American Players Theater

I had the privilege to attend two shows at the American Players Theater this summer: Taming of the Shrew and The Critic.

I really enjoy APT and I try to get to at least one show if I can. This year some friends, and I decided to coordinate and go to the Taming of the Shrew on opening night. There were some really amazing performances. I particularly loved Tracy Michelle Arnold who played Katherine. She was deliciously naughty and then deliciously lovely (and her last costume was breath-taking). Matt Schwader who also played Tranio was really really good. He did amazing things with both his performance and his body language to bring the character to life, and I was continually impressed by him. I found myself watching him and what he was doing whenever he was on stage. The performance as a whole was enjoyable though I found some of the costuming jarring.

For a birthday present, two of my friends conspired to take me to The Critic later in the season. i was told that this was one of the funniest performances they had done yet. Specifically that "it is slow but then it gets really funny and then you cannot believe how funny it is". One of my favorite actors was in this show (Darragh Kennan) so I was delighted to get to see him perform. There were some issues with the audio, so I had a hard time hearing some of the things that I really find humorous (the snarky asides and the sarcastic jabs). I also was introduced to Jim DeVita who I had never seen perform, and I thought he did an amazing job as Puff. I really loved some of the costume pieces in this...particularly Mr. Dangle's morning coat at the beginning and the Spanish Fleet costume towards the end.

One of the things that amazes me every season is the way in which they use their stage. The basic stage construction is standard and then they add a few items here and there for each of their rotating summer shows. The way in which they use this basic set and the way in which they enhance it every summer is stunning to me. I don't have that type of creative mind, so it is always such a delightful surprise with each show.