Trinity Rep’s Little Shop of Horrors Makes Being Green Look Easy

April 19, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

*(Rebecca Gibel, Jude Sandy and Stephen Berenson in Trinity Rep’s ‘Little Shop of Horrors’)*

By Linda Chin

Little Shop of Horrors – Book and Lyrics by Howard Ashman; Music by Alan Menken; Directed by Tyler Dobrowsky. At Trinity Repertory Theater, 201 Washington Street, Providence, RI through May 12

Like the beloved Elphaba, Shrek and Kermit the Frog can attest, it’s not easy being green. This lament also holds true for the trio of characters – Audrey, Seymour, and Audrey II – trapped in a flower shop on the skids. Trinity Rep’s Little Shop of Horrors makes being green look easy, and simply delightful. Director Tyler Dobrowsky sets the production in Providence, spelled out in a giant mural next to the fabulous on-stage (!) band directed by Esther Zabinsky.

FUTURITY (Wilbury Theatre Group, Providence, RI)

December 10, 2018December 15, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

The current show at Wilbury Theatre Group is the Rhode Island premiere of “Futurity”, an avant-garde-Americana musical by Cesar Alvarez and the Lisps. It mixes sci-fi with 19th Century Americana. The story follows the correspondence between Ada Lovelace, the real life daughter of Lord Byron, who was a poet and a mathematician, and Julian Munro, a completely fictional soldier during the American Civil War who served with the Ohio regiment.

“DEATHTRAP” The Players, Providence, RI

September 15, 2018October 17, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

The opening show of The Players’ 110th season is “Deathtrap”, a thriller by Ira Levin. Alan Hawkridge directs this show with keen insight to guide his five member cast with all the clever twists and turns of this script that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. This show takes place in the Westport, Connecticut home of famous playwright, Sidney Bruhl who is having a dry spell with his writing and is trying to write his current script. Unfortunately he has had a string of failures and is suffering from a shortage of funds.

THE SHADOWBOX – The Players, Barker Playhouse, Providence, RI

January 26, 2018January 26, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

The third play of The Players’ 110 season is the 1977 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning “The Shadowbox” by Michael Cristofer.Three terminally ill patients and their families participate in a psychological inquiry into their end-of-life experiences. “The Shadow Box” is a journey of discovery into the genuinely lasting aspects of life. It is set on the grounds of a California hospital where some of the cottages have been set aside as a hospice for terminally ill patients. One playing area serves the three dying people: Joe, a working-class man joined by his wife and son; Brian, a writer there with his lover, Mark, and joined by his ex-wife, Beverly; and Felicity, an aging woman tended by her doting daughter, Agnes. An unseen psychiatrist known as the interviewer, draws them out and imparts wisdom to them with the five stages of dealing with death, denial, anger, bargaining, and depression, so they can better understand their situation at this point in their lives. Director Jeff Sullivan blends the dramatic and comic moments together splendidly. This well directed and well acted play receives a standing ovation on a job well done.

THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH (Wilbury Theatre Group, Providence, RI)

January 2, 2018December 27, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Tony Annicone

Wilbury Theatre Group’s current production is the 1943 Pulitzer Prize winning play “The Skin of Our Teeth” by Thornton Wilder. It opened on Broadway on November 18, 1942 and ran for 355 performances. The show also written in 1942 is an allegory on the history of mankind, told through the story of one family. It is a mixture of contemporary and biblical events and employs a farcical style seen in Wilder’s “The Matchmaker” as well as the presentational style seen in his “Our Town.” The phrase used as the title comes from the King James Bible, Job 19:20 “My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.” We meet the Antrobus family and their maid, Sabina who come from New Jersey. We barely escaped the depression by the skin of our teeth exclaims Sabina as Wilder works the title of the show into the dialogue. We also meet a woolly mammoth and a dinosaur in their home which helps give the show a theatrical mixture of farce, absurdism, satire and burlesque.

MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS Roger Williams Summer Playhouse @ The Wilbury Theatre Group, Providence, RI

August 20, 2017August 20, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Roger Williams University’s Barn Summer Playhouse in association with Wilbury Theatre Group’s summer show is “Moonlight and Magnolias” by Ron Hutchinson which is the mostly true story of the creation of “Gone With The Wind” movie. This production is dedicated to the memory of Donald J. Farish, President of Roger Williams University. “Moonlight and Magnolias” was the original working title for this historic movie. It is a wild romp in the style of the 1930’s movie comedies.

THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE (The Wilbury Group, Providence, RI)

May 22, 2017May 22, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

The Wilbury Group’s closing show of their season is “The Pirates of Penzance” by Gilbert and Sullivan wildly adapted by Sean Graney and Kevin O’Donnell. The show first opened on December 31, 1879 but this version is a fresh take on their most popular comic opera. This subversive, loopy, and fantastically eccentric take on Gilbert and Sullivan’s preposterous musical took audiences in Chicago by storm when presented by rebel theatre makers The Hipocrites.

THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD (The Players, Barker Playhouse, Providence, RI)

May 12, 2017May 12, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

The Players last show of their 109th season is “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”, the musical mystery by Rupert Holmes based on Charles Dickens unfinished novel. It gives the audience a chance to solve the mystery because author Charles Dickens passed away before he could finish the novel. He suffered a fatal stroke on June 8, 1870 and died the next day after finishing Chapter 22 of the novel. The show opened on Broadway on December 2, 1985 and ran for 603 performances, winning 3 Tony Awards for Rupert Holmes. This musical will remind you of “My Fair Lady”, “Sweeney Todd” and “Phantom of the Opera” with its score. In Holmes version the audience decides the ending to the show, who killed Drood or is Drood really dead? “Drood” is a play within a play about an acting troupe from the Music Hall Royale. The darker side of the plot involves the “disappearance” of a young architect, Edwin Drood after a Christmas Eve night of festivities. He has been promised to Rosa Bud, a voice student of his obsessed uncle, John Jasper. The audience meets several unsavory characters during the proceedings. The energetic and talented cast under the direction of Joan Dillenback and musical direction of Joe Carvalho as well as the incredible and dynamic choreography of Michael Maio win appreciative and thunderous applause at the close of the show. You must also try to solve the whodunnit aspect of this musical with a clever twist.

12 ANGRY JURORS – The Players, Barker Playhouse, Providence, RI

March 10, 2016March 10, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Tony Annicone

The fourth show of The Players 109th season is “Twelve Angry Jurors” by Reginald Rose, adapted by Sherman L. Sergel and directed by Patricia Hawkridge. This popular play was adapted from a live 1954 teleplay that debuted on CBS Studios’ series “Studio One in Hollywood.” In 1957, the famous Henry Fonda movie was produced and the stage show came about in 1964. The show is about a 19 year old man who has just stood trial for the fatal stabbing of his father. He doesn’t stand a chance as the jury takes their first tally. It looks like an open and shut case until one of the jurors starts opening the other jurors’ eyes to the facts. “This is a remarkable thing about democracy” says the foreign born juror, “that we are notified by mail to come down to this place and decide on the guilt or innocence of a man; a man we have not known before. We have nothing to gain or lose by our verdict. We should not make it a personal thing.” But personal it does become, with each juror revealing their own character as the various testimonies are re-examined, the murder re-enacted and a new murder threat is born before their eyes. Tempers get short, arguments grow heated, and suddenly they become twelve angry jurors. Patricia gives each of her performers a chance to shine in their individual scenes, while keeping the interest of her audience from start to finish. The audience becomes enthralled with the dramatic acting of her talented cast. She also infuses some humorous moments along the way to temper the dramatic ones.