Live Theater
Grand Rapids Civic Theatre Stages Murder On The Orient Express
by (John Kissane)
Submitted 04-22-2024 under OPINION
Sherlock Holmes was so popular that Arthur Conan Doyle, his creator, having killed the detective (in "The Final Problem," 1893), later ended up resurrecting him, compelled by the demands of the public and barrels filled with money. Nearly...
Clyde's dramatizes the hopes and struggles of post-prison life
by (John Kissane)
Submitted 01-21-2024 under OPINION
You made a mistake. And it's a big mistake – the kind they could throw you in prison for. So that's what they do. You grind your sentence out, keeping your head down, dreaming of freedom. Then, finally, you get that freedom. But here...
Grand Rapids Civic Theatre Stages Disney's Beauty and the Beast
by (John Kissane)
Submitted 11-27-2023 under OPINION
Jean Cocteau's La Belle et la Bête, released in 1946, was some kind of miracle. It expanded on the 1757 fairy tale of the same name, telling a story both enchanting and, at times, a little scary. In one typically surreal touch, real arms,...
Sweeney Todd Cuts As Sharply As Ever
by (John Kissane)
Submitted 09-13-2023 under OPINION
At first, you don’t see him. You see others, though: the citizens of long-ago London. Horror-struck, they sing operatically of Sweeney Todd, a man they call “the demon barber of Fleet Street.” Todd shaved his customers, yes, shaved...
Pippin Comes Of Age
by (John Kissane)
Submitted 07-13-2023 under OPINION
A woman in the audience turned to her companion and said, not disapprovingly: “It’s borderline nudity!” From the next row over, a man responded: “Have you been to the beach lately?” It’s true: the cast of Pippin (...
Come From Away Tells Heartfelt, Life-Affirming Stories In The Wake Of 9/11
by (John Kissane)
Submitted 11-10-2022 under OPINION
It's a sobering thought: that there are people born after September 11th who are now old enough to drink. The tragedy defined a generation, and not only in the United States. On September 12th, 2001, the main headline of France's Le...
Pirates of Penzance Charms, Entertains
by (John Kissane)
Submitted 10-31-2022 under OPINION
Gilbert and Sullivan, those swashbuckling Victorian showmen, had a gift for creating shows so entertaining that you could easily miss how well they were made. Ostensibly serious theater, with its obvious gestures toward importance, often has a...
The Music Man Charms Old And Young Alike
by (John Kissane)
Submitted 07-15-2022 under OPINION
The Music Man premiered sixty-five years ago (1957) and was set forty-five years before that (1912). Math-oriented readers have already deduced that 110 years separate us from the events of the play. That's a long time, longer than most of...