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THEATER REVIEW: Acting buoys 'Urinetown' |
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Written by MARION HUNTER
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Thursday, 02 February 2012 15:01 |
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Urinetown, the Musical/ Ghent Playhouse
GHENT PLAYHOUSE HAS ADDED a new star to its roster. It is Eleah Peal, who appears as Little Sally in Ghent's production of “Urinetown, the Musical.” Of course, her character has the best lines, but even so, whether Peal is center stage or buried in the mob, this actress is constantly interesting, original, quirky and honest.
Direction by newcomer Sky Vogel is crisp and clear. Choreographer Jimmy Robertson has caused dancing such as we have not seen on this stage before, nicely assembled and performed with a sharpness difficult to achieve in community theater. Kudos to choreographer Robertson and to dance captain ChristineLee Mackerer.
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THEATER REVIEW: Sometimes it feels like some fatherless guys |
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Written by MARION HUNTER
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Monday, 28 November 2011 14:52 |
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Finding Fathers/ Space 360, Hudson
WALKING THE DOG Theater presentations are sometimes accompanied by “work in progress” caveats, especially when there is a home-grown element involved -- when its original creator is not a Chekhov, a Thornton Wilder or a Shakespeare but a person or persons from the company.
“Finding Fathers” is the work two of the company's actors, Eddie Allen and Rob Leo Roy. If one has ever been to acting class, s/he will identify the project at Space 360 as the work of talented students working out a complex series of improvisations rather than as a finished play.
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THEATER REVIEW: Voyage of personal exploration becomes a tour de force |
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Written by MARION HUNTER
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Sunday, 06 November 2011 13:40 |
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The Lost Frontier of America/Space 360/Hudson
IN A REVIEW of Walking the dog Theater a few years ago I noted the impact of David Anderson's gaze -- the gaze with which the actor impales his audiences and connects with other actors. It is pure. It is free of blur and garbage.
In “The Lost Frontier of America,” the unnamed character (whom I shall call “David'”) turns the gaze on himself with the aid of Ralph Waldo Emerson and others. There results a struggle to sort out a self from junk thinking and junk culture, from friends and acquaintances, from sages and saints -- and from audiences.
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THEATER REVIEW: 'Ragtime' revives spirit of era with big aspirations |
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Written by MARION HUNTER
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Saturday, 29 October 2011 19:48 |
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'Ragtime' (The Musical)/ The Two of Us Productions/ Hudson High School Auditorium
IT CAN BE DELIGHTFUL to be thrust back to the days of big-cast musicals performed on big stages, with a big orchestra -- on the floor, if not “in the pit.” Even the use of curtains to delineate scenes and places can feel fresh after years and years of avoiding them.
While the rest of the theater world is busy paring down productions as near to zero as possible (the one-person non-musical having become a big favorite), the Two of Us Productions dares to insist on live, full orchestras.
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THEATER REVIEW: Strong acting rescues musty script in Ghent's 'Dial M for Murder' |
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Written by MARION HUNTER
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Saturday, 22 October 2011 13:54 |
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“Dial 'M' for Murder”/ Ghent Playhouse/ Directed by Flo Hayle
“DIAL 'M' FOR MURDER” is a plot-intensive, 1950s piece of crime fiction that has a difficult time breathing in 2011. It cannot survive well without a great deal of actor-supplied humanity. Fortunately the production at Ghent Playhouse has three actors who almost get the job done despite the script: Neal Berntson as the soulless murderer, John Trainor as the police inspector with unexpected smarts, and Daniel Region as the suave, money-hungry husband out to murder his wealthy wife.
Though Bernston (Captain Lesgate) gets killed off fairly early in the play, while sentient -- watching a web of blackmail slowly entrap him -- he makes his long silences eloquent. The lines are icy-clean, and his morality-free thought processes are better than lines.
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