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	<title>San Antonio Current — Blogs &#187; The Wicked Stage</title>
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		<title>Review: Memphis at the Majestic</title>
		<link>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/review-memphis-at-the-majestic/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/review-memphis-at-the-majestic/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 Feb 2013 22:18:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jenkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Streetview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wicked Stage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[broadway across america]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jenkins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Majestic theater]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[memphis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wicked stage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.sacurrent.com/?p=26014</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#160; It was something of a surprise when the unpretentious Memphis beat out both the indy-rock spectacle American Idiot and the afrobeat fantasia Fela! for the 2010 Tony Award for Best Musical: the latter two musicals had generated a lot more buzz (if not box-office receipts) than this modest, earnest, and generally enjoyable tale of one city—and two races. But if Memphis somewhat pales besides other American musical explorations of race and rock—both Hairspray and Dreamgirls spring to mind—the current touring production presents the material to good advantage. Memphis is the sort of show worth seeing once, but not twice; like Oakland, there’s not quite enough there, there. The book and lyrics (by Joe DiPietro, of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change fame) and music (by David Bryan, keyboardist of the band Bon Jovi) are clearly indebted to the times, tunes, and threads of Memphis in the 1950s, a city far more inspirational than, say, Indianapolis. The plot follows the struggles of eccentric Tennessean Huey Calhoun (Bryan Fenkart), a white disk jockey committed to spinning the music of local black musicians who have been unfairly banned from the airwaves. After a series of serio-comic reversals, Huey finds himself an [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Review: Shatner&#8217;s World at the Majestic</title>
		<link>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/review-shatners-world-at-the-majestic/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/review-shatners-world-at-the-majestic/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Jan 2013 19:46:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jenkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Streetview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wicked Stage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jenkins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Majestic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wicked stage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[william shatner]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.sacurrent.com/?p=24342</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#160; Stravinsky and Shatner in the same season? We’re not exactly sure how Arts San Antonio cobbled together its 2012-2013 slate—how many Trekkies will be rioting for Le Sacre du Printemps this spring?—but it turns out that Shatner’s one man show is a surprisingly charming evening of (I suppose) theater. Well, perhaps theater is too grand a word: promotional materials actually list “digressive” as one of the evening’s principal virtues, a scheme that opens up whole new vistas in marketing. (Howzabout: “Come see the premiere of The Haunted House at the Overtime Theater &#8212; it’s meandering!”) In any event, Shatner’s piece&#8211;the grandiloquently titled “Shatner’s World: We Just Live in It”—is more like a loose autobiography, as Shatner takes us on a trip from his roots as a journeyman actor in his native Canada to his early forays in New York City to his big break—and in some ways, his cross to bear—as Star Trek’s Captain Kirk. I’m happy to report that Shatner’s got real stage chops: after all, he famously stepped in for Christopher Plummer when that actor fell ill during a run of Henry V. Indeed, the shade of Shakespeare seems to pursue Shatner across the decades: in the evening’s [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>The Wicked Stage in NYC</title>
		<link>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/the-wicked-stage-in-nyc/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/the-wicked-stage-in-nyc/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Jan 2013 21:29:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jenkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Streetview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wicked Stage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[craig wright]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[golden boy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[grace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[inge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mystery of edwin drood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nyc theater]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[paul rudd]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[picnic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thomas Jenkins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wicked stage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.sacurrent.com/?p=24073</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Well, The Wicked Stage has fallen woefully behind. Yes, I still have theater reports on Madrid and Los Angeles in my hopper, but I plead (as my friends and colleagues know too well) that I really should be writing my #@$#* book. But as the year winds down, I find that I simply have to report on a weekend of binge theater-going in NYC: because of Broadway’s special holiday schedule, I was able to take in six shows in three days&#8211;which is insane, even for me! The upside, though, is that my theater-reportage falls neatly into groups of three. Hands down the best things I saw in NYC were handsome, gorgeously-mounted revivals of Golden Boy and The Mystery of Edwin Drood. While they couldn’t be more different in form—the one, a ’30s drama of disillusion, the other a musical-hall spoof of detective novellas—they were similar in their principal virtue: each nailed exactly the required style for the show. In Golden Boy, Clifford Odets dissects the American Dream through heightened, poetic language that nevertheless captures the grittiness of immigrant America: the plot centers on a second-generation Italian who can either pursue a career as a concert violinist or—somewhat improbably—as a welterweight [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>Review: Peter Pan at the Majestic</title>
