Adaptation

Book: Jessica Hagedorn   Music: Fabian Obispo   Lyrics: Jessica Hagedorn   Choreographer: Brandon Bieber   Director: Ralph B. Pena   Reviewer: Solace   Watching the hands of the protagonist Felix (Alan Ariano) grasp slimy innards of his patients and drop the “negatives,” as he calls them, into a nearby bin feels like observing a birth and a death. This ...

Writer: Roderick Smith, based on Homer's Iliad Directors: Madeleine Kludje and Philip Morris Reviewer: James Garrington Homer’s Iliad is a lengthy and detailed epic poem, with a huge array of characters – Greeks, Trojans and Gods. That undoubtedly creates difficulties in translating even the essence of a part of it onto the stage. Writer Roderick Smith has had a fair ...

Writer: James Lapine Music/Lyrics: William Finn Director: Mehmet Ergen Designer: David Woodhead Musical Director: Arlene McNaught Reviewer: Ron Simpson Little Miss Sunshine is a sort of jollier Grapes of Wrath for the 21 st century. The hint is there in the family name “Hoover” – the Joads in Steinbeck’s classic spend time in squalid Hoovervilles, named for President Hoover. The ...

Source Text: William S. Burroughs Directed & Conceived: Mallory Catlett Reviewer: Adrienne Sowers The pedigree behind Mallory Catlett’s Decoder: The Ticket that Exploded is vastly impressive.  With support from Gibney Dance and Theatre Conspiracy, Stony Brook University, CultureHub, Playwrights Theatre Center, Mabou Mines, the Collapsable Hole, and the Watermill Center (via the National Endowment for the Arts), this is the ...

Book: José Fernandez Music: Steve Margoshes Lyrics: Jacques Levy Director: Nick Winston Reviewer: Maggie Constable Get those dancing shoes and leg warmers on and be ready for the arrival of Fame The Musical at Milton Keynes Theatre this week on its 30th anniversary tour, no less. Based on the much loved and iconic 80s movie of the same name, the ...

Writer: Lisa Holdsworth From the novel by: Adelle Stripe Director: Kash Arshad Designer: Hannah Sibai Reviewer: Ron Simpson Bradford’s Freedom Studios have a distinguished record of site-specific productions in the city, from Drummonds Mill to the Interchange. Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile doesn’t quite fall into the category, as it soon takes off on an extended tour of pubs, ...

Writer: Oscar Wilde Adapted by: Lucy Shaw Director: Tom Littler Set/Lighting: William Reynolds Sound: Matt Eaton Reviewer: Ron Simpson Jermyn Street Theatre’s Pictures of Dorian Gray, premiered at the Stephen Joseph’s McCarthy Theatre, is, without doubt, a bold concept brought to fruition with stylish elegance. What is less certain is how fully it communicates the drama and the narrative of ...

Book: Melvyn Bragg Music/Lyrics: Howard Goodall Director: Douglas Rintoul Designer: Jean Chan Musical Director: Ben Goddard Reviewer: Ron Simpson Great claims are made for The Hired Man in the publicity for this co-production which has already been well received at the Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch. On this evidence, it’s difficult to accept that it’s the best British musical of the last ...