Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park has upped its costume budget lately, and the results show. Robert Pittenridge designed them for all OSP shows this summer, and his “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” work, now at the Myriad Gardens Water Stage, is downright sumptuous. Hippolyta carries a bow and an arrow-filled quiver for much of the play, […]
Larry Laneer
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In it for ‘Life’
Alexander Dinelaris’ 2009 drama, “Still Life,” is set in New York City among characters that not too long ago were known as “yuppies.” So how goes it with this socioeconomic group once so full of themselves? According to Dinelaris, they are dissatisfied, unfulfilled and suddenly have realized that time rolls on inexorably. As the Grim […]
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Streetcar system
For those of us who love theater, nothing — well, almost nothing — beats watching an accomplished actor playing a great role, and that excellent combination is what you have with Alissa Millar as Blanche DuBois (pictured) in Oklahoma City Theatre Company’s production of Tennessee Williams’ 1947 classic “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Millar modulates perfectly […]
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Dressing room
The world is divided into two kinds of people: those who love wedding receptions and those who don’t. If you’re in the latter camp, you may agree with one character in “Five Women Wearing the Same Dress” who describes the wedding reception depicted in the play as “the bland leading the bland.” The same might […]
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Make Merry
After a sojourn last summer in Bicentennial Park during major construction at its home theater, Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park has returned to the Myriad Botanical Gardens Water Stage. This homecoming’s a welcome return. Moving to the Water Stage three years ago is the best thing that ever happened to OSP, and once the kinks […]
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‘Strange’ magic
Boy, where to start talking about The Pollard Theatre’s production of the “Passing Strange” musical? It’s the best work seen at Pollard in a long time, and when the theatrical year is tallied six months from now, if this does not get Best Musical, this will be one heck of a year for musicals. All […]
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That’s the ticket
This season, Guthrie’s Pollard Theatre did away with season tickets and instituted the Backstage Society in an effort to accommodate different patron types and establish a steady cash flow. Backstage Society members pay $13 to $99 monthly, charged to a credit card, which comes to $156 to $1,188 annually. Membership includes one to four season […]
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Redneck romp
This sounds like fun: “The Great American Trailer Park Musical.” What is it, a chance to make fun of the rednecks, yahoos, crackers and other toothless wonders who stereotypically inhabit trailer parks? No. The show’s not mean-spirited, but it’s not much of a show, either. Presented by Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre, in conjunction with the […]
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By the ‘Saints’
David Ives’ “Lives of the Saints,” now at Ghostlight Theatre Club, is comprised of seven one-act comedies of varying efficacy. An accomplished stylist, Ives works the language like Silly Putty, and he’s not above double entendres and groan-inducing puns. In “Babel’s in Arms,” about building the Tower of Babel, you get dialogue such as “Did […]
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Lucky ‘Seven’
Oklahoma City Theatre Company has opened “Seven Interviews,” a new work by New Mexico playwright Mark Dunn that contemplates the most basic of human interactions, the one-on-one encounter. The play is comprised of seven unconnected scenes of 10 to 15 minutes each. Dunn uses the term “interviews” broadly. Some of the encounters are more like […]