On Stage

by DICK KEREKES The drama department and the film production class of Jacksonville University combined their talents last weekend, to produce Jean-Paul Sartre’s one act play No Exit. When I learned about this event, I was hesitant to attend because I know the student film class would be taping it and most of my previous experience with movie makers and plays involved a lot of lights and stopping and starting for various scenes. I was pleased when the cameras used the stage lighting and I was hardly aware that any filming was going on. About half of the seating in …

by DICK KEREKES Remember the slogan, “You deserve a break today?” Well I am changing that to “You deserve a laugh these days” and you can get dozens of them seeing Orange Park Community Theatre’s current show Sly Fox, which runs through the month of November at 2900 Moody Road in Orange Park. Call 276-2599 or reserve on line at www.opct.org. Let me warn you, that it is bawdy and low-brow humor that will have you in stitches for two hours. It has been around since 1606 when penned by Ben Jonson under the name Volpone. In l976, Larry Gelbert …

by DICK KEREKES Theatre Jacksonville officially opened its 89th season with Jim Leonard’s unique coming of age story Anatomy of Gray. It will run through November 15 at the Harold K. Smith Playhouse, 2032 San Marco in Jacksonville. The reservation number is 396-4425. The comedy/drama may well the sleeper of the year, and this is the North Florida premier of what is a very well acted and cleverly staged play that is eminently entertaining and filled with sagacity. It is set in the town of Gray Indiana in the late 1800s. When l5 year old June’s father dies, she sends …

by dick kerekes I saw the gala performance of the Elvis Presley inspired musical All Shook Up recently. This was the North Florida premier of this musical. I found it to be exhilarating, spirited, truly charming and clever, with a first class cast of wonderful singers and dancers and a plot that seemed to move well in and out of the 24 Elvis songs in the show. If you are an Elvis fan (they seem to everywhere from age 8 to 80), you will enjoy a story that has heart but doesn’t take itself too seriously. In these nervous times …

by DICK KEREKES The Jacksonville University College of Fine Arts opened the 2008-09 season with the Terrance McNally, Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens’, musical, Ragtime, based on the 1975 novel by E. L. Doctorow. The show was nominated for 12 Tony Awards in l998 and won three. It lost out as best musical to the “Lion King.” As I write this, three performances remain on October 31 and November l at 7:30 pm and November 2 at 2:30 PM. All performances are at the Swisher Theatre on the campus of Jacksonville University. It is a wonderful production and I urge you …

by DICK KEREKES How does that song go? Imagination is funny; it makes a cloudy day sunny. Gainesville’s Hippodrome Theatre latest production The Woman in Black will certainly test your IQ (imagination quotient). Why? There are only two actors and a woman who appears silently, an almost bare stage in an old theater with only a door, a couple pieces of furniture, and a few props. In act II, a child’s bed room appears briefly, and then disappears. The play does have two terrific story tellers, and outstanding special effects and of course, the audience’s imagination. The history of this …

by DICK KEREKES Atlantic Beach Experimental Theatre opened a two weekend run of Fernandina Beach resident Richard Wolf’s play entitled Rear End. An unusual title for a play that is for sure, but simply explained by the fact it is a spoof of the l954 Jimmy Stewart/Grace Kelly movie Rear Window. In the movie, a photographer is disabled and sees a murder being committed in a window across the courtyard. In this play, a retired geologist who is disabled spends his spare time with binoculars watching the tenant’s windows across his courtyard. The title no doubt refers to the anatomy …

by Dick Kerekes Players by the Sea opened a two weekend run of John Patrick Shanley’s DOUBT; A Parable. It is in their black box theatre that only seats 70, so if you want to see any of the remaining three performances on October 16, 17, l8, I suggest you call 249-0289. If great acting, an excellent scripts and cutting edge theatre appeal to you, than by all means Doubt is an absolute must see. This was the second time I had seen it and it had even a greater impact on me because of the excellent casting, direction and …

by DICK KEREKES I saw the gala performance of the Elvis Presley inspired musical All Shook Up last Friday night. This was the North Florida premier of this musical and I found to be exhilarating, spirited, truly charming and clever, with a first class cast of wonderful singers and dancers and a plot that seemed to move well in and out of the 24 Elvis songs in the show. If you are an Elvis fan, (they seem to everywhere from age 8 to 80) you will enjoy a story that has heart but doesn’t take itself too seriously. In these …

by DICK KEREKES The Douglas Anderson School of the Arts Theatre Department presented Lee Blessing’s play Patient A, in their Black Box Theatre for a four performance run last weekend. This play debuted in l993, but is very infrequently done probably because it concerns the subject of AIDS, which does not generally translate into good box office that most theatres need these days. The play is about the life and death of Kimberly Bergalis. Bergalis was a Florida resident who died in l991 from complications of AIDS, which she contracted from her dentist. She had some molars removed in l989 …