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Wednesday, October 31,2012
STAGE

Pregnant Pause

A British drama’s hot potato topic addresses the human element in Appleseed’s The Choice

By James MacKillop
Abortion, as we knew long before the current, contentious presidential election, is a subject with virtually no middle ground. Both sides are well-defined, hardened and resistant to suasion. Shoul
Wednesday, October 31,2012
STAGE

Turbulent Triumph

Le Moyne College offers a substantially reshaped version of Shakespeare’s The Tempest

By James MacKillop
William Shakespeare wrote a play titled The Tempest (1611), his last, long thought to contain a partially autobiographical character: Prospero, the deposed Duke of Milan. Le Moyne College’s y
Wednesday, October 31,2012
STAGE

Pol Position

Pol Position Onondaga Hillplayers vote for laughs in the timely farce The Senator Wore Pantyhose

By James MacKillop
In The Senator Wore Pantyhose, the senator in question is not Kirsten Gillibrand, whose real pantyhose would hardly be worth noting let alone be made the subject of rollicking and loose-limbed far
Wednesday, October 31,2012
STAGE

Bow Jest

A string quartet unravels in Kitchen Theatre’s intricate dark comedy Opus

By James MacKillop
One cynical voice explains what constitutes a string quartet, that seemingly genteel institution: “It’s made up of one terrific violinist, one not-so-terrific violinist, one former violi
Wednesday, October 24,2012
STAGE

Transylvania Twisted

Shock cinema shtick is part of the musical send-up for the Talent Company’s The Rocky Horror Show

By James MacKillop
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Producer-director Christine Lightcap has been running The Rocky Horror Show since she had braces on her teeth and cruised to the theater on her roller sk
Wednesday, October 17,2012
STAGE

Son of Blubber

Seafaring chanteys highlight a new adaptation of Moby Dick at Syracuse Stage

By James MacKillop
In his copious program notes for the Syracuse Stage production of Moby Dick, director Peter Amster praises Julian Rad’s adaptation of Herman Melville’s novel for moving the complex, alle
Wednesday, October 17,2012
STAGE

Perfectly Frankie

The birth of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons is recalled in Famous Artists’ popular musical Jersey Boys

By James MacKillop
It has to be, in Ed Sullivan’s immortal phrasing, “a really, really big shew” for the Syracuse New Times to cover one of the road productions Famous Artists brings to town. We may b
Wednesday, October 10,2012
STAGE

Shooting to Stardom

Losers take aim at political figures in the Redhouse’s dark musical Assassins

By James MacKillop
Stephen Sondheim did not push the envelope far enough in Sweeney Todd, with themes of mass murder and cannibalism. In Assassins he has John Wilkes Booth return from the dead to counsel Lee Harvey Os
Wednesday, October 10,2012
STAGE

Nun Better

The sisterhood shines again in Nunsense, Merry-Go-Round’s season finale

By James MacKillop
The phrase “brought back by popular demand” does not appear in promotion for Merry-Go-Round Playhouse’s revival of Dan Goggin’s musical comedy Nunsense, but you can almost hear
Wednesday, October 3,2012
STAGE

Be Kind, Rewind

SU Drama begins its season with Stephen Sondheim’s backward musical Merrily We Roll Along

By James MacKillop
It’s the flop musical with the best legs. Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along closed, notoriously, after 16 poorly attended performances in 1981. That sundered the relationship betw
 
 
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