Drew Eberhard - Page 6

What did our critic think of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's COMPANY at Straz Center For The Performing Arts?

David MacGregor’s Scrooge Macbeth, is a Comedic Holiday Comedy set to the tune of two things... everything Christmas and the most prolific playwright ever known to classical theatre, William Shakespeare. Now I know what your thinking, how can the works of the Bard possibly coincide with that of Holiday Merriment, Joy, Giving, and Peace and Good Will to all men. For it is by the sheer amount of “Good Will...” all puns intended that David MacGregor’s farcical masterpiece will have you rolling in the aisles of the theatre, and feeling the need to relieve yourself in the nearest restroom.

Miracle on 34th Street is an American Christmas comedic/drama from 1947 that was produced by 20th century Fox. Based on the story by by Valentine Davies, the film was directed by George Seaton and features Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, Natalie Wood, and Edmund Gwenn. Winning three Academy Awards, Miracle on 34th Street takes place between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, and the events that transpire when a Department store Santa Claus claims to be the real Santa.

The Great Christmas Cookie Bakeoff is a one-act Holiday musical created by Rick Hip-Flore. Featuring a cast of 8 talented students and 4 adults, this whimsical musical is the perfect sugary delight to usher in the Holiday Season.

Funny Girl is a semi-autobiographical comedic musical about the life and times of comedian and Broadway star Fanny Brice, and her tumultuous relationship with entrepreneur and gambler Nick Arnstein. With a musical score by Jules Styne, lyrics by Bob Merill, and featuring a book by Isobel Lennart, Funny Girl first opened on Broadway in 1964 featuring Barbara Streisand in the starring role, and was produced by Fanny’s own son-in-law Ray Stark. The first Broadway production received 8 Tony Nominations at the 18th Annual Awards Ceremony, and the OBC (Original Broadway Cast) Recording was inducted into the Grammy’s Hall of Fame in 2004.

No Exit is an Existentialist French play from 1944 written by Jean-Paul Sartre. The play had its first performance at the Theatre du Vieux-Colombier in May of the same year. Sartre’s inception of the play centered around this idea of the look and the ontological struggle of being caused to see oneself as an object from the view of another consciousness or “other person.” Conceptualizing and rationalizing the idea of how we perceive ourselves, versus the mirror image of how society or those in close proximity perceive us to be.

Playwright Larry Alexander has always been a fan of Agatha Christie and over the years has read and re-read her work. At the height of the Pandemic, Larry was in rehearsal for a new musical that was shuttered into the second week of rehearsal. With no idea when the musical would remount, Larry was trying to find something, anything to occupy his time and fill the void. He began re-reading the works of Christie, and while reading his favorite novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, he found what would soon occupy the coming months/years.

Beetlejuice the Musical, is a live stage musical, based on the 1988 film of the same name in which Michael Keaton plays the iconic ghoul. The musical features music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect, with a book by Scott Brown and Anthony King.

Set to the “heartbeat” of an unbelievably brilliant sound design by Jeremy Douglass, Jobsite Theater’s presentation of Nick Dear’s Frankenstein, is a slow-burn, salt-in-the-wound, gripping, tour-de-force that will leave you speechless.

Nightsweat is a comedic farce mixed with a a little mystery and some horror tropes placed throughout. What began as a singular idea, spun off a conversation between playwright Natalie Symons and local favorite Matthew McGee, is now in full glory onstage at its rightful home freeFall Theatre.

Written and Directed by local area playwright William Leavengood, this marks the 3rd collaboration with the Off-Central Players, following The Sister-Mothers of Gulfport, and The Azure Sky in Oz.

Created by Nic Doodson and Andrew Kay, The Choir of Man is a British musical set inside a traditional British or Irish Pub. The unique concept includes a working bar on-stage in which audience members can be served beer during the pre-show and during the performance. For the Tampa stop, local brewery Coppertail lent the evening libations.

Arthur Miller’s Masterpiece The Crucible is a 1953 play that is both dramatized and fictionalized around the true events of the Salem Witch Trials between 1692-93. Written as a Political Allegory on McCarthyism, Miller used its dramatizations to detail a time in which the United States Government persecuted people who were accused of being a part of the Communist Party. The Crucible was first performed on January 22, 1953 at the Martin Beck Theatre on Broadway. The original production featured performances from E.G. Marshall, Beatrice Straight, and Madeline Sherwood. Though the play was widely criticized often through hostile remarks, Miller’s play went on to win the Tony Award for Best Play of 1953. A year later, a remounted production was performed and in its wake, the play became a classic. Later esteemed as a central piece in the Canon of American Drama, and regarded as one of Miller’s finest works.

The Last Five Years is a musical by Jason Robert Brown that received its premiere at Chicago’s Northlight Theatre in 2001, late in 2002 it was produced off-Broadway. Since its premiere, the musical has spawned numerous productions across the United States, and overseas, and even received treatment as a film adaptation.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, an absurdist, existential tragic-comedy written by British Playwright Tom Stoppard opened Friday evening amidst a room full of eager audience members and hearty laughter. Bringing a cast so deserving of the praise to the top of their game, showcasing their hard work on a not-so-easy show.

Duncan MacMillan’s Every Brilliant Thing is different than anything we have seen as of late. I think this is what truly makes it an endearing yet very sobering piece. Grounded in Audience Participation and two constants, a list and the Mother’s mental illness. In this fast-paced but never rushed 65 minute tour-de force the Narrator who is remaining nameless maneuvers his way through the space telling the tale of his younger years, his time in college, falling in and out of love, marriage and eventually the failings/ups and downs in which life brings along its path.

27 Characters, 1 performer, allow me to say it again...27 DIFFERENT CHARACTERS, 1 PERFORMER. Over the course of a 2 Hour span, 1 Performer has the daunting task of honing in on 27 different perspectives, different accounts of a real event. A real event that happened in 1992 but hits just as hard at the core today as it did a mere 28 years ago.

Rage! Sex! Betrayal! Bloody Murder! Sounds like the makings of a good time right? What if the good time is focused on a retelling of myth, lore, and just pure rock & roll.

The Prom a new musical with music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics by Chad Beguelin, and a book by Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin is based on an original concept by Jack Viertel.

Same Time, Next Year is a romantic comedy written by Bernard Slade that premiered in 1975 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. The plot revolves around a man and woman, George and Doris (respectively), who meet together once a year for a rendezvous over the course of 24 years despite being married to other people. Over the span of 24 years, George and Doris, who have six children between them, develop a much deeper level of intimacy for one another, despite only meeting once a year for a clandestine weekend. They discuss births, deaths, and marital woes amidst the ever-changing social climate that plagues their existence over the course of a span of two decades.