Review: A Beautiful Day in November on the Greatest of the Great Lakes by The Public Theater

by Michael Meigs
Published on October 18, 2022

The recipe for A Beautiful Day [. . .] is a big helping of sentimentality, a hefty dose of satire, a touch of disdain, celebration in quantity, and, at the very end, the full contents of a vial of dark, glistening hemlock.

San Antonio's Public Theatre has put up cast headshots and bios for Kate Benson's 2015 A Beautiful Day in November on the Greatest of the Great Lakes, but this is the only onstage image published so far—a cast photo, everyone in character and costumed. Benson provides a vigorous depiction of the familiar confusion of a gathering for the sacred family holiday of Thanksgiving. This static, expectant image looks like many a holiday photo, a souvenir …

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Review: Little Women, the Broadway musical by The Public Theater

by Kurt Gardner
Published on February 01, 2018

Definitely working in this production’s favor is the Public’s splendid staging. Director Andy Meyers smartly puts an emphasis on the frequent comedic one-liners, which kept the audience chuckling appreciatively on opening night.

  The 2005 adaptation of Little Women is the latest attempt to musicalize Louisa May Alcott’s classic, following a 1958 television version and a 1998 opera. In order to insert about 18 numbers (and a handful of reprises) into the story, Alan Knee’s book streamlines the plot and provides quick sketches of the characters. That’s not a problem, as most audiences are familiar enough with this 150-year-old classic to follow along.   However, many of …

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