It’s the 1660s and the silly Restoration has been interrupted by the Plague. A wealthy London family is sealed up in their house by the authorities because their servants have died laden with “tokens” of the scourge, and the nailing up of the windows and the guarding of the doors of afflicted households were all they knew to slow the mysterious progress of the disease.
Local playwright/poet/actor/musician John Crutchfield has performed his one-man show, The Songs of Robert, at the 2009 New York International Fringe Festival. He brings the delightful story (told through a series of wildly-entertaining character sketches) back to Asheville. The current run ends this week.
Dark Horse Theatre’s most recent show pulls from three of the more recognizable tales, setting the action in a decidedly more grown-up atmosphere of gossip, gambling and happily-ever-never.
The play sates demand for three classic forms of naughtiness: Girls in Miniskirts, Girls in Their Underwear and Girls Appearing at Exactly the Wrong Time in Either Their Underwear or a Miniskirt.
It’s easy for community theatre to play it safe, and though Rent is a 15-year-old play and its themes may not seem daring to some, it could be very risky for a community theatre whose audience is often assumed to be conservative.
Ah, Love … Can anything new be said about it?
It’s a double feature mystery bill at the Masonic Temple. Monford Park Players performs short plays by Agatha Christie and Tom Stoppard through February 20.
From a near-missed border crossing in Turkey, to a cycling trip across America and a spring break flash-people-when-driving-on-the-Parkway venture gone wrong, Synergy Story Slam offers live, often hilarious, stories by anyone brave enough take the stage.
Christy Bishop portrays Zelda Fitzgerald in this one-woman show with as much virtuosity, as much invention and commitment as one will ever see on stage. Anywhere.
Dr. Jekyll may be right that two souls dwell in every person, but he has missed the full import of that discovery, for Hyde is not only sexier than Jekyll, he’s smarter, too.
The uneven production never quite gains the momentum it needs, mired in script issues and deficient direction, and in the end the punch the production hopes to delivers is largely deflated.
It takes superb actors to play badly on purpose without winking, and both Steve Lloyd and Casey Morris are brilliantly up to the task in David Mamet’s comedy.
When Jekyll Met Hyde brings several generations of Asheville’s actors together in a wild ride of a show(s).
The black-box musical theatre company has postponed its opening season from February until fall. Plans are in the works to book live music acts into the space.
Overall, the story of the play was obscured by the script’s choppiness and lack of demonstrable journey by its main character.
Despite some obvious (and childish) humor, The 27th Annual Bernstein Family Christmas Spectacular features suburb acting from some of Asheville’s best, and it’s a welcome break from the often stressful and far too uptight holiday season.
Flat Rock’s Christmas Carol is a lovely treat.
The show was short on flesh (Madame Onça’s bare midriff being the most consistently on display), surprisingly long on song, and perhaps not as rich in comedy and variety as the vaudeville moniker would suggest.
This family-friendly, kid-actor-packed stage version of the much-loved 1983 film still turns up from surprised. A plenty of laughs.
If you like your Christmas fare retro, radio-oriented and polished, George Bailey’s catharsis awaits, familiar and new all at the same time and doused in good will and cheer.
Part performance, part storytelling (but not a “tellebration”, Chalmers pointed out), the Listen to This series offers a laid-back atmosphere for performers to tell largely personal stories linked by an overarching theme, mostly to comedic effect.
