Get ready to move as Westcoast Black Theatre presents The Motown ’60s Revue. By Kay Kipling    The Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe had some success last season with a series of musical revues performed at Art Center Sarasota. Judging from the size of the crowd and their response to the first show of its 10th [...]

 The Asolo Rep stirs up old memories with Hearts.   By Kay Kipling   I’m not sure just how many members of the “Greatest Generation” we have living on the Suncoast, but you can bet that many of them will be turning out for the Asolo Rep’s production of Willy Holtzman’s play Hearts.   It’s [...]

 The arc of a relationship is portrayed in the Asolo Rep’s The Last Five Years. By Kay Kipling     We’ve all known the pain of relationships that don’t work out, but most of us can’t begin to convey the sweep of emotions that accompany love and loss as does Jason Robert Brown in the [...]

Take a trip back in time with the Golden Apple’s Marvelous Wonderettes.  By Kay Kipling  It’s always easy to tell ourselves the good old days were much simpler, happier times, and that certainly is the case with the Golden Apple Dinner Theatre’s current production of The Marvelous Wonderettes. Never mind the Cold War or the [...]

 Tackling multiple characters with one actor in Venice Theatre’s I Am My Own Wife.   By Kay Kipling   Certain people play a highly individual role in history, and judging from the play I Am My Own Wife, now at Venice Theatre’s Stage II, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf was one of them. A transvestite born in [...]

Burlesque is back with the Manatee Players’ Sugar Babies.   By Kay Kipling   In tough times like these, the thirst for nostalgia runs deep. That was probably true back in 1979, when the musical revue Sugar Babies bowed on Broadway, and it’s certainly true now, as the Manatee Players present their own production of [...]

A look at the politics of mental illness with the FSU/Asolo Conservatory’s Blue/Orange. By Kay Kipling   The FSU/Asolo Conservatory’s production of Joe Penhall’s Blue/Orange is billed as a comedy, and indeed there are many sharp satirical moments to be enjoyed. But as with any good satire, there are important dramatic points being made here as [...]