Drew Eberhard - Page 4

Saturday’s opening night crowd was all a buzz as they stepped into the halls of the Asolo Repertory Theatre for the opening of their 2022/2023 season. Their season opener being the stunningly beautiful, sexy, and haunting work of Kander & Ebb, and a production none other than Cabaret. This was my first experience at the Asolo, and after what I saw Saturday night, I will be back again and again. First off, let me start by saying that there is truly nothing like sitting in an audience of 400+, with everyone sharing the same excitement, all leading up to the moment the lights descend and we are plunged head first into a world much different from our own, but also very similar all the same.

The Colored Museum a play with music was written by George C. Wolfe. The play premiered at the Crossroads Theatre in 1986 and was directed by L. Kenneth Richardson. Wolfe’s work is the focus of 11 individual sketches or “exhibits” and through these revues, recounts satirical and prominent themes and people throughout African-American History and Culture. As the second show in their 2022/2023 “This is America” Season, American Stage planned to stage this show as a way to redefine our ideas of what it means to be African American in Contemporary America. George C. Wolfe’s review show was the winner of the 1988 NAACP Image Award.

A Number written by British Playwright Caryl Churchill first premiered in September of 2002 at the Royal Court Theatre in London, England. The play starred Michael Gambon in the role of Salter, and Daniel Craig in the role of Bernard (Et al.). Under critical reception, Churchill’s play was lauded for its use of “significant intellectual depth while imploring an effective economy of style.” Told in a series of five vignettes, the story is set in the near future, where a relationship/conflict between father and sons comes to a head when conflict about the use of human cloning becomes the topic of conversation. The play expresses the deeply divided differences between nature vs. nurture, and the idea that “if we had a do-over, could we atone for our mistakes?” In an article for the New York Times, Ben Brantley described Churchill’s work as, “stunning” and a “gripping dramatic consideration of what happens to autonomous identity in a world where people can be cloned.”

Playwright Lucas Hnath was born and raised in Orlando, Florida. Later his move to New York led him to study Pre-Med, but soon he changed his major to Dramatic Writing, where he studied at Tisch School for the Arts earning a BFA, and subsequently following an MFA. Hnath is the playwright of 10 Dramatic works. His Broadway Debut and most notably his best work A Doll's House Part 2, debuted on Broadway in April of 2017 and closed in September later that year. Commissioned by South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California, Hnath's contemporary spin/sequel to the Ibsen classic starred Laurie Metcalf, Chris Cooper, Jayne Houdyshell, and Condola Rashad. Metcalf later went on to win a Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for her portrayal of Nora Helmer. Subsequently, Hnath's work was also a nominee for Best Play at the time.

On Tuesday evening a packed house at Carol Morsani Hall at Tampa, Florida's Straz Center for the Performing Arts sat waiting in anticipation for the Broadway Season Opener SIX to begin. I myself have stayed relatively neutral to the show, and going in blind only hearing one or two songs, I was eagerly awaiting the performance. As the curtain speech began anticipation grew stronger, and it was announced,' the show would begin in just under SIX minutes.' With book, music, and lyrics by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, SIX is a modern retelling of the lives of the six wives of Henry VIII. The show is performed in a pop concert style, with each performer singing about her time with Henry and battling it out to see who suffered more, and can become the lead singer of the group. Therefore not making the plot overly complicated, SIX is a high-energy spectacle that is a good time from start to finish.

Arthur Miller's subliminal masterpiece in a Three-Act structure All My Sons is what Miller considered his last-ditch effort at writing a commercially successful play. You see Miller's first play The Man Who Had All the Luck failed miserably on Broadway lasting a total of four performances. Miller considered throwing in the towel prior to writing All My Sons.

The Drowsy Chaperone is a musical comedy, about a musical within a comedy, featuring music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison. With a book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar, this musical tells the story of a fictional 1928 musical. The story itself centers around a character, 'Man in Chair,' as he describes to the audience his trepidations in life and this overwhelming feeling of sadness and foreboding which he calls 'Blue.' So over the course of two hours the 'Man in Chair,' takes the audience on a journey using the only thing he knows that will cheer him up, his love of Musical Theatre tunes, specifically classics such as The Drowsy Chaperone.

