Sharpenicity

LIFE IS A DREAM at GALA Hispanic Theatre  A gem of the Spanish Golden Age,  Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s  Life is a Dream is a gift for all the ages.  Now at GALA Hispanic Theatre, this world premiere adaptation by Nando López and  directed by Hugo Medrano is a rare  theatrical treasure opening  the 2019-20 season. The story of Segismundo, a prince heir imprisoned by his father King Basilio to prevent the fulfillment of a prophecy might start out like one a familar fairy tale.  What ensues in this thought provoking play, is the stuff that great playwrights and poets and philosophers have grappled with on the power of tryranny, fate and free will in human existence.  Daniel Alonso de Santos as Segismundo  confronts the dilemma of his experiences as whether they be dreams or reality or some experience that is a mix of both. Timothy Andrés Pabon is King Basilio who struggles as a father who fears his son will overtake hi...

LOVE SICK at THEATRE J Love Sick  is not unlike a folktale,  re-told in poetic language from the Bible, with singing and dancing most operatic.  Tirzah is an amazing character who tells her story to a group of street characters of how she craved love, found it, and gave all to never let it go.  Not only does Ofra Daniel create Tirzah in this stage role, but she first created her as a writer and composer.   Her acting is intense, her dancing mesmerizing.  The character she brings to the stage, unforgettable.   Sasha Olinick is   Tirzah’s husband, a fish monger, sung with poignancy.  Fulfilling many role are four women: Sarah Corey, Sarah Laughland, Kara-Tameika Watkins and Kanysha Williams.  Ali Paris is The Lover, Music Director and plays the Qanun (a rare Middle-Eastern 76-string zitther dating from the 14th century).  His fellow musicians  include:  on violin Jason Lobrador, John Tayler Garner, on Guit...

1 HENRY IV at the FOLGER THEATRE The latest Falstaff now at the Folger Theatre is the greatest ever seen —  or so said many in the audience of 1 Henry IV. Ed Gero overwhelms as Sir John Falstaff, in a show that is filled with great actors playing great men.  Prince Hal is a fun guy.  Avery Whitted in his DC theater debut looks every bit that he is having a joy of a ride hanging out with Falstaff as his mentor of a good time!  Tyler Fauntleroy as Hotspur is Prince Hal’s match.  As Prince Hal steps up to his role of duties to his father and the kingdom so will it be that Hotspur  fall on the battlefield, the demise of his ambitions.   Peter Crook as Henry IV is serious and worried.  Perhaps a bit of a stickler bore for a father, he is a true counter to Falstaff, both in their status in life and their approach to it, but both sharing a love of Prince Hal.     The outstanding cast are  all leading stars in their own right...

Lynn Nottage’s FABULATION  OR, THE RE-EDUCATION OF UNDINE Fables and fairy tales are supposed to end happily when the poor little girl  meets a handsome  prince who whirls her away to a magic kingdom etc. Fabulation tells that story backwards.   Felicia Curry is Undine, the princess at the top of her own public relation firms in Manhattan…She has it all!… until   one by one, the threads of this life start to unravel.   Her   husband has spent all her money and is wanted by the FBI.   Bankrupt and pregnant, she goes back to the only place left where she started with her family in Brooklyn. At a fast clip,   a fine cast of actors   appear and re-appear, in different roles.  Aakhu TuahNera Freeman is her doped up wheel chaired Grandma as well an inmate Undine shares a jail cell with after she is arrested for trying to buy Grandma some drugs on the street corner. Roz White is her mother and also some of her girl frie...

Till  New York Musical Festival 2019 From left, Denielle Marie Gray, Tyla Collier, Taylor A. Blackman, Dwelvan David, Devin L. Roberts and Judith Franklin  Credit  Russ Rowland Till is a musical that never could have been made in 1955, the year that Emmett Till was brutally murdered in Mississippi. In the tradition of African American  musicals where the characters generally are featured in happy dancing moments of life, its horrific theme is rare. Emmett Till is also unlike hundreds of  murdered African Americans preceding him  who mostly remain unknown.  Nor is he like those who would be murdered after him, like MLK Jr. and  Medgar Edgars,  leaders in the Civil Rights movement. He was an ordinary fun loving boy never known to be in trouble, raised in Chicago by a single mother.  But he was also part of a larger family, those who had not migrated north for a new life, those who wanted him to come visit them in Missis...

CRAZY FOR YOU You will be crazy for the Heights Players after you see their energetic romantic musical production of Crazy For You . George and Ira Gershwin wrote the music and the words, Ken Ludwig put it into a book, but the Heights Players bring it to life on stage! Joe Bliss is Bobby Child, a rich New York banker who heads west to Deadrock, Nevada to close down a broken down theater.  Marissa Giglio is Polly Baker, the daughter of the theater owner who will  lose her heart to Bobby (well after a few mishaps) and  render the unforgettable ballad of love awakening, Someone to Watch Over Me .  Joe and Marissa are true “triple threats”  They act, sing and dance their way through this show at the level of the best in regional theater.  Together they join in an unforgettable rendering of Embraceable You . The multi-talented cast features Leah Elm as Irene, Bobby’s fancy, long-frustrated fiancée who toys with saloon owner Lank Hawkins played b...

THE WHITE SNAKE The White Snake is the love story of a white snake with magical powers who turns into a mortal woman and comes down to earth from her thousand year home on a mountain top.  She meets and marries a humble pharmacist assistant and together they start a thriving herbal medicine business,  have a lovely home and are about to have their first child —all the ingredients of an ordinary happy life.   Unbelievable as ancient epic legends go?   On stage at Constellation Theatre, Eunice Bae as the White Snake and Jacob Yeh as the humble XuXian bring the ancient Chinese legend to real life, where true love and devotion never get old. Momo Nuakumura is Green Snake,  the White Snake’s faithful companion, who moves the story along to keep everything together while Ryan Sellers plays the vengeful nasty monk who seeks to tear the lovers apart.   The production features multiple delights for the ears and eyes:  performance by Chinese ...