FST’s Stage III production of Blackbird suffers from a fevered production. By Kay Kipling   Blackbird, by David Harrower, comes to Florida Studio Theatre’s Stage III with an impressive resume; it received the Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2007, and it’s received good reviews in previous stagings elsewhere. Plus its subject matter and [...]

Playwright Craig Lucas wins a new local prize–and relaxes on the beach.   By Kay Kipling   Playwright Craig Lucas, in town to accept the inaugural Hermitage Artist’s Retreat Greenfield Prize to write a brand-new work for the stage, sounded pretty relaxed when I spoke to him by cell phone from the beach outside the [...]

Florida Studio Theatre’s Black Pearl Sings!  traces some nearly lost history. By Kay Kipling   Black Pearl Sings!, now showing on Florida Studio Theatre’s mainstage, is not really a musical. But it is a play where the music talks—in bits and pieces of lore and stories recovered from near-extinction thanks to two determined women.  The [...]

The Players’ Smile offers a look at the all-American beauty pageant. By Kay Kipling  If you’ve never seen the musical Smile, you’re not alone: This Marvin Hamlisch-Howard Ashman adaptation of the 1975 film directed by Michael Ritchie is one of those seldom-seen, indeed practically lost musicals, even though it did receive some award nominations when [...]

The FSU/Asolo Conservatory’s Three Postcards sets a reflective mood.    By Kay Kipling   There’s a wistful quality to the Craig Lucas-Craig Carnelia musical Three Postcards, now onstage at the Historic Asolo Theater in an FSU/Asolo Conservatory production, that somehow strikes just the right note—or at least it did for me on opening night.   [...]

Venice Theatre reaches high with Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?    By Kay Kipling   Some works are challenging (especially for a community theater) to present because of “adult” material; some because previous versions of the work loom so large in the collective memory; and some just because of the emotional range demanded of the [...]

It’s a night of nostalgia with the Leiber-Stoller revue Smokey Joe’s Cafe. By Kay Kipling  The musical revue Smokey Joe’s Café doesn’t pop up too frequently on area stages—somewhat surprising, given the boatload of highly recognizable Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller tunes it carries.   The show is onstage at the Manatee Players Riverfront Theatre [...]

The Golden Apple’s Joseph pops with energy and enthusiasm. By Kay Kipling   It’s repeatedly amazing to realize how often the best and most lasting things in life are so simple. Case in point: the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice confection Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, now onstage at the Golden Apple Dinner Theatre.   [...]

Venice Theatre’s Leading Ladies carries on the rich tradition of theatrical cross-dressing. By Kay Kipling  Ken Ludwig’s Leading Ladies is probably a fairly smart choice for a community theater like Venice Theatre. It almost instantly feels very familiar, in a comfortable sort of way—old-fashioned, perhaps, with no surprises to startle the audience. In other words, you know [...]