		<link>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/review-peter-pan-at-the-majestic/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/review-peter-pan-at-the-majestic/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 05 Dec 2012 20:01:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jenkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Staff Blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Streetview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wicked Stage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brent barrett]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[broadway across america]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cathy Rigby]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Majestic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Peter Pan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thomas Jenkins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wicked stage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.sacurrent.com/?p=23456</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#160; Weirdly, I’d never before seen a version of the original Peter Pan before last night’s opening here in San Antonio: yes, I’d witnessed postmodern Peter Pans (such as the American Repertory Theater’s deeply flawed Peter Pan and Wendy) and manic mash-ups (such as Peter and the Starcatcher, currently enjoying a healthy run on Broadway). But I knew only snippets of the score from the 1950’s musical version, and knew even less about James Barrie’s original play from 1904. So it was a pleasure—at least as an exercise in theater history—to take in the current touring production, which stars former Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby in her umpteenth go-around as the boy who never grows up. (Rigby nabbed a Tony nomination for her 1991 appearance on Broadway: I am happy to report that even at nearly sixty-years old, Rigby is still an appropriately spritely and spry Peter Pan.) I think it’s fair to say that this production—even with its glances at pantomime and the English musical hall—is firmly rooted in pre-ironic performance traditions: there’s nothing winking or arch or hipster about this particular take on Peter Pan. (The introduction of Neverland’s Indians, for instance, looks like a cross between a pow-wow [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Review: Catch Me If You Can at the Majestic</title>
		<link>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/review-catch-me-if-you-can-at-the-majestic/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/review-catch-me-if-you-can-at-the-majestic/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Oct 2012 15:37:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jenkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Streetview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wicked Stage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[broadway across america]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[catch me if you can]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Majestic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[non-equity tour]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thomas Jenkins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wicked stage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.sacurrent.com/?p=22283</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Well, the Wicked Stage was perfectly ready to spread some snark after discovering that the first national tour of Catch Me If You Can was—horrors!—non-Equity (that is to say, non-union): that’s the sort of cost-cutting measure usually reserved for a tour that has seen a few go-arounds. But for all of our wickedness—and venom normally courses through our veins—we really can’t find much wrong with the production (as a production) currently playing at the Majestic: sure, some of the actors are a bit too young for their parts, and some of the scenery is necessarily scaled down for the road, but it’s got sparkle and polish and talent. It’s definitely a respectable facsimile of the original Broadway show. Of course, that’s also its problem. The original production received mixed-to-poor reviews on Broadway—even with a Tony Award for star Norbert Leo Butz—and ran for less than half a year; in fact, I caught it in New York largely because I figured it would never tour to San Antonio.  (I’ve usually a pretty good nose for that sort of thing, but not always.) So on Tuesday evening, there it was, and there I was, and by the end of the evening, my [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>The Wicked Stage on Vibratorgate at the Playhouse</title>
		<link>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/the-wicked-stage-on-vibratorgate-at-the-playhouse/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/the-wicked-stage-on-vibratorgate-at-the-playhouse/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:34:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jenkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Streetview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wicked Stage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bruja]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cellar theater]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[luis alfaro]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[san pedro playhouse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sarah ruhl]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the vibrator play]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vibratorgate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wicked stage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.sacurrent.com/?p=18880</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#160; Well, I’m afraid I’ve been AWOL in the Bay Area while the spectacle of “Vibrator-gate” continues to unfold at the Playhouse (see my initial review of Sarah Ruhl’s “The Vibrator Play” here, the Playhouse President’s subsequent interview here and a fascinating