BWW Review: NINA SIMONE: FOUR WOMEN at Arena Stage - Powerful, Provocative, and PoignantDecember 8, 2017I was recently in Atlanta, GA which is noted for its many museums. They have a Coca-Cola Museum, College Football Hall of Fame, the second largest aquarium in the world, the home of CNN, and the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library. But the highlight for me was the Civil Rights Museum. It was incredibly moving. When I saw the exhibit concerning the death of four young Black girls in Birmingham,
BWW Interview: TIM MACKABEE Designs the set for SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE at Baltimore Center StageOctober 24, 2017I first recall watching Tim Mackabee play a policeman in the musical GUYS AND DOLLS while he was in high school in Towson, MD at the Carver Center for the Arts and Technology. I next met him outside the Yale Repertory Theatre where he was studying for his Master's Degree in Set Design. I've been following him ever since as he has risen to be one the most successful set designers in the country. He even made it to Broadway and London where he designed THE ELEPHANT MAN. His work is now ensconced at Baltimore's Center Stage where you can see his masterful job designing the set for SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (which is a co-production with the Cincinnati Playhouse). I was able to see the show in a preview performance (it opens officially October 26, 2017) and marveled at his work. I caught up with him during tech rehearsals in Baltimore just before he had to leave for Philadelphia.
BWW Review: THE KING AND I at the Kennedy Center - It is 'Something Wonderful'July 24, 2017Oh how delightful it was to hear a spectacular overture before a Broadway musical. When is the last time you heard one? We heard snippets of great music to come such as 'Something Wonderful', Whistle a Happy Tune', 'Shall We Dance' and 'Hello Young Lovers' all played by the talented orchestra (the massive 15 pieces) under the baton of Gerard Steichen.