blackfriars Theatre continues its 2016-2017 season with Tom Griffin's The Boys Next Door, a touching play that straddles the line between comedy and drama as it tells a story about young men with intellectual or developmental disabilities living in a community residence.  

Jazz at Lincoln Center's 2016 Popular Song series at the Appel Room ended this year's agenda on June 8 with host Michael Feinstein's appreciation of the interconnection between swing and popular song, a subject about which he's clearly enthusiastic. Each musical era, he suggests, is previewed by a song marking change: “Alexander's Ragtime Band” ushered in ragtime, “Sing, Sing Sing,” prefaced swing, “Rock Around the Clock” heralded rock n' roll. With the able assistance of Musical Director Tedd Firth (also on piano), Firth's Big Band, and special guest vocalists Allyson Briggs, Jeremy Jordan, and Catherine Ross, Feinstein and Co. delivered a lively evening of familiar and eclectic material.

Bethesda, MD

Tom Griffin's 'THE BOYS NEXT DOOR' is a tricky script…its subject matter is a group home in the Boston area housing four mentally-challenged adult men; Arnold, Norman, Lucien and Barry. They have a caretaker, Jack, who lives offsite, and the play progresses through a series of vignettes illustrating the challenges of their everyday lives. As depressing as that may sound, the script has many comic moments, and it's a tightrope to balance the humor with the pathos. It was made into a mildly effective television movie in 1996 featuring Nathan Lane, Courtney B. Vance and Mare Winningham. I say 'mildly effective' because the play has an extra layer of difficulty in that the humor is generated by the plight of its characters…the audience laughs at the behavior and reactions of these damaged men, and without careful direction and acting skill, there could be guilt and self-loathing in the laughter rather than charm and warmth. The TV version fell victim to this, but STAGEright Theatre Company presents a beautiful rendering of the show under the direction of Jay D. Irwin.

The Boys Next Door is a play, written by Tom Griffin. It deals with four intellectually disabled men who live in a group home. It takes place over roughly a two month period of time and consists of brief vignettes about their lives. Though the play is quite humorous in its non-mocking way of dealing with the handicapped men in real situations, the play takes a surprising turn as Barry's one-armed father comes to visit, and Jack (their caretaker) accepts a new job.

The Boys Next Door is a play, written by Tom Griffin. It deals with four intellectually disabled men who live in a group home. It takes place over roughly a two month period of time and consists of brief vignettes about their lives. Though the play is quite humorous in its non-mocking way of dealing with the handicapped men in real situations, the play takes a surprising turn as Barry's one-armed father comes to visit, and Jack (their caretaker) accepts a new job.