Marakay Rogers - Page 18

There is a great deal of musical theatre out there. Not all of it - sometimes very little of it - manages to be true musical comedy. On the other hand, there are a few musicals that are nothing but comic, that have no reason for existence other than to be riotously cheerful, that audiences simply must laugh at helplessly while risking collapse. Of them, Stephen Sondheim's A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM may be the funniest. It is presumably a musical farce, but it is really vaudeville pure and simple, turned into two hours or so of spurious Roman history and laden with some of Sondheim's most delightfully silly songs.

'The Decembrist' was the fall finale for THE BLACKLIST, which will be back on Super Bowl Sunday, and amazingly, we got a couple of answers. Sure, we got a lot more questions, but we got a couple of answers. We also got two dead major recurring characters, an explosion, and the discovery that The Box is explosion-proof for sure. What answers did we get? Well, The Decembrist, who set up Berlin and Red, and is number 12 on the list, turns out to be Alan Fitch. Fitch's job title turns out to be Assistant Director of National Intelligence, whatever job that is. Fitch turns out dead. And Not-Tom? Oh. That. First off, he's gotten away. Second? Don't tell Liz, but… well, why spoil the surprise?

This week THE BLACKLIST returns to its roots, a villain with an interesting moniker: 'The Scimitar' (number 22 on the list). Alas, unlike The Stewmaker or The Courier, Mr. Scimitar doesn't have a fascinating hook; he's just an Iranian assassin. It's probably The Scimitar's lack of fabulousness that makes the episode less than sterling. On the plus side, however, we get lots of the totally fabulous Agent Samar Navabi doing her thing. We get plenty of Not-Tom information, and an interesting disclosure about his actual location. And Red makes a revelation that is almost as surprising as the discovery that Liz didn't kill Tom… in short, a major no-surprise. And something feels like this series is going off track

Arabella Beaumont, heroine of DEATH OF A COURTESAN, is back with a small problem of stolen Roman erotic sculptures.

Artistic director Ed Fernandez breathes new insights into one of the deepest plays in musical theatre

The legendary performer talks about her upcoming film, OFFER AND COMPROMISE, and about her current television roles, as well as the delight of villainy in WICKED

'The Mombasa Cartel' proves you can never trust a trailer. There's human-hunting, all right, but not enough for real fun or for an episode of CRIMINAL MINDS, which makes sense because this is THE BLACKLIST and not something starring Joe Mantegna. What we do have is that behind door number one is Not-Tom, which is a big Not-Surprise. Behind door number two, we have an evil cartel that traffics in illegal animal parts and substances for big money. And behind door number three? Peter Fonda. Because THE BLACKLIST is an A-list 'I want to be on that show' show for major stars, and Peter Fonda is one of those.

The 2014 Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre, live blogged from the Merriam Theatre!

The Agatha Christie classic murder-comedy inaugurates the new YLT studio stage in English drawing room style

Director Charles Abbott and actor Jeremiah James fill the Fulton stage with area native Ken Ludwig's best farce

Director Dann Dunn puts a frothy piece of girl group jukebox on stage at Allemberry to close out the regular season.

Are you more afraid of domestic ecoterrorism, or of Ebola? You can have both in THE BLACKLIST's 'The Front', in which we're introduced to the terror group that's Number 74 on Red's list. But the three most important things to take away from the episode? Liz is jealous of Red's daughter; Aram and Samar may have a little something going on; and most amazingly, even Raymond Reddington, The Concierge of Crime, gets stuck in DMV lines, waiting to be served. If all-powerful super-criminals can't get service from the clerks at Motor Vehicles, there's no hope at all for the rest of us.

Alfred Uhry's DRIVING MISS DAISY comes to vivid life at Open Stage of Harrisburg

Dustin LeBlanc and Carlisle Theatre Company bring the updated Aussie version of the show, an Occupy Jerusalem concept, to the area, and it works beautifully.

The all-Gershwin musical by Ken Ludwig is bright, bouncy, and full of slapstick in Dean Sobon's hands at Dutch Apple

Gypsy Rose Lee perfected the striptease that emphasized the tease and avoided an actual reveal. THE BLACKLIST has copied her style – when will we get any concrete information on Elizabeth Keen? This week, we managed to learn only that she isn't Red's missing daughter, Jennifer. In non-Keen news, we learned that Naomi's real name is Carla and that Red was a lousy husband. Perhaps we should discuss government mind control programs instead. That's Red's solution to these issues.

At an outdoor cafe, a man is accosted by a balding stranger who wants something and 'wasn't sent here to negotiate.' His victim runs away but is almost hit by a car; meanwhile, the stranger comes over and injects him. The guy wakes up being rushed into surgery - but 'Mr. Wyatt' is then found in a pile of garbage with a missing heart. It's all the work of Dr. James Covington, #89 on THE BLACKLIST.

Director Stephanie Via brings cast packing a powerhouse punch to the OMP stage in her production of EVITA

Director Rene Staub breathes some new life into the classic tale of 1950's high school romance

We learn several things in the course of BLACKIST's 'Monarch Douglas Bank'. The three most important: Red's daughter's name is Jennifer, the US marshals lost track of her seven years ago (so she's not the girl in The Stewmaker's file, folks), and Mr. Kaplan's first name is Kate! Knowledge is power and don't forget it. Also, Red has a hot Latina manicurist, but that may not be news.