by Rick Pender
09.19.2012
Posted In:
Theater at 10:22 AM |
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Know Theatre offering two solid pieces from 2012 Fringe Fest
Does this late September weather make you wish you could turn back the clock? Know Theatre is ready to take you back to June and the 2012 Cincinnati Fringe Festival with a brief reprise of several shows and artists who pleased audiences three months ago. Today through Saturday you can stop by the theater on Jackson Street in Over-the-Rhine for performances by Honour Pillow (her Audience "Pick of the Fringe" show On Her Pillow (review here) will be presented tonight and Friday evening) or Dewey Chaffee and Douglas McGeoch (whose Screw You Revue (review here) was the Producers' Pick of the Fringe in June and will be presented on Friday and Saturday). There will also be performances by two favorite Fringe solo performers on Thursday and Saturday — Kevin Thornton and Tommy Nugent. For the schedule and tickets, click here.
Showboat production is a celebration of America
0 Comments · Saturday, September 15, 2012
My historic experience with The Music Man makes me a serious judge of whether a production of this iconic show succeeds. As a one-time mayor of River City, I pronounce this one a success.
by Jac Kern
09.14.2012
The thought of an
“underground” party might conjure up images of a chic 1920s speakeasy or perhaps
a creepy warehouse rave. Neither is true of Saturday’s Scion Exposed tunnel party,
which is literally underground, at 220 Central Ave. beneath the Second Street overpass.
Part car show, part concert, Scion Exposed features a pop-up skate park, food
trucks, drinks and more, all free from 2 p.m.-midnight. RJD2 headlines the
music stage with support from Chairlift, DAAP Girls and more performing
throughout the day. RSVP here for free admission; Scion
owners get advanced entrance at noon.
Celebrate Halfway
to St. Patrick’s Day during the Cincinnati Celtic Festival
Saturday and Sunday. The free fest moves from Fountain Square to Washington
Park this year, but continues to celebrate all things Celtic with plenty of
music, food and entertainment. Knock back some Guinness, cheer on Irish dancers
and get jig-y to the sounds of bagpipes between noon and 10:30 p.m. both days.
With local Celts
taking over the park, this month’s City Flea moves up the street to the lot at
Twelfth and Vine. Vendors will be hawking everything from clothing and
accessories to home goods and fine art from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The City Flea is a fun one-stop spot to
support local artisans and sellers all under one roof. Sans roof.
Downtown isn’t
hogging all the fun this weekend — Milford’s Longstone Street Festival brings
more than 15 area bands to the ‘burbs Saturday. Area musicians will perform on
two stages along Main Street where kid-friendly activities await (we’re talking
a Velcro wall, bungee joust, rock climbing and more). Saunter through historic
downtown Milford, stop in a few shops and restaurants and enjoy the music from
11 a.m.-11 p.m.
The fun continues
west at the Westwood Art Show, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. More than 70 artists,
crafters and DIY-ers will be selling goods including photography, re-purposed
jewelry and accessories, woodwork, sculptures, pottery, edibles and more.
This weekend’s
theater offerings include Ensemble Theatre’s Good People, The Three Musketeers
at Playhouse in the Park, To Kill a
Mockingbird
at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company and Covedale’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Peep the links for our reviews of each.Browse our calendar for other events, art exhibits, volunteer opportunities and more to do this weekend.
by Rick Pender
09.14.2012
Posted In:
Theater at 08:19 AM |
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No matter what your theatrical tastes are, there's something onstage right now for you to enjoy this weekend:
A classic story: If you can get a ticket (there aren't many left, I'm told, except perhaps for Saturday matinees at 2 p.m.) to To Kill a Mockingbird,
you won't be disappointed. It's a wonderful theatrical retelling of
Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning novel. It features one of Greater
Cincinnati's best actors as the honorable attorney Atticus Finch.
Tickets: 513-381-2273, x1.
Adventure: Buckle on your swashes (and your sword) and head to the Cincinnati Playhouse for The Three Musketeers.
It's a familiar tale of a young man named D'Artagnan who yearns to be a
member of the King's guards. He's brash and naive, but his role models,
"the three musketeers," are funny and loving and always ready for a
good fight. This is one that kids can enjoy. Tickets: 513-421-3888
Contemporary drama with a dose of with: Ensemble Theatre's Good People
is the story of a woman who loses her job and struggles to figure out
what to do next. She has good, gossipy support from two friends — and a
one-time boyfriend who's now a successful doctor. Her story is one that
feels like it's about someone you know, trying to make ends meet in
today's world. Tickets: 513-421-3555.
