Reviews
Getting down and dirty over stamps: ‘Mauritius’
Playwright Theresa Rebeck has authored a taut little drama about the arcane world of philately. That’s stamp collecting, for those of us who are strangers to the hobby. In her play, currently being staged at New Milford’s TheatreWorks, five characters go at each other with a zeal so laced with expletives, you know the stakes…
Delight for philatelists at TheatreWorks
After seeing Theresa Rebeck’s “Mauritius” you may not be so quick to dispose of that stamped envelope great-aunt Penelope sent your great-grandmother from the boondocks. Once you learn that a tiny piece of paper (aka a postage stamp) can be worth millions, you’ll look at stamps more closely — even if you are not a…
TheatreWorks Has a Hit With Noirish ‘Mauritius’
Stamp collecting hardly seems gripping enough to be the basis of a play—unless, of course, we’re talking about the crown jewel of stamp-collecting at the heart of TheatreWorks New Milford’s latest offering, Theresa Rebeck’s spellbinding “Mauritius.” Presented under the direction of theater veteran Sonnie Osborne, the play is quite smart and very funny at times,…
Clever use of deception delivers genuine entertainment in ‘Mauritius’
Mauritius, an attention-grabbing two-act drama now playing at TheatreWorks New Milford, is an intriguing and entertaining look at the timeless human effort to achieve instant wealth and legitimacy — and the depth of deception that often accompanies such endeavors. Created by the noted playwright Theresa Rebeck, who has written screenplays for popular TV programs such…
TheaterWorks competition spells ‘F-U-N’
Yes, there are still excellent spellers, in spite of spell check and dictionary online. You can meet some of them in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin at TheatreWorks in New Milford. If you’re a really good speller, then you just might be one of four from the…
TheatreWorks’ ‘Spelling Bee’ Is a Hilarious H-I-T
How do you spell hit? The answer is spelled out in TheatreWorks New Milford’s side-splitting production of the musical comedy “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” With TheatreWorks veteran Beth Bonnabeau at the helm, an extraordinary all-adult cast portraying a quirky sextet of junior high spelling bee contestants and hilariously entertaining musical numbers, the…
‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’ transforms the angst of adolescence into pure entertainment
A hardy group of theatergoers braved a snowstorm last Friday evening to attend the opening night of ‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’ at TheatreWorks in New Milford. They were rewarded with a high-energy and thoroughly entertaining musical comedy that merits gold stars from A to Z. ‘Spelling Bee’ is a Tony-Award winning production…
‘Spelling Bee’ delights with words, words, words, and F-U-N
William Finn was onto something when he created the music and lyrics for “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” — a show known as “Spelling Bee” for those of us who like to cut to the chase. His musical was nurtured in a workshop production at Barrington Stage Company and went on to Broadway due…
Ayckbourn’s ‘Season’s Greetings’ Does Very Well in New Milford
NEW MILFORD — The prolific Alan Ayckbourn, often touted as the British Neil Simon, has written an unbelievable number of plays, generally situational farces populated by characters whose human complexity makes them more real, and more memorable than the general sitcom population. In his own production notes for Season’s Greetings, which is the current offering…
TheatreWorks Stages Spirited and Hilarious Holiday Comedy
December ’tis the season when even the nastiest of killjoys experiences a seasonal change of heart, when hearty refrains of “season’s greetings” roll easily past the lips. And it’s usually a time of year when theaters prepare themselves to either stage traditionally sentimental Christmas chestnuts, or go with a finger-in-the-eye mockery of schmaltziness under the…