Tale as old as— wait. No. That’s not right. The seaweed is always greener— no. That’s not it either. The cow as white as milk, the slipper as pure as— oh. Definitely not. With the flurry of various and sundry fairytale musicals being done here, there, and everywhere, who can keep them all straight? What about a lesser known fairytale? Or at least a lesser produced one? Artistic Synergy swoops in to save the day in that department,
Ed Higgins, as Alan Turing says in one scene, “It’s about right and wrong.” How Do You Like Me Now Productions (HDYLMNP) understands this and gets it right again with Hugh Whitemore’s Breaking the Code. If there is one thing that we have learned about HDYLMNP throughout the years, it’s that they will take an issue, put it in your face, and make you aware of something that you needed to be made aware.
Territory folks should stick together! Territory folks should all be pals! The cowboys dance with the farmer’s daughters; the farmers dance with the rancher’s gals! Now I’d like to say a word ‘bout Artistic Synergy…they set up in the church basement and that’s fine! They do shows to make us smile, and they’re dancing’s real in style, and they’re doing Oklahoma! by Rogers & Hammerstein! Oh— territory folks should stick together— territory folks should all be friends,
Madness, thy name is Brewster! Me thinks the aunties doth protest too much! Oh— wait a minute— the season of Shakespeare and all’s well that goes with that has concluded. Let’s try this again. Madness runs in the Brewster family; it practically gallops, though it isn’t quite the truth either. Madness doesn’t run through the Brewster family, it meanders slowly taking its time to get intimately acquainted with each and every member! And you’ll find out just how intimately insane the Brewster clan is but only if you venture out to Cockpit In Court for the first mainstage show of their 2017 season!
The line forms, on the right, babe— now that Macheath is back in town! The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre is sending scarlet billowing all over the stage, kicking off 2017 with a flash of those pearly white sharks teeth as they bring the iconic Bertolt Brecht adaptation, The Three Penny Opera to the stage. Directed (with new editing, adapting, and translating) by Michael Blum with Musical Direction by Erica Rome, this poor man’s opera is certain to put the tingles up your spine.
There’s a suggestion of gunpowder in the air, one small spark might set off an explosion upstairs in the Theatre Building this season at Cockpit in Court as they present what is quickly becoming an annual tradition of murder mystery on their stage. Agatha Christie’s Towards Zero is the latest play to fall victim to this yearly tradition and although there’s nary a gun in the show (not even so much as mentioned!),