Like Falling Off a Blog

Well, I hope everyone had a great Independence Day weekend and all. At our house, we went through the becoming-more-commonplace bittersweet cycle of another show closing. Apparently some local folks in “the community” traveled westward last week to see the boy but I haven’t heard any word on whether they made it or not. Perhaps they got stuck in one of those mothballed rest stops along the way.

Closer to home, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” re-opened and yet another reviewer was left breathless with laughter – similar to my experience several months ago. A little announcement about “Ragtime” opening on Broadway in Nov. left me hyperventilating a bit. After Stage 1’s stunning concert version last year, the whole Tline clan has become big fans of this show.

One of the Tline’s will be enjoying “Spring Awakening’ at the Kennedy Center this weekend – one who is not me, unfortunately. Perhaps I’ll be able to provide some secondhand commentary next week. But speaking of outa-town theater, people tell me that the VA Shakespeare Festival down in Williamsburg is going great guns this summer and is featuring several Richmonders in its line-up. I’m wondering whether a wander down thatta way might be called for in the next several weeks.

Overall, this summer has been somewhat staggering in the amount and quality of the theater being produced. I never would have thought back in February that three of the shows that I’d be most intrigued or excited about in the entire 08-09 season would be the last three opening, that is, “Forum” at the Dell, the previously-named-but-now-contractually-unnamed one-man show starring Scott Wichmann out at the Tavern, and the participatory experience of “The Night of January 16” down at Sycamore Rouge. There simply is no taking a vacation from good theater in this area.