Frank Loesser’s Music Highlights Gritty N.Y. Riffs by Lynne Stevens Broadway is the embodiment of the melting pot. Damon Runyon’s gritty 30s New York stories reveled in its variety. Broadway welcomed Italian, Irish, and Jewish, immigrants—the road to prosperity for many went through Times Square. Director Bill English’s cast for “Guys and Dolls: A…
Mitchell & Trask’s Rock Musical Transforms Marginalized into Stars by K. Marguerite Caronna Shotgun Theater’s “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” dazzles with a rocking, electric journey from lonely despair to exciting redemption—a mythic quest for identity and love. The audience is enticed to wander into the “Ashby Sit & Spin Dive Bar,” one of…
Marvin K. White’s Haight Street Tour Evokes Summer of Love by Barry David Horwitz Walking up Haight Street again reminds me of that long ago Summer of Love in 1967. Even today, the street is painted with psychedelic murals, rock music wafts from storefronts, and rainbows of gay, straight, and gender fluid folks populate…
Geetha Reddy Joyfully Reclaims an Indian Masterpiece by K. Marguerite Caronna J Jha gives a stellar performance as the storyteller of Mahābhārata, an Indian epic rendered in a mere two hours of inspired acting and movement. Playwright Geetha Reddy carefully selects and condenses a retelling of both well-known and obscure tales. First presented at…