Over the years I have listened to portions of various operas on the radio or watched them on television, and while I appreciated the artistry involved, I never felt the pull. To me, opera equals pageantry and over-the-top emotion, either … Continue reading
Category Archives: Theater
by Brenda W. Clough For the historical fictioneer there are two ways to research. One is of course through books. Paging through dusty tomes, plowing through period letters, digging up the original documents, oh yes. You can grow old this … Continue reading
If you’re a fan of historical fiction you should see this play. If you’re a woman who has learned her way around her own body under less than optimal circumstances, or taught a man, you should see this play. If you’re a student of feminism, medicine, or sociology, you should see this play. If you need a laugh and can laugh at lengthy (and I assure you prudishly veiled) performances of hysteria cure in women and men, you should see this play. If you love steampunk for the finicky social rules, the language, the clothes, and clank, you should see this play.
Continue readingIn 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.)
Continue readingby 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