Category Archives: Community

           In the words of a Phoenix Productions insider, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (its official title) is “the kind of show you rush through the book to get to the music.” Agreed. Berlin’s music and lyrics make the show palatable…and … Continue reading →

           Until last week, I’d never attended Holmdel Theatre Company while a football game was in progress on the field adjacent to the theater, with the PA announcer and the band providing muffled accompaniment to the play. It was a … Continue reading →

              First Avenue Playhouse has had a certain amount of success with female-ensemble plays. Four women put their hearts into Crimes of the Heart last year, and the all-female cast of Daughters made the most of that play back … Continue reading →

             In his book “A Lifetime with Shakespeare,” Paul Barry, the moving force behind and co-founder (with me) of the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, suggests that designing A Midsummer Night’s Dream would be an ideal test for admission to the … Continue reading →

 It’s hard to come up with a musical that doesn’t revolve around one or two demanding roles and harder still to find people to carry those parts, especially in community theater. Phoenix Productions solved that problem by casting Joe Caruso … Continue reading →

  One of the four characters in Happy, Robert Caisley’s new play at NJ Rep, ends up happy at the end, but you won’t learn here who it is. In order of appearance, it could be 40-something Alfred (Michael Irvin … Continue reading →