Regional Roundup: Top New Features This Week Around Our BroadwayWorld 2/16 - HUNCHBACK, HAMILTON, FRANKENSTEIN, and More!

By: Feb. 16, 2018
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BroadwayWorld presents a comprehensive weekly roundup of regional stories around our Broadway World, which include videos, editor spotlights, regional reviews and more. This week, we feature HUNCHBACK, HAMILTON, FRANKENSTEIN, and More!

Check out our top features from around the BroadwayWorld below! Want more great global content? Check out our "Around The World" section!


Regional Roundup: Top New Features This Week Around Our BroadwayWorld 2/16 - HUNCHBACK, HAMILTON, FRANKENSTEIN, and More! Salt Lake City: Contributor Tyler Hinton reviews HUNCHBACK at the Hale Center. He writes "Director/choreographer Dave Tinney and musical director Kelly Dehaan have shepherded the performances to be much more than just the individuals on their own. There is a unity and power that radiates from the large group of actors and singers, skillfully costumed by Peggy Willis, as they navigate through the ever-shifting multi-leveled set."


Regional Roundup: Top New Features This Week Around Our BroadwayWorld 2/16 - HUNCHBACK, HAMILTON, FRANKENSTEIN, and More! Seattle: Contributor Jay Irwin reviews HAMILTON at the Paramount Theatre. He writes "And now I must mention four tracks that may be the most demanding in the show and were stunners. These four actors have to pull double duty all night long, each with two very different characters. Elijah Malcomb starts the night as one of Alexander's best friends John Laurens with tons of resolve and dedication and then moved onto play Hamilton's son Phillip whose bravado will break your heart. Fergie L. Phillipe was probably my favorite of the four with his braggadocious Hercules Mulligan and then going into the meeker and sickly James Madison. Kyle Scatliffe who Seattle audiences may remember from his amazing turn as Jud in "Oklahoma" a few years back was a stunner as the quick talking Lafayette and then the scheming Jefferson. And last but certainly not least Danielle Sostre as the notably overlooked Schuyler sister Peggy who turns around to completely kill it as the sultry Maria Reynolds."


Regional Roundup: Top New Features This Week Around Our BroadwayWorld 2/16 - HUNCHBACK, HAMILTON, FRANKENSTEIN, and More! Omaha: Contributor Natalie McGovern reviews AN AMERICAN IN PARIS at the Orpheum Theatre. She writes "Jerry Mulligan (McGee Maddox) has the je ne sai quoi you'd expect from a worldly artist and American GI, as he glides through scenes effortlessly, polished and charismatic. Other standouts are Lise, talented Houston Ballet veteran Allison Walsh, with her perfected French accent that comes off as charmingly authentic and demure, and a brooding yet sentimental Jewish composer, Adam Hochberg (Matthew Scott) already resigned to the fact he may only get the girl in the form of a muse."


Regional Roundup: Top New Features This Week Around Our BroadwayWorld 2/16 - HUNCHBACK, HAMILTON, FRANKENSTEIN, and More! Portland: Contributor Krista Garver reviews A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER at the Keller Auditorium. She writes "Where things get really fun is the murders themselves. All of the D'Ysquiths ahead of Monty are played by James Taylor Odom. As such, he dies eight times during the show, from causes ranging from wind and ice to barbells and bees. Odom does this brilliantly. Bearing more than a passing resemblance to John Cleese, Odom also has a gift for physical comedy, ratcheting up the outrageousness with each death. The whole show feels at times like a Monty Python sketch."


Regional Roundup: Top New Features This Week Around Our BroadwayWorld 2/16 - HUNCHBACK, HAMILTON, FRANKENSTEIN, and More! Dallas: Contributor Samuel Weber reviews FRANKENSTEIN at Dallas Theater Center. He writes "Mary Shelley's now timeless speculative fiction concerns itself with more than green monsters and mad scientists. Rather, Shelley's work is almost an exercise in understanding what lies at the edge of contemporary science, and more deeply, exploring the themes of those who wanted more - the Lucifer figure. This is an archetype I like to believe Shelley identified herself with, an educated woman wanting more for herself than her time would allow. Finding this characterization is something Dear's text does well, especially in its original iteration where light and illumination played such a large role in the staging. But it doesn't take the time to actually address any of the questions posed, and rushes the relationships that are so crucial to answering them. Those familiar with the Shelley will also be left wanting for any of the Walton story."


