Playhouse on the Square to Stage MEMPHIS, 5/6-29
?Inspired by actual events, Memphis centers around a white disc jokey, Huey, who wants to change the world, and black club singer, Felicia, who is ready for her big break. Their incredible story takes them to the ends of the airwaves and on a journey filled with laughter, emotion, and a whole lot of Memphis soul.
Playhouse on the Square to Present THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS
Based on Sophocles' Greek myth Oedipus and set in a contemporary African-American gospel church service, this production will move and thrill you with electrifying vocals. Scorned and aged, Oedipus arrives at Colonus where he will die as fate foretold. But before his demise, he must tell his side of events. His journey toward truth, self-understanding, and forgiveness comes with soaring songs and an ending to lift the soul.
Playhouse on the Square to Present THE GOSPEL OF COLONUS
Based on Sophocles' Greek myth Oedipus and set in a contemporary African-American gospel church service, this production will move and thrill you with electrifying vocals. Scorned and aged, Oedipus arrives at Colonus where he will die as fate foretold. But before his demise, he must tell his side of events. His journey toward truth, self-understanding, and forgiveness comes with soaring songs and an ending to lift the soul.
BWW Reviews: Theatre Works Explores Why WE LIVE HERE
I like the title of Harold Ellis Clark's WE LIVE HERE, winner of the NewWorks@TheWorks playwriting competition hosted by Playhouse on the Square and now playing at Theatre Works. If you emphasize the word WE, it offers two different interpretations: (1) It could refer to the racist white characters in the play, who don't relish the idea of ceding part of their predominately white neighborhood in Metarie to the black characters who have had the questionable luck of winning a post-Hurricane Katrina lottery; or (2) it could refer to the black characters themselves, who defiantly (and rightly) have planted their feet on new, if rocky, turf. In fact, any of the three words in the title could be emphasized and, consequently, offer a new facet inviting a different interpretation.
BWW Reviews: Big Voices, Big Laughs Define THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL at The Circuit Playhouse
This was my first journey to Armadillo Acres and I find the community and its residents hard to aptly describe. Suffice it to say, Betsy Kelso and David Nehls wrote a campy musical melodrama with comedy broader than a double-wide, a plot lighter than an aluminum lawn chair, and stereotypes bolder than a flock of pink flamingos. To my admiration, Director/Choreographer, Courtney Oliver, Music Director, Renee Kemper and seven highly-talented performers, have managed to spin this rather flimsy material into solid, non-stop, over-the-top fun.
THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL Set for The Circuit Playhouse, Now thru 3/23
Sparkling like aluminum siding, this campy, caustic musical fable is rife with adultery, strippers, murderous ex-boyfriends, Costco, and the Ice Capades. Complete with a trashy Greek chorus of trailer park divas, Armadillo Acres is Florida's most exclusive mobile home community. But when a stripper on the run comes between an agoraphobic housewife and her tollbooth collector husband, the hurricane of laughter begins to brew. Revel in all things trashy.
THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL Set for The Circuit Playhouse, 2/28-3/23
Sparkling like aluminum siding, this campy, caustic musical fable is rife with adultery, strippers, murderous ex-boyfriends, Costco, and the Ice Capades. Complete with a trashy Greek chorus of trailer park divas, Armadillo Acres is Florida's most exclusive mobile home community. But when a stripper on the run comes between an agoraphobic housewife and her tollbooth collector husband, the hurricane of laughter begins to brew. Revel in all things trashy.
Playhouse on Park to Present CLYBOURNE PARK, 9/27-10/13
An off-shoot of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, this wickedly funny and frank play about territory won both the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2012 Tony Award for Best Play. Clybourne Park's two acts are set 50 years apart. Act One takes place in 1959 as nervous community leaders try to stop the sale of a home to a black family. Act Two is set in the same house in the present day as the now predominantly African-American neighborhood battles to hold its ground in the face of gentrification.
Playhouse on the Square Opens ANNIE, 11/16
"Annie" is a spunky Depression-era orphan determined to find the parents who abandoned her years ago on the doorstep of a New York City orphanage run by the cruel, embittered Miss Hannigan. In adventure after fun-filled adventure, Annie foils Miss Hannigan's evil machinations, befriends President Roosevelt, and finds a new family and home in billionaire Oliver Warbucks.
Playhouse on the Square Kicks Off Season With LEGALLY BLONDE, 8/17
Playhouse on the Square's 43rd Season kicks off with the regional premiere of Legally Blonde The Musical. Sorority star Elle Woods doesn't take "no" for an answer. So when her boyfriend dumps her for someone "serious," she packs her pooch and her stilettos and heads to Harvard Law to get him back. Along the way, Elle proves that being true to yourself never goes out of style.
Avenue Q Plays The Circuit Playhouse
This Tony Award-winning musical with crass but charming puppets is the hilarious and heartfelt story of Princeton, a bright-eyed college grad who comes to New York with big dreams and little money. He can only afford to live on Avenue Q, but at least his neighbors turn out to be...colorful.