Krista Garver - Page 11

A GRAND NIGHT FOR SINGING is a musical review that weaves together songs from Rodgers and Hammerstein's most well-known shows (Oklahoma!, South Pacific, The King and I, etc.), as well as some you might be less familiar with (Allegro, Pipe Dream, Me and Juliet). If you like musicals, you'll love it.

The famous magic carpet has landed, or, rather, it has taken off, at Keller Auditorium with the arrival of Disney's ALADDIN. The carpet really does fly, and it really is magical, and it's just one of the stagecraft marvels of this show.

Regina Taylor's CROWNS, now playing at Portland Playhouse is a jubilant musical that mixes gospel, jazz, and a little bit of hip hop into a celebration of sisterhood, self-expression, and, most importantly, fabulous hats.

Great theatre takes you out of yourself. It gives you empathy for people who are different from you and helps you understand the world from a perspective that's not your own. That's exactly what WOLF PLAY does.

THE JOLLY RIOT, from Torchsong Entertainment, is a pirate metal musical featuring swashbuckling music, all your favorite pirate tropes, and plenty of camp.

STRAIGHT focuses on Ben, a 26-year-old investment banker with a six-figure income, a devoted girlfriend, and a clandestine relationship with another man. As this relationship deepens, Ben wrestles with how he identifies and what he wants his life to look like.

In her new solo show, HOW TO REALLY...REALLY? REALLY! LOVE A WOMAN, Eleanor O'Brien, the pioneer of sex-positive theatre in Portland, looks at how we can all benefit from bringing back the ancient practice of honoring the Goddess.

Portland Center Stage's TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS asks us all to 'imagine what the world would be if we led with love and kindness," and shows us a path to get there.

COME FROM AWAY is an inspirational, funny, and uplifting musical about a small community in Canada that opened their hearts and homes to 7,000 strangers on 9/11.

In LA SEGUA, Alberto Cañas Escalante adapts a Costa Rican legend to provide a sharp critique of our cultural obsession with beauty. This Spanish-language production of this play at Milagro Theatre (subtitled for those of us who don't speak Spanish) is not only a complex exploration of our culture of vanity, it's visually stunning as well.

A DOLL'S HOUSE, PART 2, now playing at Artists Rep, is smart funny, and raises questions worth grappling with as we work toward gender equality in personal relationships, politics, and society in general.

Lisa Tierney-Keogh FOUR LAST THINGS demonstrates the devastating consequences of the isolation and desolation of life in the Irish countryside.

Most of our cultural stories (plays, movies, news stories) are about the first group. In THE DELAYS, now in its world premiere at Theatre Vertigo, Sara Jean Accuardi gives us a look into the lives of some people in the second group. It's a moving, well-crafted play that shows how easy it is to get trapped.

Nick Cearley stars in Jonathan Tolins' delightful one-person play BUYER & CELLAR, now playing at Portland Center Stage.

The 10th Anniversary Fertile Ground Festival has reached its final weekend. This year, there was not only a smorgasbord of new works, but several of them were musicals! Last week, I saw three (watch for themes: local Oregon stories, revamps of classics, and 90s throwbacks).

NUNSENSE is a musical based on a cabaret show based on a greeting card line.The whole thing is pretty silly, so its success depends on an amazing cast, who can land the jokes and the songs. Fortunately, that's exactly what Broadway Rose has.

JUICEBOX is a painfully funny tribute to 90s teenagerdom.

THE UNDERTAKING and ART OF AGING PROJECT, two new pieces now in performance together as part of the 10th Anniversary Fertile Ground Festival, seek to spark a new conversation around aging and death, as well as provide space for seniors' voices.

Directed by Eric Tucker and with sets by John McDermott, Portland Center Stage's production of Kate Hamill's SENSE & SENSIBILITY is close to the Bedlam original.

Directed by Tea Alagic, Emma Stanton's NO CANDY reveals the power and fortitude of the human spirit. At times, it gave me chills. At times, it's also quite funny.