tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12081203079888472022011-11-18T01:35:39.185-05:00Live theater. Unsolicited commentary. From Detroit to Lansing.The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comBlogger2021100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-19680279079763332132011-07-25T11:59:00.002-04:002011-07-25T11:59:00.284-04:00

Dear readers, In the first of what I anticipate will be many steps toward legitimacy and selling out and untold riches*, the Rogue Critic has a new website. The new site resembles this one, but has some additional capabilities that will let me expand in ways I think you'll like. Watch the new space for more reviews, the continuation of the SIR series, and something new I'm cooking up and can't

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-28547873887792807712011-07-24T13:14:00.001-04:002011-07-24T15:27:02.185-04:00

Cheesecake on the lanai is child's play. The unofficial parody Thank You for Being a Friend (written by Nick Brennan) isn’t your granny’s Golden Girls; this is a jaw-dropping degenerate spin on the beloved 1980s sitcom, less worshipful homage than irreverent sideshow. That the show’s four women are all portrayed by men barely registers as a surprise compared with the script’s indulgently filthy

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-87151200909417639752011-07-23T10:54:00.000-04:002011-07-23T10:54:12.110-04:00

The beauty of Joseph Zettelmaier’s And the Creek Don’t Rise lies somewhere in its wonderful simplicity. The playwright’s fish-out-of-water premise and intricate trio of relationships touches on a kind of real-world uncertainty, giving warmth as well as benign enmity to a skirmish between neighbors. Under the direction of Joseph Albright, this world-premiere production at Williamston Theatre

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-36454904963920049692011-07-22T15:48:00.000-04:002011-07-22T15:48:47.211-04:00

Shakespeare West’s inaugural season continues with a stylishly contemporary Much Ado About Nothing. In keeping with the Blackbird Theatre’s penchant for pushing the limits of adaptations, this production, adapted and directed by Brian Carbine, plays with gender roles and musical showmanship to give a modern spin to a pair of comic love stories. Among the primary conceits of this staging is the

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-12684175706939283032011-07-22T13:31:00.001-04:002011-07-22T13:45:02.394-04:00

Parody is fun when it takes a common cultural experience and dissects its flaws and quirks. However, a great parody manages to surprise the viewer, even as it adheres to its universally known story. Combining fine writing, abundant production values, and sharp direction by Joe Plambeck, Go Comedy!’s world preimere of RoGoCop! The Musical (book by Sean May, music by May and Ryan Parmenter)

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-50040111636255580352011-07-17T13:26:00.000-04:002011-07-25T11:41:46.378-04:00

Strange to think of winter in this heat, but Planet Ant Theatre’s latest original late-night comedy was born in January, with the Winter Improv Colony Fest — the coveted prize for the winning troupe was this time slot and director Matthias Schneider. Vaulting from improvisation to the scripted world, the winning trio invented and wrote Cop Block, a one-act revenge fantasy that plays with

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-14930827562706571232011-07-16T17:56:00.000-04:002011-07-16T17:56:59.157-04:00

America is too big and diverse and good and bad and right and wrong to be represented by a single defining story, although if it could, Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man would rank high in the running. The country had changed in the half-century between when Wilson set his musical and when he wrote it, providing a built-in nostalgia that has endured the half-century since. Yet as demonstrated by

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-9550240156101427392011-07-01T12:45:00.000-04:002011-07-01T12:45:10.364-04:00

To this reviewer, there’s no sport as evocative as baseball, extending beyond diamond and scoreboard into a dense, broadly appealing slice of American culture. It’s a sport uniquely synonymous with summer, whose nightly sights and sounds are known by heart, and its languid, measured pace translates better than any other contest to the medium of radio. Yet this only begins to explain why

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-31017989115828404672011-06-27T12:55:00.000-04:002011-06-27T12:55:46.018-04:00

The Purple Rose Theatre Company rounds out its all-new, all-Michigan season with a champion comedy, David MacGregor’s Consider the Oyster. Like a fruity health drink whose sweetness masks the vegetables within, this abundantly wacky caper cleverly disguises its fascinating, elegantly ingrained themes. In this world-premiere production, director Guy Sanville lends plausible ordinariness to the

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-65985656565260971822011-06-18T16:04:00.001-04:002011-07-03T13:06:33.090-04:00

Never one to tiptoe into a new frontier, the Blackbird Theatre gallops onto the summer festival scene with Shakespeare West, a heady months-long celebration of the Bard. In its inaugural offering, The Tempest, the company plunges headlong into a new outdoor venue and, happily, takes the outside play as an invitation to play outside. With is lively, exploratory staging and focus on the passion

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-23695376072837487362011-06-16T09:08:00.001-04:002011-07-11T09:37:54.498-04:00

The opening scene of Performance Network’s Next Fall, by Geoffrey Naufft, feels like eavesdropping on strangers in crisis. With molecules of exposition buried in swiftly unfolding context, the viewer may feel both unease and relief at being removed from what sounds like the aftermath of a terrible accident. However, under the direction of Ray Schultz, the show quickly dispels both these

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-49551851064215032582011-06-11T14:08:00.000-04:002011-06-19T09:53:22.514-04:00

Planet Ant Theatre’s late-night series, a haven for the new and experimental, also reserves a place of honor for one director of BoxFest Detroit. Andrea Scobie, the audience-chosen winner of the 2010 festival, now contributes to the edgy and trailblazing series with the world premiere of Sean Paraventi’s Endangered. A culturally charged, topical piece of whimsy, this one-act play is eager to

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-26089615080378375782011-06-10T18:33:00.002-04:002011-07-03T13:06:33.092-04:00

