Otello
It is no surprise that Giuseppe Verdi revered Shakespeare; one master dramatist recognizing that genius in another. The young Verdi had written an operatic adaptation of MACBETH but stayed away […]
Photo Credit Cory Weaver/LA Opera
David Ellenstein Named Artistic Director and Bill Kerlin Named Managing Director of the Laguna Playhouse
May 18, 2023…Laguna Beach, Calif…Laguna Playhouse and its Board of Directors announced today that North Coast Repertory Theatre’s Artistic Director David Ellenstein, and Managing Director Bill Kerlin, have been named Laguna […]
Morales, Rabb, Elliott, and THE BOOK. Photo by Craig Schwartz.
Shakespeare Keeps Giving at A Noise Within
Few of us remember that, in the early 19th Century, this vast country was settled with the help of only two books…the Bible and Shakespeare’s collected works. By mid-Century, the two had […]
Saverino. Photo credit: Doug Catiller.
Matinicus: The Story of Abigail Burgess
Abbie Burgess Grant has been the subject of children’s books, such as keep the Lights Burning, Abby, by Peter and Connie Roop and an illustrated children’s book titled Abby, Against the Storm, written by Marcia […]
Barzee, Nakauchi. Photo by Jason Niedle.
The King and I
Although The King and I isn’t a reference to the coronation of King Charles and his wayward spare, Harry, it is inspired by the true story upon which Margaret Landon […]
Mason, Rorrer, Lam, Wright, Boek, Edemodi, Lane, Ferri. Photo by Jenny Graham.
The Pilot Who Crashed the Party
Paul Sand’s new play, THE PILOT WHO CRASHED THE PARTY, boasts an intriguing title. And the description, which hints at an homage/satire of drawing room dramas, conjures images of well-dressed […]
Zambito, Greaves. Photo by OddDog Pictures.
The Thin Place
Lucas Hnath is a playwright who resists easy categorization. His plays are so different in story, style, tone, and technique that one would assume several quite different writers authored them. […]
Grimes, Shald. Photo by David Sprague.
Heavenly Country
On Broadway, a new country-flavored musical called SHUCKED is currently in previews. Closer to home, the world premiere of HEAVENLY COUNTRY, a jukebox country-western musical, is running at the Two […]
O'Grady, Washington. Photo by Jerry Graham.
Picnic
“Unless you are at a picnic, life is no picnic,” this cleverly axiomatic phrase is attributed to comedy writer Jane Wagner. The 1953 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Picnic, by William Inge, lends evidence to Ms. Wagner’s witticism. The […]
Mancasola, Liverman. Photo by Craig T. Matthew
Pelleas et Melisande
It is remarkable that Claude Debussy’s PELLEAS ET MELISANDE remains sui generis 121 years after the opera’s premiere. Despite aggressively modern works by Schoenberg, Tippett, Berio, and Glass, it remains, in its […]