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Alexander Daugherty | Monday, April 15, 2019
The eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg survey the audience as they settle in for Anton Juan’s stage adaptation of “The Great Gatsby.” When the show starts, an unsettling short film, depicting fragments of 1920s culture in the United States, projects over Eckleburg’s gaze. The lights slowly rise over a party that most certainly could not
Alexander Daugherty | Monday, March 4, 2019
“Listen to your heart.” This phrase is, at least on the surface, the message of junior Jorge “Jay” Rivera-Herrans’ new musical, “Stupid Humans.” Though this is generally a tired and eye-roll-worthy aphorism, Rivera-Herrans’s musical takes the message quite literally. “Have you ever tried freestyling to a heartbeat?” protagonist Indigo asks during an open-heart surgery he
Alexander Daugherty | Monday, February 11, 2019
The Actors from the London Stage (AFTLS) are a gift from God to Shakespeare scholars and lay audiences alike. Five actors take on the often-extensive casts of each play they produce. Every year, AFTLS comes to Notre Dame for one week each semester to perform one of the Bard’s well-known works. This time, AFTLS came
Alexander Daugherty | Monday, January 28, 2019
The Broadway Theater League South Bend has brought big-name shows to the Morris Performing Arts Center for several years. “Evita” is the first of these iconic shows in recent memory to not consistently fill the mezzanine. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s distinct musical style and the tableau-style may be responsible for this. Similar to “Joseph and the
Alexander Daugherty | Monday, November 19, 2018
The commedia dell’arte is a traditional 16th century form of professional Italian theater characterized by sketches or scenarios that feature a small list of archetypal characters meant to instill the seriousness of certain lessons. Moliére’s “The Imaginary Invalid,” originally a late-1600s comedy-ballet, made use of these well-known characters. By the time Notre Dame’s Film, Television
Alexander Daugherty | Friday, November 16, 2018
The third-floor, black-box theatre in Washington Hall is one with which I’m intimately familiar. Walking in and finding the room empty but for a large trunk and chairs arranged in a thrust stage was nothing short of thrilling. The student Not-So-Royal Shakespeare Company production of “Cymbeline” did not disappoint. In her director’s note, junior Mary
Alexander Daugherty | Monday, November 13, 2017
“The Importance of Being Earnest,” performed first in 1895 in London, is perhaps Oscar Wilde’s most widely recognizable play. With turns of remarkable wit and a text that allows for significant physical comedy, Wilde’s play is no easy feat to stage, let alone stage well. The Notre Dame Film, Television and Theater Department’s (FTT) production,