Tag Archive
The Stages of Grief: Joan Didion’s somber “Year of Magical Thinking” plays at Court Theatre
“Can’t you just let things go?” the character Joan Didion exclaims in “The Year of Magical Thinking” at Court Theatre. Didion, played by Mary Beth Fisher, recalls the countless times her husband, John Gregory Dunne, said just that to her after a fight. “Can’t you just let things go? Do you always have to... »
Vamp Camp: Court Theater revives a gender-bending gothic horror farce
With the allure of romanticized vampirism clearly on the rise, as demonstrated by innocents like me knowing the “Twilight: New Moon” plot and release date, Charles Ludlam’s classically irreverent “The Mystery of Irma Vep,” directed by Sean Graney, graced the stage of Court Theater Saturday night to the audience’s palpable relief. »
Shakespeare on Another Frequency: SITI’s “Radio Macbeth” comes to Court Theatre
“Every single play I direct brings up the question—why do we do plays?” says Anne Bogart, the founder of New York’s SITI theater company. “Radio Macbeth,” the company’s work now showing at Court Theatre, is no exception. Set in the 1940s, the play follows an ensemble of actors rehearsing for a radio performance of... »
The Times They Were A-Changin’: Tony Kushner’s musical of the tumultuous ‘60s comes to Court Theatre
The musical “Caroline, or Change,” now playing at Court Theatre, takes place in November and December of 1963. It opens on the day of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, though for most of the first act the characters go about their everyday tasks without any awareness that the president has been killed. “There is no... »
Orenthal
The actor looked nothing like O. J. Simpson. “Orenthal,” a production involving the Renaissance Society, the Experimental Station, and Court Theatre, had begun. The description of “Orenthal” in the email sent by the Renaissance Society was promising: it was to be a one-act portrayal of O. J. Simpson’s rise and fall, which would be... »
First Breeze of Summer: Court Theatre revives a classic of the Black Arts Movement
Family, religion and race coalesce in Court Theatre’s production of Leslie Lee’s classic play “The First Breeze of Summer.” After having acted in a production at the University of Michigan in 1977, and two years later directed a production in Flint, Michigan, director Ron OJ Parson revisits and revives “First Breeze” at Court Theatre,... »
Not Just Another Ride Around: Court Theatre offers its take on the classic musical “Carousel”
If you are looking for your standard over-the-top, saccharine musical, you won’t find it at Court Theatre. As a continuation of the Court’s rendering of classic American musicals starting six years ago, Rogers and Hammerstein’s “Carousel” will be running starting Saturday, March 15 through April 13. Based on the Hungarian play “Liliom” by Ferenc... »
There Will Be Blood: Court Theatre puts a new spin on Shakespeare’s infamous “Titus Andronicus”
If “Titus Andronicus” is one of Shakespeare’s lesser known plays, conventional wisdom says it’s because the thing is just too damned violent. The spectacle features a seemingly endless cavalcade of body parts getting chopped off, a disturbing rape scene, and a feast that culminates in the guests’ realization that the pie they’re eating is... »
