Paul Batterson - Page 12

Amanda Wingfield, the centerpiece of Tennessee Williams' 1944 masterpiece, THE GLASS MENAGERIE, is much like the staple Southern hospitality, the lemon meringue pie. On the outside, she appears to be all sugar and whipped cream but the topping only provides a thin layer to cover a curt, tart filling.

Weathervane Playhouse managing artistic director Kevin Connell had a sense of trepidation leading up to the July 27 opening night for AVENUE Q. Written by Robert Lopez, Jeff Marx and Jeff Whitty, AVENUE Q is classified as 'Sesame Street for adults' and is the only show on the Newark theatre's summer calendar to come with a warning label about strong language and adult content. It also may be the only Weathervane production to rhyme the lines 'We'll be fine, thank you! See ya' with 'Hope you don't get gonorrhea.'

There are two inherent dangers when presenting a sequel. The first is those who saw the earlier work will, undoubtedly, compare the current work to the former. The second is those who didn't see the previous piece might become lost when viewing the later work.

Under the direction of Valerie Accetta, the Weathervane Playhouse's revival of the musical is a reminder that a controversial message inserted in with a slew of classic songs can send out a powerful message.

If you pull out the magnifying glass and really search the fine print, you will find listed CHILDREN OF EDEN, the opening production of the Weathervane Playhouse's summer season. The two-and-a half-hour, two-act musical opened June 1 and runs through June 10 at the Playhouse (100 Price Street in Newark).

Monty Python is the kind of like the sushi of the entertainment world. At first glance, people either devour it and love it or they poke at it with a fork and think "What in God's name is that?"

The dozen percussionists and performers prove that one's garbage can be another person's instrument.

Prior to working in the Short North Stage's production of HAND TO GOD, Danny Turek had very little experience in the world of puppetry. After opening the show on Feb. 2, Turek and his alter ego 'Tyrone' appear to be inseparable.

As a diehard rock and roll fan of groups like the Rolling Stones and the Who, I have been harboring a deep, dark secret. The second album I bought growing up was ABBA's Gold. The quartet, which was Sweden's second largest export next to Volvo, had a knack for producing hum-worthy harmonies and catchy choruses that stick in your subconscious for months and months to come.

Full disclosure here: It's probably not the wisest advice to trust a review of Christmas show from someone who records HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS and leaves off the last five minutes so the Whos down on Whoville don't get their toys back.

Ahhh, the joys of middle school: three years of bad skin, Mrs. Goldsmith's English class, bullies, popularity contests, and enough deep, emotional scars to fill therapists' offices for years to come. The Gallery Players production of 13: THE MUSICAL, the witty and at times painfully accurate depiction of that delightful time right before high school, is dead on the money.

Spiders and Broadway musicals don't always work well with each other. Witness the mixed fortunes of SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE NIGHT. However, Short North Stage's epic production of KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN: THE MUSICAL is one of the "can't miss" musicals in the Columbus' fall season.

It can be a monstrous challenge to produce a musical based on an iconic television show. Most of the audience comes in with its own set of preconceived expectations of what certain characters should sound, dress and look like.

The Short North Stage production crews built another extraordinary set for its production of August Wilson's FENCES - a ramshackle brick house proudly kept by Troy (Mujahid Abdul-Rashid) and Rose Maxson (Rita Gregory) in somewhere, Middle America. But it was a simple prop, a cloth baseball suspended by a nylon rope off an artificial tree that provided the perfect analogy for the performance.

It's hard to imagine this but the musical WICKED is now a teenager. The Stephen Schwartz musical, based on the story of the Wizard of Oz as told from the Wicked Witch of the West's prospective, debuted on Broadway in 2003 and captured theatre goers' rapture and attention.

In two years, the Grace InFused Theatre Festival went from the drawing table to a full day event at the Columbus Performing Arts Center on Aug. 6. The festival, which promotes gospel-based productions, drew close to 100 people to a six-hour presentation that featured the world-premiere of STAINED GLASS, a table reading of PRODIGAL BROTHERS, two monologues by Howi Tiller and the music of Joe Hendrickson.

Behind every competition, no matter how noble or earnest its aims might be, are a group of ruthless, cut-throat competitors trying to win. THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE is no different. Watching the six 'competitors' go after the county's coveted spelling trophy provides the perfect closer to the summer schedule for the Weathervane Playhouse.

The 2016 Grace InFused Theatre Festival will be held in downtown Columbus, Ohio, at the Columbus Performing Arts Center (549 Franklin Avenue) on Saturday, Aug. 6, starting at 4:30pm. The festival will feature new plays and performances from esteemed playwrights from across the country.

In his Playbill notes for THE FANTASTICKS, Short North Stage director Jonathan Flom makes an unusual assumption of his audience. Flom writes: 'I think that the vast majority of avid theatergoers upwards of age 30 have some relationship with THE FANTASTICKS.'

Not all theatre is designed to be an escape, a refuge from our ordinary lives. Every once-in-a-while a piece comes along that not only entertains us but makes us think. When those two elements come together, you've really got something special.