A play about cancer, a play about unbelievable fortitude, a play about unique family bonds — none of these in itself is rare. What is exceptional, and on full display in Detroit Repertory Theatre’s Looking for the Pony, is a production whose every component works harmoniously in service of a singular, remarkable vision. The play’s premise is laid bare in its unusual title: sisters Lauren (

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-52785214766547965752011-06-02T12:49:00.001-04:002011-06-02T15:20:53.405-04:00

Thanks to all who participated in the SPOT THE ROGUE contest. In all, I've counted 29 entries from 23 readers — meaning half a dozen people were ambitious and eagle-eyed enough to enter twice. From clandestine camera flashes to ridiculous poses to bonus rounds to people who just pointed at me and yelled "SPOTTED," you all warmed the chambers of my fiendish Rogue heart. The collected entries are

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-56958358475038771482011-05-28T12:54:00.001-04:002011-06-05T15:27:00.700-04:00

Boy meets girl, with an Edge, reproduced with permission from EncoreMichigan.com. The Encore Musical Theatre Company is once again flexing a different set of musical muscles. Its Encore on the Edge series provides a home for more unconventional, contemporary fare, encouraging devotees of the classic American musical to discover just how limitless and creative the genre can be. The second entry

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-82608898349028754862011-05-27T19:27:00.000-04:002011-06-05T15:27:00.701-04:00

The challenge of the celebrity bio-play is in striking a balance between the individual’s public and private faces; showing only the former feels like a shallow impression, but revealing only the latter robs the viewer of the familiarity of the ingrained connection. Playwright David Rambo executes this conceit with skill in The Lady With All the Answers, an intimate exploration of extraordinary

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-10180339419547957652011-05-26T15:48:00.001-04:002011-07-03T13:06:33.094-04:00

Theater doesn’t always have to be challenging and demanding of its audience; sometimes, mere enjoyment will do. However, not all enjoyable plays are created equal: some wallow in baseness, no more than fluff, whereas others can be transcendent if given the right attention. Tipping Point Theatre demonstrates the artistic potential of the mainstream play in its splendid production of Beth Henley’

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-75211072148350497612011-05-26T09:19:00.001-04:002011-06-13T19:52:32.076-04:00

Mothers and daughters, and the ties that bind them, make for compelling and timeless dramatic fare. Playwright Lee Blessing’s sparkling Eleemosynary constructs a trio of such relationships, viewed through the lens of extraordinary accomplishment and intelligence. Here, director Lynn Lammers does examine the expectations placed on exceptional women, but the bread and butter of this Williamston

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-10446218654407563472011-05-21T12:31:00.000-04:002011-06-07T00:00:26.956-04:00

Playwright Terrence McNally’s Love! Valour! Compassion! spans one summer in the lives of eight gay men, but its depth of emotion and breadth of content makes the play, and this Who Wants Cake? production, feel more like an entire life, lived in the fortunate company of close friends. The world of the play, nineteen-ninety-something in upstate New York, is inconsequential but for faint cultural

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-19913660390499637942011-05-19T09:00:00.002-04:002011-05-22T17:35:35.760-04:00

At first blush, cancer might seem an unlikely topic for an exclamation-point musical — it’s a dreadful, incurable, terminal disease that reduces everyone it touches to untold depths of helplessness and pain. Yet by the same token, its ubiquity and totality makes cancer a broadly relatable subject. Moreover, it’s a part of life, which is inherently funny; thus, by the transitive property, cancer

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-74356517495179216002011-05-15T17:36:00.000-04:002011-06-05T20:03:28.538-04:00

Hufano tears up 'The Model Apartment', reproduced with permission from EncoreMichigan.com. Playwright Donald Margulies may have written The Model Apartment as a dark comedy, but for the most part, director Lavinia Moyer Hart stops at "dark." Although the production at The Jewish Ensemble Theatre is twisted into absurdity, and objectively funny moments come and go, Hart doesn't play the scene for

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-57673509679881700042011-05-07T16:30:00.000-04:002011-05-22T17:35:35.761-04:00

Death, being universal, unknowable, and utterly final, has been a target of artistic inquisition for ages. One such exploration is Everyman, the medieval morality play by Anonymous and the source of The New Theatre Project’s latest original contemporary production, The Everyman Project. The product represents months of development on the part of the ensemble and production team, as together

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-81579852660555960882011-05-06T16:10:00.000-04:002011-05-29T11:02:09.698-04:00

'Seascape': Conventional meets primordial, reproduced with permission from EncoreMichigan.com. Understanding and belonging are at the center of Edward Albee's fanciful Seascape: Specifically, comprehension breeds evolution, which comes at the price of comfort and constancy. As directed by Lynch Travis, the production at the Blackbird Theatre spins a confrontation that is rooted in fantasy, but

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-88247710928324996742011-05-06T15:24:00.000-04:002011-05-23T12:34:29.365-04:00

Objectively, group acting exercises can be pretty weird. They’re also incredibly effective at fostering teamwork and bringing people together. Playwright Annie Baker capitalizes on both these facts in her comedy Circle Mirror Transformation, so named for one such exercise. In the Performance Network production, director John Seibert and a skillful cast make good on years of experience as

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-26293008023607587112011-04-29T15:55:00.001-04:002011-05-15T06:41:50.071-04:00

Between his lauded All Childish Things and the current world premiere of Salvage at Planet Ant Theatre, it is established now and forever that Joseph Zettelmaier writes great nerd. The playwright’s ability to spin a captivating story through the lens of nostalgia junkies, and the collectibles market in particular, transcends the legitimate subculture of devotees and emotionally connects with a

