Paul Batterson - Page 11

It has been 18 years between John Stefano's performances as John Adams in 1776 and his return on April 7 as Tevye in Otterbein University's production of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. The chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance, who is retiring after 24 years at Otterbein, never lost a beat.

THE FULL MONTY: THE MUSICAL has some pretty unlikely ingredients for musical comedy: divorce, unemployment, degradation, custody battles, suicide, alienation and Buffalo, New York in the economically depressed 2000. Yet somehow, Short North Stage director Edward Carignan makes all those ingredients work while bringing Terrence McNally's script and David Yazbeck's lyrics to life.

Rebecca LaChance surprised the 800 attendees of the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts preview on March 30 at the Southern Theatre. LaChance, who performed 'Beautiful' and '(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,' is expected to play the title role in BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL when the national tour has a six-day stopover in June, 2017 in Columbus.

When he was starting out as the front man for the rock trio The Ben Folds Five, Ben Folds admits he never pictured the day when he would perform his concert staple 'Rock This B*tch' with a symphony behind him.

Actor Doug Joseph has gone from playing Cecil B. DeMille in the Short North Stage's production of SUNSET BOULEVARD to playing the very Norma Desmond-esque Angela Arden in the theatre's production of DIE, MOMMIE DIE!

From the onset of their relationship in LOST LAKE, Hogan (James Hughes) and Veronica (Chiquita Mullins Lee) only have one thing in common - Hogan's depilated cottage in upstate in New York.

One of the dangers of hearing a great Broadway melody by itself is it loses its context. Such is the case with SEND IN THE CLOWNS. Everyone has covered the song from Stephen Sondheim's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, from Judy Collins to Frank Sinatra to Krusty the Clown with the later one being my personal favorite.

If there were ever a show that was never destined for dinner theatre, it might be SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET.

There are some shows that a director just doesn't mess with. However, RENT, Jonathan Larson's urban reworking of LA BOHEME, is more pliable than a pizza.

One of the potential drawbacks to summer stock theatre has become one of the Weathervane Playhouse's greatest strengths this summer. Each summer regional theatres bring a cast of college students and put them to work on not just one but a series of shows.

Those who have never seen THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE before should be very careful when they attend Imagine Production's version of the two-act musical. In her directorial debut with Imagine, director/choreographer Rose Babington has together a show that future MILLIE productions will have a hard time topping.

Composer George Gershwin had been dead for almost six decades by the time Connor Allston, Lottie Prenevost, J.T. Wood and Morgan Wood were born. Yet the combined power of the voices of that quartet brought back to life the music of Gershwin and his contemporaries in Otterbein University's production of THE ALL NIGHT STRUT.

The Weathervane Playhouse in Newark has taken a shotgun approach to the musicals it is presenting this summer. The theater company opened its summer season with RENT, the edgy rock musical by Jonathan Larson. Then it staged with THE PAJAMA GAME, a light-hearted musical by Richard Alder and Jerry Ross, as its second musical of the season.

How do you write a song when the chords sound wrong Though they once sounded right and rare? When the notes are sour Where is the power you once had to ignite the air?

The Last Summer on Earth tour, featuring the Barenaked Ladies, the Violent Femmes and Colin Hay, the former front man from Men At Work, got off to a soggy start on Friday, June 5 at Lifestyle Communities Pavilion in Columbus. After strong sets by Hay and the Violent Femmes, the BNL set, featuring several songs from their new album "Silverball," was interrupted by rain. The fans who stuck it out got to see the completion of the 14 song set. The tour will run across North America until late July.

The Barenaked Ladies, the headlining act of The Last Summer on Earth Tour with Colin Hay and the Violent Femmes, have made a living off irony. The Canadian band of singer Ed Robertson, drummer Tyler Stewart, bassist Jim Creeggan and keyboardist Kevin Hearn churned out quirky hits 'If I Had A Million Dollars,' 'Pinch Me,' and 'One Week.'

Few artists would relish the position Colin Hay will find himself in this Friday. Hay, the former front man for Men At Work, will be the opening act in a triple bill that also features the Violent Femmes and headliner the Barenaked Ladies on 'Last Summer on Earth' tour.

When I was a teenager, a parenting magazines put out a tongue-in-cheek list of the 'the top most terrifying sentences a parent can hear.' Nearing the top of the list was the one over 60,000 people heard May 30 at Ohio Stadium: 'Ladies and Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones.'

If Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb are indeed 'Super men' as the two principle characters claim throughout the Short North Stage's production of THRILL ME: THE STORY OF LEOPOLD AND LOEB, the whole world is in trouble.

When Ashley Pearce interviewed to become a part of the Shadowbox Live theatre troupe, one of the questions she was asked was what her favorite rock group?