Robert Barossi

Summer's heat can sometimes sneak up on you, as the days get longer and the sun seems to burn brighter and higher in the sky each day, the temperature rising until it becomes stifling, sweltering. Suddenly Last Summer, a one-act play by Tennessee Williams that currently being presented by Epic Theatre Company, also sneaks up on you, raising its own temperature ever so slightly during it's run time, until it boils over into the final shocking revelations of the final moments.

Nowadays, it seems that everything old is constantly being rebooted, updated, adapted, reimagined, etc. etc., so on and so forth. Any time something is re-imagined or adapted into something else, such as the many new Broadway musicals based on Hollywood movies, it can be a risky proposition. In the case of The Gamm Theatre's live radio play version of the classic movie It's a Wonderful Life, the adaptation is pulled off perfectly, honoring and respecting the source material while doing it in a creative, imaginative and immensely entertaining way.

At its most fundamental, theater is a group of people coming together to tell a story in front of an audience. In its earliest days, that's all it was, basic and pure, without any need for today's technological lights and sounds (not that there's anything wrong with those). Contemporary Theater Company's production of A Christmas Carol similarly keeps it simple, bringing a group of players to the stage to let them work together to tell the audience a timeless yet still magical story.

Friedrich Nietzsche said, 'He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.' In Dance Nation, currently running at The Wilbury Theatre Group, the hopeful young dancers put everything they can into learning and perfecting how to dance, so that it might eventually help them take flight.

a?oeThe devil made me do it isa?? is often said when one is caught doing something they shouldn't have. You won't need to say that about going to see Burbage Theatre Company's current production of Hand to God, because you absolutely should go and see it and you should not wait for the devil or anyone else to make you do it.

Observing visual art can at times create an experience where the viewer has no idea what they are looking at or what the artist is trying to say but they cannot help to appreciate and enjoy the undeniable beauty of the colors and the composition. A similar reaction occurs with Head Trick Theatre's current production of Mrs. Dallow, a play overflowing with gorgeous performances and staging in service of a script that is at times confounding, infuriating or just dull.

When the set for a play has more doors than anything else, you may be in store for a classic door-slamming farce, complete with perfectly timed entrances and exits, mistaken identities, confusion, and madcap antics. Newport Playhouse provides just that with their current production, the light and breezy Boeing Boeing.

It's always exciting when a young theatre company finds a place to call its own, a permanent home where it can grow creatively and grow hopefully long-lasting roots into the surrounding community and the local performing arts scene. Such is the case with Burbage Theatre Co., which has just opened its first ever show in their new space at 59 Blackstone Ave in Pawtucket. While the show, David Ives' The School for Lives is a bit uneven, it is an undeniably successful launch of this exciting new phase in the life of Burbage.

Sometimes, bigger is, in fact better. When Lyric Theatre takes up residence at the Civic Center Music Hall every summer, they capably fill that venue's enormous space. With their current production of Hello, Dolly! Lyric's entire team proves just how much big sets, big costumes, big cast size, big orchestra and big talent can all come together to create a perfect theatrical experience.

No matter how large the cast, some shows really rest on the shoulders of just one or maybe two characters and the actors in those roles. They are called upon to carry the show and make it a success, or not, regardless of everything else happening around them. In Lyric Theatre's current production of Freaky Friday, two powerhouse performances are well worth the price of admission, even if the rest of the production is highly uneven and often just average.

There's no denying it. It is really, really hot outside. Summer has arrived in full force and the days in the mid-nineties with high humidity have taken over. These are the kind of days that make you want to get inside a dark, air conditioned theater or cinema and spend a few hours enjoying some entertainment that makes you forget about the heat outside and all your other troubles too. Pollard Theatre in Guthrie is currently providing the perfect opportunity for just that with its production of Always…Patsy Cline, a show that goes down like a tall, ice cold glass of perfectly sweetened lemonade on a scorching summer day.