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-34357061032286492972011-04-29T09:20:00.002-04:002011-05-15T17:38:25.914-04:00

Meadow Brook Theatre gives a whirlwind overview of 1960s London, the epicenter of mod subculture, in Shout! The Mod Musical (created by Phillip George and David Lowenstein, with content by Peter Charles Morris and George, music arranged by Bradley Vieth). As directed by Travis Walter, this amalgamation of stylized scenes, cheeky one-liners, and revealing monologues, bolstered by an enormous

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-85494014568772491952011-04-29T09:00:00.000-04:002011-05-15T17:38:25.916-04:00

Stuart Ross hit on a winning formula for merging musical revue with musical theater. His popular Forever Plaid in essence is a concert by a 1950s-style guy group; however, he introduces potential for character development in its unique concept: the singing group Forever Plaid, killed in a bus collision just as it was reaching its prime, is allowed to perform its first — and last — full show on

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-49833190303136403832011-04-23T19:29:00.000-04:002011-05-08T12:42:17.793-04:00

Waiting for Godot is Samuel Beckett’s most famous play. As a cultural reference point, it’s most often invoked because of its dense symbolism and avant-garde impermeability that encourages scholarly study. However, the script is billed as a tragicomedy, and the largely neutral dialogue can become extremely funny in expert hands. In the production currently at the Abreact, directors Adam

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-14614085628467549002011-04-22T14:03:00.000-04:002011-05-08T12:42:17.795-04:00

In the aftermath of a sudden death, it’s not uncommon to wish we had one last interaction, some inkling of finality or closure before it was too late. This well-intentioned fantasy is borne out like a stunning blow in Marsha Norman’s ‘night, Mother, a surreal examination of a parent-child relationship that also raises serious questions about the limits of self determination. As directed by

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-19865555900915010422011-04-22T09:30:00.035-04:002011-05-27T21:57:32.816-04:00

Improvisation for improv’s sake is all well and good, but sometimes the compulsion to immortalize a scenario or character in scripted form becomes overwhelming. Go Comedy! gives in to the pressure with its newest original sketch comedy show, Ferndale 2-4-8, written by its ensemble cast and by director Bryan Lark. Premiering in concert with the original comedy Space Maids, one sketch comedy and

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-70040233328700883912011-04-22T09:00:00.001-04:002011-05-02T09:23:33.180-04:00

In celebrating its twentieth anniversary, Matrix Theatre hearkens back to two original one-act comedies for its charming April Foolery. Despite the prankster suggestion of its title, this production, directed by Nancy Kammer, solidly delivers on its promise of comedy without artifice, but with all the energy and fun of just clowning around. The play’s first act, Para Siempre, was adapted from

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-38161094236219697872011-04-09T19:06:00.003-04:002011-04-26T10:54:17.813-04:00

Darkness and danger shroud the vexing Mercury Fur, the controversial Philip Ridley play. Still, no one can say that boundary-shoving Who Wants Cake? didn’t know what it was getting into with this production: its promotional materials point to the many patrons who have walked out on other productions, brandishing the fact like a medal. In this staging, director Joe Plambeck shows particular

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-50305151947535228212011-04-09T15:34:00.000-04:002011-05-15T06:41:50.072-04:00

For its final production(s) of the season, Hilberry Theatre goes what can only be described as “full throttle.” The Cider House Rules is a massive undertaking, a play so long the writers divided it into two still-long parts, which the company rehearsed in tandem (under the dual direction of Blair Anderson and Lavinia Hart), premiered on consecutive nights, and performs on alternating days.

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-73784942390975536702011-04-08T16:48:00.003-04:002011-04-17T14:57:34.657-04:00

In another crossover episode between its theater and improvisation worlds, Planet Ant Theatre offers the late-night show Fish Dinner, a one-man play written and performed by actor/improviser Quintin Hicks and directed by Dave Davies. Like many of its colleagues in the late-night series, this is a no-frills showcase for a celebrated local improviser, here a former Second City performer. It is

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-45524241501881590932011-04-07T19:13:00.000-04:002011-05-29T11:02:09.699-04:00

The Purple Rose Theatre Company continues its twentieth-anniversary season with a third world premiere, by resident artist Carey Crim. Her Some Couples May…, directed by Guy Sanville, dives into the private lives of a married couple to unearth a story that in real life is often kept under wraps: their struggle with infertility. The result is a distinctive, emotional tale that further unfolds

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-75658543403661282822011-04-07T14:39:00.005-04:002011-05-23T12:34:29.366-04:00

William Missouri Downs’s Forgiving John Lennon is designed to provoke a reaction from its audience. There’s no one desired effect, the play is too diverse and open-ended for that, but that the viewer will react — strongly — is almost certain. In its world-premiere production, the Detroit Repertory Theatre and director Harry Wetzel use twisted comedy as an entry point into a minefield of

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-1080136720913486072011-04-07T10:53:00.001-04:002011-05-02T09:23:33.181-04:00

Tipping Point Theatre’s staging of The Cocktail Hour is a measured and refined take on playwright A.R. Gurney’s complex text. As directed by James R. Kuhl, this production is both skewering and self-effacing, its comically gifted cast seizing numerous opportunities for both laughter and introspection all under the umbrella of a uniquely autobiographical structure. The play’s framework is

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-83416645593622313742011-04-02T10:57:00.000-04:002011-04-21T09:29:56.314-04:00

If Carter W. Lewis's While We Were Bowling is nothing else, it is supremely titled. In actuality, the play — and this John Lepard–directed production at Williamston Theatre — is a cavalcade of "else," from family squabbles to curses from beyond the grave to race relations to suppressed homosexuality to substance abuse to inappropriate romances to narration that looks both forward and backward.

