Stage Write

  It's easy to think The Lion King is just for kids. As one of a slew of Disney movies turned into stage musicals, it could easily have been dismissed. But the famous Broadway show has stood the test of time since its 1997 premiere. It didn't make the mistake of sacrificing the heart of the story for the spectacle. The opening number alone is worth the price of admission. The musical's costumes are among the best in the industry. Even grass becomes beautiful when worn as headdresses on swaying dancers. The animals are incredible accomplishments in puppetry. Cheetahs strut, and giraffes lope across the stage, capturing each creature's movements with magnificent accuracy. Most kids are already familiar with the story from the movie, making this a very family-friendly show. It has that wow factor, and meshes a captivating plot, incredible sets, and an award-winning score together. There will be a few surprises for those only familiar with the film version. Some new songs, ...

  First, it was a runaway best-selling novel, then a globetrotting film starring Tom Hanks; now the newest iteration of The Da Vinci Code makes its way to the stage. The Indiana Repertory Theater’s season opener is a fast-paced thriller that tackles symbolism throughout the ages as a professor gets swept up in a conspiracy during a trip to Paris. The set makes the most of projector screens with echoes of the Louvre pyramid glowing throughout the show. After a while, it gets a bit tiring on the eyes, but it's a dramatic and striking way to capture the audience's attention before the show even begins. The digital screens are an intricate part of the story. They show security footage, hallways of art in museums and churches, symbols within paintings, etc. Megan Kreidler plays Sophie, a cryptographer with the French Police.  Her performance beautifully balances grief, vulnerability, and curiosity. It's hard to adapt a popular book to the stage, but the sense of adventure isn’t ...

  The Phoenix Theatre kicked off its season with a world premiere of James Still's latest play. "Everybody's Favorite Mother" tells the story of Jeanne Manford and her son Morty. Manford made headlines and shocked the nation when she publicly declared her support of her gay son. In 1972, she wrote a letter to the New York Post, marched with him, and later founded Parents of Gays (later PFLAG), in an effort to bridge the divide between the gay and heterosexual communities. Her unwavering support and advocacy eventually led President Obama to posthumously award her the Presidential Citizens Medal. The show is brought to life in the smaller black box theatre at the cultural center. It's transformed into a pride alley with seating on two sides and projector screens on the other sides. The tight 90-minute production moves swiftly, jumping in time, splicing in clips from real news stories and speeches, and pulling the audience into the action. There are dream sequences ...

  When I was young, my parents and grandparents would occasionally take me to see a live performance. Sometimes it was a musical like Brigadoon or The King and I at Beef & Boards. At other times it was a show at the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. From those early years, I loved seeing productions of all kinds. That passion grew when I studied abroad in London. Every chance I got, I made my way to the West End. I bought cheap tickets minutes before a show began and packed in dozens of performances by the end of my stay. When I began my career after college, I was working as a reporter at a daily newspaper. I realized that theatres provided free press tickets to their shows in the hopes that someone on staff would write a review. I immediately took up the post and began seeing at least one show a week. That was in August 2006, and it has been 20 years of plays, musicals, ballets, and operas since then. After the newspaper shut down, I moved my column online and continued Stage ...

  Sometimes you just need to laugh. When that’s the case, The Play That Goes Wrong does not disappoint. The show is still a smash hit on Broadway and the current Beef & Boards production embraces the madcap entertainment in its current production. When a local theater troupe decides to put on a production of a murder mystery, things don’t go as planned. From failing sets to injured players, chaos is the order of the day. The audience is along for the ride as the actors try to hold it together. Nic Nightingale was perfect in his role as Chris, the frustrated straight man. Many of the other parts call for intentionally over-the-top performances, but his reigned-in responses kept the show grounded. Another highlight was Cynthia Collins as Dennis. I’ve never laughed so hard at mispronunciations in my life. And Kevin Toniazzo-Naughton as the Swiftie sound operator steals each scene he’s in. In a show that is meant to fall apart, the stage management (Elizabeth Stark) and set design ...

What if Juliet had awoken from her sleeping potion to discover Romeo had killed himself… BUT she decided not to do the same. So begins & Juliet, the pop musical that reimagines the heroine’s story. The Broadway Across America production is on stage now at Clowes Memorial Hall. It’s a wild ride filled with well-known songs from the 1990s and 2000s. Most jukebox musicals start with a loose idea of a plot and then find songs to fit the bill based on a specific artist’s catalogue. At the opposite end of the spectrum is & Juliet. It starts with the story idea and then selects songs that fit the required dialogue. The entire pop oeuvre is open for the picking, and you can feel the difference. The music is used in clever duets, so each character has their say. More than anything, it reminded me of the TV series “Glee”, which used songs in a similar way. Many scenes feel more like a concert than a musical, with the large cast using hip-hop and street dance to move the story along. Sh...