Stage Write

  Shakespeare's Will is a one-woman show about the Bard's wife. At a brisk 90 minutes, the show covers a lot of ground. The famous playwright leaves grief in his wake, but Anne Hathaway was a woman with her own story. Tracy Michelle Arnold brings an almost impossible balance of playfulness and grief to the role of Anne. She is not a one-dimensional spouse from a Shakespeare biography. She is complex, imperfect, angry, sensual, fearful, lonely, and so much more. As impressive as her range is in the characters she plays (Shakespeare, her father, her bitter sister-in-law, etc.), it’s Anne that is the heart of the story. How many women have stood behind their famous husbands throughout history, making the men’s success possible through their sacrifices? In the role of Anne, Arnold’s graceful, captivating performance, gives voice to those women. Brenda DeVita’s direction captures the perfect timing needed for the story. Moments of sweet remembrance intersperse with Anne’s painful pr...

  The greatest musicals, the ones with a lasting impact, combine two important things. The first is a powerful story and the second is a great score. Few musicals do that as brilliantly as Les Misérables. It’s a story of mercy, grief, redemption, and the ripple effect that love has on everyone it touches. Every time I see the show, something new stands out to me. In this Broadway Across America’s production, I was struck by Javert’s story. This is the first time I’ve seen the show since the wild polarization of our nation built to its current fervor. Javert’s worldview is painfully legalistic, leaving no room for mercy or the acceptance of growth in others. That story hit differently this time as I recognized how common it has become to refuse to see your “enemy” as a real person. Empathy is in short supply and the cautionary tale of Javert’s obsession with justice is more harrowing than ever. Preston Truman Boyd did a beautiful job with the character and is a towering presence o...