Bright Star at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse

Last night I was so excited to see Bright Star at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse because it is one of my favorite musicals. I think the story about second chances is incredibly moving and I love the bluegrass music by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell. Billy Cane (Ryland Mahony) returns home to Hayes Creek, North Carolina after World War II and briefly reunites with his childhood friend Margo Crawford (Grace Jensen) but then decides to go to Asheville to try writing for The Asheville Southern Journal. He meets the uptight editor Alice Murphy (Teaira Burge) who then transforms into a wild and rebellious girl who loves Jimmy Ray Dobbs (Porter Beesley) in Zebuon, North Carolina during the 1920s. The narrative alternates between the two timelines as Alice learns to deal with heartache and loss and Billy learns the importance of home and the one who loves him. I was really impressed by Burge's performance because she does a great job portraying Alice at two different ages and her emotional renditions of "Please, Don't Take Him" and "I Had a Vision" are incredibly powerful and brought tears to my eyes. The rest of the cast is also really strong and I especially enjoyed Jensen's version of "Asheville" (it is my favorite song in the show and she adds a lot of vulnerability as a girl worried that the boy she loves will forget her), Mahony's version of "Bright Star," and Beesley's version of "Heartbreaker." Another shoutout goes to Ian Wellisch as Darryl Ames because he is hilariously overwrought (I've seen him in several shows at this theatre and he always makes me laugh because he is so over the top). The choreography is a lot of fun, especially for "If You Knew My Story," "Way Back in the Day," "What Could Be Better" (the way that lanterns are incorporated is really cool), and "Another Round" but I also liked the inclusion of the ensemble in "Whoa, Mama" and "Firmer Hand/ Do Right" (I don't remember seeing that before). The set features a large wooden barn with doors that open to reveal projections that enhance, but do not dominate, the scenes.  Various pieces are seamlessly brought on stage by the ensemble to become Margo's bookstore (I loved the ladder on the bookcase), Alice's office, the Mayor's office, the cabin in the woods, and other locations. The lighting design is used to great effect during a key scene on a train. The barn doors are closed so the flashing lights visible through the wooden slats give the impression of a train car that it is traveling at speed (I always look forward to seeing how this particular scene will be staged in every production I see and this one did not disappoint). I always prefer productions that have a live band on stage but the Terrace Plaza Playhouse does a great job with this show and I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here). It runs on Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays through November 14 (except Halloween).

A Talent for Murder

The second movie in the double feature with my nephew yesterday was A Talent for Murder and we both loved it.  A young and inexperienced editor named Edward Ridgeway (Alden Ehrenreich) travels from New York to Switzerland to convince the reclusive and misanthropic novelist Patricia Highsmith (Helen Mirren) to write a sixth novel featuring the character Tom Ripley when another editor goes missing after attempting to do the same.  Ridgeway's job is contingent upon getting Highsmith to sign a new contract, so after she derisively refuses to revisit Ripley, he offers to collaborate with her because he is such a fan of the character.  They eventually begin writing together and create a narrative in which Tom Ripley pursues Clementine Balfour (Olivia Cooke), a young heiress who Rideway met on the train to Switzerland.  In the story Ripley contrives to marry Clementine and then murders her aunt Peggy (Juliet Stevenson) so she will inherit her fortune while Ridgeway slowly adopts the persona of Ripley in his interactions with the real Clementine and her aunt.  This is a sleek and stylish psychological thriller with glamorous European locations in which art imitates life and then life begins to imitate art.  Ehrenreich portrays both Ridgeway and Ripley so the lines are often blurred between what is real and what Highsmith is imagining and it is very fun to watch.  I also found the idea that everyone has a dormant capacity to commit murder to be very intriguing.  Mirren is having a blast as the diabolical author and Ehrenreich more than holds his own as they go toe to toe in a dangerous game.  I definitely recommend this entertaining riff on Highsmith and her most well-known character, especially to fans of both.

Klara and the Sun

I went to a fun double feature with my nephew yesterday starting with Klara and the Sun.  This has been savaged by the critics but I actually liked it.  In a dystopian future, Klara (Jenna Ortega) is an outdated AF (Artificial Friend) on the verge of being sent back to the factory to be melted for parts by the Store Manager (Natasha Lyonne).  She is placed in the store front window in a last-ditch effort to find a buyer and her quirky personality endears her to Josie (Mia Tharia) who convinces her uptight mother Chrissie (Amy Adams) to buy her.  Josie has been genetically engineered, or "lifted," to enhance her intelligence and abilities but this procedure has made her terminally ill and her grief-stricken mother is desperate to create a synthetic copy of Josie using Klara's processor.  The solar powered Klara reveres the sun as a deity and prays to it daily to help her fulfill her purpose as a companion to Josie.  She ultimately decides that Josie is irreplaceable and sacrifices herself so the sun will heal her.  There are a lot of themes to unpack (I have not read the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro upon which this is based) but I was really struck by the fact that it takes an artificial intelligence to reveal the true nature of humanity.  Even though she is not human, Klara exhibits an unusual amount of empathy, rejects the machinery that pollutes the air in favor of the life-giving sun, dismisses Josie's "lifted" friends as superficial in favor of her childhood friend Rick (Aran Murphy), and discovers what it means to truly love someone.  I've seen a lot of criticism about the tone (director Taika Waititi infuses his signature whimsy into a narrative about grief) but I think it really works because Klara acts as a ray of sunshine (pun intended) in the grim reality inhabited by Josie and her mother and I think the pixelated visuals whenever Klara recalibrates to her surrounding are effective in showing her perspective as she attempts to understand the world and the humans around her.  Finally, Ortega gives a wonderful performance and I really enjoyed her physicality, especially when she imitates Josie and Chrissie.  I recommend that you ignore the critics and give this a chance.