An old-fashioned musical: Meredith Willson's The Music Man,
a Tony Award winner, is getting a charming production on the Showboat
Majestic. It's a big cast on a small stage, but it's inventively
directed and choreographed by Ed Cohen, Dee Anne Bryll and Jane Green,
and you'll definitely leave the theater marching in 4/4 time to
"Seventy-Six Trombones" or humming one of the show's other memorable
melodies. Tickets: 513-241-6550
0 Comments · Wednesday, September 12, 2012
What makes Bruce Cromer one of our
region’s best actors? He’s especially good at virtuous characters such
as Atticus Finch, the admirable, broadminded attorney in To Kill a Mockingbird, a role he’s currently playing for Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (CSC).
0 Comments · Wednesday, September 12, 2012
The Capitol Steps are on their way to
Cincinnati, and they’ll stop at nothing to get audience members laughing
as this grueling election year surges forward. The Steps are a group of Capitol Hill
staffers turned political satirists, and no party is safe from ridicule
when these performers take the stage.
Covedale stages Tennessee Williams' challenging portrait of a family's corruption
0 Comments · Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Tennessee Williams was a brilliant American playwright, but his works are not easy going for people seeking pleasant
entertainment. Cat is not an
easy piece of theater: There’s not a likable character in this tale of a
greedy, selfish family.
Hope springs eternal in CSC staging of Harper Lee's evergreen tale
0 Comments · Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Mockingbird
is about the importance of tolerance and understanding, something not
achieved in these circumstances but that seems possible eventually.
Those sparks of hope have made this a meaningful tale for a
half-century, and CSC has brought the story to life.
by Rick Pender
09.07.2012
Posted In:
Theater at 11:25 AM |
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After a long hot summer (well, it's still feeling like a
long hot summer), we have a full array of shows onstage in Cincinnati
for you to choose among. I've seen two of them so far: Good People at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati and The Three Musketeers at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.
ETC's production of Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire's 2011 piece (this is the regional premiere of Good People,
which was nominated for a Tony a year ago) about a woman who falls off
the bottom of the employment ladder has enough humor to be entertaining
(especially with Annie Fitzpatrick in the central role of Margie and
Kate Wilford and Deb Girdler as her gossipy friends and bingo-night
comrades) and enough contemporary relevance to be thought-provoking.
ETC's D. Lynn Meyers is at her best staging naturalistic shows with
social meaning, and that's exactly what this one offers. It has a great
cast and flexible, attractive scenic design by the ever-creative Brian
c. Mehring. I gave it a Critic's Pick. Through Sept. 23. Review here. Box office: 513-421-3555.
I wanted to love The Three Musketeers at the
Playhouse (through Sept. 29), but its balance of humor and heart is out
of whack to my tastes. There's lots of adventure, hilarity and laughter
— especially some no-holds-barred swordplay — but the show tries to
hard to entertain that it misses out on the true emotion that should lie
beneath. I suspect many people will love this thrill-a-minute tale of
political intrigue and valor, loyalty and royalty in 17th-century
France, and perhaps it will evolve to deeper feelings as it runs. I love
new Artistic Director Blake Robison's desire to put appealing,
family-friendly work onstage, and he's using this production to show
what he means. I hope his approach gets a tad more texture and depth as
his tenure continues. Review here. Box office: 513-421-3888.
I haven't yet seen To Kill a Mockingbird at
Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, and their publicity says it's already
sold out its first-two weekends. So you might want to put that one on
your calendar for sometime before it wraps up (Sept. 30). In the
meantime, you might want to head to Washington Park on Sunday evening at
7 p.m. for a special free presentation of CSC's touring production of The Tempest.
It's a perfect piece for outdoor performance, set on an island with a
sorcerer and his lovely daughter and some shipwrecked nobles who are
responsible for his exile. Audience participation will be a key
component of this event, with the audience asked to create large-scale
effects by blowing bubbles, making waves with silk and generating sound
effects. Sounds like great fun. Music (by The Young Heirlooms) begins at
6 p.m. This is a good one to bring kids to see.
Also off and running this weekend is Cincinnati Landmark's production of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
It's a classic drama of sexual tension and family strife, a bit heavier
fare than is usually found at the Covedale Center. It's a sign of the
company's ambition to be a full-fledged theater offering a wide range of
material. (Through Sept. 30.) Box office: 513-241-6550.
Playhouse production has lots of laughs but could use more heart
0 Comments · Friday, September 7, 2012
Artistic
Director Blake Robison's first production is jam-packed with rousing non-stop action, hearty laughs and big
storytelling as well as beautiful scenic and costume elements.