GPTC Brings Life to Burlington Depot

by Warren Francke

They’ll soon be doing Dostoyevsky in the cavernous hulk that once housed the Burlington Depot, but now two actors fling a Frisbee across the vast mosaic floor as light streams in the four-story atrium. They’re passing time before rehearsing the play Raskol, based on the novel Crime and Punishment.

If you’d said nostalgic goodbyes to the Burlington, thank Kevin Lawler and the Great Plains Theater Conference for...

First Omaha Run for Spring Awakening

by Warren Francke

Spring Awakening won eight Tony awards and four Olivier honors, so it’s surprising that we haven’t had a chance to see it in Omaha. The Blue Barn remedies that glaring absence with its production of the musical opening this weekend.

A few of you, including the Barn’s music director and accompanist, Mitch Fuller, drove down to Lincoln for its brief stop there which sold out quickly. Producing and artistic...

Bringing back the Benson Theatre

by Jarrett Fontaine

The roaring 1920’s meant a lot of new things in America. It was a coming-of-age era which saw flappers redefining modern womanhood, jazz music flourishing, and the rise of community theatres. That nationwide liberation appeared locally as well, with the foundation of what was then known as the Benalto Theatre in Benson in 1923. In 1927 it was called the Benson Theatre, and belonged to a chain of neighborhood...

Stanley Yells “STELLA,” Tevye Returns

by Warren Francke

Two contrasting classics, the musical Fiddler on the Roof at the Orpheum, and the Tennessee Williams’ tragedy, Streetcar Named Desire at the Omaha Community Playhouse, share appeals that never grow old.

High on my list of favorite moments in Playhouse history took place far from Omaha when the father and mother of native son Marlon Brando saw him win the longest standing ovation in Broadway history when their...

From Booth to Oswald, Assassins Turn Dream to Nightmare

by Warren Francke

If you haven’t seen the Stephen Sondheim musical Assassins, you’re not alone. Neither has D. Scott Glasser who directs the story of John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald and other killers of presidents opening April 11 at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

I somehow skipped it when Chanticleer did the only metro area production back in 1994. And fewer saw it when Bellevue East High School presented a one-act...

Playhouse Tourists Singin’ in London Rain

by Warren Francke

With a light rain falling and the Thames flowing below, it’s dramatic enough just walking across the Waterloo Bridge on the way to the National Theatre. To the right of travelers on the Omaha Community Playhouse tour looms a huge wheel, the London Eye that takes 35 minutes for one revolution.

The great dome of St. Paul’s appears and Westminster Bridge marks the spot where Big Ben tolls the time beside the Houses...