Modern renditions of fairytales are simplistic, bland stories that encourage learned helplessness and non-consensual kissing — a far cry from the dark folk tales collected by the Brothers Grimm. The musical Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, now being performed at the Van Duzer Theatre by the Cal Poly Humboldt Department of […]
Rae Robison
Posted inArts + Scene
The Children and The Unstrung Harp
THE CHILDREN. It was a dark and stormy night … when Rose (Rae Robison) let herself into the cottage occupied by her old friends Hazel (Pam Long) and Robin (Gary Sommers). The reunion gets off to a rocky start when Hazel hits Rose over the head, thinking she is a burglar. Thus begins The Children […]
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Laughing in Shakespeare’s Shadow
It only took close to 500 years for a musical that enacts my unpopular opinion that Shakespeare has become a model of elite and pompous thespian culture in which good acting is determined by mere participation, historically documented BIPOC people of the period apparently didn’t exist (except for that one guy) and migraine-inducing word salads […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Heathers is Very
The 1980s are a decade remembered as a little more feckless, joyous and callow than they in fact were. In line with that recollection is a whole era of teen movies. Some were fun; many are unwatchable now. But in 1989, as the decade churned to a close, there was the movie Heathers, from the […]
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Hedwig Postponed Due to Injury
It looks like the 20-odd stitches Hedwig and the Angry Inch star Morgan Cox got last week haven’t quite healed up enough to go on with the show. During last Saturday’s performance at North Coast Repertory Theatre, a staged struggle over a bottle went awry when the bottle accidentally slipped from actor Jo Kuzelka’s grip […]
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Eureka Women’s March 2018 Hits Streets Saturday
One year ago and one day after the inauguration of admitted sexual assaulter Donald Trump, the streets of Washington, D.C., cities across the United States and beyond filled with sign-carrying, pink pussy-ear hatted protesters taking part in the Women’s March. Eureka’s march was the largest in the city’s history, with organizers reporting some 7,000 to […]
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A Microcosm of Life on Avenue Q
Avenue Q is a puppet show with humans. Or a human show with puppets. Whichever way you look at it, Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx’s musical, now playing at Humboldt State University, is a smart blend of youthful angst and mature topics that brings to all-too-realistic life that treacherous bridge from student to responsible adult. […]