Portland Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 9

BWW Review: Depression Haunts an Irish Farm in FOUR LAST THINGS, at Corrib Theatre
by Krista Garver - February 08, 2019

Lisa Tierney-Keogh FOUR LAST THINGS demonstrates the devastating consequences of the isolation and desolation of life in the Irish countryside....

BWW Review: Life's Layovers Become Permanent in THE DELAYS, at Theatre Vertigo
by Krista Garver - February 07, 2019

Most of our cultural stories (plays, movies, news stories) are about the first group. In THE DELAYS, now in its world premiere at Theatre Vertigo, Sara Jean Accuardi gives us a look into the lives of some people in the second group. It's a moving, well-crafted play that shows how easy it is to get t...

BWW Review: BUYER & CELLAR Is a Fabulous Journey to Fantasyland, at Portland Center Stage
by Krista Garver - February 04, 2019

Nick Cearley stars in Jonathan Tolins' delightful one-person play BUYER & CELLAR, now playing at Portland Center Stage....

BWW Review: Fertile Ground Musicals: VORTEX 1, DISCONNECTED: A FRANKENSTEIN MUSICAL, SIRENS OF COOS BAY
by Krista Garver - February 02, 2019

The 10th Anniversary Fertile Ground Festival has reached its final weekend. This year, there was not only a smorgasbord of new works, but several of them were musicals! Last week, I saw three (watch for themes: local Oregon stories, revamps of classics, and 90s throwbacks)....

BWW Review: Great Cast Makes NUNSENSE Funsense, at Broadway Rose
by Krista Garver - February 01, 2019

NUNSENSE is a musical based on a cabaret show based on a greeting card line.The whole thing is pretty silly, so its success depends on an amazing cast, who can land the jokes and the songs. Fortunately, that's exactly what Broadway Rose has....

BWW Review: Fertile Ground: JUICEBOX
by Krista Garver - January 29, 2019

JUICEBOX is a painfully funny tribute to 90s teenagerdom....

BWW Review: Fertile Ground: THE UNDERTAKING and ART OF AGING PROJECT
by Krista Garver - January 29, 2019

THE UNDERTAKING and ART OF AGING PROJECT, two new pieces now in performance together as part of the 10th Anniversary Fertile Ground Festival, seek to spark a new conversation around aging and death, as well as provide space for seniors' voices....

BWW Review: Bedlam's SENSE & SENSIBILITY Flies onto Portland Center Stage (Warning: May Cause Dizziness)
by Krista Garver - January 24, 2019

Directed by Eric Tucker and with sets by John McDermott, Portland Center Stage's production of Kate Hamill's SENSE & SENSIBILITY is close to the Bedlam original....

BWW Review: A Community Copes with Trauma in World Premiere of NO CANDY, at Portland Playhouse
by Krista Garver - January 24, 2019

Directed by Tea Alagic, Emma Stanton's NO CANDY reveals the power and fortitude of the human spirit. At times, it gave me chills. At times, it's also quite funny....

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....