Bruce Apar - Page 2

Each cast member excels in creating a strong, distinct persona that adds up to a sizzling ensemble.

Based on the 1985 movie, the script of 'Clue' is a fun romp rife with wordplay and sight gags. Need a break from streaming and bingeing and all the newfangled ways to get your entertainment fix? 

The excellent ensemble's work across the board is as riveting as it is skillful, testament also to director Kathleen Mahan

The Dumb Waiter is built with the trademark tropes and techniques that comprise a vintage Pinter. There is no room – or need – for exposition, so if you’re waiting to discern a decipherable story line, you might as well be waiting for Godot.

In 3-Way Stop, a threesome of short plays on stage through Oct. 29 at Schoolhouse Theater in Croton Falls (Putnam County, N.Y.), playwright James Sheldon brings to the fore miniature slices of life that cut close to the bone – sibling rivalry, marital meanderings, the search for life’s meaning (or at least for a more meaningful life.) 

In 'Incident at Our Lady of Perpetual Help,' playwright Katie Forgette mixes nostalgia with timeless lessons about the folly and disservice of parental stereotypes, and the abuse of power by the powers that be, a role that, in this case, is portrayed by organized religion.

For this production, tables and chairs have been pushed to the perimeter, lining the parallel side walls that face each other. That leaves the middle of the room and the fore and aft walls for the performers to move about, and move they do, in constantly fluid motion, under the sure-handed and sure-footed direction of Matt Austin and Jessica Chesbro. The effect is engagingly kaleidoscopic in a way proscenium staging is not.

Whether or not you've heard of art immortal Mark Rothko, John Logan's 'Red' is thrilling, mind-expanding theater that plumbs the human condition with vibrant dramaturgy and acting and stagecraft

The good news is that almost all the seven short pieces (averaging 10 minutes each) in RTB’s 2023 menu of theatrical hor d'oeuvres justify their place in the program well enough. Nobody will leave hungry for diverting entertainment.  

'Never the Sinner' is directed by three-time Emmy Award-Winning actress Cady McClain. It stars veteran actor Trent Dawson of General Hospital and As the World Turns and prominent Westchester playwright and actor Albi Gorn, most recently of Tuesdays with Morrie.

Henry Fielding's picaresque plot animated by witty lyrics from playwright Cary Gitter and ear-pleasing music by Max Silverman performed by a standout quintet of singing actors add up to a tour de force of a farce.

Creating an ambitious odyssey of time travel based on three short stories from Tom Hanks's collection 'Uncommon Type' sounds like an intriguing idea ... on paper. The challenge is how to transfer it effectively from page to stage. In its current form, it feels more like a workshop than a ready-for-prime-time production.

The show made a splash on Broadway a dozen years ago, garnering several Tony Awards, mainly in the craft categories (scenic design, sound, lighting, choreography). The sketchy book is like a sketchbook of rapid-fire episodes that leans heavily on the strength of the ensemble to pull it off. This ensemble is more than up to the task.

Gunderson’s characters are two high school seniors who could not be more unlike each other. Yet, as we find out, they end up soulmates in the most surreal way imaginable.

Apart from the infectious, wall-to-wall music, which is rousingly played live on stage by all the actors, what makes Million Dollar Quartet a crowd-pleaser is the interpersonal dramas driven by the egos of four pop music pioneers. 

After 23 years and 37 productions, Hudson Stage producers Denise Bessette and Olivia Sklar have decided it’s time they gave themselves some well-deserved R&R.

There are no weighty messages here. No high drama. Just fun stuff, listening to a couple of 60ish female actors, virtually joined at the hip, tease and tolerate each other with all manner of jokey repartee, acid-laced with rapier ripostes that cut to the quick.

Authored by five writers of diverse voices, styles and skillsets, tying the eclectic tales together is a uniform fascination with the meaning of existence, notably the randomness and revelations inherent in human interaction.

Mr. Allen has serious issues here to litigate -- children abandoned by a parent, Veterans abandoned by their government, wives abandoned by unfaithful spouses -- but the inevitable downers of life are entertainingly leavened by graceful, easy-flowing humor that springs not from punchy one-liners, but from the personality of the characters.

'Just to be back in person doing theater again feels like such a gift after being on computers for a year or more.'