by Colin Thomas | Sep 13, 2025 | Review
I could not get a bead on Act 1, but I found Act 2 rewarding, which sucks, I guess, for the people who left at intermission. In the theatre, style is often the trickiest thing to get right, and this script exists in a stylistic hall of mirrors. Henrik Ibsen, who wrote...
by Colin Thomas | Jul 21, 2025 | Review
To me, this production of The Mousetrap feels like one of those fantastically diverting mechanical toys I used to get on Christmas mornings — and that I still sometimes give on Christmas mornings. The play isn’t deeply meaningful, but there’s joy in the mechanics —...
by Colin Thomas | Jul 15, 2025 | Review
The material isn’t immortal, but it’s substantial enough and the production is perfect. Yep, that’s what I said: perfect. Jessie Nelson’s book for the musical is based on the movie, which was written by Adrienne Shelly. In the story, a waitress and piemaker named...
by Colin Thomas | May 2, 2025 | Review
A strange thing is happening to what is, to me, recent gay history: it’s being made holy. I’m thinking of director Joe Mantello’s TV version of playwright Mart Crowley’s 1968 script, The Boys in the Band, for instance. Mantello’s interpretation is an endless parade of...
by Colin Thomas | Apr 4, 2025 | Review
It’s not terrible. That’s the best I can muster. Playwright and director Mieko Ouchi’s Burning Mom, which is based on her own mom’s experience, is about a 63-year-old Calgary woman named Dorothy, who heads off to Burning Man with her adult son Kevin and his pal...
