Riverdance 25th Anniversary Show is a reinvention of the internationally beloved favorite.  It is a theatrical show that consists mainly of traditional Irish music and step dance. With a score composed by Bill Whelan, it originated as an interval act during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest featuring Irish dancing champions Jean Butler and Michael Flatley.  The 25th Anniversary North American Tour was shut down in March 2020 during a sold-out return engagement due to the pandemic. I had the opportunity to speak with Matthew Gardiner about Riverdance, Irish dance, life on the road, and what happened during the Covid pause.   Just …

Fun Facets:  Aladdin is one story from The Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern and Indian folk tales.  However, it did not appear in the original Arabic text.  It was added by a French translator, who compiled 12 volumes of stories in the 1700’s.  The original story is also set in China, and Aladdin is a lazy boy living with mom, not an orphaned street urchin. It’s hard not to compare this version of Aladdin with the 1992 animated film and the more recent 2019 live-action movie.  The animated version is fantastical, light, and one can only …

To kick off its 56th season, the FSCJ Artists Series has invaded the Center for the Performing Arts with a winter wonderland of Santa, Elves, and a Grinch of a dad.  Not to mention Buddy, who is caught between the two worlds as a human raised by Santa’s elves.  Parental warning:  Your children may wind up on the naughty list if they get ideas to use your shredders to make snow in Jacksonville! Based on the 2003 movie, ELF: The Musical first hit Broadway in 2010.  After a lackluster showing, the show was retooled, and has held a fairly solid community …

The only thing half-baked about WAITRESS is that it was only in Jacksonville one night!  Based on the movie written by Adrienne Shelly, the stage book was written by Jessie Nelson and features original music and lyrics by Grammy Award winner Sara Bareilles.  The whole mixture is to a delicious treat. The cast opens with, “What’s Inside,” a number to truly open a show.  Everything — lead performers, strong ensemble, sets, choreography, and practical effects — was heartwarming and hilarious.  The audience was applauding loudly after every song and laughing so loudly the cast had to pause numerous times.  Thank goodness I was …

Anastasia is based on the long-held myth that Grand Duchess Anastasia and her younger brother, Tsarevich Alexei, escaped the family’s assassination in 1918.  In the mass grave that held the parents, only three of the four sisters were found.  Spoilers!  The fourth sister and Alexei were found in 2007, ten years after the animated movie release.  Although the mystic Rasputin (in the movie, but not the play) makes for a great bad guy, he was actually assassinated two years before the Romanovs.  Last, but not least, the Dowager Empress never lived in Paris.  She traveled to England to live with …

The Limelight Theatre in St. Augustine has staged Tracy Letts’ dark comedy (a Pulitzer and Tony-winner), a portrait of Americana that captures the quarrelsome Weston clan who have gathered to pay their last respects to one of their own—and disrespects to each other.  According to Mr. Letts, it is based on family history.  His grandfather committed suicide when Letts was 10 years old. August: Osage County begins with a scene that almost seems out of context with the rest of the show:  Alcoholic patriarch Beverly (Rich Nowell) quotes T.S. Eliot in the opening segment ae he is hiring a caretaker, …

Cats coming together for a Jellicle Ball to sing, dance and wonder who will be the one chosen to ascend to the Heaviside layer. CATS first opened in London, with Broadway following a year later.  Awards for both productions followed, and they even vied for the Best Musical Theater Album Grammy.  The show is one of the most internationally produced of all time and has been considered the gateway to the modern blockbuster musical and musicals becoming a global commodity. The show is comprised of songs that derived mostly from TS Eliot’s 1939 poetry book, originally written for his godchildren, …

Company, a 1970 musical comedy with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth, was among the first musicals to deal with adult themes and relationships and is not for young audiences (cautions on language and subject matter).  To quote Sondheim, “Broadway theater has been for many years supported by upper-middle-class people with upper-middle-class problems.  These people really want to escape that world when they go to the theatre, and then here we are with Company talking about how we’re going to bring it right back in their faces.”  The original production was nominated for a record-setting fourteen Tony Awards and won six. Returning to …