Try Conquer and Cows, Then April Blooms

by Warren Francke

Coming and going: If you want a taste of what 50-plus travelers saw on the Omaha Community Playhouse London theatre tour, catch the National Theatre’s production of She Stoops to Conquer, the Oliver Goldsmith comedy.

It runs 7 p.m. Thursday on several big screens from Oak View and Village Pointe to the Mary Riepma Ross Center in Lincoln. Or you could do a right-wing demonstration denouncing it all as another...

Bring Back Laura Marr in “One for the Road”

by Warren Francke

Blame me and everyone else who writes about theater. We missed the boat on encouraging you  to see the funniest play of the season. It closed last weekend, and that means you also missed the best comedic performance in many a season.

The play was Willie Russell’s One for the Road at the Circle Theatre, and the performance was Laura Marr’s portrayal of a pretentious woman who turns into a side-splitting drunk....

Rock of Ages Brings 80s Arena Hits

by Warren Francke

If you don’t count trial runs, Rock of Ages took three years to make it from Broadway to Omaha, where fans of 80s arena rock have waited patiently for its 28 songs and its love story set on Sunset Strip.

They’ll hear Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Jefferson Starship’s “We Built This City” and others March 6-11 at the Orpheum, thanks to Omaha Performing Arts. American Idol’s Constantine Maroulis won a Tony...

Fantasticks Steam Punked

by Warren Francke

If the steampunk concept draws you to The Fantasticks at the Omaha Community Playhouse, well and good. It’s interesting and appealing.

But it shouldn’t overshadow the more surprising accomplishment of director Carl Beck and his cast. They’ve given us far and away the best treatment of this record-setting 52-year-old musical that I’ve ever seen.

And that includes some very good productions, a half dozen of...

Seven Lucky But Tricky to Schedule

by Warren Francke

Strap on your playgoing gear and strategize, then tell me how to catch all seven shows that pop up in the next few days. The Brigit St. Brigit, Blue Barn and John Beasley companies make it doable because they’ll run into March.

If you want to see the Cats come out at midnight and create more memories, Omaha Performing Arts gives you five shots at the record-breaking musical, but all performances are squeezed...

Beck Does Steampunk Fantasticks

by Warren Francke

Old is new when The Fantasticks goes steampunk at the Omaha Community Playhouse Feb. 10-March 18. Think not this musical’s usual idyllic garden wall setting, but 19^th century Victorian industrial revolution grime and grit.

If that doesn’t work, check steampunk style in the recent film versions of Sherlock Holmes. Director Carl Beck has Seth Fox as El Gallo, Rich and Jennifer Tritz as the boy and girl, Gordon...