In its slack, umbrella-drink-holding way, Margaritaville is body-image-positive, feminist, and egalitarian in its relationship developments. For you romance readers, the romance values are adult-level, in spite of the Parrothead themes. All the character arcs have twists I didn’t see coming. (As well as a few I did. Spoiler alert: the bride is seduced, no surprise . . . but via cheeseburger.)
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by Brenda W. Clough Stephen Sondheim’s musicals divide out into those that are plot-driven, and those that are more thematic. The ones with a real plot arc — among these I would place Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music and … Continue reading
This fourth Lifeline Heyer adaptation is wonderful. They’ve managed to find every rising line and turning point in the story and make it fabulous and funny and farcical, cut out the lengthy bits in between—you’re a Heyer fan, so you know how big this book is!—and leave you satisfied that you’ve got the whole story.
Continue readingby Brenda W. Clough Did I mention there are a -lot- of Roman ruins in southern France? The place is called Provence, which means ‘province’ — the Romans needed no other name for it. It was their main and favorite … Continue reading
by Brenda W. Clough One of the gems of the musical theater was staged this season at the Signature Theatre in Washington DC. A Little Night Music isn’t Stephen Sondheim’s greatest musical; that spot is reserved for Follies. But it’s … Continue reading
by Brenda W. Clough Many theaters are simply boxes — an empty space into which a show can be poured. But some theaters have so much history, they call for certain sorts of production. A good example would be the … Continue reading
by Brenda W. Clough The farce is one of the most ancient forms of drama. I am certain that Plato sat in the amphitheater in Athens and watched slamming doors and actors chasing each other around the stage socking each … Continue reading
by Brenda W. Clough This is one of the major pillars of the modern musical theater. It won six Tony awards in its day and though it’s getting on for fifty years old, it’s still able to speak to us. … Continue reading
by Brenda W. Clough In January we spent a long weekend in New York City. I don’t do this often, and so I take care to do only things that I can’t do anywhere else. This is not the time … Continue reading
by Brenda W. Clough There seem to be two ways that shows get onto Broadway. One is when persons of proven talent decide it’s time to start a new project. “Hey Oscar, you want to write a show?” “Sure, Rogers, … Continue reading