Go Memphis Stories: Stage Reviews

On Stage this week

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:26:00 -0000

On stage

Stage review: Playhouse's 'Saigon' works in softer focus

blank@commercialappeal.com (Christopher Blank) — Thu, 16 May 2013 05:00:00 -0000

There’s more than one way to stage a hugely popular musical. Sure, Broadway may provide a convenient blueprint. But regional theater audiences should expect more than cheap imitation. They should want a show that is more personal. Or “local,” if you will.

Concert review: Memphis Repertory Orchestra shines in final performance of season

Sun, 12 May 2013 23:02:00 -0000

It’s tempting to say that the Memphis Repertory Orchestra, with its free concerts, offers the best classical music value around town. But the Eroica Ensemble also offers terrific performances gratis, which prevents either organization making the claim.

Dance review: Ballet Memphis performers soar in 'Taking Flight'

blank@commercialappeal.com (Christopher Blank) — Sun, 12 May 2013 22:53:00 -0000

A dusky sliver of moon and the beaming planet Jupiter hovered over the shoulders of Ballet Memphis dancers as they bounded across the Peabody hotel rooftop Saturday night. Celestial objects made a fitting backdrop for “Taking Flight,” a three-act concert and fundraiser with a star-crossed back story.

'Rock of Ages' provides joyous elixir for fans burned out by live-music events

blank@commercialappeal.com (Christopher Blank) — Sat, 11 May 2013 23:43:00 -0000

On a recent lamentable weekend, I spent three days wallowing in mud while getting soaked to the bone and frozen by arctic winds just to hear a lot of unfamiliar music played far too loudly and with very little sense of humor or nuance at a certain local music festival.

Concert Review: IRIS and Kahane boost Beethoven's brilliance in Germantown performance

Sun, 05 May 2013 23:37:00 -0000

Beethoven was rolling over and over Saturday night.

Stage Review: 'Brighton Beach' a pleasant evening of theater with few challenges

Fri, 03 May 2013 08:00:00 -0000

Neil Simon’s “Brighton Beach Memoirs” wheezes onto the Lohrey Stage at Theatre Memphis, bringing with it all the playwright’s pedestrian sentimentality that captures, as Dorothy Parker might say, the range of humanity from A to B.

Concert Review: Seasoned chamber trio spices up classics, contemporary tunes

Wed, 01 May 2013 16:45:00 -0000

Concerts International ended its 41st season with the first-rate Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Piano Trio’s masterful performance of a variety of works.

Stage Review: Actor brings insight to complicated character in 'Native Son'

blank@commercialappeal.com (Christopher Blank) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 23:33:00 -0000

To understand the rage of Bigger Thomas, the central figure in Richard Wright’s classic novel “Native Son,” one first has to understand his environment.

Review: Performance is Memphis Symphony Orchestra's feel-good event of season

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 01:10:00 -0000

The remarkable program of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra this weekend might be called the MSO’s feel-good event of the season.

Boy triplets a sensation at top Cuba ballet school

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 17:27:00 -0000

HAVANA (AP) — Visitors to the elite feeder school for Cuba's renowned National Ballet might be forgiven for thinking they're suddenly seeing triple.

Stage Review: "Springloaded" jumps with power, beauty

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 20:24:00 -0000

"Springloaded" jumps with power, beauty

Theater review: "Threads" great gift to local stage

blank@commercialappeal.com (Christopher Blank) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 01:46:00 -0000

Voices of the South, one of the few local theater companies regularly producing original work, owes much to the voices in Jerre Dye’s head.

On Stage This Week

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 01:43:00 -0000

Live stage events happening this week

Theater review: Superlatives for "Hamlet"

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 05:00:00 -0000

Tennessee Shakespeare Company’s thrilling production of “Hamlet” blends inventiveness with an attention to detail that makes it memorable.

First Opera Festival opened minds, ears

blank@commercialappeal.com (Christopher Blank) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 05:00:00 -0000

“It looks like it’s gonna do somethin’.”

Dance: New Ballet Ensemble promises emotional experience

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 05:00:00 -0000

This year’s “Springloaded” presentation by the New Ballet Ensemble might well be subtitled “The Art of Fusion.”

Stage Review: Opera Memphis' 'Lucretia' takes on treatment of women

blank@commercialappeal.com (Christopher Blank) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 21:56:00 -0000

Whenever an opera company sets out to try something different, it’s probably wise to advance cautiously.

Stage Review: 'Quartet' still a killer musical with plenty of jiggle and shine

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 05:00:00 -0000

The return of “Million Dollar Quartet” to the Orpheum brings some changes in the cast from last year, but the net effect remains the same.

'Angels' depicts AIDS as it was, polarization as it is

blank@commercialappeal.com (Christopher Blank) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 03:08:00 -0000

There’s a good chance you won’t soon — or likely ever — see a revival of “As Is,” one of the first mainstream plays in the 1980s to depict a man dying of AIDS and his partner’s struggle to love and care for him.