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Theater review: 'A Christmas Carol' from Theatre Downtown
![It's a haunted holiday season in Central Florida -- why, in the past week alone I've seen a dozen ghosts. That's because I've taken in three performances of "A Christmas Carol" around town.](http://media.trb.com/media/thumbnails/story/2010-12/58183059-09121040.jpg "It's a haunted holiday season in Central Florida -- why, in the past week alone I've seen a dozen ghosts. That's because I've taken in three performances of "A Christmas Carol\" around town.")
It's a haunted holiday season in Central Florida -- why, in the past week alone I've seen a dozen ghosts. That's because I've taken in three performances of "A Christmas Carol" around town.
One had a high-tech bent -- and one starred female...Tags: Lobbying, Politics, Arts and Culture, Christmas Music (genre), Ebenezer Scrooge (fictional character)
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Theater review: 'The Crucible' at Theatre Downtown
Orlando Sentinel theater criticLies. Gossip. Accusations. Spite. These are the things that live in the shadows of our lives, lurking and waiting to spring forth whenever the ugly side of human nature allows. Theatre Downtown's production of "The Crucible" shines a light on this...Tags: Communist Party of China, Health and Medical Professionals, Arts and Culture, Entertainment, Arthur Miller
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Review: 'Vampire Lesbians of Sodom' at Theatre Downtown
Orlando Sentinel theater criticVAMPIRE LESBIANS OF SODOM: Watching this show was like seeing an Orlando Fringe Festival production rise from the dead. At about 75 minutes long, Charles Busch's comedy is suitably Fringe-length. Plus you have the men in drag, the campiness of it all, the...Tags: Social Issues, Arts and Culture, Gays and Lesbians, Charles Busch, Vampires (supernatural entitiess)
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Theater review: "Sordid Lives" at Theatre Downtown
![People are people, the platitude goes, and in Del Shores' comedy <i>Sordid Lives</i>, we peer into a family similar to many: Sisters squabble, an aunt struggles to quit smoking, a gay son worries about coming out.
Oh, there is a gay-transvestite brother locked in a mental institution who has spent 20 years impersonating country-music singers, but more on him in a moment.
When Theatre Downtown's production emphasizes the humanity and relationships of these addled folk, the laughs land squarely and meaningfully. When things wander into clowning, the laughs still come sporadically but are a lot more hollow.
Shores split his play into four distinct scenes, and things get off to a rousing start as small-town Texas resident Sissy Hickey (Pam Baumann) worries about burying her recently deceased sister while trying to quit smoking by snapping herself with a rubber band.
"It's called behavioral modifi... something," she sputters to a friend on the phone.
Things immediately get awkward as Noleta (Peri Hope) drops by with a tuna-noodle casserole. It's the kind of small town, by the way, where name dropping means pointing out the canned soup in the casserole comes from Campbells and the potato chips are Lays.
In other words, everyone knows everyone else's business. And in this case, the sordid business at hand is the fact Sissy's dearly departed sister died in a motel room with Noleta's husband.
The set, by James Zelley, immediately evokes small-town life as Sissy tidies up stray paper plates, and fusses around a buffet of fried chicken and potato salad from well-meaning neighbors.
And Baumann lets her words rush out faster and faster as we see her brain just <i>gasping</i> for a cigarette while she tries to keep the peace between her nieces, the uptight Latrelle (Katrina Tharin) and easy-going LaVonda (Marion Marsh).
The play wobbles in its middle section, however, as the pace seems to slow and some actors veer toward caricature. An extended bit in which male characters are forced to dress in drag takes too long to get to its payoff (in part because Shores' script becomes repetitive).
And in coke-snorting, fame-seeking Dr. Eve Bolinger, the performance by Jamie Lyn Hawkins goes so over the top that it's out of balance with Doug Boarman-Shorts, underplaying the outrageousness of Brother Boy, that drag-wearing mental patient who feels just fine dressed as Tammy Wynette, thank you.
The production, directed by Fran and Frank Hilgenberg, gets its groove back in the final scene: a funeral in which family secrets are revealed, old hurts are healed, and maybe -- just maybe -- a few lessons are learned.
As a framing device, Adam Del Medico opens each scene as closeted Ty, the youngest member of the family, talking about his life with his unseen therapist.