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-42518097199543358212011-04-01T17:34:00.000-04:002011-04-10T19:18:44.374-04:00

UDM Theatre Company comes full circle with its landmark 40th-anniversary show: The Tempest, in addition to reaching the 400-year milestone in 2011, was the university program's first-ever production. For a script that feels like an ending as well as a beginning, this staging (directed by Andrew Huff) rides a current of youthful exuberance, its best moments found in the playfulness of playing

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-45467976964753317242011-03-25T10:10:00.000-04:002011-04-10T19:18:44.375-04:00

French playwright Marc Camoletti wrote a number of scripts about the triumvirate of Bernard, Robert, and Jacqueline, but they’re not exactly sequels; the events of one had little bearing on the others. His method is reminiscent of commedia dell’arte, in which a collection of broadly drawn stock characters is thrown together in different combinations and scenarios with no expectation of

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-39611528543487579432011-03-24T16:35:00.000-04:002011-04-10T19:18:44.377-04:00

What happens when a playwright known for his distinctive, absurd flavor of comedy sets his sights on drama? If David Ives is any indication, it unleashes torrents of long-suppressed brilliant philosophical discourse, as evidenced by his New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza at Talmud Torah Congregation: Amsterdam, July 27, 1656. The show's Midwest premiere at the Jewish Ensemble

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-48391239574235591192011-03-19T15:03:00.001-04:002011-04-21T09:29:56.315-04:00

The Gem Theatre returns to the Late-Nite Catechism series for another round with Sister's Easter Catechism: Will My Bunny Go to Heaven? Unlike the previous installments, the current production is notable for being a world premiere, opening simultaneously in several cities just in time for Lent. Bolstering favorite gags and premises with new content, this production sticks to its greatest hits,

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-70341914826509961582011-03-19T12:51:00.000-04:002011-03-27T22:19:25.397-04:00

All the publicity for Stormfield Theatre’s full production of Kimberly Akimbo (after the late-2009 staged reading that marked the theater’s inception) trumpets actor Carmen Decker in the title role, and it’s more than earned by Decker’s celebrated decades-long history in Michigan theater and carefully honed performance. Yet what makes this lovingly oddball production of David Lindsay-Abaire’s

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-26844860100813469932011-03-18T15:56:00.001-04:002011-04-10T19:18:44.378-04:00

The magic of the Performance Network production of The Piano Lesson, as directed by Tim Rhoze, lies in realism. Spinning playwright August Wilson’s captivating three-hour journey into the nature of family, inheritance, legacy, aspiration, duty, and the paranormal into a deceptively innocuous portrait of a Depression-era African-American family is an admirable feat, one that pays off with

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-49467417513502863892011-03-17T16:55:00.001-04:002011-04-03T11:14:53.420-04:00

Live theater affords great opportunities to rattle the viewer, sometimes in its examination of challenging subject matter, but other times through pure, acute expression of a character's substantial pain. Both are felt in playwright Steven Dietz's take on the veterans and casualties of the Vietnam War, Last of the Boys; however, as directed by Frannie Shepherd-Bates, it's the latter that

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-64975118637504663072011-03-15T12:30:00.001-04:002011-03-15T12:33:48.193-04:00

Dear readers, It's been 15 months since I launched The Rogue Critic, and the response has been better than I could have hoped for in every respect. Adding to my embarrassment of riches, I was recently offered the tremendous opportunity to be featured in the Encore Live! podcast series at EncoreMichigan.com. Click here to hear me talk theater and criticism with series co-producer and Blackbird

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-18296033714596669442011-03-12T19:14:00.001-05:002011-03-21T10:00:35.479-04:00

In its short history, the Encore Musical Theatre Company has found its hallmark in delivering classic crowd-pleasing musicals that draw entire families. Now at the dawn of its third year, the company is hungrily exploring the dark underbelly of the musical by supplementing its mainstage season with the Encore on the Edge series, featuring less-ubiquitous shows with adult themes. As a bold

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-49325367143259733802011-03-08T20:15:00.001-05:002011-03-20T00:03:15.587-04:00

The Planet Ant Theatre’s world-premiere production of Hylomorph, by Maggie Smith, is ensconced in a kind of desperate silliness. Director Yasmine Jaffri guides this mash-up of a pair of mundane marriages and a world of scientific improbability with a strongly stylized perspective that plays to the strengths of both. The result is a lightning-speed, fish-out-of-water comedy in two short acts

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-65065990649771978182011-02-25T14:57:00.000-05:002011-03-14T23:08:56.917-04:00

The 1980s were such magical times, with pop fads to spare and frightening, untrustworthy, Medusa-like woman creatures grabbing for and holding power in the workplace like never before. Ancient Greece was also probably magical. Playwrights Alana McNair and Kate Wilkinson prove these are two great tastes that taste great together in Fatal Attraction: A Greek Tragedy, the inaugural production of

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-54068802896431636302011-02-24T15:07:00.000-05:002011-03-20T00:03:15.588-04:00

Playwright Peter Shaffer’s Equus, the storied 1973 epic about a heinous crime and a troubled child psychiatrist’s investigation into the deeply disturbed mind of the young perpetrator, seems tailor-made for the Blackbird Theatre’s gritty, challenging raison d’être. It’s a show designed to be difficult in both performing and viewing, famous for stripping one of the main characters nude onstage,

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-35440739688877912312011-02-24T15:04:00.002-05:002011-04-01T11:35:17.424-04:00