piece by Jade Esteban Estrada for Plaza de Armas here). The good news is that the production of Luis Alfaro’s Bruja that I saw in San Francisco was really deft and affecting and perhaps some enterprising troupe in San Antonio will pick it up; but the bad news is that we’re forced to still ponder the lessons and meaning of what happened in the Cellar in SA. So, some thoughts: As I suspected, the Cellar did not seek permission to change the script. When I discussed Vibrator-gate with some of my non-theater-savvy friends, they were surprised to discover that licensing agreements generally preclude any alterations to the script, even a single word or setting. Indeed, Samuel French’s licensing agreement states: “The play will be presented as it appears in published form and the author&#8217;s intent will be respected in production. No changes, interpolations, or deletions in the text, lyrics, music, title or gender of the characters shall be [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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		<title>The Wicked Stage accidentally witnesses Godspell</title>
		<link>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/the-wicked-stage-accidentally-witnesses-godspell/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/the-wicked-stage-accidentally-witnesses-godspell/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Jun 2012 15:56:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jenkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Streetview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wicked Stage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[4000 miles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[common pursuit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[godspell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jenkins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lincoln center]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mary louise wilson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[san antonio theater]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[simon gray]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vexler]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wicked stage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.sacurrent.com/?p=18361</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It’s been exciting lately at the Wicked Stage; first, this blog was announced as a finalist for an AltWeekly Award for best blog, with the winner to be announced on June 8th. (And in the finest tradition of the Academy Awards, I’d like to mention what an honor it is just to be nominated. And what an irony it would be to win for three blog posts about non­-San Antonio productions.) In the meantime, I’ve been gallivanting across two continents, while soaking up sun and theater. I’ll have more about my time in Madrid—including a gander at the Comédie Française’s gallop through Gogol—but here’s some thoughts about three shows I caught in NYC on my way back to the Alamo City. First, a necessary preamble. My flight from Madrid was scheduled to land in the mid-afternoon, so I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to take a chance on getting evening theater tickets. But after a heinous and mechanically-challenged bus ride, I finally got to Manhattan; and with sweat streaming down my (manly, heaving) torso, I burst into the Playwrights Horizons box office in time to grab tickets to the 7pm performance of Rapture, Blister, Burn by Gina Gionfriddo. (Only by [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<title>The Wicked Stage: Back in NYC</title>
		<link>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/the-wicked-stage-back-in-nyc/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/the-wicked-stage-back-in-nyc/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 May 2012 01:38:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jenkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Streetview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wicked Stage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mike bartlett]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NYC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[starcatcher]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wicked stage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.sacurrent.com/?p=17975</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last week’s pre-Tony Awards jaunt to NYC revealed that the go-for-broke style of the English music hall—already a subtext to Mary Poppins—has nearly monopolized the Tony Awards season, as both Peter and the Starcatcher and One Man, Two Guv’nors feature a peculiarly British blend of music, mime, and farce. Of the two, Peter and the Starcatcher—a sort of storybook prequel to Peter Pan—is the more innovative of the two: it’s a frothy, low-tech re-imagining of J. M.’s Barrie’s familiar characters, including some suspiciously lost boys, a plucky heroine, and a swaggering pirate named the Black ’Stache (played with relish by Smash star Christian Borle). In its pace and energy, it reminded me most often of the recent The 39 Steps, though the second act outshone the first in sheer theatrical inventiveness. (Donyale Werle’s verdant Neverland features numerous scenic surprises.) One Man, Two Gov’nors—Richard Bean’s version of Servant of Two Masters—is less original, but features some superb physical comedy (from Tony-nominated James Corden) and direction (by Nicholas Hytner). A trip to Nicky Silver’s The Lyons rounded out my shows on the Great White Way; I’ve admired Silver for years, and was somewhat disappointed to find that The Lyons didn’t quite match [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Review: La Cage Aux Folles</title>