Wide-eyed, Del Medico imbues each of his monologues with a growing sense of confidence and optimism, smile getting bigger and speech getting faster as he works up the nerve to be true to himself.
He's the perfect example of how characters don't have to be larger or louder than life to draw laughs -- just being a messed-up human from a messed-up family in a messed-up town can be funny enough.
That's something that Shores knew, and when Theatre Downtown's production finds those human moments, the humor hits both the funnybone and the heart.](http://media.trb.com/media/thumbnails/story/2010-06/54101944-03221619.jpg "People are people, the platitude goes, and in Del Shores' comedy <i>Sordid Lives</i>, we peer into a family similar to many: Sisters squabble, an aunt struggles to quit smoking, a gay son worries about coming out.
Oh, there is a gay-transvestite brother locked in a mental institution who has spent 20 years impersonating country-music singers, but more on him in a moment.
When Theatre Downtown's production emphasizes the humanity and relationships of these addled folk, the laughs land squarely and meaningfully. When things wander into clowning, the laughs still come sporadically but are a lot more hollow.
Shores split his play into four distinct scenes, and things get off to a rousing start as small-town Texas resident Sissy Hickey (Pam Baumann) worries about burying her recently deceased sister while trying to quit smoking by snapping herself with a rubber band.
"It's called behavioral modifi... something,\" she sputters to a friend on the phone.
Things immediately get awkward as Noleta (Peri Hope) drops by with a tuna-noodle casserole. It's the kind of small town, by the way, where name dropping means pointing out the canned soup in the casserole comes from Campbells and the potato chips are Lays.
In other words, everyone knows everyone else's business. And in this case, the sordid business at hand is the fact Sissy's dearly departed sister died in a motel room with Noleta's husband.
The set, by James Zelley, immediately evokes small-town life as Sissy tidies up stray paper plates, and fusses around a buffet of fried chicken and potato salad from well-meaning neighbors.
And Baumann lets her words rush out faster and faster as we see her brain just <i>gasping</i> for a cigarette while she tries to keep the peace between her nieces, the uptight Latrelle (Katrina Tharin) and easy-going LaVonda (Marion Marsh).
The play wobbles in its middle section, however, as the pace seems to slow and some actors veer toward caricature. An extended bit in which male characters are forced to dress in drag takes too long to get to its payoff (in part because Shores' script becomes repetitive).
And in coke-snorting, fame-seeking Dr. Eve Bolinger, the performance by Jamie Lyn Hawkins goes so over the top that it's out of balance with Doug Boarman-Shorts, underplaying the outrageousness of Brother Boy, that drag-wearing mental patient who feels just fine dressed as Tammy Wynette, thank you.
The production, directed by Fran and Frank Hilgenberg, gets its groove back in the final scene: a funeral in which family secrets are revealed, old hurts are healed, and maybe -- just maybe -- a few lessons are learned.
As a framing device, Adam Del Medico opens each scene as closeted Ty, the youngest member of the family, talking about his life with his unseen therapist.
Wide-eyed, Del Medico imbues each of his monologues with a growing sense of confidence and optimism, smile getting bigger and speech getting faster as he works up the nerve to be true to himself.
He's the perfect example of how characters don't have to be larger or louder than life to draw laughs -- just being a messed-up human from a messed-up family in a messed-up town can be funny enough.
That's something that Shores knew, and when Theatre Downtown's production finds those human moments, the humor hits both the funnybone and the heart.")
Orlando Sentinel theater criticPeople are people, the platitude goes, and in Del Shores' comedy Sordid Lives, we peer into a family similar to many: Sisters squabble, an aunt struggles to quit smoking, a gay son worries about coming out. Oh, there is a gay-transvestite brother locked...Tags: Arts and Culture, Tammy Wynette, Quitting Smoking, Entertainment, Brother (music group)
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Theater review: 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch' from In the Wings
![Hedwig has pepped up a bit since my last encounter with the East German transsexual. The title character of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" has always been a study in dichotomy: both male and female, both happy and sad.](http://media.trb.com/media/thumbnails/story/2012-01/67339304-12153330.jpg "Hedwig has pepped up a bit since my last encounter with the East German transsexual. The title character of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch\" has always been a study in dichotomy: both male and female, both happy and sad.")
Hedwig has pepped up a bit since my last encounter with the East German transsexual. The title character of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" has always been a study in dichotomy: both male and female, both happy and sad.
