Theater: plays and musicals

Burn This–Blazing Comedy on Broadway

Written by diana on May 26, 2019. Posted in Theater: plays and musicals. 3 Comments

“Burn This”–a Broadway revival of a Lanford Wilson play Burn This, a revival of a 1980’s play by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson, well deserves the five Tony award nominations it has received this year. The exceptional performance by Adam Driver will leave you breathless. The tragic death of a young, gay dancer named Robbie has left his two roommates and his older brother broken-hearted. Anna (Keri Russell from “The Americans”) and Larry (Tony-nominated Brandon Uranowitz), are shattered by Robbie’s death...

“Dear Evan Hansen”–A Note to Loneliness

Written by diana on June 4, 2017. Posted in Theater: plays and musicals, Unhealed Wound. 1 Comment

Deeply personal and profoundly contemporary, Dear Evan Hansen is about social media's ability to unintentionally magnify "little lies" until they take on a life of their own. At that point there is no easy way out.

“A Doll’s House Part 2”–Knocking on the Door

Written by diana on May 19, 2017. Posted in Theater: plays and musicals. Leave a Comment

A door slams. The viewer is stunned. Nora makes the shocking decision to leave her husband and three young children. That is where A Doll’s House, the iconic 1879 play by Ibsen, leaves off. Now the young playwright, Lucas Hnath, has continued Nora’s story in this intriguing Tony-nominated play asking us to imagine her life fifteen years later. Hnath's A Doll's House Part 2, opens with a knock on that door. Nora is back.

“The Humans” –A Family Thanksgiving for a Fearful Middle Class

Written by diana on November 25, 2015. Posted in Theater: plays and musicals. Leave a Comment

It starts as just another family drama on Thanksgiving. But family Thanksgivings can be horrific, chilling celebrative occasions for some of us. “The Humans” written by the Pulitzer Prize finalist Stephen Karam is just that. The aging dad worries about money, one daughter moans about her student debt, the other is heartbroken by her breakup with her lover, the mother’s Catholic values needle both of them: the younger daughter on the benefits of marriage instead of living with her boyfriend and the older daughter’s evil lesbian life. And we can’t forget Granny — called Momo...

“Photograph 51”—Rosalind Franklin: Double Helix and Double Crossed

Written by diana on November 2, 2015. Posted in Theater: plays and musicals, Unhealed Wound. 2 Comments

Nicole Kidman The critically acclaimed play, “Photograph 51”, currently in London, and written by Anna Ziegler, exposes the obscurity of a brilliant crystallographer, Rosalind Franklin, who identified the chemical structure needed for understanding the molecular composition of DNA as well as raising the question: Are women still sidelined in the scientific world? Most people familiar with the double helix have probably associated it with Nobel Prize winners Francis Crick and James Watson. The critical scientific role Rosalind Franklin played at King’s College London is still, to...

Shakespeare’s Henry IV – Conflict between Father and Son

Written by diana on August 2, 2015. Posted in Theater: plays and musicals, Travel (Domestic). Leave a Comment

Guest blogger: Patricia Robertson Shakespeare has a keen understanding of the human psyche, including family dynamics. This is apparent in the 2015 Michigan Shakespeare Festival (July 11-August 16) production of Henry IV, parts 1 and 2, masterfully combined and abridged into one bringing out the best and highlighting the conflict between King Henry and his son, Hal, Prince of Wales. This familiar family saga ends with Prince Hal requesting that his father’s advisors’ treat any sons he has as they treated him, a touching tribute to his father. Thus the wound between father and son is...