There’s a lot of great theater opening up this week, but I’ve seen only one of those productions: Cincinnati Playhouse’s opener, Shakespeare in Love. Before I give you the scoop on that, however, I want to mention an excellent staging of one of the greatest theatrical works of the past 25 years that’s currently onstage at Actors Theatre of Louisville: both parts of Tony Kushner’s monumental Angels in America. Last week I attended the opening of Part One: Millennium Approaches. (Part Two: Perestroika opens on Sept. 21; the two shows will then be in rotating rep through Oct. 14, with opportunities to see them on consecutive days or both productions in one long day. Together they constitute more that seven hours of performance.) If you don’t know this magnificent piece of theater, it’s set in the mid-1980s and is populated with a web of friends, lovers and strangers living in the midst of the AIDS crisis and looming ecological disaster. A celestial messenger crash-lands, and all hell breaks loose. Meredith McDonough’s production showcases Kushner’s wit and honesty, and her cast of eight excellent actors offers one of the best performances of Angels that I’ve every had the privilege to see. (And I’ve seen some excellent ones.) As Prior Walter, a gay agnostic man suffering from AIDS and the deterioration of his relationship, Mark Junek captures the humor, exasperation and desperation of the role. Lou Liberatore is the vile, conservative attorney Roy Cohn (a fictionalized version of the real man who, among other things, mentored Donald Trump). Barbara Walsh plays an astonishing array of roles (as proposed by Kushner’s script). Richard Prioleau is Belize, an outspoken nurse and former drag queen, and a hallucinated travel agent who aids Harper (Therese Barbeau), the valium-addicted wife of closeted Mormon attorney Joe Pitt (Brian Slaten). Richard Gallager is Prior’s conflicted, neurotic partner Louis; Rami Morgan is the Angel and several others. Their stories are played out on William Boles’ set — a kind of dilapidated ballroom where tables, beds, desks and so on come and go with tremendous fluidity. Although it’s presented in Actors Theatre’s expansive Pamela Brown Auditorium, McDonough’s staging of Angels has an intimate air that is essential to the personal level of storytelling. If you have the time for a trek to Louisville, this production is definitely worth the two-hour drive. Tickets: 502-584-1205 (or actorstheatre.org).
Last night I attended the opening of Shakespeare in Love, a stage adaptation of the Oscar-winning film that’s opening the Cincinnati Playhouse’s 2017-18 season. Go see this, and I can guarantee you’ll have numerous laughs — whether you love Shakespeare or not. Without pushing the humor quite as far as the satirical musical Something Rotten (seen locally in a touring production at the Aronoff Center last February), this tale has Shakespeare hopelessly writer’s blocked and in pursuit of a truly bad title (he’s calling it Romeo and Ethel, A Pirate’s Daughter), a pair of producers hounding him for scripts, a queen who wants a dog in everything and a friendly rival, Christopher Marlowe, who has no problem cranking out stage hits and memorable poetry. The solution is love, as the title announces: His marriage (he was 18) is loveless, so he’s ripe for the passionate tradesman’s daughter, Viola, who becomes his muse. The Playhouse production features devilishly handsome Nicholas Carrière as the frustrated Bard and rapturous Emily Trask as Viola, in love with the theater (she’s willing to pretend to be a man to get onstage herself) and eager for romance. This production has a big cast of comic actors, a faux Elizabethan set, and its tongue firmly set in its cheek as Shakespearean references are generously peppered in the script from start to finish. Even if you shy away from classic material, you’ll likely enjoy this production — it’s “Shakespeare-lite,” and a jolly good tribute to the theater. Through Sept. 30. Tickets: 513-421-3888.
Tonight is the official opening of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the debut production at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s new Over-the-Rhine venue. Don’t show up this evening — the seats will be filled by donors and dignitaries. But this weekend you have three chances to get in (2 or 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday) and witness how the thoughtfully designed theater space will serve one of Shakespeare’s best romantic comedies. It’s onstage through Sept. 30. Tickets: 513-381-2273.
Elsewhere this weekend you’ll find a production of The Miracle Worker, the moving story of blind and deaf child Helen Keller being connected to her family and the world by a remarkable teacher, at the Covedale Center for the Performing Arts (through Oct. 1; tickets: 513-241-6550). For something further off the beaten path, Xavier University is offering the world premiere of Charise Greene’s Cannibal Galaxy: A Love Story, a play about the confounding relationship between science, spirituality and violence (this weekend only at XU’s Gallagher Center; tickets: 513 745-3939).
Other choices for your weekend entertainment include the Fourth Annual Improv Festival, presented by OTRimprov at Know Theatre through Sunday afternoon (tickets: ifcincy.com) and One-Man Star Wars Trilogy at Memorial Hall (tonight only, 8 p.m.; tickets: 513-977-8838).
Finally, if you’re involved with a theater, you might find it worthwhile to stop by Showbiz Players’ warehouse liquidation sale on Saturday (10 a.m.-4 p.m.) or Sunday (10 a.m.-2 p.m.) at 1301 Monmouth Ave. in Camp Washington (off Hopple Street). Items available include lumber, platforms, flats, tools, puppets, casters, costumes, electronics, hardware and more. All sales are final; cash or check only (with current ID). Questions: barszman@gmail.com.
Rick Pender’s STAGE DOOR blog appears here every Friday. Find more theater reviews and feature stories here.
This article appears in Sep 6-13, 2017.
