Criticultura em Portugal

Eureka Day Written by Jonathan Spector Directed by Adrienne Campbell-Hoyt Colt Coeur Theater Company Walkerspace, Manhattan September 13, 2019 The title of this play is a double entendre. It’s set in a classroom of the Eureka Day School, a private elementary school modeled on a Waldorf School. But, in the process of the play, a few characters also have Eureka! moments as they wrestle with the thorny issue of as a crisis of a mumps outbreak among unvaccinated kids splits the oh-so-tolerant parents into virulent camps. This is indeed a hot button issue, as described in this recent article in Politico   .  Some of the extreme language referenced in the article (e.g. comparisons to Nazis) comes up in the play as the parents wrestle with the issue. The playwright is based in the San Francisco bay area, and the play speaks the progressive language (often mockingly) so associated with that region. It’s a very funny play, especially in Act 1 as the parental conflict envelops th

Oklahoma! Music by Richard Rodgers Lyrics and Book by Arthur Hammerstein II Arrangements by Daniel Kluger Directed by Daniel Fish Starring Damon Daunno, Rebecca Naomi Jones, and Patrick Vaill Circle in the Square Theater, Manhattan September 4, 2019 This innovative production of the musical theater classic Oklahoma! won the Tony Award in 2018. I agree with all the plaudits, based on the recent performance I saw on Broadway in the intimate Circle in the Square Theater (perhaps 300 seats total). There was a notable and successful rethinking of the show both musically and dramatically. The most obvious change to the original is the replacement of the lush Richard Rodgers orchestrations with a small country/bluegrass band (keyboards, cello, bass, violin, electric guitar, banjo, and percussion). Since I am a big fan of the plush sound of the original, I worried about how I would respond. I really enjoyed it, once my ear adjusted. While not all of the show’s numbers are “

Tristan and Isolde Music and libretto by Richard Wagner Directed by Katharina Wagner Conducted by Christian Thielemann Starring Stefan Vinke and Petra Lang Festspielhaus, Bayreuth Germany August 23, 2019 My second opera at this year’s Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, Germany was Tristan und Isolde . The performance received an exceptional orchestral performance led by Festival musical director Christian Thielemann and some excellent singing, especially by Stefan Vinke as Tristan and Christa Mayer as Brangäne. Unfortunately, a pedestrian, and often silly production by the composer’s great grandchild Katharina Wagner, undid the excellent musical effect and created a mediocre, long (6 hour with intermissions) evening. After lots of family infighting, Ms. Wagner has now settled in as the overall director of the festival. She should stick to that, and not direct operas, from what I saw. Like the other modernist Wagnerian opera Parsifal, Tristan makes an extraordinary us

Douglas Written and performed by Hannah Gadsby  While much of the audience responds to the 90 minute Douglas as it would any stand-up comedy act, it is not so easily classified as such. You get this sensation on arrival. You’re told that the performance is 1 hour 45 minutes (really long for comedy) and that the theater is cellphone-free. At the request of the artist, all cellphones are locked up in a little pouch (which you keep) so cannot then be accessed until a special magnet is applied to the lock on exit (there are side exits for cell phone emergencies). The stage has the prototypical comic’s stool and microphone, but also a curious ceramic dog (actually made out of crayons, we are later told)—this is the dog Douglas of the title, but rarely mentioned in the act. Ms. Gadsby enters the stage without ceremony, dressed in shlumpfy clothes, and starts talking without much introduction. She spends the first 10 minutes precisely outlining what she will do during the show, rather l