Tom Stoppard’s 1982 play, The Real Thing, is a beautifully constructed kaleidoscope which shows us how relationships ebb and flow and gives us the fly-on-the-wall view that would never be possible to have in real life. The play has so many British cultural references that the cast took the challenge and all mastered some very...
Posted by Angela Dalecki Wendy Wasserstein’s comedic play ISN’T IT ROMANTIC follows two friends in their late twenties as they try to navigate the harsh waters of romance and careers in 1980s Manhattan. One is Janie Blumberg (Madi Houff), a Jewish freelance writer struggling to establish independence from her well-meaning but occasionally overbearing parents (Rachel...
Although Neil Simon wrote The Gingerbread Lady in 1970, many of its themes – dysfunctional relationships, co-dependency, alcoholism, unemployment, and the fear of growing older – will resonate with today’s audiences. All of these topics are fully explored during the dramedy now playing at Chapel Street Players. Evy, a once celebrated cabaret singer, returns to...
Neil Simon is best known for light comedies like The Odd Couple and Brighton Beach Memiors; THE GINGERBREAD LADY, the current offering from The Chapel Street Players in Newark, Delaware, is, by contrast, a heavy drama about addiction, abuse and fading youth. To be sure, there is wit and humor in the piece, but this...
Before we get to the gritty details, let’s get right to the point: if you have a free night this weekend, you should be headed to Newark, Delaware, to see THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE at Chapel Street Players. I think most of the audience expected the show to be a comedy (it isn’t, though...
Beauty Queen of Leenane is a neat and tight play by Martin McDonaugh, a child of Irish parents born in London where his family had emigrated just as the families of his Leenane must do in the 1989 setting. The characters he presents are also quite finely drawn. Maureen, played with great energy by Kerry...
Posted by Marshall Garrett Going to a live performance of Shakespeare is always a delightful event. Having a work by the greatest author in the history of our language delivered in the manner in which it was intended is, sadly, a rarer and rarer treat, especially outside of Shakespeare festivals. However, a theatre must truly...
Feeling silly? In the mood to shed a layer of skin and let out your inner monster? Then Chapel Street Players’ production of House of Frankenstein by Martin Downing (directed by Scott F. Mason) would be your best bet for entertainment this weekend! Vampires, werewolves, and other freaks roam the stage of this whimsical play,...
When Brick, Maggie the Cat, Big Daddy and Big Mama come to town, it’s always a cause for celebration. Theatregoers know they’re in for an evening of epic family squabbling and steamy sexuality delivered in Tennessee Williams’ singular combination of Southern-inflected poetry and vulgarity. It’s therefore fortunate that the Chapel Street Players are giving us...
Pulling off a Tennessee Williams play about southern social mores in the 1950s wasn’t easy in the 1950s, but doing it in 2011, on the 56th anniversary of the play’s first production, is quite a feat. Jamie Cunningham is most ambitious in trying to portray a culture not his own with its intricate balance of...
