Tag: play

I’d not seen Dear Evan Hansen, so I was glad that the Broadway Rose was staging a production.

Ryan Burton did a great job as Evan Hansen, I felt for him and also understood why he had trouble connecting. Cuin Moore was a Connor Murphy that really drew the eye, and my favorite performer was Azhia Ellis as Alana Beck. She has recently moved to Portland from Florida, and I’m hoping to see more of her.

Lizard Boy has been kicking around the Pacific Northwest, since 2015, but today was my first viewing.

I am a fan! I’m kind of mad that I didn’t find this musical until now. It’s three actors who carry the whole musical with the normal singing and acting that musical theater people do. But they also provided all the music! And some of the music is provided by a cello. All three (Milo Marami, Lo Steele, and Benjamin Tissell) were incredible.

I will be looking out for other stagings of this one. It didn’t seem to sell well. All remaining tickets were half price the final weekend, which isn’t a good sign, but maybe that deal got a few more people in the doors.

I previously enjoyed Benjamin Tissell’s performance as Andrew in Recent Tragic Events at Third Rail Rep.

This was the program we were handed for the performance of A Mirror. It definitely set the stage.

I really enjoyed how this shifted back and forth several times in the play. It was engrossing from start to finish.

There was a talkback after, and we also got this reading list, assembled by Danielle Jones, with whom I rode with to the play.

Here’s the set for In Clay Broadway Rose’s current musical about the ceramist Marie-Berthe Cazin. Set in the 1930s, the one-woman show (Malia Tippets played Cazin) covered the artist’s life.

While musical theater is always a feat, (singing and dancing and acting all a once?) this was an impressive performance because Tippits also threw two pots on stage while singing.

This was a good window into the life of an artist I had not heard of. I do wonder if the French accent was the right choice.

Portland Center Stage did Portland a favor by staging this play in January and February 2026. Because boy howdy, did we all need to come together and laugh.

The laughs started early when the stage manager recruited someone from the audience to help them shored up the mantel. While the stage manager ran off to get something to affix the mantel to the wall, she left the volunteer on stage. Another stage manager-type person appeared, and wanted the volunteer to sweep instead of hold the mantel, so the volunteer did. And thus it continued.

The play went terribly wrong.

While the depiction of the female characters hasn’t aged terribly well (Scantily clad catfight? Really?) the play was otherwise the most rejuvenating things I’ve encountered this winter. Everyone did a great job, but I will probably forever say, “A ledger????” in the style of Darius Pierce when I’m hunting for something I know was placed in a specific place but can no longer be found in that place.

If the Play that Goes Wrong is playing near you, do yourself a favor and attend.

Hanging on the bathroom door:

After singing at the tree lighting, I went home, changed, and headed back to the Pearl for Portland Center Stage’s production of Little Women. The story begins at Christmas, so why not have this be an early winter production?

It was an interesting framing with Beasley playing the role of both Louisa May Alcott and Jo. Louisa would show up now and again to transition us between scenes and periods.

I don’t really like the Little Women story, but enough people do that it has been drilled into me. This production incorporated a lot of shrieking and yelling in the first part. This worked conceptually (the March girls would not be children that were counseled to be seen and not heard), but was a lot, sonically.

Things quieted down after the intermission, and I grimly awaited Jo’s capitulation to Friedrich, played by Kieran Cronin, who also played John, Mr. Laurence, and Mr. March.

Overall, a good, if loud, night at the theater.

We’ve got a nice group of young square dancers in lessons, young enough to be in college productions. Orion was one of the monster/puppeteers in this production, that the director sums up as “It’s a sword-and-sorcery story of sisterhood, grief, and resilience—plus monsters.” Matt was all in because of the D&D. I thought it sounded interesting too.

We inadvertently attended on an informal friends and family night, and the crowd was enthusiastic, clapping after nearly every scene. The performers carried out their roles ably, and Matt and I had a good discussion on the way home.

Friend Danielle gifted me a membership to Third Rail Repertory Theatre. It’s part of their Rail it Forward program where during the third year of your membership, you can gift someone a membership. Kind of genius, as it gets people in.

So far, I’ve gone to a Sunday Salon, which happen on Sunday mornings at 10, and is a reading of a play with a talkback. They also have National Theater Live performances, and then full productions. Recent tragic events was the first full production I attended.

As noted by the 20 in the logo, this is Third Rail’s 20th anniversary. This play was one from their first season, and it was interesting to see it in the mid 2020s, but for different reasons than it would have been in 2005: It takes place on 9/11.

It’s basically the worst first date, but with much hilarity underscoring the horror of the moment. It’s for sure a play for Joyce Carol Oates fans to see, as she is much appreciated. (And might make an appearance.)

Altogether, my first full production at Third Rail has me wanting more.

Plus, this is the most genius theater survey document I’ve ever seen. You tear the squares that apply to you! No writing utensils required.