		<link>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/review-la-cage-aux-folles/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/review-la-cage-aux-folles/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 May 2012 19:15:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jenkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Streetview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wicked Stage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[broadway across america]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[christopher sieber]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[george hamilton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[la cage aux folles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wicked stage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.sacurrent.com/?p=17856</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Christopher Sieber may strut upon the stage in high heels and a feather boa, but it’s George Hamilton who’s sort of a drag in an otherwise effective revival of La Cage Aux Folles. And that’s a shame, because Sieber is so talented and so winning that he pretty much pulls off the evening in spite of the unfortunate stunt casting of Hamilton, who’s simply an ill-fit for a musical theater role that requires two big solos and excellent showmanship. Hamilton is certainly game, but La Cage is, at heart, about relationships, and there’s never the proper chemistry between Hamilton’s George, the ‘straight-acting’ and debonair owner of the ‘Birdcage’ nightclub, and Sieber’s Albin, who regularly performs as his altera ego [sic] ZaZa.  Particularly in the first act, Hamilton’s book scenes—penned by Harvey Fierstein—seem slow and creaky. But when Terry Johnson’s Tony Award-winning direction concentrates on performance, rather than text, the evening soars. This is apparent not only in the ebullient production numbers featuring ‘Les Cagelles’—six high-kicking drag performers—but in Albin’s own performance of gender, both on-stage and off-. It seems that Jean-Michel (Michael Lowney), the accidental child from one of George’s drunken liaisons, has fallen in love with the daughter of [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>The Wicked Stage: SPP and the Laramie Project</title>
		<link>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/the-wicked-stage-spp-and-the-laramie-project/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/the-wicked-stage-spp-and-the-laramie-project/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 May 2012 00:10:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jenkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Streetview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wicked Stage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[asia ciaravino]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[laramie project]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[san pedro playhouse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wicked stage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[zach scott]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.sacurrent.com/?p=17788</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Holy shit.  In December and January, I wrote two columns critical of the San Pedro Playhouse’s lackluster programming, which tends towards warhorses of the “family-friendly” musical theater canon. Last week, newly-appointed President Asia Ciaravino announced that they were scrapping three previously announced productions for next year—“older” musicals like South Pacific and Will Rogers Follies—and aiming for three San Antonio premieres, including (at long last!) Spring Awakening. This is great news: if The Wicked Stage had a budget, we’d send a bouquet to Ms. Ciaravino’s doorstep a.s.a.p. In another press release, the Playhouse indicated that it was also exploring the hiring of Equity actors (hooray!); the creation of a true black-box space (double hooray!); and improvements in marketing and outreach (I’m fresh out of hoorays). So just when we’d given up on ever seeing major changes at the Playhouse, last week’s announcements lifted The Wicked Stage’s spirits considerably. Perhaps the 100th anniversary of the Playhouse will be momentous, indeed. But back to art. In San Antonio, Spring Awakening has been sadly conspicuous by its absence, but it joins any number of well-regarded American works that never make it to San Antonio. So last weekend, I headed up to Austin’s Zach Scott [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>The Wicked Stage checks out The Aliens</title>
		<link>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/the-wicked-stage-checks-out-the-aliens/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/the-wicked-stage-checks-out-the-aliens/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 07 Apr 2012 03:26:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jenkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Streetview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wicked Stage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hyde park theater]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ken webster]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[san pedro playhouse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the aliens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thomas Jenkins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wicked stage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.sacurrent.com/?p=17210</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So I headed up to Austin to catch Annie Baker’s The Aliens at the Hyde Park Theater, a trip that surprised even me. From the reviews, I figured it’d be the sort of play I normally loathe: heavy on the talk, light on the dramatic action. And indeed, The Aliens turned out to be practically plot-less: just three stoners shooting the shit around a picnic table in the back of a coffeehouse, with the aimlessness of the conversation generally symbolizing the aimlessness of their own lives. So the form exactly mirrored content – or so I thought until the head-spinning second act, in which the inventive Ms. Baker managed to turn the very shape of a three-hander on its ear, including a wild second act monologue about, well, the idea of ladders. (It’s sort of hard to explain, and I don’t wish to ruin the surprise; but you’ll know it when you hear it. And the scene will be scrutinized in acting classes all over the US next year.) And suddenly, I understood the method to Baker’s madness: sometimes life is all about the pauses—in fact, relationships are all about the pauses—and Ken Webster’s production simply rings true, filled with [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Review: Billy Elliot at the Majestic</title>
