Paul Batterson - Page 12

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.

'I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man; I saw that, of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both.'

If it were a high school student, HEATHERS would've been voted 'Least Likely To Become A MUSICAL.' Released in 1988, the dark comedy about an outsider's plot of murderous revenge against the popular kids' clique almost seems like a backlash to the sunnier view of high school life like THE BREAKFAST CLUB (1985), PRETTY IN PINK (1986) and FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF (1986).

In the third song, 'See I'm Smiling,' of the musical THE LAST FIVE YEARS, Catherine Hiatt (played by Melissa Hall) sings to her husband, 'I think you're really gonna like this show. I'm pretty sure it doesn't suck.'

After seeing a villager shot in the face during a missionary trip to Uganda, Elder Price comes to a stunning revelation in the hilarious musical BOOK OF MORMON: 'Africa is nothing like THE LION KING.'

As a principal percussionist for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Philip Shipley is used to watching concerts from behind the oboes and the woodwinds. At the CSO's concert with Ben Folds on April 9, Shipley got distinctly different point of view.

It has been 18 years between John Stefano's performances as John Adams in 1776 and his return on April 7 as Tevye in Otterbein University's production of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. The chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance, who is retiring after 24 years at Otterbein, never lost a beat.

THE FULL MONTY: THE MUSICAL has some pretty unlikely ingredients for musical comedy: divorce, unemployment, degradation, custody battles, suicide, alienation and Buffalo, New York in the economically depressed 2000. Yet somehow, Short North Stage director Edward Carignan makes all those ingredients work while bringing Terrence McNally's script and David Yazbeck's lyrics to life.

Rebecca LaChance surprised the 800 attendees of the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts preview on March 30 at the Southern Theatre. LaChance, who performed 'Beautiful' and '(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,' is expected to play the title role in BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL when the national tour has a six-day stopover in June, 2017 in Columbus.

When he was starting out as the front man for the rock trio The Ben Folds Five, Ben Folds admits he never pictured the day when he would perform his concert staple 'Rock This B*tch' with a symphony behind him.

Actor Doug Joseph has gone from playing Cecil B. DeMille in the Short North Stage's production of SUNSET BOULEVARD to playing the very Norma Desmond-esque Angela Arden in the theatre's production of DIE, MOMMIE DIE!

From the onset of their relationship in LOST LAKE, Hogan (James Hughes) and Veronica (Chiquita Mullins Lee) only have one thing in common - Hogan's depilated cottage in upstate in New York.

One of the dangers of hearing a great Broadway melody by itself is it loses its context. Such is the case with SEND IN THE CLOWNS. Everyone has covered the song from Stephen Sondheim's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, from Judy Collins to Frank Sinatra to Krusty the Clown with the later one being my personal favorite.

If there were ever a show that was never destined for dinner theatre, it might be SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET.

There are some shows that a director just doesn't mess with. However, RENT, Jonathan Larson's urban reworking of LA BOHEME, is more pliable than a pizza.

One of the potential drawbacks to summer stock theatre has become one of the Weathervane Playhouse's greatest strengths this summer. Each summer regional theatres bring a cast of college students and put them to work on not just one but a series of shows.