Email Author John Thomason

2012 Stories by John Thomason

• Get Oriented

  published October 4, 2012

  In the middle of the great modern musical The Drowsy Chaperone, audiences are treated to a show-within-a-show parody of a much older... More >>

• "Diary of a Madman" at Mosaic: A Lowly Civil Servant Cracks Up in Czarist Russia

  published September 27, 2012

  In 1939, New Yorker writer James Thurber published The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, a short story that has transcended its time... More >>

• Village People

  published September 27, 2012

  Simultaneously quaint and funky, West Palm Beach’s Northwood Village community is easy on the eyes and easier to miss, an enclave of fine... More >>

• From Ass-Waxing to Literacy Fundraisers

  published September 6, 2012

  We Floridians know Bert Kreischer well -- firstly from a 1997 Rolling Stone article that proclaimed Kreischer, who spent six and a half years at... More >>

• Cheap Seats For All

  published September 6, 2012

  Now this is a '70s night we can get behind, one that doesn't involve disco dancing and bell-bottoms. The Strikers, South Florida's professional... More >>

• Ukraine is NOT Weak

  published September 6, 2012

  Take this, Angelina Jolie: Olga Nenya is a foster parent in Ukraine who has mothered a brood of children whose number varies; some descriptions... More >>

• Olivia, Wild

  published August 30, 2012

  Not much is known about mysterious singer Olivia de la Garza. The Boca Raton resident doesn't have a website, and a video search yields a giant... More >>

• Film History Made Easy

  published August 30, 2012

  Fort Lauderdale's Gateway Theatre opened in 1951, a year after the release of Sunset Blvd. and a year before Singin' in the Rain.... More >>

• Politics Are A Drag

  published August 23, 2012

  Ace of Base had Buddha, Joker, Linn, and Jenny; the Kinsey Sicks have Winnie, Rachel, Trixie, and Trampolina. All but Jenny are stage names, only... More >>

• "The Twentieth Century Way" at Empire Stage: Surprises, Double-Crosses, and Some Beckettesque Playwriting

  published August 16, 2012

  In playwright Tom Jacobson's minimalist exercise The Twentieth Century Way, set in 1914, two out-of-work actors gather in a dank,... More >>

• Prosecuting The "Wide Stance"

  published August 9, 2012

  The revolving door of offbeat theater that is Empire Stage continues to revolve. Less than a week after closing its last show, Baby Girl,... More >>

• "Baby Girl" at Empire Stage: Audiences Have Packed This Comedy Turned Thriller, and for Good Reason

  published August 2, 2012

  At Empire Stage, the ability to accomplish so much with so few resources never ceases to amaze, no matter which theater company is renting out... More >>

• Sin City

  published August 2, 2012

  For better or worse, nuns have left an indelible mark on American theater, recurring in plays and especially musicals about as often as reformable... More >>

• "Baby Girl" at Empire Stage: Audiences Have Packed This Comedy Turned Thriller, and for Good Reason

  published July 26, 2012

  At Empire Stage, the ability to accomplish so much with so few resources never ceases to amaze, no matter which theater company is renting out... More >>

• The Keys to the Garage

  published July 26, 2012

  With a shock of scarlet hair and a chalky complexion that borders on the paranormal, pianist Lynne Arriale is a compelling presence onstage... More >>

• The Boy in Green

  published July 26, 2012

  It is, appropriately enough, a story that never gets old. Endlessly updated across multiple generations, J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan has enjoyed... More >>

• "The Fantasticks" at Palm Beach Dramaworks: A Tasty Take on a Theatrical Lemon

  published July 19, 2012

  Until this past weekend, I had never seen a production of The Fantasticks — a startling omission from any theater critic's... More >>

• The 11-Year Conception

  published July 12, 2012

  Much like the conception of people, the birth of plays can begin in unexpected ways. Playwright and actress Kim Ehly first knew she was on to... More >>

• But Which One of Them Is Colbert?

  published July 5, 2012

  Described by artistic director Louis Tyrrell as “the Daily Show of its time,” cabaret shows in Weimer-era Berlin roasted Adolf Hitler,... More >>

• "Xanadu" at Slow Burn Theatre Company: Olivia Would Be Proud

  published June 28, 2012

  "This is like children's theater for 40-year-old gay people." So says a malicious Olympian muse as she slinks into the shadows of a... More >>

• From Razzie to Tony

  published June 21, 2012

  The 1980 film Xanadu — you know, the one with Olivia Newton-John as an Olympian muse who roller-skates out of a mural/portal and saves art... More >>

• Shakespeare in a New Key

  published June 21, 2012

  William Shakespeare never lived in postwar Key West. He never wrote his masterpieces on gum-speckled tables in boisterous Duval Street bars,... More >>

• A Talent Show, Sans the Hoff

  published June 21, 2012

  Are you a local hip-hop sensation? Can you juggle flaming bowling pins? Make your hamster disappear? Do you think you can dance? If the answer is... More >>

• Inside the Actor’s Workshop

  published June 14, 2012

  Whether you're heading for Hollywood, bound for Broadway, or angling for a local commercial, the Actor's Workshop of South Florida will... More >>

• "Proof" at Palm Beach Dramaworks: Better Than the Film Version

  published June 7, 2012

  Here's a fun drinking game: Take a swig every time somebody in Proof mentions a number. The 2000 play by David Auburn, which... More >>