Category: Performing Arts

Theater Review: ‘Between the Lines’: Writing Your Own Story

July 16, 2022
"Between the Lines"Arielle JacobsArts & CultureBrightJake David SmithLife & TraditionPerforming ArtsTony Kiser Theater
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NEW YORK—“Just because it’s fiction doesn’t mean it’s not real,” a character proclaims in the new musical, “Between the Lines.” Based on the book by Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer, this delightful, an almost-but-not-quite-ready-for-Broadway tuner is now at the Tony Kiser Theater. Delilah’s (Arielle Jacobs) 17-year-old life has been turned upside down by her parent’s…

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Utah Shakespeare Festival’s ‘King Lear’: Timely While Honoring History

July 14, 2022
Anthony HealdArts & CultureBrightKing LearLife & TraditionPerforming ArtsVince CardinalWilliam Shakespeare
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CEDAR CITY, Utah—We’re often repulsed by the laughter of those we believe to be mad. In the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s performance of “King Lear,” which eschews gimmicky revisions in favor of a more traditional approach, Lear’s laughter reveals his humanity, even if we don’t understand why he laughs. “The great challenge of this role is…

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Theater Review: ‘Epiphany’: A Flicker in the Darkness

July 10, 2022
Arts & CultureBrightCarmen ZillesEpiphanyMarylouise BurkePerforming ArtsPlaywright Brian Watkins
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NEW YORK—At one time or another, most of us  have found ourselves at a social gathering where we wish we could be anywhere else. Playwright Brian Watkins uses this idea as the starting point for his play “Epiphany.” This comedic drama has its New York premiere off-Broadway at Lincoln Center. The story takes place in…

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Shen Yun’s First Post-Pandemic Season to Conclude in Nation’s Capital

July 8, 2022
Arts & CultureBrightFeatureLife & TraditionPerforming ArtsShen Yun
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After a nearly two year break from the stage, New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts was one of the first performances to emerge from the global pandemic with a world tour. To meet the anticipation and demand of waiting audiences, the normally half-year tour season was expanded from July 2021 to July 2022, nearly a…

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Theater Review: ‘Funny Girl,’ a Show Where Joy and Sorrow Go Hand in Hand

July 6, 2022
"Funny Girl"Arts & CultureBeanie FeldsteinBrightFanny BriceJule StynePerforming Arts
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NEW YORK—“People don’t change,” one character notes in the closing minutes of the first-ever Broadway revival of the 1964 musical “Funny Girl.” These words are a constant reality in this very charming and often bittersweet production. Beginning and ending in 1924, with the bulk of the show taking place sometime earlier, “Funny Girl” is based…

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Theater Review: ‘It Came From Outer Space’

July 5, 2022
"It Came From Outer Space"Arts & CultureBrightChicago Shakespeare TheaterJoe KinosianKellen BlairPerforming Arts
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Science fiction first captured the public’s imagination during the 1950s and has continued in popularity with films such as “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Jurassic Park,” “Armageddon,” “Star Wars,” and in TV series such as “Star Trek,” “Third Rock from the Sun,” “Lost in Space,” and many others. That may be why, when Joe Kinosian and…

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Theater Review: ‘My Fair Lady’ In a Mostly Glorious Production

July 4, 2022
Arts & CultureBrightMy Fair LadyPerforming Arts
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CHICAGO—Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, and Oscar Hammerstein turned down the opportunity to adapt George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 “Pygmalion” play into a musical comedy. It was too wordy, they said, and not romantic. It would never work as a musical. Indeed, Shaw’s drawing-room comedy of class differences in which Henry Higgins teaches Eliza Doolittle to use…

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Theater Review: ‘A Fine Feathered Murder: A Miss Marbled Mystery’

June 27, 2022
"A Fine Feathered Murder"Agatha ChristieArts & CultureBrightMargaret RutherfordMiss MarplePerforming Arts
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CHICAGO—Miss Marple, a fictional character in many of Agatha Christie’s novels, is an elderly sleuth with inquisitive nature whom some might call a busybody. She also has an instinctive ability to connect casual comments (which no one else notices) to murder, as well as a talent for connecting the dots of a past event to…

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Something for Summer Reading: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by William Shakespeare

June 22, 2022
"A Midsummer Night's Dream"Arts & CultureArts & TraditionbooksBottomBrightPerforming ArtsPuckWilliam Shakespeare
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Summer is not only a season that people love, but it is also a season where people fall in love. Warm temperatures encourage warm temperaments, and summer love is a thrill that most have some happy memory of, memories that are often like dreams. What person does not look back on the laughing, lovesick capers…

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Theater Review: ‘Snow in Midsummer’: The Importance of Justice

June 22, 2022
"Snow in Midsummer"Arts & CultureBrightDorcus LeungFrances Ya-Chu CowhigKenneth LeeLife & TraditionPerforming Arts
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NEW YORK—There’s a saying that “the truth will set you free,” but for that to happen, the truth must first be revealed. And there are those who will do anything to keep it hidden, a point made clear in Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s powerful and, sadly, quite topical drama “Snow in Midsummer,” now at Classic Stage Company. In present…

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