All Entries in the "Reviews" Category
Weston’s ‘West Side Story’ infused with energy Stunning ensemble work, choreography in a timely musical
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC W ho would believe that a Broadway musical with social underpinnings would be as relevant today as it was 60 years ago, but that’s how it is with the American classic West Side Story, which is being given a dynamic revival at Weston Playhouse. West Side Story is, […]
‘Fun Home’ is a must-see theater experience A witty, endearing musical of serious themes
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Weston Playhouse continues its inaugural year at the new Second Stage at Walker Farm with the Tony Award-winning musical Fun Home. And it is everything a theatergoer hopes for — it entertains, it enlightens, it engages. The production never puts a foot wrong and we are rewarded with gem […]
Opening night of ‘Our Town’ a mixed bag
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Thornton Wilder’s 1938 Pulitzer Prize-winning play Our Town begins the new summer season at Weston Playhouse and the production is a mixed bag at best. In 1938, it was a challenging stage experiment, and it has come down through the years to become an American classic — an […]
Despite a few bumps, this finely acted ‘Journey’ is worth the trip
By David Lampe-Wilson 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC For its final play of the season and its current entry in its American Masters series, Weston Playhouse has opted for Eugene O’Neill’s masterpiece Long Day’s Journey Into Night. The play, considered by many as the finest piece of American theater of the 20th century, contains some of […]
A funny boy shines in Streisand-inspired theater comedy
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC The cult of celebrity rears its comedic head in Buyer and Cellar, a one-man show that closes out not only Weston Playhouse’s summer run at the OtherStages at Weston Rod and Gun Club, it closes out its use of the facility completely, with the fall christening of the […]
Weston’s ‘Music Man’ cast hits all the right notes
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Weston Playhouse continues its summer run with the all-American family musical The Music Man, Meredith Willson’s tuneful fable about a mythical middle America just after the turn of the 19th century. The plot is simple: A fast-talking flimflam man going by the name of “Professor” Harold Hill arrives […]
‘Tenderly’ a sterling showcase for Haefner, Lloyd
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Weston Playhouse brings the life of singer Rosemary Clooney to its Other Stage with Tenderly, and while you might expect them to be rolling out a barrel of nostalgia, Tenderly is a drama with music that explores the highs and lows of the singer who, over several decades, […]
Weston’s ‘Once:’ Superb ensemble in this celebration of music, love
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Weston Playhouse opens its 81st summer season with a joyous production of Once, a musical based on the 2007 Oscar-winning film of the same name. Once celebrates a passion for music and the rediscovery of love, and this production has brought together singer/actor/musicians to create one of the […]
Northern Stage’s ‘Christmas Carol’ a children’s holiday delight
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2016-Telegraph Publishing LLC It’s that season again when ballet companies polish up their “Nutcrackers” and regional theaters reheat that old chestnut “A Christmas Carol.” White River Junction’s Northern Stage offers up its biennial production of Scrooge’s story in a production that looks very good for the most part but gets hobbled by […]
Re-imagined ‘Macbeth’ in modern mode a winning production
By David Lampe-Wilson ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Ghosts walk Northern Stage’s production of Macbeth, playing through Oct. 23. Set in the present and performed in modern dress, this re-imagining may not be appreciated by Shakespeare traditionalists. Swords are replaced with automatic weapons, armor becomes Kevlar vests and some basic themes are twisted to suit the creative […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
