Social media wizard, arts writer and theatre critic for Naples Daily News (@ndn). Starbucks devotee. Blogger & #sbuxdrama creator. Britcom lover. Snarky. +3 Twitter power.
Chris began reviewing local theater performances for the Daily News during the fall of 2007. His first review was of Queen Latifah's slamming performance at the Philharmonic, while his favorite so far has been "Eagle Fruit," British playwright Terry Johnson's scream-and-leap blast of performance art for the spiritually deprived from the Laboratory Theater of Florida in December 2009.
 BWW Reviews: DREAMGIRLS Shimmies Into Naples
May 23, 2013
Shimmy shimmy. Shake shake. Dip. Croon. Sparkle. Wail. Ooooooh. 'We're you're 'Dreamgirls.' Delightful, delicious, feathery, fluffy musical 'Dreamgirls' floated into the Phil (sigh, Artis-Naples) Wednesday. There's a reason the show appears for 'One Night Only,' but the music of Motown makes it a speedy one.
 BWW Reviews: Gulfshore Playhouse Brings Callas to Life With MASTER CLASS
April 15, 2013
'Master Class,' Terrence McNally's play about the life of opera diva Maria Callas, seems tailor-made to continue the partnership between Gulfshore Playhouse and the Naples Philharmonic. Produced by Gulfshore, performed in the Daniels Pavilion, the show combines a larger-than-life character, smart writing, lush music and operatic arias.
 BWW Reviews: FULLY COMMITTED Opens for Dinner at BIG ARTS on Sanibel
April 2, 2013
There's one man (and a bunch of junk) on the stage. There's 40 characters on the stage. There's a laptop. A desk. A chair. A phone. An intercom. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. That. Incessant. ########## ####### ####### ######## ######## #######-ing RING! 'Good evening, 'Fully Committed;' could you hold please?'
 BWW Reviews: SECOND CITY Delivers First-Rate Comedy in Naples
March 27, 2013
There's a reason - a simple one - that Second City can fill an auditorium on a cold, windy evening in late March in Naples, when the sun is shining and the million distractions of a coastal resort town beckon. These guys are good. Very, very good.
 BWW Reviews: FOX ON THE FAIRWAY Eagles Out with Laughs at Broadway Palm
March 25, 2013
Two rival golf clubs. A prodigy with a broken arm. A priceless vahze. A $200,000 wager. Granny's engagement ring. The Golf Channel. Oprah. Raw oysters. Champagne. There's even a couple putters, a driver and few golf balls knocking about the stage. Sounds like a recipe for a disaster on stage and laughter in the seats!
 BWW Reviews: Sassy SETH RUDETSKY Entertains in Naples
March 25, 2013
Thank you, Seth Rudetsky. The last thing you expect to hear on a wet Wednesday in March is a cover of 'I Dreamed A Dream,' that song from 'Les Miserables,' yes THAT song, as performed by Aretha oh please no Franklin. The tune. It it travels?
 BWW Reviews: OTHER DESERT CITIES Explodes Onto Florida Rep Stage
March 25, 2013
Florida Repertory Theatre scored a coup, grabbing the rights to red-hot Jon Robin Baitz play 'Other Desert Cities' for their 2012-13 season. In some ways a thinly veiled take on Ron and Nancy Reagan, the show features a daughter confronting conservative parents over long-buried family secrets.
 BWW Reviews: Florida Rep Casts Magical Spell with FANTASTICKS
March 25, 2013
Call. Now. Get tickets to the Florida Rep production of 'The Fantasticks.' You, dear readers, will love the show. The opening night audience cooed in delight and sheer merriment at streamers and confetti and the banging of a drum. The smooth glissando of a harp evokes a garden, washed in lunar rays, the rapid tapping of piano keys the gallop of brigands.
 BWW Reviews: Fall in Love with MARVELOUS WONDERETTES on Sanibel
March 25, 2013
By the time the final notes of Aretha Franklin girl-power anthem 'Respect' die down, after Friday's opening night crowd whooped and cheered as Anne Chamberlain juggled, flipped and successfully caught an errant microphone, you're totally, completely, utterly in love with the 'Marvelous Wonderettes.'
 BWW Reviews: LES MISERABLES Tour Thunders into Fort Myers
March 25, 2013
Let's get to the point. 'Les Miserables' is back in Southwest Florida for the second time in fifteen months, playing through March 17 at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall in Fort Myers. Will you like it? That depends. I didn't. You will. Because Tuesday's opening night crowd went absolutely nuts. Two curtain calls and almost no one ran screaming for the exits as if Inspector Javert was hot on their heels waiting to toss them into the Bastile. If the seats don't empty during bows, you know the folks in the 239 have got some major love for what's on stage.
 BWW Reviews: Theatrezone Tackles Crazy with NEXT TO NORMAL
March 25, 2013
Mark Danni continues to tackle ambitious projects at TheatreZone. With critical and commercial hits 'Forum' and 'Grand Hotel' behind him, success augured well for edgy small-cast, sung-through musical 'Next to Normal.' The pieces just don't fall into place.
 BWW Reviews: Rachel York Shines in ANYTHING GOES Tour at Naples Philharmonic
March 25, 2013
The Roundabout Theatre Club production of 'Anything Goes' sailed into the Naples Philharmonic Tuesday on a tide of tapping and trilling, carried along by one of the single greatest act one curtain numbers in musical theatre history.
