On Stage

A Dual Critics Review Douglas Anderson School of the Arts opened Neil Simon’s “Brighton Beach Memoirs” on January 31, which continues during February 6 – 9, 2019.  The school campus is located in Jacksonville’s ; the show is in the. For tickets, visit www.datheatreboosters.org or call the Box Office at 904-346.5620 x 122. Simon, who died at age ninety-one last August, left behind a lifetime filled with productions for theatre, film, and television. Many of his stories were set in New York City, where he was born. Notable works include “Barefoot in the Park,” “The Odd Couple,” and the Pulitzer …

A DUAL CRITICS REVIEW Jacksonville Beach’s Players by the Sea opened its first production of 2019 with “The Bridges of Madison County” on January 25th, which runs through February 16th. The theatre is located at 106 6th Street North in . For reservations call 904-249-0289 or visit playersbythesea.org. The musical is based on a novella of the same name by Robert James Waller, published in 1992.  Many theatre-goers will be familiar with the story. The book was on the New York Times bestseller list for over three years, has sold over sixty million copies worldwide, and a 1995 film adaptation …

A DUAL CRITICS REVIEW The All Beaches Experimental Theatre (ABET) opened “The Robber Bridegroom” on January 25th, 2019. This high-spirited musical is sponsored by John Johnson and runs through February 10th. The production by is the North Florida premier. The story is based on a 1942 novella by Eudora Welty adapted from a story the Grimm brothers included in their book of European fairy tales (published 1812); she changed the setting from Germany to Mississippi. The story was rewritten as a musical in the early 1970s, with book and lyrics by Alfred Uhry and music by Robert Waldman. This  version …

When Suzanne Hudson Smith first stepped into her new role as executive director of Players by the Sea, she was adamant that despite her theatre background, she had no plans to direct a show unless it was the right piece. When a last-minute calendar change added The Bridges of Madison County to the season schedule, she knew it was the opportunity she was waiting for. “Bridges of Madison County is a very intimate story that has so many little pieces to it. It’s what theatre does, in that we are able to present a story and the last piece that’s …

To Love Another Person Is To See The Face of God If you’re going to see one musical this year, this is it. Intensely powerful and aesthetically astounding from Prologue to Finale, Les Misérables is easily the best Broadway production in Jacksonville in 2019. This classic tale is so masterfully performed that you’ll be moved to tears time and again. Boubil & Schonberg’s Les Misérables opened Tuesday, January 22nd and runs through January 27, 2019 at the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts. Based Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel, Les Misérables has been delighting audiences since its 1985 London debut and …

A DUAL CRITICS REVIEW St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre opened “An Enemy of the People,” on January 11, which runs through February 3, 2019 on the Matuza Mainstage. The theatre is located at 11 Old Mission Avenue; ample free parking is available. Visit limelight-theatre.org or call 904-825-1164 for reservations. The play, written by Arthur Miller in 1950, is adapted from Henrik Ibsen’s classic drama, which was written in 1882. And although the original was written over a century ago, the themes remain relevant. How can you warn of danger when being pressured to remain silent? Protect your family from retaliation? Deal …

Orange Park Community Theatre’s third show this season is The Dixie Swim Club, a touching comedy by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten.  Even though this is a rather prolifically performed script, it remains  popular. The relevance of the characters in the story consistently cuts across generations and communities as a study in friendship and how it grows and changes through the years. Five Southern women who became friends on their college swim team set aside a long weekend each year to recharge their relationships. Free from husbands, children, jobs, they always meet at the same beach cottage on …

This past weekend, the NE Florida Conservatory debuted its first non-musical (straight) show as they expand their artistic stage outreach beyond vocalists by adding straight plays to their repertoire, Three’s a Crowd, a comedy written by Phoebe and Henry Ephron, opened on Broadway in 1943. It has not been widely performed, which is sad, as it is a very funny script. I don’t know how director Bill Di Stanisloa found this gem. Sam () and Francis Whitaker (Ralin Trosclair) play off each other well sharing their two-bedroom apartment with Francis’ sister, Irma, for two years. Very soon it becomes a …

Joy, happiness, bliss, sound, and love. Those are the brushstrokes used by the creators of the Landscape of Guitar to paint the fully immersive multimedia experience layering visual art with an intricate soundscape. Revered among the top nuevo-flamenco groups in the world, award-winning singer-songwriters Bruce and Julie Hecksel, known professionally as Patchouli & Terra Guitarra, founded the groundbreaking production of art and music on their signature style of painting objects from butterflies to trees in the shape of a guitar.  The Landscape of Guitar is staged Jan. 18 at (www.thcenter.org). A morning matinee offers an abbreviated performance and a post-show …