Posts by Martin Jones Westlin
Tastelessness Is King in NCR’s Spirited ‘Tomfoolery’
Today’s savvy satirist would have a field day with the current administration, just as Tom Lehrer indulged himself accordingly almost two generations ago. North Coast Repertory Theatre’s ‘Tomfoolery’ is a nod to Lehrer’s prognosticational genius and a perfectly suitable piece in its own right.
Read More‘Volume’ Lacks Insight, But Don’t Miss the Spectacle
The canvas that was the 1990s started out blindingly white and died a murky, bloodstained mess. ‘Pump Up the Volume: a ’90s Palooza,’ San Diego Musical Theatre’s salute to the era, doesn’t quite know why that’s so — but as a spectacle in and of itself, you could do a lot worse.
Read More‘Brooklyn’ Subtext Missing, But Its Exuberance Is Intact
The search for our identities sometimes takes us outside our own sphere, especially amid our youth — and Leigh Scarritt Productions’ exuberant ‘Brooklyn the Musical’ illustrates the joy inherent in that vital discovery.
Read More‘Evening’s Performance’ Is Hopelessly Underdone, Desperately Out of Touch
If ‘At This Evening’s Performance’ is to be believed, at least one totalitarian autocracy lives and dies by its bathhouses, its radish exports and its state theater. That’s the problem with North Coast Repertory Theatre’s turn at this supposed farce — you can’t believe a word of it.
Read MoreLamb’s’ ‘Big Fish’ Is Adrift in a Small And Untenable Pond
Somebody or somebodies once declared that truth is stranger than fiction. In Lamb’s Players Theatre’s ‘Big Fish,’ both are about on a par with each other — but to appreciate that, you have to work pretty hard.
Read MoreDesign, Sound Take Stage in Compelling ‘BlackTop Sky’
The world is out of whack in no uncertain terms, and nobody’s feeling it more than Ida Peters, who’s dying to get her butt out of a Chicago low-income housing project. Her situation is multiplied by infinity in the real scheme of things — and a newly reconstituted Ira Aldridge Repertory Players has mounted a good show to that effect.
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