A Theatre-Goer's Thoughts

  Jason Ma (Center) as the Reciter and the cast of Pacific Overtures . Photo credit: Daniel Rader. For the second time in less than a week, I had the opportunity to see a show I didn't know well: Signature Theatre's production of Pacific Overtures . One of the least often performed of Stephen Sondheim's musicals, I knew the plot vaguely and had heard just a couple of its songs. Just as was the case with Shout Sister Shout! , I was in for a memorable evening of learning while being superbly entertained. There are many East-meets-West depictions in various genres. When these opposites meet, each learns something about the other but also something about themselves. This is the story of Western (American) encroachment on Eastern (Japanese) culture, told from the perspective of the Japanese. John Weidman’s book takes us back to mid-19 th century Japan. “The Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea,” the opening song, sets the stage. A Shogun’s edict issued in 1638 fo...

Carrie Compere as Sister Rosetta Tharpe (center) with the cast of Shout Sister Shout! Photo credit: Andre Chung. It is a rare event when I attend a performance of a play I know nothing (or almost nothing) about. (I wish I had kept a running list over the years of all of the performances I have been fortunate enough to see.) Such is the case, however, with the current production at Ford’s Thatre: Shout Sister Shout! (Every reference to the play in the program is written without commas, and in all CAPS as well. My inner grammarian grimaces.) Having scored a free ticket to the final preview performance through TodayTix, I wasn’t about to miss this opportunity. Shout Sister Shout! defies easy categorization. It is a “jukebox musical,” in which the songs by a famous musician are assembled in a way to tell the subject’s story ( Jersey Boys , for example) or songs are arranged to tell an invented story ( Mamma Mia! is a good example). Possibly the first (and maybe only) gospel-based jukebo...

  Patrick Page as the all-powerful King Lear at the beginning of the play. Photo credit: DJ Corey Photography. I have never been known for understatement, but I just might take the prize for what I posted on Facebook to share that I would spend the evening seeing the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s current production of King Lear : “Tonight, a little family drama.” But I took some solace in the succinct summary in the play’s program: Two royal families are bad at communication. The children who actually love their fathers flee, regroup, and come back. Almost everyone dies. Many years ago, I taught King Lear in a college classroom. One of my exam questions was, “Name anyone who is still alive at the end of the play.” Due to the play’s extensive body count, it can be a challenging question. From the moment you enter the Klein Theatre, you know you are seeing a King Lear unlike any you’ve seen before. The soundtrack plays the recognizable noise of jet engines as airplanes take ...

Montego Glover as the Witch, Gavin Creel as Cinderella's Prince, and Stephanie J. Block as the Baker's Wife in the National Tour cast of  Into the Woods . Photo credit: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade. I have seen Into the Woods now five times: the original Broadway production in 1988, at the Civic Light Opera in Pittsburgh (with my friend Beth Leavel as the Witch) in 2009, a slimmed-down touring production at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theatre in 2017, at Arlington’s Signature Theatre last November (see https://theatregoerthoughts.blogspot.com/2022/11/into-woods-signature-theatre-arlington.html for my response), and the National Tour of last year’s City Center Encores! and Broadway production at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House, making its first tour stop February 23-March 19. Add to that the 1991 television version of the original production aired by PBS and the 2014 film. You may surmise from all that, Into the Woods is a show I enjoy enough to see ov...