The Woman in Black at Parker Theatre 2026

Seeing The Woman in Black at Parker Theatre has become a really fun Halloween tradition and I was thrilled to be in the audience last night! It is so scary! Arthur Kipps (Michael Hohl) is still traumatized by an encounter many years ago with an apparition while settling the estate of Alice Drablow at Eel Marsh House on an isolated island that is only accessible by a causeway at low tide. He believes that he can stop the nightmares that plague him by recounting his experience publicly on stage so he hires an Actor (Ben Lowell) to help him. The Actor convinces him to act out the story instead of reading it from a manuscript so they begin rehearsing in a Victorian theatre using minimal props, realistic sound cues, and atmospheric lighting design. The Actor portrays a younger version of Kipps while he portrays all of the other characters and narrates the play. The action on stage depicts Kipps attending Drablow's funeral, traveling to her house in an old-fashioned pony and trap, working alone in the eerie house, and witnessing unsettling events while a strange figure dressed in black seems to follow him. They periodically stop the rehearsal to discuss their performances and, during one such break, Kipp promises a surprise. The Actor interprets this to mean that Kipp hired the actress who suddenly appeared on stage with them. The action concludes when young Kipps discovers the identity of the mysterious figure and when the Actor makes a startling realization about the actress portraying her. What makes this show so unsettling is the imaginative stagecraft used to tell the story, especially the brilliant use of light and shadow and the disconcerting sound design. I was particularly struck by the smoke effects used when Kipps is trapped in fog on the causeway, the light from a single torch when he gets lost in the pitch black darkness of the marsh, the shadows that appear on a scrim when he stumbles upon an overgrown cemetery, and the creaking of a rocking chair when he discovers a room that seems to be haunted. Light and shadow is also used very effectively whenever the woman in black appears because I was never really sure if she was there or not (I have now seen this production three times and I knew what was coming but I still jumped about a mile out of my seat when the woman in black appeared in the aisle next to me and so did a few other people). Finally, the acting is exceptional. Lowell really commits to the physicality of the role (he is often the only one on stage and he must react to things that are imaginary) and his terror is palpable. Hohl fully inhabits each of the characters he portrays with just the addition of an article of clothing or prop and it is impressive to watch. The Parker is the perfect venue for this play because it actually feels like it could be haunted and I loved everything about this production. If you are looking for something scary to do for Halloween I highly recommend getting a ticket for this spooky show (go here). It is a limited engagement through November 7.

Note: I happened to be sitting by Joanne Parker, the owner of the theatre, and she noticed my intense reaction to the appearance of the woman in black. We had a really fun conversation about this production, the theatre, and their past literary adaptations.

Wildwood

I was so excited to see Wildwood at a matinee yesterday and I was definitely not the only one because the theater was packed (even the front row).  I loved it and I highly encourage everyone to support this beautiful and heartfelt movie by seeing it on the big screen!  Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) is a headstrong teenager living in Portland, Oregon with her free-spirited parents (Jake Johnson and Maya Erskine).  She mocks their fanciful tales of magic and defies their edict to keep her baby brother Mac (Arthur Knight) safe by taking him outside to play.  When Mac is abducted by a murder of crows, she and her nerdy classmate Curtis (Jacob Tremblay) are forced to pursue him into the Impassable Wilderness from her father's stories.  Once inside, they discover an enchanted forest and are soon pursued by an army of coyotes, led by Maxim (Tom Waits), who serve the exiled Dowager Governess Alexandra (Carey Mulligan). She was once a benevolent leader but her mind was poisoned by grief over the death of her son and she has now turned to dark magic to bring him back.  Alexandra needs Mac for her evil plan to work so Prue and Curtis enlist the help of a rat named Septima (Awkwafina) and a coyote discharged from the army named Dimitri (Charlie Day) to unite all of the different factions in the forest, including the North Wood farmers led by Iphigenia (Tantoo Cardinal), the Avian Principality led by Owl Rex (Richard E. Grant) and the General (Angela Bassett), and the Wildwood Bandits let by Brendan (Mahershala Ali) and Niamh (Amandla Stenberg), in order to stop her, save Mac, and overthrow the corrupt South Wood government led by Alexandra's nephew Lars Svik (Marc Evan Jackson) and his power hungry underling Roger Swindon (Jemaine Clement).  I really loved the themes of self-discovery (especially Curtis's character arc), finding belonging in a shared community, coming to terms with loss, overthrowing those who abuse power, and protecting the natural world.  The narrative may seem incredibly dense with a lot characters and affiliations to keep track of but each of them have an emotional moment of truth and I found it very compelling.  The entire voice cast is outstanding but the standouts for me were Mulligan, because she somehow makes a villain into an incredibly sympathetic character, and Lee, because her portrayal of a teenager trying to find her place in the world is very realistic.  The stop-motion animation is absolutely gorgeous and there were many scenes that took my breath away with all of the intricate details in the character design and the world-building (I especially loved all of the individual leaves).  I was also blown away by the dazzling action sequences, particularly a chase through the mansion, an epic battle involving medieval warfare (it is PG-13 for a reason), and a scene in which the ivy takes over the forest (this is truly spectacular).  I think this movie is a masterpiece and I highly recommend it!