All Entries in the "In the Arts" Category
Nuanced performances make powerful ‘All My Sons’ a must-see
By David Lampe-Wilson 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Weston Playhouse completes its 80th season on a dramatic high note as a secret destroys an American Dream in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, playing through Sunday, Sept. 4 at the Weston Playhouse. The play is part of the Playhouse’s American Masters Series – and it is dark, […]
Multi-talented cast carries multi-character ‘Murder for Two’
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Weston Playhouse continues its summer season at its Other Stage with “Murder for Two,” a frivolous musical that sends up murder mysteries and their attendant tropes. While its premise is clever — two actors play all parts including detective, victim and suspects — your enjoyment will depend on […]
Ground breaks, curtain rises on next act for Weston Playhouse
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Years of planning and designing came to a close Sunday as the Weston Playhouse Theatre Company officially broke ground for its new arts center on the corner of Route 100 and the Andover Weston Road. What will not come to an end however is fund raising for […]
Take a chance on Weston’s exuberant ‘Mamma Mia’
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Take a sitcom script, a passel of Swedish disco-era tunes and some lively dancing and you have “Mamma Mia!” the long-running Broadway musical now in production at Weston Playhouse. On the Greek island of Kalokairi, young Sophie is preparing her wedding and wants her father to walk her […]
Weston’s ‘Round & Round’ is comic precision in a delightful farce
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Norman Conquest has landed onstage at Weston Playhouse with Round and Round the Garden, the third play in Alan Ayckbourn comic trilogy, bringing a breath of fresh air to relieve the hot summer nights. The first two plays of the trilogy were previously presented at Northern Stage […]
In moving ‘Forever,’ restless ghosts haunt Weston’s Other Stage
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Actress, poet and playwright Dael Orlandersmith returns to the Weston Playhouse Other Stage with Forever, an angry eulogy to the spirit of her abusive mother. It is a festering wound of a play that takes no prisoners in its unvarnished, raw honest language and its rich, telling […]
Weston’s ‘La Mancha’ hurls down gauntlet to begin 80th season
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Anyone who was around in the ’60s and ’70s has probably heard at least a dozen of the hundreds of cover recordings of “The Impossible Dream,” the signature song of the musical Man Of La Mancha. Whether it was Andy Williams or Frank Sinatra or Jim Nabors […]
The ABC’s of fun abound in ‘Schoolhouse Rock, Live!’
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Anyone who raised a child and had access to television may have at least a passing knowledge of Schoolhouse Rock. But, for the uninitiated, Schoolhouse Rock was a collection of energetic, three-minute animated musicals about various academic topics that were broadcast between children’s cartoons on ABC every […]
Northern Stage delivers a farcical feast in ‘Living Together,’
first in ‘Norman Conquests’ trilogy
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC White River Junction’s Northern Stage finishes off its 2015-16 season with Alan Ayckbourn’s comic Living Together, the first in a trilogy of plays known collectively as “The Norman Conquests” (more about that later). For anyone who delights in the absurdities of Britcoms, Living Together is a feast of […]
‘The Mountaintop’ an interesting trip, with a confusing view
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC White River Junction’s Northern Stage continues its season with Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop, a fictionalized account of Martin Luther King Jr.’s final day, that begins as a realistic drama then veers into the otherworldly. And while the idea is an interesting one, the execution borders on the schizophrenic. […]
Gifts bring Walker Farm theater plan closer to goal;
Norman Conquests: three plays, three theaters, one cast
The Weston Playhouse Theatre Company has announced that it has received major support for its capital campaign from the Hunter Charitable Trust of Boston and the Loewe Foundation of New York. The Campaign for the Weston Theatre, which currently stands at $8.5 million of a $10 million goal, will build a flexible second stage on […]
Comic ‘Baskervilles’ a howling success at Northern Stage
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC White River Junction’s Northern Stage serves up a huge helping of British silliness with The Hound of the Baskervilles, the 2007 comic adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic Sherlock Holmes novel. This featherbrained adaptation by Steven Canny and John Nicholson has a lot going for it, but […]
Northern Stage’s ‘Mad Love’ a crowd-pleaser, but carries heavy baggage
By David Lampe-Wilson © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC White River Junction’s Northern Stage approaches the dead of winter on an adventurous path with Marisa Smith’s new comedy Mad Love and judging by audience reaction during a recent preview performance, it has the potential of being a real crowd pleaser. Mad Love is a 21st-century rom-com […]
Playhouse offers ‘Weston 101’ ed program in-person and online
In anticipation of its 80th performance season, Weston Playhouse Theatre Company is launching “Weston 101” in February. This groundbreaking educational program will bring the excitement of the summer productions into the off-season with a series of Thursday evening classes held in the Hunter Seminar Room of Burr and Burton Academy, 57 Seminary Ave. in Manchester. […]
‘Mary Poppins’ offers top-drawer performances on a dazzling set
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC White River Junction’s Northern Stage enters the holiday season with the musical Mary Poppins and, as seen in a preview, there is a lot to recommend it — performances, costumes, color — but it is an uphill battle for its talented cast. Someone once described a camel as […]
Claremont Opera House new repertory company announces winter-spring schedule
The Claremont Opera House’s new repertory theater company will present a series of offerings to the area schools this year, including The Lightning Thief, a musical adapted from the book by Rick Riordan at 10 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 4; and Dinoman at 10 a.m. on Friday, April 29. All of these shows are open […]
‘Our Town’ a stunning inaugural play at new Barrette Center
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC White River Junction’s Northern Stage inaugurates its new home at the Barrette Center for the Arts with a heartfelt production of Thornton Wilder’s 1938 Pulitzer Prize-winning play Our Town. Viewed during a recent preview performance, Our Town stuns in its quiet simplicity. Our Town chronicles the lives of […]
Northern Stage rolls out winter-spring season, new facility
Northern Stage has announced its 2015-2016 season. The company will produce six main stage productions from October 2015 to May 2016 in its new facility, the Barrette Center for the Arts, 74 Gates St., in White River Junction. The public is invited to a Grand Opening Celebration of the new facility and a kick-off for […]
‘Man of LaMancha,’ ‘Mamma Mia!’ to help mark Weston Playhouse’s 80th
The Weston Playhouse Theatre Company has unveiled plans for its 2016 MainStage season in anticipation of a two-year celebration of it 80th anniversary. Audiences can expect a line-up distinguished by groundbreaking partnerships, collaborations with major stars, and the Vermont premiere of one of Broadway’s longest-running hits. Producing Artistic Director Steve Stettler said, “We’ve pulled out […]
Weston’s ‘Glass Menagerie’ achingly exquisite
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC Weston Playhouse buttons up its 2015 season with an achingly exquisite production of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie. This American classic is a touchstone of 20th century theater, a play that broke down barriers between actor and audience, tinkered with time and place, and turned life into very […]
