items tagged with Tracy Pelzer Timm

While Beth Henley’s Crimes of the Heart falls into too many theatrical traps – primarily, having major actions described rather than physically rendered on stage – the author avoids one of the most common by making her play's second act funnier and more interesting than its first. While I liked the first act of New Ground Theatre’s Saturday-evening production, I enjoyed its second half a lot more, laughing heartily with Henley’s characters as they cackled over serious subject matter such as their grandfather's lapsing into a coma.

The Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse and director Kimberly Furness have done it again, crafting a family production that’s charming and a whole lot of fun for both the kids and the adults in the audience. My partner’s nine-year-old daughter Madison and I enjoyed Friday’s performance of Freckleface Strawberry: The Musical immensely, even though neither of us is at all familiar with the children’s-book character the show is based on.

Avenue Q is one of a few musicals that I thought should maybe only be staged by Broadway professionals. However, it didn’t take long during Friday’s performance at the District Theatre for director Marc Ciemiewicz and his cast to prove they can handle Avenue Q, and handle it well.

The District Theatre’s Xanadu is perhaps the silliest, cheesiest, guiltiest-pleasure piece of musical theatre I’ve yet seen on a local stage … and I loved it! Director Tristan Tapscott plays up the goofiness of this self-referential take on the 1980 cult-film favorite, finding delight in its pokes at the movie’s ridiculousness and in the infectiously energetic songs, and the resulting mix of fluff and flash adds up to two hours of pure entertainment.

At the start of the intermission to Friday night’s District Theatre performance of Company, my partner turned to me and said, “I don’t remember this show being that funny.” He was right, because director David Turley accentuates the funny parts in this musical by composer Stephen Sondheim and writer George Furth. He does so, however, with subtle nudges and winks that almost cross over into silliness but don't, and that keep the production from sinking into sappy sentimentality.