Go Comedy!’s latest Thursday-night offering, Menllenium, was originally a product of the Second City improvisation conservatory, and its ingrained sketch-comedy feel is well suited for the quirky and fast-moving Thursday grab bag of scripted and improvised shows. This reimagined production, now directed by Tommy LeRoy, doesn’t seek to do anything groundbreaking with subject matter or form;

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-42622577572171795372011-02-19T19:03:00.000-05:002011-03-01T13:23:27.133-05:00

In another original reimagining, The New Theatre Project makes a respectful and inquisitve foray into the world of female sex workers in The Dance of the Seven Veils, written by company member Amanda Lyn Jungquist and directed by Artistic Director Keith Paul Medelis. A blend of first-person narrative, music, and dance, the production presents accounts of prostitutes and strippers culled from

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-8496790755931364932011-02-19T15:41:00.000-05:002011-03-06T20:28:14.843-05:00

In a conspiracy-hungry age of questioning authority, amateur journalism, and access to disparate opinions the world over, our relationship with the truth — whatever that means — is more tenuous than ever. Humankind is now predisposed to choose what reports to accept and reject; therefore, what beliefs we each dare to espouse, and why, helps define us to ourselves and others. Playwright Steven

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-36372845181698484702011-02-19T13:09:00.001-05:002011-03-06T20:28:14.844-05:00

Reunion: A Musical Epic in Miniature (by Jack Kyrieleison, Ron Holgate, and Michael O’Flaherty) has an unmistakable Ken Burns sensibility. From its stream of archival images to its reliance on firsthand accounts brought to life by understated recitation, the musical seeks to revisit and honor a conflict now one hundred fifty years old, letting the relics and recollections of the time speak for

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-8900645779756949952011-02-17T15:50:00.002-05:002011-03-06T11:43:27.057-05:00

David Auburn’s Proof concerns math and mathematicians, but is better described as a play about the complexities of passion and unfathomable intelligence. Here, math may stand in for any pursuit that's demanding and precise and beautifully rewarding for those who pursue it enough. The play is also, in no small part, about human interaction, obligation, ownership, and mental illness. Director

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-47240716603709538902011-02-12T15:28:00.000-05:002011-03-06T20:28:14.845-05:00

The Late Nite Catechism series is a nineteen-year-old Chicago-born institution that has been adamantly adopted nationwide. Not only has the show employed and cultivated a formidable bullpen of actor/improvisers to bring Sister to the masses, but many Sisters can perform more than one of its several editions at will. To wit, fresh off her run in Sister's Christmas Catechism at the Century

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-43129513560926207402011-02-12T12:56:00.000-05:002011-02-27T17:22:22.118-05:00

On the book-to-musical front, Little Women (book, Allan Knee; lyrics, Mindi Dickstein; music, Jason Howland) is an excellent candidate. With its epic scope, archetypal characters with heart, and place of honor in the children's literature canon, the Louisa May Alcott novel lends itself well to the conventions of musical theater. Now at the Encore Musical Theatre, as directed by Steve DeBruyne,

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-27724551421944085672011-02-11T18:09:00.003-05:002011-02-27T11:59:43.527-05:00

Despite the 1900 Vienna setting of Arthur Schnitzler’s century-old La Ronde, the play’s sexually frank subject matter easily connects with a contemporary audience. Infidelity, assault, one-night stands, manipulation, prostitution — stripped of nearly all other context, the human race was and is fairly teeming with dirty, dirty sex fiends. The strength of the production at the Abreact, directed

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-63709162657500501212011-02-10T21:24:00.003-05:002011-03-06T11:43:27.058-05:00

Molière’s The Misanthrope is a vicious comedy on every front. The superior title character shoots from the hip, letting fly with his every scathing criticism; even among the “polite” members of society, gossip and back-biting abounds. Yet the blithely two-faced practices of seventeenth-century French aristocracy are well tolerated by its practitioners: in a world where as many as four men can

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-48850543545883298292011-02-10T16:05:00.002-05:002011-02-20T18:26:15.147-05:00

There’s little arguing with a good story told well. Williamston Theatre’s new adaptation of the Sophocles classic Oedipus Rex is a mystery whose solution the audience already knows. The eighty minutes of Oedipus, simplified, concern an immediate problem (a plague in the city-state of Thebes, over which the title character reigns) and the hard-fought road to discovering its cause (the

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-86265974083098326432011-02-03T16:19:00.002-05:002011-03-06T11:43:27.059-05:00

With its astronomic stakes, operatic violence, and cinematic flourishes, Corktown is in essence a mob movie played out on the Purple Rose Theatre stage. Yet the world-premiere production of this Michael Brian Ogden script is notable for its complex and engaging performances as well as its innovative application of live-theater magic to the genre. Director Guy Sanville plays on viewers'

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-28842687117065924712011-01-28T15:51:00.001-05:002011-02-20T18:26:15.148-05:00

The primary and persistent aim of a reviewer is to be objective at all costs. Yet in truth, I'm a product of my own unique history and preferences as much as the next guy, and sometimes it's difficult to discern whether a connection I feel accurately represents the universal audience experience. With that caveat, be advised that in its world-premiere run at Performance Network Theatre,

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-12765200112954056162011-01-28T09:45:00.000-05:002011-02-18T00:01:26.084-05:00

The premise of Daniel Goldfarb's Modern Orthodox is as outlandish as a sitcom plot: passing acquaintance makes himself a sudden fixture in our heroes' lives, much to their consternation. Yet beneath the heightened plot there is additional promise for growth, in the concept of people whose take on their shared religion makes them almost contentiously opposed before they start learning from each

