Poor Will has a problem in Shakespeare in Love at the Omaha Community Playhouse. He’s writing a play titled “Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter.” It involves pirates because the producer wants pirates and includes a dog because Queen Elizabeth likes to see a dog. But the big problem is writer’s […]
How long did it take to fall in love with the stage version of An American in Paris? Just a little more than the few minutes it took for the lone piano on the stage to be dwarfed by the Arc de Triomphe looming in the background and for Parisians to tear down the Nazi […]
I’m still struggling three days after seeing Parade to understand why the musical at the Omaha Community Playhouse is such a troubling experience. Maybe the key to my confusion is the decision by director Jeff Horger to have his cast mill about the Howard Drew space in street clothes, talking to individuals in […]
Bear with me while I review Waitress, and please note that the first word in this sentence is more animal than vegetable. I am determined not to assail you with pie metaphors or similes and especially to spare you sordid sexual plays on pie. No, I didn’t sniff the pie aroma machine in the lobby, […]
The story of The Little Mermaid is so familiar that anticipation focuses more on how the touring company handles the problem that, like its best-known song, most of the musical takes place “Under the Sea.” You get a hint of the aquatic style while eyeing the bubbly backdrop during the overture. You expect a cast […]
To put my crush on Finding Neverland into quick perspective, I completely shared the New York Times critic’s raving enthusiasm for the darkly dysfunctional August: Osage County and I’m fanatic about Les Miserables. And now I’m madly in love with the Neverland musical which the NYT declared a sticky mess of ersatz sentimentality. So, if […]
Some of the opening night audience greeted Priscilla fondly, like an old friend unseen since her movie came out years ago. I hadn’t seen the movie, never met the old bus, but it wasn’t hard to understand the warm feelings for the Queen of the Desert that hauled two drag queens and a transgendered performer […]
Superior Donuts would be rightly praised for the remarkable play it is except for one huge handicap: It isn’t August: Osage County. Both plays were written by Tracy Letts who first wrote such shockers as Killer Joe and Bug.They led his novelist mother to say her son’s characters always end up dead or […]
Some of the opening night audience greeted Priscilla fondly, like an old friend unseen since her movie came out years ago. I hadn’t seen the movie, never met the old bus, but it wasn’t hard to understand the warm feelings for the Queen of the Desert that hauled two drag queens and a transgendered performer […]
I suspect some go to Jersey Boys just waiting for Frankie Valli to sing “too good to be true, can’t take my eyes off of you” in that high falsetto before belting out, “I love you baby.” That’s certainly part of the fun, but I’m partial to the story of the Four Seasons […]
4734 S 27 St
PO Box 7360
Omaha, NE 68107
P: (402) 341-7323