In recent years, Broadway musicals have come from seemingly every kind of source material, from books to movies to comics. Sometimes, the results are extraordinary and exceptional, while other times, they are just ordinary. Or, in some cases, like An American in Paris, it turn out to be a less-than-ordinary show that fails on many levels.

There are many musicals that are known as classis, which are beloved or have stood the test of time for years and years. They are the old familiars, the standards, which we go back to time and time again. On the other hand, there are always new and exciting musicals coming onto the scene every year, to widely varying degrees of success. One recent musical that may become a classic one day is Fun Home, now receiving it's Oklahoma premiere with a mesmerizing and riveting production at Lyric Theatre's Plaza stage.

Oklahoma City's Lyric Theatre has a well-deserved reputation for their all-around high production values and high quality in their plays and musicals. They bring those same standards of excellence to their family-friendly fare, such as the recent excellent James and the Giant Peach and the currently running Junie B. Jones: The Musical. Providing this kind of quality theatrical experience for young audiences is extremely important as theater audiences get older and theaters must compete against so many other options for the attention of younger audience members. A show like Junie B. Jones is the perfect introduction to theater for young kids and just might help to build a love of theater in them that lasts a lifetime.

Before writer/director Aaron Sorkin became best known for tv shows like The West Wing and Newsroom and movies such as The Social Network and Steve Jobs, he penned a stage play that may be more famous as a movie. Sorkin worked on the movie version of his script for A Few Good Men, a play which has more than stood the test of time as a highly entertaining piece of theater that also raises important themes surrounding power, who wields it, and how they use it. It's also getting a first-rate production right now at the Pollard Theatre in Guthrie.

Some musicals or plays can be a little bit difficult to pin down or describe and Regina Taylor's Crowns, now playing at Lyric Theatre's Plaza stage is in that category. The program's Director's Notes say, in part, that the musical is "presented as a jukebox musical," which it is in that it uses previously recorded songs woven into a plot, but that doesn't tell the whole story. To say that it's a "show about hats," would be a huge oversimplification and a disservice to a show that is so much more than that.

Writing a successful play with only two actors and very minimal technical elements can be quite a challenge. How do you maintain the energy? Keep the plot driving forward? Hold the audience's interest and attention?  Playwright Simon Stephens has accepted and answers those challenges with his surprising and stellar play, Heisenberg, now receiving a production from CityRep at the Civic Center's CitySpace venue.

Any truly great piece of theater (or film or art or music or a book) is both timely and timeless, reaching out across many generations and diverse populations to deliver a universal human message that anyone can understand and relate to. You would be hard pressed to find a better example of this than The Color Purple: The Musical, currently making a stop along on its Broadway tour at the Civic Center Music Hall in downtown Oklahoma City.

The holidays are an undeniable magical time for many people. Whether it's the bright, twinkling holiday lights, the music of holiday carols, the traditional foods of the season, giving and receiving gifts, or spending time with friends and loved ones, there is something special, something magical, about the holiday season. A theatrical stage is also a magical place, where our imaginations come to life, live and in color. Where anything, it seems, is possible and anything can and often does happen. So it's fitting that in a theater is where some of the most spectacular and entertaining holiday magic can and will be found. Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma's annual production of A Christmas Carol, as flawed as it may be, proves just how impressive and spectacular that theatrical holiday magic can be.

Anywhere you live in the country, there is at least one theater doing it during the holidays at least one theater that has a production known for being the region's big, must-see holiday event. Our part of the country is no different, as there are a few different productions of A Christmas Carol running this month, including some that have been ongoing for some time. In Guthrie, A Territorial Christmas Carol has been an annual family traditions for thirty years. As with many versions of the story, this one adapts it for a different time period, taking it out of Dickensian England and placing it at another moment in history. In keeping with Guthrie's proud history, that moment is the time when Oklahoma was at its youngest, not long after the land run of 1889, when Guthrie was the capital of the new territory, years before it would become a state.