		<link>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/review-billy-elliot-at-the-majestic/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/review-billy-elliot-at-the-majestic/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00:54:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jenkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Streetview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wicked Stage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[billy elliot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[broadway across america]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[elton john]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jenkins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Majestic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wicked stage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.sacurrent.com/?p=17036</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The highest compliment one can pay to a film-to-stage transfer is that it doesn’t feel like a film-to-stage transfer: that it has a life, and radiance, entirely its own. So I’ve never watched Stephen Daldry’s film of Billy Elliot partly because I’ve been so enchanted by his musical of Billy Elliot, which seems to me to be perfectly lovely in-and-of-itself. Indeed, the show now at the Majestic feels wholly conceived and executed as a musical&#8211;especially Peter Darling’s outstandingly inventive choreography, which weaves the many themes of the story, including class struggle and adolescent yearning, into exciting, multi-layered dance sequences. With a book and lyrics expertly crafted by Lee Hall, it’s the smartest musical to come through San Antonio in years. And it’s smart because it has to be smart: a tale about Thatcherism, oppression, and contemporary adolescence isn’t exactly the stuff of Legally Blonde. Nine-to-Five—another film-to-stage creation&#8211;could pretty much run its story linearly, but that’s exactly what Billy Elliott doesn’t do, particularly in its first half. If there’s a better theatrical sequence this year in SA than “Solidarity,” I’ll eat my hat: in it, three different aspects of 1980’s Britain—law, labor, and youth—collide in a dazzling ballet that breaks down [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>The Wicked Stage in New York City: four (plus one!) reviews.</title>
		<link>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/the-wicked-stage-in-new-york-city-four-plus-one-reviews/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/the-wicked-stage-in-new-york-city-four-plus-one-reviews/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Mar 2012 23:02:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jenkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Streetview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wicked Stage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[atticrep]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[broadway]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jenkins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jesus christ super star]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[once the musical]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rothko]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wicked stage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.sacurrent.com/?p=16856</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So spring break traditionally means a trip to the Big Apple for me – and a chance to check out the Broadway shows that are gearing up for the Tony season. In order: Jesus Christ Superstar: This wasn’t exactly on the top of my must-see list—but it was one of the few shows with a Monday evening performance. Certainly, the production had got buzz: Des McAnuff’s high concept, high tech version started life at the Stratford Festival, before transferring to La Jolla, and then to Broadway. And surely the conceit is an intriguing one: the life of Jesus as ripped-from-the-headlines, with crawling LCD screens—à la CNN—and frequent nods to crises in the Middle East (principally through costume design). When Des goes for dazzle—as in the spectacular concluding crucifixion—it’s truly eye-popping, and there’s something to be said for putting the starriness in Superstar. After Jesus breathes his last, McAnuff floods the theater with projections of the written Gospel; in a clever reversal of expectations, it’s the flesh made Word. But the production, clever as it is, lacks modulation: like Jersey Boys—also directed by McAnuff—this Superstar is high-wattage all the time, and sometimes at cross-purposes to the more tender moments in Tim [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
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		<title>Review: The Wicked Stage at Superior Donuts</title>
		<link>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/review-the-wicked-stage-at-superior-donuts/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/review-the-wicked-stage-at-superior-donuts/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Mar 2012 20:44:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jenkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Streetview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wicked Stage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[andrew thornton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cellar theater]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[osage county]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[san pedro playhouse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[superior donuts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tracy letts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wicked stage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.sacurrent.com/?p=16591</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Compared to his Pulitzer Prize-winning August: Osage County, Tracy Lett’s Superior Donuts is an inferior play. That’s not to say that’s a bad play, but that you have to dial down expectations: it’s exactly the sort of thing that an artist writes after winning every theater award on the planet. In form, Superior Donuts is transparently a valentine to Lett’s hometown of Chicago, and to that city’s multi-cultural neighborhoods&#8211;but like most valentines, it’s probably most meaningful to its original recipient. But there are still pleasures to be had in the Cellar’s production, which runs just one more weekend. The set-up is this: the Polish-American owner of a dinky donut shop hires a young, African-American man as his assistant. The owner is introspective and something of a sad sack; the assistant is a motor mouth with dreams of writing The Great American Novel. Tension and hilarity ensues. Along the way, the shop—Superior Donuts—becomes a hang out for various inhabitants of Chicago, including bag ladies, Russians, and cops. It’s Letts’ take on the American melting pot, with a bit of Scorsese in the mix. The problem with the play—and this is now my third viewing, after productions in NYC and DC—is that [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>Review: The Blue Man Group</title>
