Showing posts with label Sarah DeYoung. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sarah DeYoung. Show all posts

Sunday, October 20, 2019

"A New Brain" at Artistry

Artistry's production of the rarely done 1998 Off-Broadway musical A New Brain is exquisitely lovely, and everything I love about musical theater. After composer/lyricist William Finn (see also Falsettos and Spelling Bee) underwent a serious heal crisis due to AVM (it's a brain thing), he wrote a musical about it. Because that's what artists do. The result is a very honest, clever, silly, funny, poignant, beautiful look at life. My previous experience with the piece was a staged reading several years ago by Second Fiddle Productions*, a company that does readings of rarely done musicals. I'm thrilled that Artistry chose this rare gem of a musical for their 2019-2020 season and are bringing us this beautiful production with the dreamiest of casts. If you're a fan of music-theater, don't miss this show!

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

"She Loves Me" by Artistry at Bloomington Center for the Arts

This was my third time seeing She Loves Me in under a year, and I'm not mad about it. Yes, I would prefer that the people of #TCTheater talk to each other a little more so as not to produce duplicate shows, but it happens (e.g., everyone jumping on the Ordway's bandwagon - the Guthrie producing West Side Story the year after they did, the same for Chanhassen Dinner Theatres and Mamma Mia!). If there's a musical I have to see three times in a year (OK I don't have to, I choose to, because I'm me), I'm glad it's this darling little gem of a musical. Each theater (see also Lyric Arts and DalekoArts) brings their own spin to it, and a different delicious cast. Now playing at Artistry in Bloomington, She Loves Me is definitely worth a visit, whether or not you've seen it on stage recently, or perhaps one of the other iterations of the 1937 Hungarian play (such as the 1940 Jimmy Stewart movie The Shop Around the Corner or the 1998 Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan remake You've Got Mail or the successful 2016 Broadway revival of She Loves Me broadcast live via BroadwayHD). It's a sweet, funny, charming, and relatively egalitarian love story considering when it was written.

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

"Chess" by Chameleon Theatre Circle at Gremlin Theatre

Before last year, I had never heard of the musical Chess. Although I consider myself a musical theater nerd, I rarely listen to musicals I've never seen, so it makes sense I didn't know about this rarely produced 1980s musical written by Tim Rice and the Bs of ABBA. But thanks to Second Fiddle, which stages one-night-only readings of rare musicals, I recently became aware of its charms. Chameleon Theatre Circle's new production of Chess as part of their 20th season (bringing back a favorite from their 2nd season) is the first full production I've seen. And I have to say, I kinda love it. It's fabulously cheesy and very '80s, but it put a smile on my face, which I needed on a wintery Monday. The cast is really strong, with no weak link among them, and performs this intricate score well along with the terrific onstage band. You can't do Chess halfway, you have to go at it full force, and they do, and it's kinda awesome!