 BWW Reviews: Hills Ring with Song in Broadway Palm's SOUND OF MUSIC
March 25, 2013
Sitting in a darkened house, listening to the scrape of chairs, the clink of glasses and the rustle of napkins, you forget just how charming 'The Sound of Music' can be. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II could write songs. Not the bland, vaguely pop ditties of today's musical theatre. But tunes that audiences cherish for five decades and counting.
 BWW Reviews: WHIPPING MAN Delivers Extraordinary Theatre Experience at Gulfshore Playhouse
March 25, 2013
Gulfshore Playhouse explores the Civil War in frightening, fascinating, thrilling, daresay even extraordinary fashion in this Matthew Lopez show. 'The Whipping Man' covers a few days after Lee's surrender at Appomattox. A Jewish soldier returns home to find his house in ruins, just two former slaves left and his family gone. As the starving, uneasy trio celebrates Passover with a makeshift Seder, bitter truths come out.
 BWW Reviews: ADDAMS FAMILY Tour Snap-Snaps into Fort Myers
February 26, 2013
Da da da dum (snap snap). 'The Addams Family.' You want a verdict? Not bad. Pretty good. Da da da dum (snap snap). Sitcom. Very sitcom. Which it is. (snap snap). Memorable? Not at all. (snap snap). Fun? Absolutely. But Morticia and a ghost kick line? That's entertainment. (snap snap).
 BWW Reviews: BILLY ELLIOT Tour Dances into Naples
February 25, 2013
The national tour of 'Billy Elliott' dances into Naples for a six-night run at the Philharmonic. The show thrills, but never quite forges the intense emotional connection it so obviously labors toward. While dazzling ballet sequences and soaring lyrics wow, they feel ever so slightly mechanical.
 BWW Reviews: Gulfshore Playhouse Wows with IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST
February 25, 2013
Gulfshore Playhouse has produced good shows, great shows and shows I wasn't quite a fan of. Now, with 'The Importance of Being Earnest,' Kristen Coury finds herself in a different place entirely. 'Earnest' is amazing. I absolutely don't care if you hate Oscar Wilde. This will be the best two and a half hours of your life. Cucumber sandwiches not included. I don't like cucumber sandwiches anyway.
 BWW Reviews: Broadway Palm Swims to Laughs with DIXIE SWIM CLUB
January 22, 2013
'Fiddler on the Roof' is selling out on the main stage of the Broadway Palm. This review is not about that show. This review is about another show. The one about God's OTHER chosen people. Namely, Southerners. 'Dixie Swim Club' paddles over for big laughs, honest humor and Southern-fried fun.
 BWW Reviews: IMPROVISED SHAKESPEARE COMPANY Riffs Hard on the Bard
January 22, 2013
I've long been blunt about the fact that I don't have much of a taste for improv. I don't like beer, bananas or iceberg lettuce either. It's just my preference. I can, however, recognize when it is done well. And the one-night, two-shows-only Improvised Shakespeare Company does it very, very well.
 BWW Reviews: Gulfshore Playhouse Marries Hit with I AM MY OWN WIFE
January 22, 2013
There's not really any way around this. Pulitzer Prize-winning play 'I Am My Own Wife' features one man in a dress performing 37 different roles. If you don't like that sort of thing, leave. Of course, that would be a grave mistake, because Kraig Swartz will change your life.
 BWW Reviews: SPAMALOT Succeeds in Quest for Laughs on Sanibel
January 17, 2013
They came. They saw. They sang. They danced. 'Become a knight and you'll go far / in suspenders and a bra!' 'Spamalot,' the Monty Python musical, clip-clopped into BIG ARTS Herb Strauss Theater on Sanibel this weekend. And it was good. Very, very good.
 BWW Reviews: National Tour of MARY POPPINS Floats into Fort Myers
January 16, 2013
'Mary Poppins' floated into Fort Myers Tuesday. Audiences get gorgeous sets, a trilling soprano and chimney sweeps on parade. The delightful show offers plenty of thrills, but a more adult storyline lacks some of the pure whimsy and charm of the Disney film. Perhaps another spoonful of sugar?
 BWW Reviews: TheatreZone Checks Into Sparkling GRAND HOTEL
January 11, 2013
After several seasons of mediocre musicals, Mark Danni has finally found a formula that works at TheatreZone. 'Grand Hotel,' a celebration of life at Berlin's best boarding place, marks a second consecutive triumph for the group. Music, dance and creative elements combine for a brilliant night.
 BWW Reviews: FORBIDDEN BROADWAY Back to Skew Behemoths of the Great White Way
January 9, 2013
Is the New York Times Theater section your bible? Can you recall Tony winners at the drop of a tap shoe? Do you rate LaDucas higher than Louboutins? Do you argue over who was the best 'Phantom?' Then 'Forbidden Broadway' might just be your kind of show.
 BWW Reviews: Florida Rep Surveys Southern Sibling Squabbles in THE LITTLE FOXES
January 9, 2013
Two brothers. One sister. A fortune waiting for them. A family divided against itself. Southern gentlemen. Negro maids in smart white uniforms. Grits. Elderberry wine. Beautiful clothes. Beautiful people. Terrible deeds. Florida Rep explores all this in fascinating 'The Little Foxes.'
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