Stage Write

In the 1950s the world was introduced to "My Fair Lady," an Alan Lerner and Frederick Lowe musical filled with what are now, well-known ballads. The original Broadway production later became an Oscar-award winning feature film starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. Broadway Across America's production is now onstage at Clowes Memorial Hall. The show, straight from its U.K tour, features beautiful costumes, lush sets and stellar performances. The classic tale begins in the gutter with a simple flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, who butcher's the English language every time she opens her mouth. Audiences watch as the girl becomes a lady, both in speech and actions. The talented Lisa O'Hare is Eliza. Her performance is stunning and her voice is unstoppable. Every dropped H is heaven as she bemoans the evil 'enry 'iggins. Christopher Cazenove plays Higgins, Eliza's instructor, a confirmed bachelor and callous curmudgeon. He captures the spirit of Harrison...

The Indiana Repertory Theatre's current main stage production is a great choice for February, Black History Month. "The Piano Lesson" is one of a ten-part series written by August Wilson that chronicles black American culture and experience. Each of the plays represent one decade in the 20th century. The IRT included one of the plays, "Gem of the Ocean" in last year's season. The entire work captures the life styles and struggles black Americans faced during the tumultuous century. This show, a Pulitzer-prize winner, is set in the 1930s and follows the Charles family. Brother and sister Boy Willie and Berniece find themselves on opposite sides of an argument when Willie decides he wants to sell a family heirloom of which they share ownership. The object in question, a priceless piano, is covered with ornate carvings detailing the family's rise from slavery. Boy Willie is a bubbling cauldron of trouble and bad attitude. He sees only his own future and wha...

The Phoenix Theatre presents "The Lieutenant of Inishmore" on its main stage. The black comedy follows a crazy Irish man, Padraic, whose pet cat meets an untimely end. The death of the animal opens a big can of worms in the tiny hamlet, Inishmore Shane Chuvalas as Padraic is excellent in his obscene madness. He's off his rocker, but his own strange way he means well and his loyalty to his feline is oddly touching. Padraic is a member of a rebel group in Ireland. His haphazard way of punishing those who cross the moral line have put his fellow Irish National Liberation Army, (INLA) members on edge. When he decides to torture a drug pusher who has been paying them off they decide it's the last straw and the group turns on him. When Padraic returns home to tend to his ailing pet a trap awaits him. Joanne Dubach plays Mairead, a spitfire of a girl whose ambitions to join the INLA are stunted by her gender. She's the only person who could dare to match Padraic's in...