Regional Roundup: Top New Features This Week Around Our BroadwayWorld 2/16 - HUNCHBACK, HAMILTON, FRANKENSTEIN, and More! Portland: Contributor Krista Garver reviews KODACHROME at Portland Center Stage. She writes "Much of the play revolves around interactions between two characters who are somewhere on the continuum between falling in love and falling out of it. The scenes that work this space most effectively are the ones between Sharonlee McLean and John D. Haggerty, who are paired up as both the Florist and the Perfume Maker and as the Mystery Novelist and the History Professor. But I was most moved by Ryan Tresser as both the Gravedigger, an odd duck with a kind heart and a special gift, and the Young Man, who believes he can learn how to love perfectly by reading the right books."


Regional Roundup: Top New Features This Week Around Our BroadwayWorld 2/16 - HUNCHBACK, HAMILTON, FRANKENSTEIN, and More! Atlanta: Contributor Amy Zipperer reviews DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS at Atlanta Lyric Theatre. She writes "Under the fine direction of Rick Lombardo, his stellar cast makes this musical the best that it can be. Chase Peacock's perfect comic timing is a huge asset. He has created a Freddy Benson that is, at once, thoroughly revolting and eminently likable. His seasoned delivery of ribald joke after ribald joke as well as his hilarious rendering of Ruprecht the Monkey Boy, who, in this incarnation, loves milkshake enemas and fresh-shaved testicles on Christmas day, almost makes us diehard film fans forget that a few of the legendary film scenes are noticeably missing from the musical. Scenes like the one at the French jail where Freddy attempts to remember Lawrence Jameson's name and the one where Ruprecht urinates at the dinner table have been replaced by a classic-musical-style secondary set of lovers, Muriel Eubanks and Andre Thibault, played here by the marvelous Jessica De Maria, who lights up the stage at every turn, and Steve Hudson, fresh off his divine performance in The Hunchback at Notre Dame at Aurora Theatre. The two, working together to sell an unlikely romance between a bored wealthy socialite and a corrupt French police inspector, are so fun to watch that they very nearly upstage the primary players. Atlanta favorites Bryan Smith, as Lawrence Jameson, and Galen Crawley as Christine Colgate, also turn in solid performances, but Crawley is, admittedly, much better suited for the role of Eliza that she took on earlier this year at Atlanta Lyric Theatre and Smith feels a tad too young and American for the part of Jameson."


Regional Roundup: Top New Features This Week Around Our BroadwayWorld 2/16 - HUNCHBACK, HAMILTON, FRANKENSTEIN, and More! Chicago: Contributor Patrick Rybarczyk reviews YOU GOT OLDER at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. He writes "One of the final scenes, a phone call between Mae and Dad, is particularly moving. Neff and Guinan's performances are incredibly strong and touching here. Their fantastic work throughout sustains a piece that may benefit from a bit of trimming. As Hannah, Audrey Francis perfectly captures the role of the eldest sibling who is there to keep the family's spirits up and to serve as caretaker. Davis' turn as Mac is a joy to watch and provides a nice parallel to Mae's quirkiness. Ruiz plays the cowboy with a delightful blend of sensuality, humor, and force."


Regional Editor Spotlight:

Regional Roundup: Top New Features This Week Around Our BroadwayWorld 2/16 - HUNCHBACK, HAMILTON, FRANKENSTEIN, and More! Tyler Hinton
Salt Lake City Contributing Editor

Tyler Hinton has been a contributing editor at BroadwayWorld since January 2012. He has a BA from Brigham Young University (BYU) with an emphasis in Public Relations and a minor in Theatre Studies. In the past, he has written for the BYU Daily Universe and the Connersville (Ind.) News-Examiner. He also has extensive experience with many aspects of theatre, including producing, directing, music directing, performing, writing, marketing, and reviewing.


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