Stage Write

  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...

  It’s raining on stage at Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre. The stage version of the 1952 musical is back, and many of the previous cast members are revising their roles. Kimberly Doreen Burns is back as Kathy Selden, and Sarah Hund returns as the glamorous and grating Lina Lamont. Joseph Rafael Davila is the new Don Lockwood and brings his exuberance and wonderful singing voice to the role. Choreographing is provided by Doug King, who previously played Cosmo Brown. He understands the intensity required for the dancing in this musical. He’s more than up for the job and keeps the actors flitting around the stage in one elaborate performance after another. The tap dancing is the highlight of the production. One of my personal favorites is “Moses Supposes,” a playful number that highlights the performers’ skills. Davila, Hill, and Kenny Shepard (Diction Teacher) never fail to stay in synch and hit their marks. Pacing in the show is tricky as the big “Singin’ in the Rain” number has t...

  A world premiere, a Hoosier playwright, and a little piece of fascinating but overlooked history. Borrowed Babies has all the makings of a great play. American Lives Theatre’s (ALT) current production is on stage at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre right now. ALT produced playwright Jennifer Blackmer’s Predictor in 2023. That show demonstrated Blackmer could highlight a piece of history while breathing life into it and developing rich characters. Borrowed Babies follows in the same vein. With stellar casting, including veteran actors Jen Johansen and Lauren Briggeman, as well as other supporting cast members, the plot delves into an unbelievably real program in the 1950s where women “borrowed” babies from orphanages and other organizations to practice homemaking skills. To be successful, a show like this has to do more than just relay the history. It has to pull the audience in and get them to care about what is happening. Between Bridget Haight’s direction, Blackmen’s writing...