Krista Garver - Page 19

I'm not that into fashion. In truth, we're barely on speaking terms. So, when I found out that Triangle Productions' first show of the season was FULL GALLOP, a one-woman show about tastemaker and fashion icon Diana Vreeland, I wasn't sure what to expect. On the one hand, I've greatly enjoyed past Triangle shows that profiled intriguing women. On the other hand, could I really sit through two hours of fashion?

It seems like every time a previously docile animal, like a pet dog or an animal at the zoo, does something unexpectedly awful (usually in the form of harming a person), we hear things like, 'I don't know what happened. He's never been aggressive before.' When it's a person who commits a terrible act of violence, we say they 'just snapped.' In any case, we generally have the idea that one day someone is fine and the next day they just lose it.

'Something happened 13 years ago.' That's the first line of E.M. Lewis's stunning one-person play THE GUN SHOW, and from the moment Vin Shambry says it until a little over an hour later when he takes his bow, you should be prepared to laugh, cry, sing, and maybe, just maybe, change your perspective on guns.

In response to the controversial Patriot Act of 2001, which allowed for wiretapping, surveillance, and other measures ostensibly to protect the United States against terrorism, five women wrote adaptations of Sophocles' ANTIGONE, a play about power, resistance, and what happens when we're denied those things most important to us.

What would you do if the wife who left you 20 years ago in the middle of the night, and who you've loved and and hated ever since, showed up at your door?

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM is the musical equivalent of the perfect summer beach read -- funny, not too demanding, and everything works right out in the end. The current production at Broadway Rose fulfills all of these expectations and gives you a tune to hum on your way home (I've been amusing myself with 'Comedy Tonight' for days).

Portland has a new theatre company! Public Citizen Theatre is the mostly crowdfunded passion project of Amanda Mehl and Aaron Filyaw. For their first production they've chosen Jean Genet's 1947 play THE MAIDS, a sadomasochistic look at domestic servitude, based on the true story of the Papin sisters and translated by Martin Crimp.

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR had its heyday before I was born. Of course, growing up as a musical lover, I had several Andrew Lloyd Webber compilation CDs, so I got to know the music, which I still think is rates among Webber's best. But, I'd never had the pleasure of seeing the actual musical until last weekend, when I took in Michael Streeter's production at Post5 Theatre. And I thought it was great! One of the people in my party had been lucky enough to see the original 1970 production on Broadway. He enjoyed this one as well.

Broadway Rose could perhaps not have picked a more fitting time to bring us Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim's WEST SIDE STORY. Right now, our country and several others around the world are in dire need of a reminder that when gangs face off, there is no happy ending. Violence that is rooted in blind hatred and fear has tragic consequences -- for everybody.

When AMERICAN IDIOT premiered on Broadway in 2010, I must admit I was skeptical. Like every other person of my generation, I started listening to Green Day in high school. But a punk jukebox musical? Really?

If you've been wondering whether you should see THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH at Artists Rep, the answer is yes. Here's why.

As soon as you walk into the theatre at Portland Center Stage, you'll start to feel overheated and a little claustrophobic. No, nothing's wrong with the air conditioning. It's because of G.W. Mercier's set, which features an authentic New Orleans second-story balcony jutting out over the two cramped rooms where the action of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE takes place.

I'm about to give away the best-kept musical theatre secret in Portland. Once every few months, a rotating group of incredibly talented singers and actors gets together and puts on a cabaret-style concert. For a big Broadway musical fan like me, this is about as close as it gets to a perfect night.

You know those shows that won't quite let you go? Heidi Schreck's GRAND CONCOURSE, now playing at Artists Repertory Theatre, is one of them. I saw the show with 10 people. We all had a slightly different take on it, and we have continued to talk about it -- both online and off. I take that a sign of something good.

This spring, Portland's Milagro Theatre, whose mission since 1985 has been to provide 'extraordinary Latino theatre, culture, and arts education experiences for the enrichment of all communities' is presenting the world premiere of its first commissioned play, INTO THE BEAUTIFUL NORTH: AN ADVENTUROUS QUEST, by Karen Zacarias, based on the novel by Luis Alberto Urrea. In advance of the opening, I sat down with Zacarias to learn about her life, the play, and what she thinks about the Portland theatre scene.

If you were to google 'information about love,' randomly click on 57 of the results, and then skim each page starting in the middle, you'd experience the digital equivalent of watching Caryl Churchill's LOVE AND INFORMATION, currently playing at Theatre Vertigo.

Are we the products of our cultural history? Or can we create ourselves from scratch as something new?

Chalk up another winner for Portland Center Stage this season -- THE PIANIST OF WILLESDEN LANE is one you don't want to miss! Mona Golabek's one-woman show about her own mother's escape from Nazi-controlled Austria on the Kindertransport is part-concert, part-storytelling, and all magic.

From now until May 7, you could sit around and wait for something glorious to happen. Or you could go see A DOLL'S HOUSE at Shaking the Tree and guarantee that it does.