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-73964908979623868812011-01-27T16:04:00.002-05:002011-03-21T10:00:35.480-04:00

There are few real surprises in Romulus Linney’s stage adaptation of the Ernest J. Gaines novel A Lesson Before Dying, but they’re not necessary in a story that shocks and dismays simply by playing out exactly as the viewer would expect. At the play’s opening, the young Jefferson (Gabriel Johnson) is already on death row, but fear and institutionalized inequities in the Jim Crow South keep

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-6540706591218012822011-01-21T17:47:00.001-05:002011-05-22T08:57:35.999-04:00

There's a show before the show in playwright John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves; for this Who Wants Cake? production, director Joe Bailey cleverly stashes it in the corner and gives it all the excitement of a preflight safety presentation. Whatever, guy, the atmosphere deadpans, as a flop-sweaty fellow plays piano with his fingers, sings with his mouth, and begs for adulation with every

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-91619039271177730692011-01-20T11:06:00.000-05:002011-02-08T10:03:42.971-05:00

A play about a playwright who writes a play about a playwright, Nicky Silver's comedy The Agony & the Agony is a refracted, repeated-to-infinity glance through the looking glass. Yet this deviously funny piece is only occasionally deep and not at all challenging to follow. The Magenta Giraffe Theatre production, directed by Lisa Melinn, is an exhausting lap around absurdity that also manages to

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-49174566541692724392011-01-19T20:02:00.008-05:002011-03-04T01:28:45.093-05:00

Thus far I've managed to avoid the MTV show-that-must-not-be-named, but only because I once lived for reality TV and am convinced that (in SAT parlance) The Bachelor is to Jersey Shore as candy is to heroin. But like any true American, I'm well aware of the show and its highly compensated stars, and like a good Rogue I've read recaps and watched clips in order to better understand the original

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-28081433071641930242011-01-14T09:30:00.000-05:002011-01-25T10:05:23.915-05:00

Planet Ant Theatre's improvisational and theatrical worlds collide most visibly in biannual original plays earmarked as prizes for the winning teams of its Summer Colony Fest and Winter Colony Fest tournaments. As directed by Mike McGettigan, the current production of 3 Guys, 1 Jar, written by and starring the men of A.R.M., looks fondly on a world of shrugging listlessness and heroic

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-8317260551693145462011-01-13T15:17:00.000-05:002011-02-25T22:33:27.886-05:00

Director Alison C. Vesely's concept for Richard III at the Hilberry Theatre is curious. Granted, this is hardly the first time a production has gone the self-aware theater-qua-theater route, and the initial beats featuring a crew member voicing cues and the decidedly pre-show performers filing in and preparing for the spectacle are both well-executed and thought-provoking. (One potential

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-74498133480739401592011-01-13T11:23:00.001-05:002011-01-30T14:18:34.025-05:00

Patrick Barlow's recent theatrical adaptation of The 39 Steps comes with oceans of context. It's a retread of a 1915 novel of the same name by John Buchan; it's an homage to the stylings of one Alfred Hitchcock, who directed the 1935 movie, and simultaneously a parody of the same; it's two hours of pure playfulness that toys with the conventions of adaptation and goofs on the impossibility of

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-75703722100125429352010-12-18T18:55:00.000-05:002011-01-03T07:51:14.890-05:00

Once upon a time, three young adults left home for good: the first fled Nazi-occupied Poland to live with relatives in the United States; the third answered a call within himself to serve his country after 9/11; and fifteen-year-old Sonia touched down alone in Miami shortly before the Bay of Pigs Invasion rocked her home country of Cuba. Melinda Lopez's complex and evocative Sonia Flew, a

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-43828259520742780812010-12-16T16:04:00.000-05:002011-01-02T13:14:29.310-05:00

Far more than a religious observance, Christmas is a cultural behemoth; consequently, it holds vastly different meanings to different people. Its ubiquity means nothing at all or may be a sore point for many non-Christians and Christians alike; some take pains to remember the holy roots of the day, whereas others genuinely enjoy the excesses of shopping and eating, or the too-infrequent

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-28143860349506204922010-12-10T19:11:00.001-05:002011-01-02T13:14:29.311-05:00

Who in the world gives a gallon of semi-gloss as a Christmas gift? From the outset, it's a surreal existence in Sweetlove Productions' so-called "seasonal retail story" F$$$ the Holidays, produced in partnership with the Ringwald and directed by Joe Plambeck. This one-act late-night production, written by Marke Sobolewski and Cara Trautman, is an unlikely tale of rival paint stores and their

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-54645153632481784782010-12-10T13:48:00.000-05:002011-01-02T13:14:29.313-05:00

In its fourth year at Matrix Theatre, Puppet Scrooge is getting slimmer and sleeker. Gone are the transitions from human interactions to puppet stagings — this year's offering is all puppets, all the time. Written by Mary Luevanos, Fran Marschone, Rebecca Young, Jaclyn Strez, and this year's adaptor and director, Megan Harris, this present-day spin on the Scrooge story feels close to its grim

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-78909791017907368192010-12-10T09:56:00.003-05:002011-01-02T13:14:29.314-05:00

Although most of the things that terrified us as children aren't worth revisiting, the popularity of the Late Night Catechism franchise is proof positive that adults sure do love to get scolded by nuns. The latest southeast Michigan installment is Century Theatre's Sister's Christmas Catechism (by Maripat Donovan with Jane Morris and Marc Silvia), a holiday flavor of the very familiar framework

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-75817470333934163122010-12-03T18:19:00.000-05:002010-12-23T10:21:57.269-05:00

