2010 Theater Reviews
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Theater review: 'Glory Days' from Airhead Productions
It has only been five months since "Glory Days," a one-act coming-of-age musical, was staged in Orlando. And half the four-person cast of that production are in the current one -- although in different parts. Airhead Productions is staging "Glory Days" through Sunday at the Studio Theatre, 398...
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Theater review: 'She Stoops to Conquer' at Mad Cow Theatre
Written more than 200 years ago, Oliver Goldsmith's British comedy of manners "She Stoops to Conquers" endures perhaps for one simple reason: It remains funny to see a clever woman show a not-quite-as-clever man just how much he loves her. Melanie Whipple gives a sparkling performance as that clever...
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Theater review: 'Wanzie's Glittering Star-Studded A Christmas Carol' from Wanzie Presents
Grown weary of Christmas traditions? Well, far from traditional, "Wanzie's Glittering Star-Studded A Christmas Carol," may be just the thing to spike your eggnog. The conceit of Michael Wanzie's comic adaptation of Charles Dickens' tale is that an all-star cast has been assembled to act the story,...
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Theater review: 'Deck Them Halls, Y'all'
Suffering from sugarplum overload? Too much holiday treacle? Leslie Jordan's down-and-dirty "Deck Them Halls, Y'all" is an antidote to the cloying sentimentality of the season. The diminutive actor is best-known for two off-center television roles: Karen Walker's closeted nemesis Beverly Leslie...
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Theater review: 'Young Frankenstein' from Broadway Across America
There's more than a whiff of the moldy around "Young Frankenstein," the touring Mel Brooks musical comedy that opened Tuesday. It's in the vaudevillian jokes, the "walk this way" bit, the blind man's pratfalls, the soft-shoe shtick. Audience members would be forgiven for thinking they had missed...
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Theater review: 'A Christmas Carol' from Beth Marshall Presents
Sometimes we forget that "A Christmas Carol" is a story of ghosts and ghouls and things that go bump in the night. But Michael Wilson's adaptation of the Charles Dickens tale puts those lesson-imparting spirits front and center. At the Winter Garden Theatre, Beth Marshall Presents is staging Wilson's...
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Theater review: 'The Rocky Horror Show' at Theatre Downtown
I thought I was prepared for the experience of seeing "The Rocky Horror Show" at a late-night performance on Halloween Eve. The outrageous musical, of course, is known for its audience-participation factor: Those watching call out catchphrases, insults and off-color comments at certain moments...
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Theater review: 'Dracula' from UCF Conservatory Theatre
Is it ironic to point out that 'Dracula' seems dated? I mean, the title character has been around for 500 years, we're told. But Dracula's story, onstage at the University of Central Florida, seems a throwback to another time. Watching Bram Stoker's 1897 tale unfold in a 1924 play is like watching...
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Theater review: 'Festival of Lights' from Southern Winds Theatre/Seminole State College
Unlike Christmas, Hanukkah lacks theatrical traditions. There's no equivalent of "The Nutcracker," no substitute for "A Christmas Carol." So Southern Winds Theatre's "Festival of Lights," presented with Seminole State College, scores points just for existing at all. It's a blessing that it also...
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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. One had a high-tech bent -- and one starred female impersonator Carol Lee performing Carol Channing's "Diamonds...