		<link>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/review-the-blue-man-group/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/review-the-blue-man-group/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:41:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jenkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Streetview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wicked Stage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blue man group]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[broadway across america]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Majestic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thomas Jenkins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wicked stage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.sacurrent.com/?p=16104</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost twenty years since I saw the Blue Man Group at the small Charles Playhouse in Boston; my memories are a bit hazy, but I recollect plenty of liquids, regurgitation, percussion, and toilet paper. (I do hope these are memories of the Blue Man Group.) So I was curious to see how this oh-so-off-Broadway show—created by the prodigiously talented Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton and Chris Wink—would be able to fill a cavernous space like the Majestic. As it turns out, I needn&#8217;t have worried: the production absolutely floods the theater with high-tech, neon spectacle. This is a completely reimagined piece that downplays the group’s roots in mid-80’s avant-garde music and emphasizes, rather, a sly and subversive take on American culture. The set-up is simple: three completely blue men rejoice in their alien musical gifts even as they explore—like anthropologists—the peculiarities of contemporary American life. This oddball premise allows the creators to parody any number of contemporary trends, though social media and the visual arts offer the biggest bull’s-eyes. Indeed, the evening’s most keenly-observed moment occurs when the aliens invite the audience to read three different texts on three giant iPads at the same [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>The Wicked Stage at Giant in Dallas</title>
		<link>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/the-wicked-stage-at-giant-in-dallas/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/the-wicked-stage-at-giant-in-dallas/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:28:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jenkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Streetview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wicked Stage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dallas theater center]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Giant]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[michael greif]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wicked stage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.sacurrent.com/?p=15867</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[After a mixed reception at Virginia&#8217;s Signature Theater, Michael John LaChiusa&#8217;s adaptation of Edna Ferber&#8217;s Giant arrives in a completely different production at the Dallas Theater Center, where it remains a giant mess. A musicalization of the iconic film, Giant tells—or attempts to tell—the multigenerational saga of the Benedict family, a deep-rooted Texas clan whose fortunes are tied to its ranch, Reata, and the unfurling events of the 20thcentury. But here&#8217;s the thing: musicals (or for that matter, operas) are fairly slow narrative vehicles, better suited to slim plots with a few well-chosen moments of heightened emotional intensity. Giant&#8217;s sprawling narrative matrix—which feels weirdly incomplete even after three hours—means that characters are often introduced, celebrated, and eliminated in about twenty minutes. (Sometimes it&#8217;s a literal death, sometimes it&#8217;s a narrative death, but either way, don&#8217;t get too attached to any one character.) And for a musical so packed with people, it&#8217;s odd (and off-putting) that characters keep singing about non-people, particularly the ranch Reata and the state that can barely contain it. Even for its genre, this is an awfully long-winded paean to Texas, with endlessly repeated lyrics about the loneliness of Texas, the beauty of Texas, the promise of Texas, the heartbreak of [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Review: The Wicked Stage at &#8220;Cats&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/review-the-wicked-stage-at-cats/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/review-the-wicked-stage-at-cats/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:42:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jenkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Streetview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wicked Stage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[andrew lloyd webber]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Majestic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[matthew bourne]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[theater]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wicked stage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.sacurrent.com/?p=15520</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Roll over, Beethoven—the real festival in town belongs to Trevor Nunn, whose productions of Les Misérables and Cats both landed at the Majestic in January. But while Les Miz arrived in a new’n’spiffy production—with redesigned sets and re-conceived direction—Cats looks exactly like Cats has always looked, complete with early-80’s leg warmers and synthesized accompaniment. The former production seemed fresh and vibrant, re-invented for the new millennium; the latter remains something of a museum piece, with nary a whisker out of place. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but neither is there anything particularly right with it: if you want to see the same Cats that took the planet by storm in 1981, then voilà, there it is at the Majestic. And it’s in fairly good shape, too: the young, non-Equity cast can clearly dance, sing, and caterwaul, and John Napier’s iconic set—a junkyard that spills over into the audience—still explodes with faerie lights and laser beams. There’s a pleasure to be had in the spectacle of it all. But for me, the charm of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s show wears off rather early in its 160-minute running time: as a series of character sketches adapted from T. S. Eliot’s Old [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Les Misérables in the Majestic&#8217;s audience last night</title>
