BWW Review: CATCO'S MR. BURNS: A POST ELECTRIC PLAY at Riffe CenterNovember 2, 2021There's an old joke that says only three things can survive a nuclear war - cockroaches, Twinkies, and Cher. In the post-apocalyptic world of CATCO'S MR. BURNS: A POST ELECTRIC PLAY, only a handful of people, a limited number of cans of Diet Coke, and the flawed memories of the Fox Network's cartoon series THE SIMPSONS, remain.
BWW Review: YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN AT Garden TheaterOctober 11, 2021For the second time in a year, the Short North Stage is bringing Mel Brooks' comedic musical YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN back to life. The musical opened Oct. 7 and will run through Nov. 7 at the Garden Theater (1187 North High Street in downtown Columbus).
BWW Review: NOISES OFF at Garden TheaterSeptember 5, 2021Chances are director Edward Carignan has never been a part of a production as wildly chaotic as NOTHING’S ON, the play which provides the backdrop for Short North Stage’s production of NOISES OFF. The fictional play within a play has enough egos, pratfalls, romance, and mistaken identities to make any director’s hair go white.
BWW Review: BWW REVIEWS: SQUEEZE at Express LiveAugust 20, 2021A little nostalgia can be a dangerous thing. After seeing Squeeze live in 1988, I had the chance to see the 1980s New Wave darlings nearly two decades later in Cleveland. I walked away thinking I had just seen one of my favorite bands sucking down the last dregs of their popularity.
BWW Review: MONTY PYTHON'S SPAMALOT at Columbus Immersive TheatreMarch 22, 2021Before its 2004 debut on Broadway, MONTY PYTHON’S SPAMALOT, Eric Idle’s musical take on the cult classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail, raised a few eyebrows. Python purists wondered if a musical could capture the lunacy of the 1975 film. Broadway aficionados wondered if there would be a place for Monty Python’s brand of humor on the Great White Way.
BWW Review: THE DIXIE SWIM CLUB at Curtain PlayersSeptember 15, 2020In the play,THE DIXIE SWIM CLUB, a group of female swimmers return each year to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a weekend rendezvous of drinking and playing catch-up on each other's lives. Curtain Players' season-opening production of this five-women play feels much the same way.
BWW Reviews: Short North Stage Brings YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN to LifeMarch 9, 2020a??a??a??a??a??a??a??Consider this entry from the 'If at first you don't succeed' department. A young television writer is recruited to write a book for the musical SHINBONE ALLEY. Haven't heard of it? That's not too surprising. It lasted a little over a month and closed on Broadway after 49 performances. Undaunted, he writes the first act for another musical, ALL-AMERICAN five years later. It also flops, closing on Broadway after 80 performances.
BWW Review: MEAN GIRLS Makes the Transformation From Movie to MusicalOctober 26, 2019In the television show, 30 Rock, Tracy Jordan, the self-centered actor played by Tracy Morgan, decides his life-goal is to EGOT (meaning to capture Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards). Jordan asks Whoopi Goldberg, an EGOT winner herself, for advice.
BWW REVIEWS: DEAR EVAN, Thanks For Everything. Sincerely, Columbus.September 19, 2019As it did at the Tony Awards, DEAR EVAN HANSEN, the 2017 award winner for Best Musical, rolls into Columbus on the tails of HAMILTON, the 2016 Tony Award winner which played in the Ohio Theatre in the Spring. Although the style of music and subject manner are hard to compare, there are many similarities between the two. The most striking of these unlikely storylines for a musical with HAMILTON taking the life of America's founding father Alexander Hamilton while DEAR EVAN HANSEN confronts many of the problems facing teens and parents currently. Like HAMILTON, DEAR EVAN HANSEN gets style points for originality with a powerful message and memorable score that stays with you for days.
BWW reviews: NPAC presents a sweltering performance of KISS ME KATESeptember 16, 2019The second act of the Northland Performing Arts Center & Vaud-Villities Production of KISS ME KATE opens with Cole Porter's classic 'Too Darn Hot.' It turned out to be a fitting anthem for the evening production. The temperatures hit in the high 80s-90s mark on the thermometer and the performance of the 22-member cast made the shirts of the audience sit to the back of their chairs.