What play wouldn't be improved by a dose of David Bowie? He certainly does more good than harm to Dance Xanax Dance, a Planet Ant original comedy written and directed by Lauren Bickers. The production is light on story but heavy on design, all influenced by the Glam One himself, which makes for an outrageous, glittery, dancing extravaganza. The already eclectic Planet Ant space is made over

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-14266568065253261402010-12-03T14:50:00.003-05:002010-12-19T02:34:25.787-05:00

Last season's infectiously fun original musical Detroit Be Dammed: A Beaver's Tale has moved to the heart of downtown Detroit for another round of good-natured ribbing from among the ranks of its own. Written by Shawn Handlon and Mikey Brown and presented (as before) by Planet Ant Theatre, the current production has changed somewhat, yet feels as complete as the original, with all of its

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-37859228700606748982010-11-27T16:19:00.002-05:002011-01-18T10:08:45.403-05:00

Playwright Fred Alley and composer James Kaplan must have known the only way I'd agree to hole up in an ice shanty with two fellas and their thick Wisconsin accents would be if the whole experience was set to music. Their Guys on Ice, at Tipping Point Theatre with direction by Joseph Albright, is a delightful, climate-controlled, melodic escape to a sportsman's paradise in the frozen north.

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-19472781296102490562010-11-26T19:00:00.000-05:002011-01-02T13:14:29.315-05:00

Harry Kondoleon's Christmas on Mars is about looking for redemption in the wrong places, not outer space or even Christmas per se. Directed by Jamie Warrow, this Who Wants Cake? production pins its hopes on moving forward at the expense of the past. Can one baby save four people? In the world of this comedy, probably not. Audrey (Warrow) works at a casting agency, where she met charming model

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-22774945729784295992010-11-26T15:10:00.000-05:002011-02-08T10:03:42.972-05:00

Venerated author John Steinbeck had a magical knack for writing the Saddest Thing Ever, and his Of Mice and Men is no exception. The Hilberry Theatre tackles the stage adaptation of the classic novel, handling the Great Depression–era subject matter with gravity but not dramatics. Directed by Anthony B. Schmitt, this tale of loyalty, partnership, self-preservation, and meager hope comes alive

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-55449520445031027112010-11-26T14:10:00.002-05:002010-12-20T07:34:59.405-05:00

The world becomes smaller and more homogeneous every day, with the far reach of media and the ubiquity of chain restaurants and big-box stores, and yet: rural Texas. For a Michigan crowd, much of Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard's Greater Tuna may feel as remote as an alien race that doesn't let their pet dogs in the house. But for all the idiosyncratic, folksy humor in Williamston

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-75146549342942866432010-11-25T09:21:00.001-05:002011-01-03T07:51:14.891-05:00

They just don't make 'em like they used to. Contemporary musicals have evolved to find new ways around and through the discomfiting "they-just-break-into-song" effect; gone are the days of full-cast numbers in which half the characters have no justification to be in the scene — we crave smart, edgy, believable. Yet the strictures in place for modern musicals tend to keep them from achieving the

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-74986556725305287372010-11-23T14:11:00.000-05:002011-01-02T13:14:29.316-05:00

The second Go Comedy! original holiday sketch show, Best Damn Holiday Show, is largely grounded in the here and now. Current events figure prominently in the production's few dozen sketches; add to that the severity of Michigan's particular hardships, and this is one holiday offering that looks for its humor in dark, bleak places. Framing the nearly 90-minute production is a pair of sketches

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-5619746943252832272010-11-18T16:41:00.000-05:002010-12-05T10:02:12.293-05:00

Magenta Giraffe Theatre has its first world-premiere production in The Current, by new playwright Sean Paraventi. The story of four friends, a few gallons of tequila, and one memorable bachelorette party is given appropriate preamble by sound designer Frannie Shepherd-Bates's pre-show playlist: circa-1990s Now That's What I Call Music! hits that invite ironic appreciation, a parade of

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-19025944833783244162010-11-18T10:34:00.003-05:002011-01-02T13:14:29.317-05:00

It happens to every Christmas fanatic, great and small — from time to time, the repetition of those classic stories and songs wears on us. Forever Plaid creator Stuart Ross obviously gets it, and his holiday follow-up, Plaid Tidings, offers a refreshing middle ground: just the right combination of spiced-up musical innovation, holiday and otherwise, mingling with familiar fireside comfort.

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-91762229171291567542010-11-11T08:48:00.003-05:002011-01-01T00:22:51.522-05:00

Family, community, devotion, and apiculture are all given their due in playwright Elena Hartwell's A Strange Disappearance of Bees. The world-premiere production by Detroit Repertory Theatre is a strong union of script, direction, and tech, creating a safe-feeling yet emotionally vulnerable journey whose honey-drenched heart rarely skips a beat. Hartwell's script uses bees and beekeeping as a

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-88412664042895453282010-11-10T23:09:00.000-05:002010-11-18T08:21:15.867-05:00

To accurately explain Cloud Tectonics — the premiere production of The New Theatre Project’s first full season, written by José Rivera — is akin to explaining a dream. Viewers who like concrete explanations for things would be well served to keep this in mind: after all, metaphysical impossibilities that are nevertheless accepted as fact are frequent features of the dream world. As directed by

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-51448088130607289032010-11-10T19:37:00.000-05:002010-11-24T10:44:10.921-05:00

Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks’s Topdog/Underdog is a withering portrait of a subversive American dream. The Blackbird Theatre’s production presents this story of two brothers through the lens of their dystopian domesticity, almost disappointed in, yet defensive of, the struggles of the underprivileged, persevering black man. Lincoln (Brian Marable) and Booth (Ruell Black), their names a bad joke

