Reviews
Christmas is chaos in New Milford comedy
You might not expect to hear Santa shouting “Ho, Ho, Ho — Schadenfreude for all!” as he circles over the rooftops on Christmas Eve, unless you’ve unfortunately been invited to drop by for a holiday drink at the home of Belinda and Neville, an English couple with more issues than a Kleenex box has tissues.…
Rolling in the Aisles with Ayckbourn: Season’s Greetings at New Milford’s TheatreWorks
Playwrights aren’t usually as prolific as Alan Ayckbourn. Nor are many of them as successful at the box office. Witness the comedies that seem to tumble out of the Brit’s output of over seventy plays, including Absurd Person Singular (1975), the popular trilogy The Norman Conquests (1973), Woman in Mind (1985), or the more recent Private Fears in Public Places (2004). Ayckbourn’s all…
The Thugs Steal the Show in New Milford’ “Kiss Me Kate”
Kiss Me Kate is frequently lauded as one of the all time great American musicals. The reason for this is simply the fact that Cole Porter wrote the words and music for the 18 numbers that mate the show. Porter was a genius, whose clever wit and catchy melodies pervade a wide range of songs. The…
A Comical ‘Kate’
You don’t have to “Brush Up Your Shakespeare,” as the memorable song in the musical “Kiss Me, Kate” suggests, to enjoy the TheatreWorks New Milford production. With music and lyrics by the legendary Cole Porter and book by Bella and Samuel Spewack, “Kiss Me, Kate,” is a crafty and comical look at what happens behind…
‘Kate’ at TheatreWorks in New Milford
“Send in the clowns!” is what wise directors cry when their show – even a classic one – is looking listless. Luckily, Bradford Blake, the director of “Kiss Me, Kate” at TheatreWorks in New Milford, has Mark Feltch and Jeff Porper, two expert comedians, in his cast. They supply the oxygen in this otherwise workmanlike…
‘Doubt’ Is a Winner
There aren’t many local theaters brave enough to stage a play that became an Academy Award-nominated film starring Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman only a year ago. But TheatreWorks New Milford never shies away from a challenge, and any doubts about its decision were swept away when the lights came up opening night on…
Fine acting in New Milford ‘Doubt’
John Patrick Shanley’s award-winning drama “Doubt,” now at TheatreWorks in New Milford, is a chilling example of morality gone mad. What is it about righteousness that causes the heart to go cold, and moral certainty to blind the mind to reason? “Doubt” may be a familiar story of a witch hunt, but it is beautifully…
TheatreWorks leaves no ‘Doubt’ about it…the show’s a hit
It’s not surprising that John Patrick Shanley’s drama “Doubt” won the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize. It’s a great play. What makes it so outstanding is that important universal themes are woven throughout the play. “Doubt” deals with issues from religion, to race, to sexism. You couldn’t ask for a more timely play, since political…
John Patrick Shanley’s “Doubt” at New Milford TheatreWorks
Doubt is a somber four-character play about the conflict between the principal of a Catholic school in the Bronx and a young priest assigned to her parish. The drama opens with a sermon in which the priest extols the lack of surety about the most pressing life questions parishioners inevitably harbor. He declares that doubt itself…
‘Fourth Wall,’ A Departure For Its Playwright, Still Handled Well By TheatreWorks New Milford
NEW MILFORD — A.R.Gurney, chronicler of the decline of the American WASP, probably best known for the frequently produced Love Letters and the man-woman-dog love triangle Sylvia, is probably the most accessible and likeable play-writing today. From The Dining Room and The Cocktail Hour to Scenes From American Life and numerous others, I have never…