Portland Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 9

BWW Review: Fertile Ground: WITCH HUNT
by Krista Garver - January 23, 2019

WITCH HUNT (featuring Sascha Blocker, Jeff Desautels, Amica Hunter, Emily Newton, and Maureen Porter), draws on Arthur Miller's The Crucible, along with the McCarthy hearings, the Federalist papers, the Puritan work ethic, and current events, to explore our cultural obsession with finger-pointing vi...

BWW Review: Fertile Ground: TETHER, I AM AN ACTRESS, UNDE+EC+ABLE
by Krista Garver - January 23, 2019

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BWW Review: TEENAGE DICK, at Artists Rep, Explores Social Dynamics in One of World's Harshest Environments: High School
by Krista Garver - January 18, 2019

TEENAGE DICK is a high school adaptation of Shakespeare's Richard III, a play about lust for power and revenge written during a time when a physical disability was thought to indicate a moral failing. There's a lot to unpack here, so to get straight to the point: Don't let the fact that it's set in ...

BWW Review: THE KING AND I Is Gorgeous, But Falls a Little Flat, at Keller Auditorium
by Krista Garver - January 10, 2019

The national tour of THE KING AND I has all of the makings of a perfect classic musical production -- lavish sets, gorgeous costumes, excellent performances, and, of course, great music. But despite having the right ingredients, it doesn't quite rise to its full emotional potential....

BWW Review: Experience a Christmas Classic in a Whole New Way with Artists Rep's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY
by Krista Garver - December 15, 2018

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY is a wonderful way to experience this time-honored classic -- great holiday fun for the whole family!...

BWW Review: Portland Playhouse's A CHRISTMAS CAROL Continues to Surprise and Delight
by Krista Garver - December 13, 2018

This production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL is absolutely delightful. And somehow, it manages to still be surprising. If you're the type who's skeptical about holiday shows in general, do yourself a favor and give this one a chance....

BWW Review: Once Again, A CHRISTMAS MEMORY/WINTER SONG Offers a Moment of Calm (and Cookies) in the Eye of the Holiday Storm, at Portland Center Stage
by Krista Garver - December 10, 2018

A CHRISTMAS MEMORY/WINTER SONG is quiet and thoughtful -- a 90-minute break from the hecticity, when you can take a deep breath, relax, and enjoy some beautiful music while contemplating the joy and sorrow that come hand in hand during this season....

BWW Review: IN THE WAKE Challenges Us to See and Conquer Our Blind Spots, Both Personally and Politically, at Profile Theatre
by Krista Garver - December 07, 2018

Lisa Kron's IN THE WAKE draws parallels between the personal and the political to suggest that even the most unimaginable outcomes aren't really that out there -- it's just that we're really bad at seeing past the end of our own nose....

BWW Review: In Artists Rep's EVERYBODY, Death Comes for Us All, Whether We're Ready or Not
by Krista Garver - December 06, 2018

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' EVERYBODY is not your normal holiday fare, but I highly recommend you find time in your busy schedule to see it...at least once....

BWW Review: TWIST YOUR DICKENS Rings in Another Christmas Season with a Laugh, at Portland Center Stage
by Krista Garver - December 05, 2018

It's that time of year again -- when the Cratchit family makes plans to murder Scrooge while he's on a journey back to the '80s with the Ghost of Christmas Past. Yep -- TWIST YOUR DICKENS is back at Portland Center Stage, irreverently skewering all that we hold dear about the holiday season....

BWW Review: Broadway Rose's A 1940S RADIO CHRISTMAS CAROL Is a Holiday Musical Journey to a Simpler Time
by Krista Garver - November 29, 2018

A 1940S RADIO CHRISTMAS CAROL is a breath of fresh air. It allows you to slip briefly back to a time that, looking through today's lens, seems a little simpler....

BWW Review: Hand2Mouth's THE LAZARUS COMPLEX Mines Real-Life Suicides for Insights into the Will to Die
by Krista Garver - November 13, 2018

Hand2Mouth Theatre's THE LAZARUS COMPLEX is part of a larger project by writer/creator Ben Moorad called 'Envelope of Suicides,' which was inspired by an envelope full of newspaper clippings about suicides and suicide attempts his grandfather collected between 1941 and 1948....

