Regional Roundup: Top New Features This Week Around Our BroadwayWorld 12/7
By: BWW Special Dec. 07, 2018
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 COME FROM AWAY, ANNIE, MAMMA MIA and More!
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Check out our top features from around the BroadwayWorld below! Want more great global content? Check out our "Around The World" section!
Los Angeles: Contributor Don Grigware reviews COME FROM AWAY in Los Angeles, writing "Director Ashley wondrously moves, with Kelly Divine's musical staging, the 12 actors around the stage with 12 chairs - all completely different from one another - being set up in different configurations to show the interior of one of the planes, the airfield, a local school, shelter, mayoral offices or local bar. It's amazing to watch the actors one second be the inhabitants of Gander and the next the strangers on a plane who have not slept in over 24 hours and are worried to death about what will happen in their immediate future."
Seattle: Contributor Jay Irwin reviews A VERY DIE HARD CHRISTMAS at Seattle Public Theater writing "Dear Readers, I need you to stop what you're doing right now (including reading this review) and go to www.seattlepublictheater.com and get your tickets to the most ridiculous fun you'll have this holiday season, 'A Very Die Hard Christmas'. Seriously tickets are going fast so do it now and then come back and read the rest of this. I'll wait here and sing softly to myself while you're gone. ('If you like Pina Coladas, getting' caught in the rain. If you're not into yoga. If you have half a brain...') Oh, you're back? Did you do it? Good. Now let me tell you about the glorious show you just bought tickets to from the brilliance of Mark Siano, John Kranz, Jeff Schell, and the deliciously demented minds of The Habit."
Norway: Contributor Christian Ranke reviews SCROOGE - A CHRISTMAS CAROL at Lillestrøm Kutursenter, writing "From the moment you enter the small theatre you are surrounded by the Victorian streets of London. The impressive set stretches into the auditorium on both sides. It is easy to be immersed in the old streets of London. The Norwegian penned version of 'Scrooge - A Christmas Carol' is a most welcomed addition to adaptations of this classic tale."
Omaha: Contributor Christine Swerczek reviews MAMMA MIA! at Nebraska Wesleyan University Theatre, writing "Thursday night's opening of MAMMA MIA! at Nebraska Wesleyan's McDonald Theatre was a party in the Greek Isles. The extremely enthusiastic crowd of mostly college aged people vociferously approved this romp through ABBA's memorable music. Chest booming laughter, screams, and hoots resounded through the house. But it was all good... because it is all good."
Seattle: Contributor Jay Irwin reviews The 5th Ave's ANNIE, writing "You may say, Dear Readers, that it's impossible to have a bad production of the Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse, and Martin Charnin classic "Annie". Throw some precocious kids on stage, belt out those recognizable tunes and you're gold. Well, I beg to differ as I've seen my share of "Annie" productions that missed the point, or the heart or maybe just didn't quite have the kids to pull it off well. (You know what they say, never work with kids or animals and this show has BOTH!) Well the current production at the 5th Avenue not only has the perfect tone for this boisterously fun old time musical, but they know exactly where the heart is in the show and in the audience and which buttons to push on both. Not to mention those precocious kids all seem to be consummate professionals with killer voices. So much so I'm suspecting they were actually just short adults. Maybe?"
Seattle: Contributor Jay Irwin reviews Seattle Rep's IN THE HEIGHTS writing "Before there was "Hamilton" there was "In the Heights". I know I'm a nerd, but it floors me how many people don't know that. Most theater aficionados know of "Hamilton" and by extension of Lin-Manuel Miranda but have a blind spot for "In the Heights" the Tony winning show that put Miranda on the map. And while it certainly feels like an early work from the man who would become King, it's still quite stunning and ground breaking for its time and the production from the Seattle Rep manages to capture all the heat and heart that the show demands."
Nashville: Contributor Jeffrey Ellis reviews THE WOLVES, writing "In a production that almost didn't happen - it was upended by college administrators' fear of the power of the words found in DeLappe's stunning script - The Wolves is a play about the evolution of a group of nine young women who find themselves together every Saturday morning for a soccer match at an indoor facility in some unspecified locale that could be in New York, California or even Tennessee (or any place in between), during which they reveal themselves and their lives in a no-holds-barred conversation that allows audiences an unfettered view of whatever happens to be on their minds at any given moment."
UK / West End: Contributor Louis Train reviews FIDDLER ON THE ROOF at Menier Chocolate Factory, writing "In Trevor Nunn's extraordinary new production of Fiddler on the Roof, at the Menier Chocolate Factory, a dimension of intimacy and immediacy recasts a familar show, dragging it, sometimes tearfully, always beautifully, closer to the audience than it has ever been."
Central Pennsylvania: Contributor Andrea Stephenson reviews A CHRISTMAS CAROL at Open Stage Of Harrisburg, writing "The 1843 Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol is a familiar tale. Each holiday season A Christmas Carol can be found in one of its over 130 adaptations on the screen or on the stage. As the stress of the holiday season grows, it is not unusual to hear someone utter the words made famous by Ebenezer Scrooge-Bah! Humbug! No matter what version of the classic tale we see, however, the story reminds us that the true spirit of the holiday season is one of compassion, kindness, forgiveness, charity, love, and hope. A Christmas Carol opened for the 19th year at Open Stage of Harrisburg on December 1st."
Regional Editor Spotlight:
Jay IrwinSeattle Contributor
Born and raised in Seattle, WA, Jay has been a theater geek for years. He attends as many shows as he can around the country and loves taking in new exciting works.
Instituting a new three letter rating system for my reviews for 2014. They'll range from best to worst as WOW (A can't miss), YAY (Too damn good), MEH+ (Good, with some great things going for it), MEH (Just OK), NAH (You can miss this one) and WTF (I think you can figure out my complex code there).
Jay is also an actor in the local Seattle scene. Follow me on Twitter @SeattleBdwyGeek
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