Review: ANASTASIA THE MUSICAL at The Marcelle
Credit director Brittanie Gunn for Tesseract Theatre’s extraordinary production of ANASTASIA. Gunn’s vision and her collaboration with her actors and technical teams has created an extravagant production with outstanding performances, sensational singing, exhilarating dancing, and absorbing storytelling.
Review: DRACULA at The Marcelle Theater
Finishing the company’s 32nd season, this alluring redux of Bram Stoker’s literary classic emerges from the shadows to give audiences an emotionally charged musical with plenty of chilling moments.
Review: KINKY BOOTS at The Grandel
This production of KINKY BOOTS by is a show with a lot of heart and a few too many technical glitches, especially related to the mics and sound design. Director Taylor Gruenloh, his cast, and crew get a lot right with this production. Good performances, fun choreography, and some inventive staging made this production of KINKY BOOTS entertaining, especially for those who love this show. Gruenloh didn’t take the easy route, keeping many of the fun elements from the original Broadway Production, and adapting them to a much smaller performance space. The upbeat Act One closer, ‘Everybody say Yeah,’ and early second act doozy ‘In this Corner’ were staged with all the intricacies and blocking of the original production. The presentation and choreography of these big numbers illustrate that with directorial vision a streamlined version of a big musical does not have to sacrifice memorable elements. But what was sacrificed was the energy and strong performances from the ensemble and featured players. Their mics were either left too low or not turned on, perhaps to avoid feedback or other issues. As a result, the dialogue, solos, and background vocals from the ensemble were often lost, significantly reducing the overall energy from the ensemble, not allowing this good production to achieve greatness.
Review: CAROLINE, OR CHANGE at The Marcelle
Director Brian McKinley, his cast, orchestra and technical team have staged a production of CAROLINE, OR CHANGE that elevates the script and score. In his first try as a director, McKinley has led a vocally accomplished cast and an exceptional crew to a tremendous success. CAROLINE, OR CHANGE will continue at The Marcelle through August 12th.
Review: A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM at The Marcelle Theatre
New Line Theatre’s production of A FUNNY THING HAPPENS ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM succeeds due to Scott Miller’s directorial vision and the comedic timing of Miller’s strong cast. There are plenty of laughs in the First Act, but the second act builds to a crescendo of complete hilarity. Miller’s blocking and the actors’ execution of the Second Act chase scene is downright madcap. Ann Hier Brown’s delivery of “That Dirty Old Man,” Kent Coffel and Chris Moore’s delivery of “Lovely,” and the Company’s collaboration on “Funeral Sequence” keeps the audience laughing nonstop following the intermission. The remaining cast Jason Blackburn, Danny Brown, Gary Cox, Robert Doyle, Nathan Hakenewerth, Brittany Kohl Hester, Aarin Kamphoefner, Ian McCreary and Sarah Wilkinson rely on their deadpan delivery and comedic timing to deliver big laughs throughout the show.
Photos: First Look at New Line Theatre's URINETOWN
Set in 2027, Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis' URINETOWN is an hilariously subversive fable of greed, corruption, love, revolution, and urination, in a time when water is worth its weight in gold and there's no such thing as a free pee. Set in a near-future dystopian Gotham, a severe 20-year drought has led to a government-enforced ban on private toilets. The citizens are forced to use public 'amenities' now, regulated by a single malevolent company that profits by charging admission for one of humanity's most basic needs. In this nightmare world, the punishment for an unauthorized pee is a trip to the dreaded Urinetown. But from the ruins of Democracy and courtesy flushes, there rises an unlikely hero who decides he's held it long enough, and he launches a People's Revolution to lead them all to urinary freedom!
Photos: First Look at URINETOWN at New Line Theatre
Set in 2027, Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis' URINETOWN is an hilariously subversive fable of greed, corruption, love, revolution, and urination, in a time when water is worth its weight in gold and there's no such thing as a free pee.
New Line Theatre Presents BLOODY KING OEDIPUS!, OR PARDON ME, MUM!
New Line Theatre, a?oethe bad boy of musical theatre,a?? continues its 29th season of adult, alternative musical theatre, with a one-night-only free public reading of Gilbert & Sullivan's BLOODY KING OEDIPUS!, or PARDON ME, MUM!, the hilarious, long-lost horror-comedy, on Monday night, January 6 at 8:00 pm at the Marcelle Theater, 3310 Samuel Shepherd Drive, in the Grand Center Arts District. Bloody King Oedipus! contains adult language and content.
Casting Announced For New Line Theatre's 29th Season!
New Line Theatre, "the bad boy of musical theatre," has announced casting for its 29th season of adult, alternative musical theatre, which opens with the return of the wild, comic rock musical CRY-BABY, based on the iconic John Waters film, a show which New Line first produced in 2012 in its American regional premiere, running Sept. 26-Oct. 19, 2019. The season continues with the electrifying new rock musical fresh from Broadway, in its regional premiere, HEAD OVER HEELS, a high-energy, adult romp about gender and sexuality, based on a 16th-century novel and using the songs of the 80s rock band The Go-Go's, running March 5-28, 2020. And the season closes with the return of one of New Line's biggest hits, which the New Liners first presented in 2007, the pitch dark satire URINETOWN, the hilarious, outrageous fable of greed, corruption, love, revolution, and urination, running June 4-27, 2020.
New Line Announces 2019-2020 Season
New Line Theatre, "the bad boy of musical theatre," has announced its 29th season of adult, alternative musical theatre, including the return of the wild, comic rock musical CRY-BABY, which New Line first produced in 2012 in its American regional premiere, based on the John Waters film, running Sept. 26-Oct. 19, 2019; followed by the electrifying new rock musical fresh from Broadway, in its regional premiere, HEAD OVER HEELS, a high-energy, adult romp about gender and sexuality, based on a 16th century novel and using the songs of the pop group The Go-Go's, running March 5-28, 2020; and the season closes with the return of one of New Line's biggest hits, which the New Liners first presented in 2007, the pitch dark satire URINETOWN, the hilarious, outrageous fable of greed, corruption, love, revolution, and urination, running June 4-27, 2020.
ZOMBIES OF PENZANCE Script, Score, And Cast Album Now On Amazon!
New Line Theatre, "the bad boy of musical theatre," opened its 28th season of adult, alternative musical theatre in October with the critically acclaimed world premiere of THE ZOMBIES OF PENZANCE, Gilbert & Sullivan's comic-horror 'operatic abomination,' in its world premiere, with new text by Scott Miller and music adaptation and orchestration by John Gerdes. And now, the show's script, full piano-vocal score, and a live cast recording are all available on Amazon.com.
Photo Flash: First Look at New Line's ZOMBIES OF PENZANCE
New Line Theatre, "the bad boy of musical theatre," opens its 28th season of adult, alternative musical theatre with the world premiere of THE ZOMBIES OF PENZANCE, Gilbert & Sullivan's newly discovered, original 'operatic abomination,' in its world premiere, running Sept. 27-Oct. 20, 2018 at the Marcelle Theater, in the Grand Center Arts District.