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-84450836679529747102010-10-30T16:57:00.000-04:002010-11-07T10:24:56.003-05:00

After last year's The Hot Mess Chronicles, a Viking funeral of sorts for its former Halloween mainstay, the Abreact comes back to the well this year with The Hot Mess Chronicles 2. This installment features four brand-new short plays, selected through a submissions process in collaboration with Planet Ant Theatre. The varied offerings are presented episodically by an ensemble cast of five,

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-35087830131239172922010-10-28T16:25:00.003-04:002010-12-19T02:34:25.788-05:00

The Purple Rose Theatre Company's world premiere of Best of Friends certainly succeeded at blasting away my expectations. Everything from the warm and fuzzy title to the so-happy portraits adorning Vincent Mountain's rich Pottery Barn catalog set to the opening notes of convivial laughter is carefully suggestive of a real, honest, touchy-feely journey of discovery and friendship. Then the

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-14621742488163679732010-10-23T19:20:00.001-04:002010-11-02T09:58:25.701-04:00

Not content to leave its Ringwald home inactive, Who Wants Cake? has actually mounted a second, concurrent production this Halloween season: Conor McPherson's Shining City. Although markedly smaller and subtler than the company's blood-smeared Evil Dead: The Musical, this "contemporary ghost story" is no second-string production. With the right attention to atmosphere and a foundation of

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-59275452729268651162010-10-23T13:20:00.000-04:002010-11-14T20:41:26.331-05:00

As far as classic American theater goes, the deservedly canonized Cat on a Hot Tin Roof sells itself. Matrix Theatre cofounder Wes Nethercott directs this production of Tennessee Williams's iconic play, for which Matrix has taken up residence at the YMCA Boll Family Theatre in downtown Detroit. The larger venue boasts stadium seating for excellent visibility, and allows set designer Eric W.

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-89159685996685320122010-10-21T20:48:00.000-04:002010-11-07T10:24:56.004-05:00

Halloween is a time to celebrate the unexplained and/or supernatural, but fright and danger can just as easily originate from the better demons of our corruptible human nature. This season, Planet Ant Theatre delights in a manmade horror show in Nightmare Box, an assortment of original short plays by local writers. Not quite it-could-happen-to-YOU cautionary tale, but certainly not a bloodbath

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-25603565623299687542010-10-19T11:37:00.000-04:002010-10-31T16:25:14.168-04:00

"Dying is easy; comedy is hard"? Try both at once. In large part, what makes Evil Dead: The Musical such cultish fun is its dedication to reproducing the original horror films' gore and suspense, woven right into the utterly insane campiness of its silly tunes and raunchy dialogue. They could scare the wits out of you if they wanted to, and they don't mind letting you know it. After its madly

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-72575933948429670972010-10-16T14:03:00.000-04:002010-10-25T09:55:16.616-04:00

October is playoff season, and the Encore Musical Theatre Company hopes to spread some of that baseball fever in Damn Yankees (words and music by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross; book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop). Indeed, many themes of this 55-year-old musical are still relevant to contemporary audiences: the questionable benefits of all-consuming fandom, the rift that sports causes in

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-59466029073771668812010-10-14T18:03:00.005-04:002010-10-31T22:44:50.287-04:00

The Internet swears that The God of Isaac is a comedy; I say that's not the whole truth. Instead, what the Jewish Ensemble Theatre and director Christopher Bremer serve up for two hours is a deceptively light approach to serious questions of faith and culture. It's funny, but don't be fooled — comedy alone can't make you feel nearly this much. The play has a layered meta structure: Isaac Adams

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-38816453731557142052010-10-14T13:57:00.000-04:002010-10-31T16:25:14.169-04:00

Meadow Brook Theatre certainly enjoys its spooky-scary this time of year, and indeed, its production of Dracula, A Rock Opera (by John R. Briggs, in collaboration with Dennis West) excels in its moments of fright and danger. The audience gets a glimpse of it in a foreboding early scene in which Transylvanian villagers painstakingly explain to foreigner Jonathan Harker (Eric Gutman) exactly what

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-8026307408444464102010-10-14T08:32:00.001-04:002010-10-31T16:25:14.170-04:00

Mid-Michigan theater can let out a collective breath: after nearly a year of fundraising, a flurry of staged readings, and two incarnations of its Web site, Stormfield Theatre has taken the leap of faith and come out with its first fully staged production. With founder and artistic director Kristine Thatcher as the public face of the company, it's only fitting that the inaugural play be not

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-88051076148821137772010-10-13T09:00:00.000-04:002010-12-05T10:02:12.295-05:00

The Hilberry season begins with Hay Fever, playwright Noël Coward's over-the-top story of an eccentric family whose only delight bigger than deriding each other seems to be deriding each other's friends and acquaintances. Director David J. Magidson presents most of this production at face value, focusing on character and relationship rather than fine-tuning comic bits; the result is a

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1208120307988847202.post-47114913668467951982010-10-09T14:02:00.001-04:002010-10-24T13:12:45.731-04:00

Oh, Craigslist. Just look at what you've done. As the instigating event of Peter Sinn Nachtrieb's boom, a vague online personal ad brings Jo (Jaye Stellini) to Jules's (Jeffery J. Steger) bomb-shelter basement laboratory/apartment seeking anonymous sex. (Red flags, anyone?) Indeed, what happens goes well beyond any convention of boy meets girl: Jules, believing a comet is about to wipe out the

The Roguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09372380005786396791noreply@blogger.com