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BILL RODRIGUEZ

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Epic’s Six Degrees of Separation

Mind games
The value of imagination, the nature of trust and betrayal, the responsibilities of compassion, the uncertainty of innocence — these are all facets of John Guare's gem of a play Six Degrees of Separation , which is getting a surprisingly moving production by Epic Theatre Company (through February 24), directed by Matt Fraza.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | February 20, 2013

Review: Golden Chopstix

Some yummy dim sum
Since the Chinese invented gunpowder, the toothbrush, and paper money, we might as well also credit them with Spanish tapas and Scandinavian smörgåsbord.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | February 12, 2013

Wilbury’s Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity

Wrestling mania
There's a terrific surprise awaiting theatergoers willing to venture beyond the usual Trinity and off-Trinity environs, into the outskirts of darkest Olneyville.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | February 06, 2013

PC stages Tony Kushner’s The Illusion

This is your life (maybe)
Politicians want to talk about politics, fishmongers about fish, and it's no wonder the playwrights want to talk about theater.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | February 06, 2013

Review: Bonefish Grill

A well-polished and very tasty link
There are chains that give chain restaurants a bad name, that think earned popularity can be franchised.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | February 05, 2013

2nd Story’s masterful Amadeus

Music and madness
Poor Antonio Salieri. Try as he might to make his compositions sound more Germanic, the Lombardy-born court composer was forever grouped with other Italians in their suspected nefarious cabals.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 29, 2013

Ocean State Theatre Company’s Fools

Simon being simple
Neil Simon's comic fable Fools is getting a talented and chuckle-packed production by Ocean State Theatre Company (through February 10), which might have mildly annoyed the playwright if he knew.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 29, 2013

Review: Uncle Jo Jo’s Pizza & Pasta

Bountiful simplicity
Since there are more Italian restaurants on Federal Hill than potholes on Providence sidestreets, it's easy for newcomers without favorite spots to just go home and order Chinese delivered.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 22, 2013

The Gamm’s majestic Anne Boleyn

A delightful dervish
The Gamm Theatre has pulled off a couple of coups.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 22, 2013

Trinity Rep’s Crime and Punishment

The Devil inside
As voluminous Russian novels go, none could be boiled down to a 90-minute stage adaptation with unsurprising economy as well as Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment , which Trinity Repertory Company is proving with authority and imagination (through February 24).

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 23, 2013

Million Dollar Quartet rocks at PPAC

The Fab Four
A jukebox musical is a pretty low-concept idea, no matter how entertaining the production might turn out.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 22, 2013

Review: The Square Peg

From snacks to burgers, less is more
Have you ever opened an elaborate menu at a nice restaurant and, deciding you're not up for a big meal, just pick a snack?

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 08, 2013

Jekyll & Hyde at PPAC

The beast within
There is something to admire as well as eye-roll about melodrama, with all its inflated emotions and brake-squealing plot turns.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 02, 2013

From Rhinoceros to Metamorphoses to Amadeus

Raise the Curtain
A goofy spoof of King Arthur and his merry men, and an appreciative take on one of the wives of Henry VIII.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | December 26, 2012

Ocean State Theatre Co.’s SantaLand Diaries

Ah, humbug
It takes a brave performer to take on SantaLand Diaries , since it launched the career of David Sedaris when he read a shorter version of this droll account on NPR 20 years ago.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | December 18, 2012

From Venice to Memphis to Avenue Q: Looking back on local theatre in 2012

Curtain call
Let's not fight. You might like only Shakespeare and restoration comedies, and I might take pride in seeing Cats 99 times.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | December 18, 2012

Epic Theatre Company’s Passion Play

Life writ large
Sarah Ruhl's Passion Play has epic scope for such a focused subject — those medieval pageants about the suffering of Jesus Christ.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | December 12, 2012

Brown/Trinity Rep MFA’s Machinal

A tragic trajectory
Staging period plays might be an effective way of presenting a history course, if the inaccuracies in choices like Saint Joan and The Lion In Winter were corrected.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | December 12, 2012

Memphis tears down the house at PPAC

The soul of a city
There are worse concerns in America's history of racial inequities than a white DJ getting eyerolls for playing black music. Nonetheless, the musical Memphis will tick you off about the foolishness anyway.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | December 05, 2012

Trinity Rep’s The How and the Why

Passion and polemics
Judging from the subject matter of The How and the Why , which Trinity Repertory Company is staging through December 30, you'd think that playwright Sarah Treem's successful latest work would be more of feminine than feminist concern, dismissing half of its audience.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | December 05, 2012

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