BWW Review: Seth Rue Takes on 30+ Characters in Exquisite FIRES IN THE MIRROR, at Profile Theatre
by Krista Garver - October 18, 2018

If you have time to see only one play this weekend, make it Anna Deveare Smith's FIRES IN THE MIRROR at Profile Theatre....

BWW Review: Immigrants, Traditionalists Clash on the Pitch in HURL, at Corrib Theatre
by Krista Garver - October 15, 2018

In Charlie O'Neill's HURL, a multi-ethnic hurling team, made of immigrants, aspiring immigrants, and children of immigrants from Africa, South America, Asia, and Eastern Europe, want to join the local athletic club and represent the county on the national level. But there's a problem -- they aren't ...

BWW Review: Enjoy the Silence of SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS, at Artists Rep
by Krista Garver - October 14, 2018

SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS is an ambitious, thought-provoking, heart-warming, and funny play about six people at a silent retreat....

BWW Review: A LIFE Fails to Live Up to Its Promise, at Portland Center Stage
by Krista Garver - October 13, 2018

Adam Bock's A LIFE, which was commissioned by Portland Center Stage, starts out with a lot of promise -- Nate, a man in his 50s, recently single and lonely, is contemplating what it's all about. But ultimately the show fails to land....

BWW Review: Shaking the Tree's _______ THE WOLF Explores the Imperative, and the Difficulty, of Telling Our Own Stories
by Krista Garver - October 09, 2018

______ THE WOLF, a new devised piece now running at Shaking the Tree, draws on Little Red Riding Hood to explores how easy it is to become trapped in these familiar narratives, to be defined by your given role until you lose track of your own voice....

BWW Review: WAKEY, WAKEY Uses Death to Remind Us of What's Important in Life, at Portland Playhouse
by Krista Garver - October 04, 2018

'Is it now? I thought I had more time.' That's Guy's first line in Will Eno's quietly profound play WAKEY, WAKEY, now on stage at Portland Playhouse. It gets straight to the core of many people's (me included) fear of death -- the fear that it may come before we're ready....

BWW Review: Portland Center Stage's THE COLOR PURPLE Give Us What We Need Most: Hope
by Krista Garver - October 01, 2018

If a musical can heal the world, that musical is THE COLOR PURPLE -- specifically, the production now playing at Portland Center Stage. This star-studded production, headed by the luminous Felicia Boswell in the role of Celie, tells a story of empowerment that has probably never been more needed tha...

BWW Review: Isaac Lamb Directs Extraordinary ORDINARY DAYS, at Broadway Rose
by Krista Garver - September 27, 2018

ORDINARY DAYS is a small musical -- four people, not much dialogue, a single piano, a sparse set -- but it's precisely this simplicity that allows the big picture to emerge. And that picture is extraordinary....

BWW Review: Senior Citizens Duke It Out in RIPCORD at Clackamas Repertory Theatre
by Krista Garver - September 14, 2018

David Lindsay-Abaire's RIPCORD, now playing at Clackamas Repertory Theatre, is a madcap comedy with a dark side....

BWW Review: Detroit Auto Workers Caught in a Web of Hard Choices in SKELETON CREW at Artists Rep
by Krista Garver - September 13, 2018

SKELETON CREW is a hard-hitting and deeply-moving play about people who are simply trying to survive in a world where the deck is stacked against them....

BWW Review: The Doomsday Clock is Ticking. Can Our Personal UNEXPLODED ORDNANCES Save the World?
by Krista Garver - September 12, 2018

UXOs are failed weapons of war. But could they also be solutions to our greatest problems? That's the question that UNEXPLODED ORDNANCES, a genre-defying, thought-provoking piece by Split Britches (i.e., performance duo Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw) seeks to answer....

BWW Review: RENEE'S QUEER CABARET Debuts Resistance Variety Show Series
by Krista Garver - September 05, 2018

RENEE'S QUEER CABARET, a "resistance variety show" hosted by local singer-songwriter Renee Muzquiz made its debut last week at Artists Rep as part of the Risk/Reward Festival. Submissions are now being accepted for the next installment of the new monthly series, which takes place on October 20....

BWW Review: Broadway Rose Extends Its Winning Streak with GUYS AND DOLLS
by Krista Garver - August 14, 2018

'What's playing at Broadway Rose? I'll tell you what's playing at Broadway Rose. A GUYS AND DOLLS so good that it gets a standing ovation from everyone who goes. That's what's playing at Broadway Rose.'...