Kevin Vavasseur

THERE’S GOLD IN THESE HILLS It’s always difficult for the children when a mother passes away, even if those children are adults. And if that mother is a strong-willed widow who struggled and fought to raise her four daughters by herself, supported only by the inconsistent income of running a lower-end, seaside hotel in Blackpool,…

THE BONES ARE INDEED GOOD, IF NOT A BIT SKELETAL The website houseful states, “good bones” refers to the core foundational elements of the home, “:a steady structure that can withstand time, wear, and elements. A home with good bones typically has a sturdy foundation, structural stability, and a strong roof.” The decades old, abandoned,…

NOT APPLICABLE Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) are two of the brightest political stars ever to walk the halls of the Capitol. Still in her thirties, Ocasio-Cortez aka “AOC”, hails from a working-class background and, since her 2018 election, has unabashedly fought to put progressive goals and concerns at the…

IT DOESN’T JUST FLOAT, IT SOARS New York City Center’s Encores! describes itself,   “This series of concert stagings revisits the archives of American musical theater. Centered around The Encores! Orchestra, these revivals are produced with limited runs and rehearsal schedules, spotlighting the vocal talents of star-studded ensembles.” And, boy, does it ever in its current…

A SLINGSHOT IN THE DARK Poor King David. What a life. If the blonde-haired King of Israel isn’t being duped by the local townspeople to fight Goliath, he’s embarrassing himself at a cocktail party at King Saul’s palace. If he isn’t making war against other desert people, he’s cutting backroom deals with the enemy of…

COME HOME In the lovely Broadway revival of writer Samm-Art Williams’ Tony-nominated play Home, an African-American man named Cephus Miles contemplates life or, more to the point, his life. Sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch of his farmhouse, with an expanse of cornfields reaching to the North Carolina sky just behind him,…

LA COMEDIA DE THE COMEDY OF ERRORS Full disclosure, I don’t speak Spanish. Oh, I’ve picked up a few phrases over the years and still remember a bit of what Mr. Sanchez taught us in high school but for all intents and purposes, I am not bilingual. Luckily, that proved to not be much of…

SOMETHING WONDERFUL IS COOKING IN HELL’S KITCHEN What else can be said about Alicia Keys‘  new Broadway musical Hell’s Kitchen, that its recent thirteen Tony Award nominations, including one for Best Musical, haven’t already said (or implied)? Currently running at the Shubert Theatre and presented by multiple producing entities including The Public Theatre – the show…

HOW GOOD YOU GOT IT There’s an old saying that goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But is “fixing” always a bad thing? What if that fix is not about correcting what’s wrong but more about deepening, exploring, and re-emphasizing what’s right? The creative team behind the current Broadway revival of the ’70s…

Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one. ’•  Voltaire The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines parable as,   “…a usually short, fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle”. This same resource defines doubt as, “…to call into question the truth of; to be uncertain”. So celebrated playwright John Patrick Shanley certainly…

PERICLES AT CLASSIC STAGE: A CLASSIC STAGING OF PERICLES Pericles by William Shakespeare is not a drama. Or comedy. It’s a Romance. A lovely romance that touches upon incest, forced prostitution, abduction by pirates, a murderous foster mother, a widowed young king, a shipwreck, famine, mental illness (arguably), grief, separation and  beheadings for not being able…