osf | Dangerous Common Sense

“Hairspray” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

By Galen|2019-03-29T14:40:40-07:00March 29, 2019|osf, plays|

Hairspray created and written by John Watersbook by Thomas Meehan and Mark O'Donnellmusic by Marc Shaimandirected by Christopher Liam Moore Prepare to smile, laugh, feel good, applaud, and appreciate an uplifting story sung and danced into your heart by a strong, beautiful, coordinated cast. Get ready for a perfect production of a archetypal feel-good big musical. Beyond the summary above, everything else is just dreary supporting detail. The story has a socially marginalized fat girl scoring a position on a TV dance show that is a bastion of white privilege and teenage snottiness. She and her black friends break barriers [...]

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“Cambodian Rock Band” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

By Galen|2019-12-29T11:03:39-08:00March 22, 2019|osf, plays|

Cambodian Rock Band by Lauren Yeedirected by Chay Yew Photo by Jenny Graham. Understanding your parents and their motivations is a difficult and uncomfortable act for most of us humans. In Cambodian Rock Band it's an impossible task for first-generation American Neary (played by Brooke Ishibashi) whose Cambodian-born parents don't talk much about the pre-USA times. Neary, a thoroughly American young adult, has decided to go to Phnom Penh and work with NGOs to bring to justice people who helped the Khmer Rouge. She's gathering evidence against the superintendent of S21, a notorious killing prison, when her father (Chum, played [...]

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The 2018 Oregon Shakespeare Festival Season Rankings

By Galen|2018-10-21T12:07:33-07:00October 21, 2018|osf, plays|

The Ranking of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2018 Season by Ozdachs the Elder Three-Way Tie for Best Show of 2018, in alphabetical order: Destiny of Desire Oklahoma Snow in Midsummer Manahatta Othello Henry V The Book of Will Love’s Labor’s Lost The Way the Mountain Moved Sense and Sensibility Not seen, due to smoke cancelation, Romeo and Juliet. The first four shows are five-star, must-see events. Almost everyone in our group agreed. #5, Othello, was universally loved by those of us who saw it early in the season. The reviews from mid-season on were mixed. I worry that the cast [...]

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Love’s Labor’s Lost at Oregon Shakespeare Festival

By Galen|2018-10-21T10:43:40-07:00October 21, 2018|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Love's Labor's Lost by William Shakespeare directed by Amanda Dehnert After I wrote my delayed review of Manahatta last month I was ready to post my season ratings for the excellent 2018 OSF season. I lined up all my reviews, added in the Romeo and Juliet we didn't see because of smoke, and set about to rank the plays. I got to 10. But, there were 11 productions this year. I initially thought I mistagged a review in the blog, so I searched though my posts. Nope. Only 9 plays plus R&J. I went to the OSF [...]

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“Manahatta” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

By Galen|2018-09-29T16:49:34-07:00September 29, 2018|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Manahatta by Mary Kathryn Nagle directed by Laurie Woolery Steven Flores, Rainbow Dickerson, Sheila Tousey, Tanis Parenteau. ,br />Photo by Jenny Graham. This world-premiere production tells the story of the poor treatment of Native American people by Imperialistic white "settlers", brillianty weaves together narratives four centuries apart, and gives us a satisfying understanding of how the actions taken in 1626 reverberate in today's America. Manahatta deals with themes similar to the also-world-premiere The Way the Mountain Moved , but Manahatta did it right, engaging the audience instead of giving a sermon to it. Manahatta is about [...]

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“The Way the Mountain Moved” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

By Galen|2018-09-26T09:16:04-07:00September 25, 2018|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival The Way the Mountain Moved by Idris Goodwin directed by May Adrales Julian Remulla, Maddy Flemming, Sara Bruner, Al Espinosa. Photo by Jenny Graham. This American Revolutions OSF commissioned play earns a star for its attempt at dealing with a complex subject and another for the quality of the acting; there's nothing given for any actual quality of the play. The Way's major faults are glaring: The theme of Bad, Insensitive Interlopers taking over the Native American/wild lands is hammered home without redeeming subtlety. The play is embarrassingly unedited. There are several decent [...]

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“The Book of Will” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

By Galen|2018-09-09T06:34:03-07:00September 9, 2018|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Book of Will by Lauren M. Gunderson directed by Christopher Liam Moore "Masturbation is loads of fun," sing Romanovsky and Phillips, and the Book of Will is loads of fun. It's a truly enjoyable evening for theater aficionados and Shakespeare cognoscente. Excellent fun. Self-indulgent, self-centered, masturbatory theater fun. The "play" is a cover to allow extremely fine actors to deliver some of the best lines of Shakespeare, one after another, from productions unrelated except that they share an author. Kate Hurster, David Kelly, Kevin Kenerly, Jeffrey King. Photo by Jenny Graham. The Book of [...]

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Snow in Midsummer

By Galen|2018-09-07T19:55:21-07:00September 7, 2018|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Snow in Midsummer By Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig Based on the Play The Injustice to Dou Yi That Moved Heaven and Earth by Guan Hanqing Directed by Justin Audibert Snow in Midsummer may be the best production of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival season. It certainly is the best production most likely to be overlooked by old-chestnut-seeking, casual theater goers. One reason Snow is a candidate for audience neglect is that it's a new play that hasn't been vetted by Broadway. Another reason is that the publicity for Snow makes it sound intellectual and good-for-you. You learn that [...]

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Oklahoma!

By Galen|2018-07-15T09:56:21-07:00July 15, 2018|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Oklahoma Music by Richard Rodgers Book & Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II Based on the Play Green Grow the Lilacs by Lynn Riggs Original Dances by Agnes de Mille Directed by Bill Rauch Oregon Shakespeare Festival has been workshopping and mulling over this production of Oklahoma for five years, according to cast member Barzin Akhavan (playing Ali Hakim) when he spoke at a coffee in April. OSF's dream was to create an Oklahoma! with non-standard gender roles throughout the territory. Will Parker (Jordan Barbour) is hot for Ado Andy (Jonathan Luke Stevens) and Curly (a definitely [...]

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Henry V

By Galen|2018-03-05T20:02:55-08:00March 5, 2018|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Henry V Ensemble as Chorus. Photo by Jenny Graham. by William Shakespeare directed by Rosa Joshi Daniel José Molina (Henry V) and other cast members deliver many truly spectacular moments -- especially in Act II -- which make this Henry a must see. Unfortunately, Director Rosa Joshi's choices diminish the impact of the play itself and leaves the audience to appreciate master-class acting set in a confusion of activity. I think the audience is supposed to [endlessly] appreciate the turmoil and indiscriminate horrors of the machine of war. Toward that end, actors push [...]

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