Dave Alan Thomas – Folio 2.0 / EU Jacksonville

ABET, All Beaches Experimental Theatre, Alice in Wonderland, Photo by Susan Roche,

Alice in Wonderland is a Fantasy with Music at All Beaches Experimental Theatre

Dick Kerekes & Leisla Sansom May 15, 2019 Dual Critics, Family, Feature, Neptune Beach, The Beaches, Theatre, Theatre Reviews 30

A DUAL CRITICS ABET THEATER REVIEW The opened Alice in Wonderland on May 10 at 544 Atlantic Boulevard in . The show, sponsored by The Mary E. Haverty Foundation and John and Beverly Johnson, runs through May 26, 2019. Visit abettheatre.com or call 249-7177 for additional information and reservations. The book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, was written by Charles Dodson and published in 1865 under the pen name of Lewis Carroll. The book became a publishing sensation; Queen Victoria and Oscar Wilde were avid fans. It has never been out of print, has been published in over ninety languages, and continues …

MRS. WARREN’S PROFESSION Opens at Jacksonville University College of Fine Arts

Dick Kerekes & Leisla Sansom February 21, 2018 Arlington, Dual Critics, Feature, On Stage, Theatre, Theatre Reviews 385

DUAL CRITICS REVIEW “Mrs. Warren’s Profession,” a social-issues play by George Bernard Shaw, opened on the Swisher Theatre Stage at Jacksonville University on February 15th, with additional shows scheduled February 22 and 24, at 7:30 PM. The Irish playwright was a Nobel Prize winner, who wrote more than sixty plays during his lifetime. His best known works include “Man and Superman,” “Saint Joan,” “Major Barbara,” “Caesar and Cleopatra,” and “Pygmalion,” the basis for the ever- popular musical “My Fair Lady.” He died at age ninety-four, while in the process of writing still another play. “Mrs. Warren’s Profession” was written in …

“THE NANCE” Fast-Paced, Remarkably Versatile, Always Busy, And Always Funny

Dick Kerekes & Leisla Sansom June 6, 2017 Dual Critics, Feature, On Stage, St. Augustine, Theatre, Theatre Reviews 1,425

St. Augustine’s opened the Florida premier of “The Nance” on June 2, 2017 which will remain on the Matuza Main Stage through June 25, 2017. The theatre is located at 11 Old Mission Avenue; call 825-1164 or visit limelight-theatre.org for reservations. The play, written by , received three Tony awards after opening on Broadway in 2013 with star Nathan Lane in the lead role, and both entertains and educates. “” is set in New York City in 1937. The city is filled with burlesque theatres, which feature performances filled with adult content and allusions to sexual situations by naughty bawdy …

Review: “Celebration” a Unique Musical Fable from ABET

Dick Kerekes & Leisla Sansom January 24, 2017 Atlantic Beach, Dual Critics, Feature, On Stage, The Beaches, Theatre, Theatre Reviews 990

ATLANTIC BEACH EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE REVIEW A DUAL CRITICS REVIEW BY DICK KEREKES & LEISLA SANSOM Atlantic Beach Experimental Theatre,, opened its first production of 2017 with “,” a spectacular musical which will remain on stage through February 5th. For reservations, visit www.abettheatre.com or call 904-249-7177. “Celebration” is unique: a musical fable unlike any you have previously seen in a theatre. You probably do know the composers: (words) and (music) are famous for their 1960 hit “The Fantasticks,” which ran Off-Broadway for 42 years, with 17,182 performances. The original production closed in 2002; a 2006 revival is still running Off-Broadway. In …

ABET’s Avant-Garde Musical Fable ”Celebration”

Liza Mitchell January 15, 2017 Atlantic Beach, On Stage, Theatre 287

Billed as an “Avant-Garde Musical Fable,” tells the story of a young Orphan who stumbles upon the home of Edgar Allen Rich, who is the wealthiest man in the world, on what is revealed to be a magical New Year’s Eve. Among the guests of Mr. Rich is the beautiful fallen Angel, who becomes the subject of a ritualistic battle for her love. Celebration runs Jan 20–Feb 5 at the . (249-7177, www.abettheatre.com) directs the ABET stage debut with musical director and choreographer . Celebration stars , , , and features Brian Keith Champion, Lucas Hopper, Matt Krieger, Kimberly Cooper …

