Theater Reviews
The Greater Providence Area is like a middleweight moving up a class to fight heavyweights in the cultural arena. Pound for pound, there are theater, dining, museums, dance, touring shows, symphony and more far beyond what a city this size ordinarily expects.
As an example, here are two performances you shouldn’t miss if you’re in the area:
Trinity Rep (disclaimer: I’m a former board member) is staging “Cabaret” based on the original Isherwood work, so that the wonderful Rachel Warren as Sally Bowles does not have to channel Liza Minnelli. The Kit Kat troupe is worth the price of admission, and Curt Columbus has directed the superficial patina of gaiety nicely over the looming Nazi menace. Stealing the show—and, frankly, too often off stage—is the emcee, Joe Wilson, who is in fine voice, fine fettle, and fine lingerie. He bears an eerie resemblance to LaToya Jackson, which threw me for a while, but he has better legs. This is a wonderful rendition of a classic work: http://www.trinityrep.com/.
A couple of miles north in Pawtucket at the GAMM Theater (disclaimer: I’m on the board), director Tony Estrella also stars in a screamingly funny “Much Ado About Nothing” that is a masterpiece. Tony is arguably the finest working actor in New England (and possibly beyond), and his Benedick is a tour de force. At times the show had to momentarily stop to allow the laughter to die down. We were lucky to see it with a large group of St. George’s School students who had just read it, so it was a more knowledgeable crowd than would ordinarily be the case. The warden (the play is set in 1945 and, unlike so much of Shakespeare that is just a conceit in modern settings, this play sizzles), played by Tom Gleadow, has evidently been given permission to eat the scenery and, quite positively, there’s little left when he’s done with it. GAMM provides great art in an intimate setting, and this is the first of a paired set, with Romeo and Juliet coming with the same cast: http://www.gammtheatre.org/.
There is far better dining in Providence than Boston (we eat out seven nights a week), so take a couple of evenings and enjoy yourselves!
(Recommended pre-Trinity: Gracie’s, right across the street; pre-GAMM: Chez Pascal, 960 Hope St., Providence, a five-minute drive from the theater.)
© Alan Weiss 2009. All rights reserved.