Dracula, a novel written by Bram Stoker and published in 1897, became Stoker’s most definitive work. Told in an epistolary style through letters, journal entries, and newspaper articles, Stoker’s novel is never told through the eyes of a single protagonist. Our tale begins with a businessman by the name of Jonathan Harker traveling to the Transylvanian Castle of one Count Dracula, in order to procure a deed. Having merely escaped the castle with his life, after finding out the Count is a Vampire, Harker makes his way home to England, where the Count has now taken up residence with plans to plague the small seaside town of Whitby.

Anyone who has any grasp on popular culture knows of, or has heard of Comedic Actor Steve Martin. With such notable roles in films such as Father of the Bride, The Jerk, Cheaper by the Dozen, and It’s Complicated, Steve Martin has graced both small and large format screens with some of the finest actors/actresses of our time. Outside of Film, Steve Martin plays bluegrass music, and as a writer has written several plays, and co- wrote Bright Star with Edie Bricknell.

From the moment the lights descended on the stage at 1120 E Kennedy Blvd., Unit 151 otherwise known as Stageworks Theatre, the opening night audience sat with bated breath as we awaited the opening notes of The Color Purple: The Musical Adaptation with book by Marsha Norman and music/lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray.

Avenue Q, a musical comedy featuring puppets controlled by human actors premiered off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre in 2003. Opening to rave reviews and claiming Tony Nominations for Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Book all of which it won and several nominations in the acting categories, Avenue Q proved to be a juggernaut of its time. Having assumed much praise for its approach to racism, homosexuality, and internet pornography Avenue Q proved that even puppetry can be fun for adults.

Jonathan Larson a name synonymous with American Musical Theatre in the 90s penned this phenom of a Musical based on the Puccini Opera La Boheme. Featuring a rock and roll score unlike anything heard on Broadway at its time, Rent received critical and mass acclaim following the untimely passing of its creator, who passed prior to its premiere. With such recognizable songs as, “Take Me or Leave Me,” “Will I,” “Out Tonight,” and probably the biggest musical theatre anthem of its time “Seasons of Love,” Rent went on to achieve Tony and Pulitzer claim and won the world over with its unique score and storyline of unlikely characters who were mirror images of very real people in its time. Still a musical that has many outdated references manages mass appeal today.

Matt Harmon’s Exhibits in the Zoo displays what life was like for people prior to the Holocaust living out their days in the confines of the Warsaw Ghetto. To much knowledge and further proven by history, the ideas of the Holocaust, or what our immediate resonance with the tragedy conveys is the Concentration Camp angle. With plays like Martin Sherman’s Bent, and Diary of Anne Frank, and novels such as Night and Number of the Stars, we have learned at length the tragedies that struck the communities of Jews at the hands of Hitler’s Regime.

These questions and more are the thoughts that fill my mind upon exiting the theatre following the opening night of Studio Grand Central’s Second Season opener Something Clean by Selina Fillinger. Fillinger whose more recent work Potus is a smashing success on Broadway; penned this three-hander piece about a grieving mother who also is struggling with love and culpability. Her own struggle with intimacy is backlogged by trauma and has come to a crippling head not just on her inner self but on her marriage as well.

As the final play written by the great Neil Simon, Rose & Walsh previously entitled Rose’s Dilemma ran in Los Angeles and Off-Broadway in 2003. Originally starring Mary Tyler Moore in early previews, Moore left the production when Simon sent a letter citing her to learn her lines. Neil Simon’s works include the very popular Eugene Trilogy (Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, Broadway Bound), and other great works including Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, I Ought to Be in Pictures, among many other prolific pieces both onstage and onscreen. Spanning a career writing more than 30 plays and numerous screenplays, Simon has received more Oscar and Tony Award Nominations than any other writer. Simon passed away on August 26, 2018, leaving behind a legacy as one of the great Stage and Screenwriters of his time. Rose & Walsh makes its premiere at freeFall Theatre Company on July 30, 2022, boasting an exceptionally strong cast, this production will be one you want to see multiple times over.

In its complexities of storytelling, we find a narrative grounded in teacher-student relationships that surround the 100-minute One-Act currently onstage at the Shimberg Playhouse at Tampa’s Straz Center. Written by Rajiv Joseph in 2008 this one-act quirky romantic comedy packs a punch just boiling below the surface. Analyzing the relationship between student/teacher/mentor we meet three unlikely individuals whose lives are impacted by lessons grounded not just in origami, but also in the way that as humans we feel pain and how we adapt/deal with such. Rajiv Joseph won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2010 with his work Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, which enjoyed a stint on Broadway featuring the late great Robin Williams. Rajiv Joseph also went on to win an Obie Award for his work Describe the Night in 2018. No stranger to telling the inner workings of human relationships, Rajiv Joseph has garnered critical acclaim for his many works, and yet still is considered slightly unknown in certain arenas.