		<link>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/review-les-miserables/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/review-les-miserables/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:28:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jenkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Streetview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wicked Stage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.sacurrent.com/?p=14766</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Miserable, abject, and demoralized, shaking their fists at God and at all the sundry injustices of the world: yes, these were the tardy patrons at last evening’s performance of Les Misérables at San Antonio&#8217;s Majestic Theatre. Apparently prevented—perhaps even barricaded—by ushers from sitting until after the musical’s prologue, these wretched mortals shuffled to their seats in a strange, if wan, facsimile of the suffering onstage—indeed, the title Les Misérables flashed at the exact moment that hordes of patrons jostled their way through the aisles, blocking the views of pretty much everybody.  Score one for Victor Hugo, I guess: for a few minutes, we were all more or less misérables. So: for those who already have tickets for what seems to be a sold-out run, please, please, please allow yourself an extra ten minutes to settle in, and to enjoy an impressive and well-considered production of an iconic pop opera. Of course, pop operas might not be to your taste; my companion for the evening thought that Les Miz was one of the strangest things he’d ever seen on stage, and it occurred to me later that if you hadn’t grown up listening to sung-through pop operas like, say, Phantom of [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Wicked Stage takes Manhattan (again) to find a lesser Porgy</title>
		<link>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/the-wicked-stage-takes-manhattan-again/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/the-wicked-stage-takes-manhattan-again/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 01 Jan 2012 23:57:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jenkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Streetview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wicked Stage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[harry connick jr]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[karam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[on a clear day you can see forever]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[other desert cities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[porgy and bess]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[san antonio theater]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sons of the prophet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wicked stage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[zach scott]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.sacurrent.com/?p=14718</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last winter’s planned trip to NYC—and to “Spider-man 1.0”—was deep-sixed by the Great Blizzard of 2010, and I cried salty, salty tears as my flight limped back to San Antonio. This year, however, the theater gods smiled, and I took in four shows during the crowded holiday season. In order: Porgy and Bess. Last fall, a pre-production press release from the American Repertory Theatre touted the virtues of its reworked version of Gershwin’s classic opera; this press release was then rewarded with a scathing rebuke from no less a personage than Stephen Sondheim. (This must have seemed rather like a lightning bolt from Zeus.) A literary and artistic kerfuffle ensued. In any event, the version that has now opened in New York is unlikely to get anybody’s panties in a bunch. True, much of the recitative has been converted into spoken dialogue, and some of the book has been altered in the name of political correctness; but purists will still generally recognize the same P&#38;B of yore. In Audra McDonald, the A.R.T. has found, I think, a peerless Bess. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. The three male leads—Norm Lewis, Phillip Boykin, and David Alan Grier—were very good, but [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Wicked Stage: Bah, Humbug edition. Or: a message for The San Pedro Playhouse</title>
		<link>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/the-wicked-stage-bah-humbug-edition-2/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.sacurrent.com/index.php/the-wicked-stage-bah-humbug-edition-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 24 Dec 2011 18:29:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jenkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Streetview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Wicked Stage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.sacurrent.com/?p=14543</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Other critics might ring in the New Year with a Best of Theatre Top Ten List &#8212; but we here at the Wicked Stage take our moniker seriously: we&#8217;re bad to the bone. And just when we were looking for a chance to post something appropriately Grinch-like to the blog, behold! manna from heaven: a press blurb from the San Pedro Playhouse describing the cancellation of its only main stage play of the last two years, A Streetcar Named Desire, along with the substitution of — egads — My Fair Lady. The following sound byte is from Artistic Director Frank Latson: “The move comes in the interest of continued economic growth and a move closer to family friendly programming in its Russell Hill Rogers Theater.&#8221; Let us first observe this statement with a moment of stunned silence. Now we don’t doubt that the Playhouse is having financial difficulties — cancelling a production is not a decision to be made lightly — but if the Playhouse is hemorrhaging dollars, it’s certainly not because they’ve strayed from “family friendly programming.” Shall we review the last six or seven productions? A Christmas Carol, the Musical. Xanadu. The King and I. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>16</slash:comments>
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