Broadway theatre

I will be writing a play review of West Side Story. The lyricist Stephen Sondheim born in New York on 22nd March 1930, was inspired to write West side story based on William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The play is targeted to an audience of aged 15 and above as it has mature and complicated themes to understand, however if you do understand it then it is a good play to watch. 25-35 year olds will enjoy it the most as it is based on relationships and it is perhaps more appealing to the…

Nielsen, Frances De la Tour, Ruth Mitchell and Maxine Peake are some of the most well-known actresses who were either cast as Hamlet, the prince or Hamlet, the princess. Therefore, it does not come as a surprise that Cross-gendering on the contemporary theatre and films has evolved over the years. Cross-gendering, like gender (and cross-dressing) has become multi-faceted in terms of experience and awareness for the actor, character and the audience. In that sense performance by Helen Mirren,…

Andrew Lincoln charmed his way into being one of America’s most popular actors, as starring as Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead. Although, Rick Grimes is how Andrew Lincoln became a television phenomenon, he has been acting for years. He has been involved in many small roles, and those small roles lead to a big lead, and a big pick up in his acting career. He has done his fair share of training, by attending acting schools, and doing voice overs. Overall, Andrew Lincoln has worked his way up the…

The real thrill happened March 7th at the B. Iden Payne Theater with the production of Gondal, written by Kimberly Belflower and produced by the University of Texas New Theatre. With three different worlds and time periods being presented at once, there was no time to blink. The play overall is a ride to darkness. The lights, costumes, and background music do a great job of portraying its wildness; however, the script itself needs polishing to reach the potential it has. There needs to be more…

I watched the film A Raisin in the Sun written by Lorraine Hansberry and produced in 1961 by Columbia Pictures Corporation and I also read the play. Although similarities between the play and the film exist, I have also found distinctions which allow each of the versions of A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry to stand on its own. In the play, the entire story happens in the Younger’s living room, in Chicago’s Southside, where in the 1950s it was the home of poor, black people. The…

State of the Arts Sunday in the Park George is colorful musical written by James Lapine with music written by the world-renowned Stephen Sondheim. The musical is based around the 19th century Impressionist George Seurat’s painting from 1884, “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte”. A rendition of this outstanding musical was recently playing over the past three months on the Guthrie Theater’s Wurtele Thrust Stage. The story revolves around Seurat himself along with a multitude of characters pictured in…

The Comedy of Errors is a lesser known Shakespearian tale, of two sets of brothers in a not-so-familiar setting. Two sets of identical twins are separated at birth – Egeon, a merchant, Emilia, his wife, his two twin sons (both named Antipholus), and the two slaves (also twins, both named Dromio) to the merchant’s sons are hit by a tempest and one son and slave stays with the Duke of Ephesus while the other son and slave are with his wife. It is a story of reunion as Antipholus and Dromio of…

“Capitol Theatre is at the former site of the Belmore Markets. The latter, built by George McRae (Architect) and Norman Selfe (structural engineer) in 1891, but was commercially unsuccessful due to its location, being too far from Darling Harbour. The old site was rebuilt as a theatre in 1928.” Since the early 19th century when this section of land was used by settlers as a market place for manufacture and hay, hence its name, “Haymarket”. The building initially functioned as “Belmore Markets”…

The film’s budget for special effects, costumes, sets, etc., was exceptionally greater than that of the theatrical production, so its overall aesthetic is much more polished and credible. The whole experience is immersive and the visuals impressively believable to behold. The overall effect, regardless of the magical elements, is much more realistic, and the setting looks like part of the real world, not a fictional land. Taking this into consideration, it is not surprising that the film had to…

Storytelling is a social and cultural art of telling stories through generations. Theatre allows the act of storytelling to connect the actors, director, playwright and the audience all as one. This connectivity forms a communication between the original artist's intent and the interpretation of those who read and observe the play. Theatre is a way to interpret a literary work from a person’s unique cultural background and develop a refined intellectual and artistic appreciation for it. This…