Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. I had the opportunity to attend the Ringling Town Hall lecture Wednesday featuring former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. It was a sellout crowd for Blair’s speech, but most of the applause came when Blair was answering questions (submitted by the audience) from Town Hall chair Kathleen Weiner. Blair [...]

    Critics used to seeing many familiar shows over and over again are usually glad of the opportunity to view a seldom produced work. Then again, sometimes during the evening it gradually becomes obvious just why it’s seldom produced.   Such is the case with the FSU/Asolo Conservatory’s current production of Henrik Ibsen’s The [...]

The cast of the Golden Apple’s Avenue Q. It’s always kind of exciting–for performers and audiences alike–when a theater takes a step outside its comfort zone, producing a show that breaks precedent in a daring way. It’s even better when the show is lots of fun. That’s the case with the Golden Apple Dinner Theatre’s [...]

Sky Masterson, Nathan Detroit, Nicely-Nicely Johnson, Miss Adelaide, Miss Sarah Brown–these characters, brought to life in the Frank Loesser-Abe Burrows-Jo Swerling musical Guys and Dolls more than 60 years ago (and before that, of course, well-known from the Damon Runyon tales where they originate) have become old friends. We’re always glad to see them–whether they’re [...]

Most people who remember the Swinging ’60s probably didn’t really swing all that much. But it’s always fun to imagine what it would have been like if we had. So turn to Marc Camoletti’s farce Boeing Boeing, now onstage in rotating repertory at the Asolo Rep, and indulge your fantasies for a while. Picture yourself [...]

    There was a time when not a community theater season could go by without at least one Neil Simon play on the schedule. Lately, though, I can’t recall seeing too many, so it’s almost nostalgic to watch the Players’ production of his farcical 1988 play, Rumors.   Interesting, too, to watch the comedy [...]

    When you’ve seen a show many times, and it’s become lodged in the minds of American musical theater audiences as a classic, it’s easy to forget just how many elements have to come together for it to succeed, production after production. Venice Theatre’s current offering of the Rodgers and Hammerstein standby, The King [...]

    With Circus Sarasota now in its 14th year of productions, the task for artistic director Pedro Reis is always to try to top previous year’s performances—or at least offer loyal audiences something new and different from what they’ve seen before. Judging from the packed tent on opening night, and the enthusiastic response from [...]

    Sometimes, in a show highlighting the songs of a composer or performer, I’ve found myself wanting more of the story behind the music and the individual. With Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe’s current production, Marvin Gaye: The Man and His Music, I found myself in the rare situation of wanting less story—at any rate, [...]