Blog.WBRU

Trinity Rep really delivers on their newest production: “The Receptionist”.

Written by Adam Bock, an up-and-coming young playwright trained here in Providence, RI, you can see why this guy might become huge.

His writing is just so fresh… which is funny because he writes about the banal. That’s right, Adam Bock writes real life better than you experience it. Pretty much. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Read the rest » »

Just the other day, I had the pleasure of seeing Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium’s production of “Full Circle” by Charles Mee. And I really enjoyed it.

The story of “Full Circle” is not important. Blah blah blah Germany during the fall of the Berlin Wall blah blah communism sucks blah blah some baby gets kidnapped blah blah–boobies! That’s the shortened version. The intention of student director Jesse Geiger was to create an indomitable sense of hope and joy that truly pervades the production. You will leave the theatre smiling. Read the rest » »

Grease: The Musical opened its National at the Providence Performing Arts Center last night, and the classic love story of Danny and Sandy has not finished seducing audiences of all ages.

Set in the 1950s in Rydell High School, Grease takes us through the trials and tribulations of high school students in cliques and in love. The T-Birds and The Pink Ladies represent the coolest and the sexiest of Rydell High, so when the sweet and innocent Sandy Dumbrowski moves to town after a summer of lovin’, she’s mostly met with skepticism and mockery. Before long, she finds out that her summer love, Danny Zuko, is none other than the leader of the T-Birds, and that his attitude towards her has completely changed now that he is back with his friends.

Read the rest » »

On Wednesday, November 20th, Fat Scotty and Nicky G attended the 7pm performance of “An Ideal Husband” at the Gamm Theatre in Pawtucket. And they actually enjoyed it.

Fat Scotty is not known for his theatre adoration but Nicky G is so that’s why I am writing this review (and interestingly using 3rd person narrative.) So yeah, I liked it. The show features extraordinarily well-crafted comedic performances by some home-grown Rhode Island natives.

Read the rest » »

Tonight at the Providence Performing Arts Center, FirstWorks presented Momix, Best of Momix, which performed the last show of its national tour. This dance company, renowned for its creativity and surrealistic quality, makes use of light, gravity, props and the human body to generate pieces that inspire and amaze. In this assortment of modern short pieces, artistic director Moses Pendleton blends acrobatics with ballet and yoga with athletics to delight the spectator with daring visual effects, an innovative use of props and a striking mastery of the human body.

Read the rest » »

Some Things Are Private, a new play now showing at the Trinity Repertory Company, is appropriately titled. Created by Deborah Salem Smith and Laura Kepley, a professor from the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Consortium, this edgy docudrama focuses on photographer Sally Mann’s controversial work, particularly in her Immediate Family collection, which features nude photographs of her own children. The play blends facts with fiction as a character, Thomas Kramer (played by Stephen Thorne), is created before the audience and through whom the audience experiences Mann’s photographs. Themes focused on are the fine line between art and pornography, the limits of informed child consent and the value of what should or should not be kept private.

Read the rest » »

Legally Blonde: The Musical opened its National Tour in Providence tonight, and “Omigod You Guys,” the story and music are so catchy, you will not get it out of your head for days.

Ben Jammin’ and I went with different connections to the show. Ben Jammin’ had caught it on MTV back in the day, and I, musical groupie that I am, had already gone through the phase of listening to the soundtrack on repeat. Going in, we were warned that it was the first show of the tour, that the actors had been busting their a**** for months, and that we should be kind. But honestly, there is no need to be kind. Aside from a few little discrepancies that could happen in any live show, the energy, the talent and the audience response guaranteed right there that the now kicked off National Tour of Legally Blonde will be a success.

Read the rest » »

The Tony Award-winning Broadway Musical The Drowsy Chaperone is playing at the Providence Performing Arts Center this week, and it is a must see. Dubbed “A Comedy Within A Musical,” this hilarious play was born as a 40-minute series of songs and scenes called “The Wedding Gift,” performed in honor of Bob Martin and his fiancé Janet Van de Graaff, otherwise known as the two main characters of the show.

The story goes like this: A modern day musical theater addict known simply as “Man in Chair” chases his blues away by dropping the needle on his favorite LP - the 1928 musical comedy The Drowsy Chaperone. From the crackle of his hi-fi, the musical magically bursts to life on stage, telling the tale of a pampered Broadway starlet who wants to give up show business to get married, her producer who sets out to sabotage the nuptials, her chaperone, the debonair groom, the dizzy chorine, the Latin lover, and a pair of gangsters who double as pastry chefs.

Read the rest » »