items tagged with Diane Greenwood

The Reader's chief theatre reviewer, Thom White, saw and wrote about 52 area stage productions in 2011. I saw 39 and reviewed 12. Obviously, during our second-annual breakfast chat on the Year in Theatre, there was a bit to talk about.

On Thursday, I attended the Timber Lake Playhouse musical The Spitfire Grill, and caught another presentation of the piece – this time at the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre – the very next night. I’m actually somewhat disappointed that no additional area venues staged the show over the weekend, because even after two outstanding Spitfire Grills in a row, I would’ve happily made time for more.

Several minutes into the Playcrafters Barn Theatre’s Lend Me a Tenor, I was concerned that I was in for two more hours of comedy that fell flat with forced funniness, rendering it unfunny, and jokes more worthy of groans than chuckles. But then John VanDeWoestyne’s Tito, the titular tenor, and Diane Greenwood’s Maria, Tito’s wife, entered the stage, and brought with them the strong farcical performances that, until that point, were lacking in Saturday night’s performance.

As we’ve come to annually expect, there was practically no end to the highlights from this past year in area theatre.