by Chris Rohmann | Jun 14, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Stagestruck
Summer theater used to be known as “the straw-hat trail” and “summer stock,” both terms evoking familiar, innocuous entertainments presented for languid hot-weather audiences by (usually) amateur companies in tents, barns, and town halls. From the outset, though,...
by By Chris Rohmann | Jun 6, 2016 | Uncategorized
Looking over the season lineups at the Valley’s summer theaters, I’ve been struck by how many of this year’s shows have “ripped-from-the-headlines” plots and themes. These are contemporary plays that draw on current issues, controversies and other front-page...
by Chris Rohmann | Jun 3, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
Two world-premiere musicals have just opened in the region. One is an unassuming little pocket piece with a nifty hook, the other a glamorous spectacular that assumes it’s going to Broadway. The Musical Theatre Lab at Barrington Stage has developed dozens of new works...
by By Chris Rohmann | May 16, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
I see a lot of plays, and I cover as many as I can. But the feast of performances always overwhelms the column inches, so now, with a new summer theater season on the horizon, I’m taking a final look back at the shows I’ve enjoyed since last summer. Promising...
by Chris Rohmann | May 5, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
Halloween is half a year away, but there are devilish doings in the Valley, foreshadowed by witchery in Lenox. A one-woman show at Amherst College this weekend puts a clown face on a 17th-century tale of demonic possession, and last month Shakespeare & Company...