Wednesday, February 1,2012

Stunning 'Stone'

Purple Rose Theatre drama is a solid triumph

by Tom Helma

It takes a singer with a great voice to bring out the complexities of a well-composed opera. Likewise, it takes an actor with great range to project the nuances of a well-written script.

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Wednesday, December 28,2011

Theater: Some of the best was in the streets

by Tom Helma

My take on the best theater of the year is that it took place on the streets, most noticeably with the surge in flashmob theater taking place everywhere and then, more recently, in the Occupy political street theater occurring in many cities around the world.

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Wednesday, November 9,2011

Theatrical psychodrama

Powerful ‘Shrike’ explores malicious mind games

by Tom Helma

Set designer Fred Englegau has created a great, seemingly soothing yet sinister mental hospital ward that is as seriously anal-retentive and super-organized as a Martha Stewart Thanksgiving dinner table, while director Paige Dunckel has found and...

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Wednesday, November 2,2011

Going Over the Ledge

Theater vet Joe Dickson launches a new company

by Tom Helma

By TOM HELMA Some people wish, some people dream, others take action. Joe Dickson acts. He also directs, handles lighting and sound, is on the Lansing Civic Players board of directors and is in the process of creating his own theater company, Over the Ledge.

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Wednesday, October 19,2011

Pure poison

‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ proves comedy doesn’t always improve with age

by Tom Helma

Playwright Joseph Kesserling puts theater critic Mortimer Brewster at the heart of “Arsenic,” an island of rationality in an ocean of insanity. Adam Bright plays him with a consistently effective calmness, while most of the other characters are exaggerated nutcases.

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Wednesday, October 5,2011

Puerile Michigan

Purple Rose Theatre revisits ‘Escanaba,’ where good taste is always out of place

by Tom Helma

elaborately staged Rube Goldberg set up of an extended fart sequence, complete with slow-motion strobe light and explosive sound effects? Or is it the scene in which a particularly potent potpourri of Potawatami porcupine piss gets poured over Ranger Tom?.

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Wednesday, September 28,2011

Actors soar in 'Blackbird'

Drama poses provocative questions about passion

by Tom Helma

director Chad Badgero promises that “no situation is simply black or white,” and in “Blackbird," Doak Bloss and Angela Mishler confirm this in a production that leaves the audience emotionally bruised and battered, spiritually black and blue. This is not a play for the faint of heart, yet it is a play that stirs the soul.

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Wednesday, September 21,2011

Musical Memoir: A New Jersey State of Mind

by Tom Helma

What is there about this small East Coast state that captivates the country? What makes people yearn for the seriously mean streets of this urban-industrial corridor that parallels the Hudson River? Is it that view from the city of West New York, N.J.

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Wednesday, September 14,2011

Riverwalk delivers a winning 'Annie'

by Tom Helma

One expects children in these roles to be cute and emotionally endearing, but director Jeff Croff (ably assisted by choreographer Elizabeth Todd) has additionally conjured up a high level of professionalism. Not to mention impressive stage Review presence on the part of two separate children’s ensembles.

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Wednesday, June 29,2011

Change of life

A macho man finds a softer side in Purple Rose’s amusing ’Oyster’

by Tom Helma

MacGregor uses humor to illustrate the challenges of a man learning how to be a woman. In Act Two, Gene reemerges as Jean, played now by Rhiannon Ragland.

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