Jennifer Smart is a freelance writer and lover of the arts currently living in Dallas, Texas. She holds degrees in History and Communications from Southern Methodist University. An avid theater and musical theater lover from a young age, Jennifer has converted that love to an obsessive consumption of all things art and theater.
Times have certainly changed but it's funny how they have yet to diminish our fondness for the old-fashioned musical. Roundabout Theatere Company's revival of Cole Porter's Anything Goes, is living proof we still love the pure escapism of the original American musical tradition.
When the audience left the theater after Kitchen Dog Theater's The Chairs on opening night, its safe to assume reactions ranged from sighs of relief to exaggerated eyerolls to nervous laughter. When it's done right, Ionesco will do that to you.
Theater isn't supposed to be comfortable. Naturally pushing an audience to the limit shouldn't be overly prevalent but when it is done and it is done right, it is well worth it.
It's not hard to make the claim that Stephen Sondheim is America's greatest living composer/lyricist, and he is undoubtedly the man that almost singlehandedly redefined and helped revive the American musical in the 1970's.