In the In the Wings production of...Tags: Theater, Arts and Culture, Buddy Dyer, Music, Concerts
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Clinton Shares NOLA Love, Praise for College-bound Kids
ABC26 NewsIn a re-vamped theater, the message was about a city's current revival through education. The main messenger used himself as an example. Former President Bill Clinton Thursday night told 37 graduating New Orleans high school seniors he was the first...Tags: Education, Arts and Culture, Bill Clinton, Colleges and Universities
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The year in theater, 2011: Puppets, Witches and Men in Heels
What? Another year has gone by already? Here are some theater reflections at the end of 2011.
•Best scene-stealer: Isn't "Chicago" the story of two women convicts? In Theatre Downtown's production last January, Joel Warren as lawyer Billy Flynn more...Tags: Social Media, Animals, Colleges and Universities, Arts and Culture, Music
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Theater review: 'Avenue Q' from Theatre Downtown
![Manhattan's fictitious Avenue Q might be a rundown thoroughfare but Theatre Downtown's production of the Broadway musical "Avenue Q" is top-notch all the way from A to Z and back again.](http://media.trb.com/media/thumbnails/story/2011-09/64651731-10214431.jpg "Manhattan's fictitious Avenue Q might be a rundown thoroughfare but Theatre Downtown's production of the Broadway musical "Avenue Q\" is top-notch all the way from A to Z and back again.")
Manhattan's fictitious Avenue Q might be a rundown thoroughfare but Theatre Downtown's production of the Broadway musical "Avenue Q" is top-notch all the way from A to Z and back again.
It's the first locally produced production of Tony-winning "Avenue...Tags: Arts and Culture, Concerts, Theater, Television, Fine Arts
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Theater review: 'Prelude to a Kiss' from Theatre Downtown
!["Prelude to a Kiss" is a not-so-old-fashioned love story: Boy meets girl, they fall in love, marry within a few weeks — and then her soul changes places with that of an elderly man.](http://media.trb.com/media/thumbnails/story/2011-08/63920686-11210736.jpg ""Prelude to a Kiss\" is a not-so-old-fashioned love story: Boy meets girl, they fall in love, marry within a few weeks — and then her soul changes places with that of an elderly man.")
"Prelude to a Kiss" is a not-so-old-fashioned love story: Boy meets girl, they fall in love, marry within a few weeks — and then her soul changes places with that of an elderly man.
But "Prelude to a Kiss" is more than that: The conceit of the soul...Tags: Arts and Culture, Romance (genre), Human Interest
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Theater review: 'Evil Dead: The Musical' from Theatre Downtown
![The first thing to know about Theatre Downtown's "Evil Dead: The Musical": There is a splash zone.](http://media.trb.com/media/thumbnails/story/2011-06/62287805-10222503.jpg "The first thing to know about Theatre Downtown's "Evil Dead: The Musical\": There is a splash zone.")
The first thing to know about Theatre Downtown's "Evil Dead: The Musical": There is a splash zone.
And, unlike at SeaWorld, this one is for blood. (Plastic ponchos are provided for the squeamish.)
After all, this is a musical based on the 1981 Sam Raimi...Tags: Crimes, Sam Raimi, Assault, Arts and Culture, Bruce Campbell
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‘Avenue Q’ extended through Oct. 29
Orlando Theater BlogIf you couldn't get a ticket to “Avenue Q” — the wait list for cancellations topped 100 — here's a chance. Theatre Downtown has added three more performances of its hit musical. Get the details here: Theatre Downtown extends &#...
Aug 9, 2012
|Story| Orlando Sentinel
Aug 9, 2012
|Story| Orlando Sentinel
Aug 9, 2012
|Story| Orlando Sentinel
Aug 9, 2012
|Story| Orlando Sentinel
Jan 12, 2012
|Story| Orlando Sentinel
May 10, 2012
|Story| WGNO-LTV
Nov 25, 2011
|Resource Link| Orlando Sentinel
Dec 29, 2011
|Story| Orlando Sentinel
Sep 10, 2011
|Story| Orlando Sentinel
Aug 11, 2011
|Story| Orlando Sentinel
Jun 10, 2011
|Story| Orlando Sentinel
Oct 13, 2011
| Orlando Sentinel
Original site for Theater Downtown topic gallery.