With Memorial Day right around the corner, several theaters wrap up their 2016-17 seasons this weekend. It’s a good weekend to catch something entertaining. There won’t be much to see on Memorial Day weekend, so you might plan to use those three days to rest up for Cincinnati Fringe, which begins performances on Wednesday, May 31. In the meantime, consider the following.
Cincinnati Landmark Productions’ staging of My Fair Lady at the Covedale Center is one of the great musicals of all time. It’s the story of Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney girl transformed into a refined lady by the erudite Professor Henry Higgins. The delightful, witty tale doesn’t turn out quite as its characters imagine. A score full of great songs by Lerner and Loewe — “I’m Getting Married in the Morning,” “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face,” “On the Street Where You Live” and “I Could Have Danced All Night” — ensures you’ll leave the theater humming a melody or two. Through Sunday. Tickets: 513-241-6550.
This weekend is your last chance to see a production at Cincinnati Shakespeare’s longtime downtown home at 719 Race St. For the final show, the company is offering The Tempest, the Bard’s last play, full of magic and romance. In September a new era will begin in a brand-new theater in Over-the-Rhine. But this fond farewell is simply lovely and beautifully staged, featuring actor Nick Rose, one of the theater’s founders, as Prospero, the exiled magician who seeks revenge on his enemies, only to learn that forgiveness is a preferable course to follow. Read more about the show here. Final performance is Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets: 513-381-2273.
Falcon Theatre is presenting Athol Fugard’s Master Harold and the Boys, a play from the 1980s about the sad impact of apartheid in South Africa. Fugard is one of the great dramatists of the late 20th century. Final performance is Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Monmouth Theatre in Newport. Tickets: 513-479-6783.
Tonight at 8 p.m. is the final performance of Antigone (born against), featuring Ensemble Theatre’s Apprentice Acting Company. It’s a contemporary adaptation of Sophocles’ ancient Greek tale of a defiant young woman. Adapter Griff Bludworth is also one of the performers. Because ETC is undergoing major renovation, this production is being staged nearby at Know Theatre (1120 Jackson St, Over-the-Rhine). Tickets: 513-421-3555.
And one for the kids: Shrek the Musical, that musical about an ogre who’s actually a nice guy, is being presented by Cincinnati Music Theatre at the Aronoff Center’s Jarson-Kaplan Theatre. Through Saturday evening. Tickets: 513-621-2787.
It’s also the final weekend for Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, a tongue-in-cheek take on the great mystery, with several actors playing numerous roles. It wraps up with a Saturday evening performance at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. But it’s not the end of the season for the Mount Adams theater: There’s another month of Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End, a play about the legendary newspaper columnist from Dayton who entertained readers in hundreds of newspapers for more than three decades. It’s a charming, one-woman show. Read Erica Reid’s CityBeat review here. The production received a Critic’s Pick, and audiences are flocking to the Shelterhouse Theater to see it — its run has been extended to June 18. Tickets: 513-421-3888.
Rick Pender’s STAGE DOOR blog appears here every Friday. Find more theater reviews and feature stories here.
This article appears in May 17-24, 2017.
