The Fourth Wall

Imagine a space where the boundary between the stage and the stalls simply evaporates. Co-produced by Landmark Productions and Octopus Theatricals, Theatre For One appears at the Barbican Centre this month as part of their Scene Change season. It offers a singular, electrifying encounter that demolishes the fourth wall, leaving only you and a solo performer within a custom-built, intimate booth.

Theater West End was wise to split Angels in America in the season as two separate performances, each with their own block in the schedule. Originally, I was concerned that the Part Two of it all might turn away prospective theatergoers. But upon watching both parts now, and bearing in mind my own familiarity for the characters, I can also see now how the original production’s 18-month gap would have also been enticing for an audience.

You’d be hard pressed to find a more striking opening outfit in a play than #FATKARY: The Corrido of a Tragic Ex-Fat Woman. Performer and writer Caridad Gómez dons a fat suit exaggerated to comical absurdity, her face mostly covered in the manner of a lucha libre fighter and her body obscured by what looks like layers upon layers of Cath Kidston cushions. Clad in something so cartoonish, Gómez encourages us to see her not quite as a real person, but as a caricature or a bogeyman, who can’t quite connect with her audience directly.

At its heart, Sister Act: The Musical is a celebration of sisterhood and the unexpected bonds formed in the most unlikely places. While Deloris Van Cartier begins her journey chasing fame, her time with the nuns reveals a deeper calling: not spiritual in the traditional sense, but rooted in connection, community, and self-worth.

What Will the Neighbors Say? has revealed the programming for 'Being/Scene: Through the Fourth Wall,' a day-long gathering honoring the work and teachings of Steve Wangh. Learn how to attend.

We talk to Jimish Thakkar about Every Brilliant Thing at The Rose Studio. Ice cream. Water fights. Roller coasters. Hugging. People falling over. A seven-year-old boy starts a list of wonderful things in the world to cheer up his mom. Everything worth living for. As he matures and faces his own challenges, the growing list inspires him to find meaning in everyday life. Told with the help of the audience, this charming one-man show is a joyful act of collective storytelling that reveals how the connections we make are what keep us strong. Funny, poignant and full of hope, Every Brilliant Thing might just change the way you see the world.

ILLUSION THEATER celebrates its 50th anniversary with a season of new plays and special performances, honoring its legacy of producing transformative theater on pressing social issues.

Aisle Say cannot imagine any veteran of community theatre who does not some relationship with THE FANTASTICKS; who does not look on the show with fondness and a sense of nostalgia. The original 1960 off-Broadway production closed in 2002 with 17,000 performances and revived from 2006 to 2017. There are 250 school and community productions annually. (As of 2010, its original investors had earned 240 times their original investments).

The St. Louis Shakespeare Festival has revealed its line-up for their 24th season of free Shakespeare with As You Like It as the mainstage production. See the lineup and learn how to purchase tickets.

Shakespeare & Company brings Golda's Balcony to Boston, featuring Annette Miller in her acclaimed performance as Golda Meir.

Are you bound for the Philadelphia area this fall.  There’s so much to see and do that our readers will like to know about. 

What did our critic think of WE WILL ROCK YOU at Oslo Spektrum?

The shows, conceived and produced by a diverse group of NYC-based artists, are Untitled Ukraine Project by The Mill (Feb 1-2), Embodied by Jaime Sunwoo / Free Rein Projects (Feb 4-5), Rubalee by Caborca (Feb 8-9), and Longing Lights by Deniz Khateri and Bahar Royaee (Feb 11-12).

Next month, 54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, will present some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond. A recipient of the 2022 Tony Awards Honor for Excellence in the Theatre, 54 Below celebrates Broadway musicals and writers of the past and present, promoting an ongoing engagement with their work.

Austin’s oldest film festival and premiere LGBTQ+ film fest of the Southwest, aGLIFF announces the winners and centerpiece film for The Queer Black Voices Fund for the 35th annual festival PRISM 35 taking place in-person August 24–28, 2022 in Austin, TX.

There have been a lot of interesting concepts for musicals over the history of the artform. For the most part, the shows that push the boundaries of the musical theatre format stick to the Off-Off-Broadway theatres or Fringe festivals. But sometimes one of these genre-busting musicals makes it to the mainstream. Such is the case with URINETOWN: THE MUSICAL, which moved from the New York Fringe Festival to an Off-Broadway production to Broadway, securing ten Tony nominations (and three wins) back in 2002. And by producing URINETOWN: THE MUSICAL as just its fourth production since relocating to Orlando from New York, Non-Profit Community Theatre company Little Radical Theatrics delivered an audience pleasing production at the Mandell Studio Theatre at Orlando Shakes that featured a fun and creative concept, a dedicated and energetic ensemble (with some strong performances), making for a unique, but fun night at the theatre.

The 20th anniversary of Adelaide Festival Centre’s inSPACE Development Program has been revealed today with eight new and exciting works-in-progress selected for development. The program will run from January 2022 until October 2022 and will showcase a range of genres including dance, theatre, musicals, cabaret and performance art.

The Spring 2021 Season offers three moving, one-person performances: Colman Domingo’s A Boy and His Soul, directed by Craig Wallace; Lucy Alibar’s Throw Me on the Burnpile and Light Me Up, directed by Round House Artistic Director Ryan Rilette; and Young Jean Lee’s We’re Gonna Die, directed by Paige Hernandez.

Movie musicals dona??t always translate well from stage to screen, mostly because it is difficult to recreate the magic of a live stage production on camera.

NBC has tied for #1 in the key demographic of adults 18-49 for the primetime ratings week of April 27-May 3, according to “live plus same day” figures from Nielsen Media Research.

In response to the continually evolving novel coronavirus outbreak, Round House Theatre is updating its previously announced 2020-2021 Season. The upcoming season will now include Cost of Living by Martyna Majok. The previously announced God of Carnage will be postponed until the 2021-2022 Season. All remaining shows are still slated to continue, but the schedule has been updated. The Tempest, which is expected to draw in the largest crowds, will now perform at later dates.

Harold Reid, Country Music Hall of Fame member, nine-time CMA Awards winner and bass vocalist in the legendary Country Music group the Statler Brothers, passed away Friday, April 24. He was 80.  

NBC has averaged a 0.7 rating in adults 18-49 and 4.0 million viewers overall for the primetime ratings week of March 30-April 5, according to “live plus same day” figures from Nielsen Media Research.

BWW Reviewer Peter Nason chooses the best film musicals since the sound era began; see if your favorites made the list!

NBC has tied for #1 in the key demographic of adults 18-49 for the primetime ratings week of March 16-22, according to “live plus same day” figures from Nielsen Media Research. NBC also tied for #1 in adults 25-54, adults 18-34 and all key adult-female demographics.