Nunsense premiered off-Broadway in 1985 with music, lyrics, and a book by Dan Goggin. The show ran for 3,672 performances and became the second longest-running off-Broadway show in history. Nunsense was then adapted for television starring everyone’s favorite Golden Girl Rue McClanahan and has since produced six sequels and three spin-off adaptations. Nunsense A-Men, more recently produced at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa, a “Straz Produced” production, brings to the stage a group of local bay area performers to tell the story of the Little Sisters of Hoboken. As the leader of the Merry Band of Nuns is none other than the Enigmatic, and truly Exceptional Matthew McGee as Sister Mary Regina, Mother Superior. For the first time in 22 years, Matthew McGee makes his Jaeb stage debut as a performer in the musical. Dubbed a “Life-Long, bucket list opportunity”, Matthew is just downright Heaven-sent in the role. From his first entrance to the final bow Matthew, along with the rest of the cast present a side-splitting, laugh-filled evening that will make your cheeks hurt even the next day.

Every so often in our lives along comes a musical full of heart. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, is a musical comedy with Music & Lyrics by William Finn, with a book by Rachel Sheinkin. The Broadway Production opened in 2005 and was directed by James Lapine. Since its opening, many productions both locally and regionally have been produced throughout the United States. Spelling Bee was nominated for 6 Tony Awards, winning two including Best Book. This fast-paced musical comedy features 6 adult performers playing children in a local annual spelling bee competing for the top prize, and a savings bond for furthering their education. At the judge’s table and moderator for the events of the bee are past spelling Champion Rona Lisa Peretti, who is also a local Real-Estate Agent, and Vice Principal Douglas Panch. The unique aspect of the show is that four audience members are invited on stage with the performers in the show to compete in the bee. The Announcer and Moderator switch off by ad-libbing mixed sentences and various definitions for the words often to hilarious ends. One by one the performers playing middle school-aged children take their turn at the mic and perform their unique form of spelling by talking into their hand, writing the word on the floor with their foot, or drawing the word on their arm all competing to make sure each word is spelled correctly.

John Patrick Shanley’s The Dreamer Examines His Pillow, is a complex and intricate story that dives not only into the depths of our subconscious but boldly sits on the surface level of our emotions as well. Allowing us as the audience to not only deep dive within the minds of these characters, but into our own past or current circumstances. Shanley’s piece while complex is told within the length of 3 scenes ultimately ending with the audience making up their own conclusion to not only the events of the story but our own lives as we’ve grown so accustomed. John Patrick Shanley achieves masterful work here even with this being an earlier part of his repertoire. Shanley, most famously known as the Pulitzer Prize/Tony Award-winning playwright for Doubt, and the Oscar-winning Moonstruck has written 23 plays most of which he has gone on to direct, and is a Screenwriter on 9 Feature Films. Out of his 23 plays few have been performed in the Tampa Bay area, so it’s a much-needed breath of fresh air that TampaRep has decided to produce one of his earlier works, and still find relevance in the piece today. Director Chris Marshall, who has wanted to direct a Shanley play for some time says it best in his Director’s Notes, “...Our process has been about using the power of language to connect, though to do so is terrifying. It’s been equally about fierce listening and seeking to be affected as a listener, something we do less and less of these days. In these spaces (the theatre as theatre and as the room to hold scenic representations), we have finite opportunity, space, and time to connect, to learn, to discover. What a gift.”

A Skeptic and a Bruja by Rosa Fernandez makes its world premiere with Urbanite Theatre in Sarasota, and in Cooperation with freeFall Theatre Company across the bay. The last time freeFall worked in conjuncture with another company was their collaboration with the Hippodrome and their production of Lone Star Spirits, and more recently with their staging of Ebony Rep’s Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. In speaking with Matthew McGee, freeFall’s Marketing Coordinator, he mentioned this is something the folks at freeFall will continue to explore with future seasons. I for one can attest with first-hand knowledge that this is something that freeFall should continue to do.