Shakespeare’s ‘original Game of Thrones’ MACBETH

Liza Mitchell October 27, 2016 Atlantic Beach, Feature, On Stage, The Beaches, Theatre 288

When casting her adaptation of Macbeth, director issued a call to arms for ‘courageous, playful, versatile actors for ‘a pared down, jacked up version of Shakespeare’s Scottish play’. Siddons selected 10 accomplished actors to bring her reimagined version of the ‘original Game of Thrones’ to the stage. This showing of marks the company’s first staging of a Shakespeare production and is also the ABET stage debut of in the title role and as Lady Macbeth. Opening Friday, Macbeth is staged through Nov. 6 at ABET, 716 Ocean Blvd., Atlantic Beach (www.abettheatre.com, 249-7177). “The cast has a natural aptitude for …

DUAL CRITICS REVIEW: Merrily We Roll Along at ABET

Dick Kerekes & Leisla Sansom September 14, 2016 Atlantic Beach, Dual Critics, Feature, On Stage, The Beaches, Theatre, Theatre Reviews 267

ABET THEATRE REVIEW DUAL CRITICS REVIEW BY DICK KEREKES & LEISLA SANSOM [email protected] The opened the Florida premier of the musical “” on September 9, 2016. The production will be onstage through September 26. The musical, which debuted on Broadway in 1981, is based on a 1934 play by and . It hasn’t been staged frequently, probably because it is so challenging for the actors, musicians, and directors. But as far as we know, director embraces challenging works, and this play was no exception. He was ably assisted by actor/director . The book is by , while the music and …

Stellar performances abound in “THE GRAPES OF WRATH”

Dick Kerekes & Leisla Sansom January 24, 2016 Dual Critics, Feature, On Stage, St. Augustine, Theatre, Theatre Reviews 576

LIMELIGHT THEATRE REVIEW DICK KEREKES & LEISLA SANSOM [email protected] St. Augustine’s has opened Frank Galati’s Tony Award winning play “.” The play is based on ’s novel, which was published in 1939, for which he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for fiction; a film starring Henry Fonda received an Academy Award the following year. The film is still shown on cable from time to time. Director ’ production of this searing indictment of man’s cruel indifference to his fellow man is a winner on stage at Limelight. It is a history lesson that remains frighteningly relevant, and one you won’t …

Frolic with”LA CAGE AUX FOLLES”

Dick Kerekes & Leisla Sansom September 24, 2015 Comedy, Dual Critics, Feature, Jacksonville Beach, On Stage, Theatre, Theatre Reviews 699

PLAYERS BY THE SEA THEATRE REVIEW Jacksonville Beach’s opened its 50th season on September 18, 2015 with a revival of the 1984 winner of six Tony Awards, “,” which will run through October 10. Reservations are highly recommended; call 904-249-0289 or visit theatrejax.org. When this play first hit Broadway in 1983, it was considered controversial as it is about a committed gay couple facing a family crisis when their son decides to marry. As far as we know, this production is only the second in North Florida; we recall it being staged at the some years ago. In view of …

A Comedy Worth Thinking About “CLYBOURNE PARK”

EU Jacksonville July 15, 2015 5 Points, Comedy, On Stage, Riverside, Theatre 427

This summer’s collaboration between , a Theatre Company and will be Bruce Norris’s thought-provoking comedy , a play about race, real-estate and relationships. Named for the fictional white neighborhood introduced in Lorraine Hansberry’s seminal play “A Raisin in the Sun,” Clybourne Park is a neighborhood twice transformed. Starting in 1959 we meet a Russ and Bev, a white middle-class couple packing for a move out of the neighborhood. Visits from their clergyman and their neighbors lead to a heated disagreement about the buyers for Russ and Bev’s home, a black family, and their worries about the impact on their property values. In …