Jeff Newman has chops, that’s for sure. And he probably knows I think that about him. His show will amaze you as he peers into the minds of his subjects with his shockingly blue eyes and reads the very thoughts from them, thoughts he has no conceivable way of knowing other than clairvoyancy.  His show was sprinkled with storytelling and humor which was a mix of cheesy and clever. His charisma is palpable and he truly is a master of his art.

As the show started, the tricks were relatively simple. The usual tell a joke, pick the right...

Let me start with the positive things, as there were some. The most enjoyable thing about this spectacle was the music. The songs ranged from classical opera to Latin influenced music with a few more modern classical types thrown in. There wasn’t a single one I didn’t enjoy listening to and that didn’t perfectly fit the mood that Thomas 'MUDD' Monahan was going for. A new idea was presented that I’d never seen before: a clown in a war and possibly with PTSD, although I can’t say for sure that I was right on the last one. I also...

NeOn (Ne.On) is about love and the way love has changed over the past seventy years. It follows the stories of a grandmother, two young women, and two young boys seeking the affection of the unattainable Miki. The stories are interwoven among time and space and the story goes through a series of fractured moments which the audience is left to piece together.

The production was touching: well conceived and executed. I really enjoyed the incredibly energetic role of Nathania Barnabe as Miki – the childlike goddess who refers to herself as “princess of the universe!” The slice of life feature also...

Covering all of Leo Tolstoy’s mythically long-winded novel is no task for mere mortals, but Ryan Gladstone is up to the task. War and Peace is a funny, smart, and heartfelt treatment of one of history’s greatest works of literature.

The story is told in many layers: the plot of the novel itself, often played straight but poked fun at when necessary; the echoes of Tolstoy’s own life, including his depression and his youthful habits of gambling and womanizing; the historical context of the Russian setting; and the context of Tolstoy’s own writing of the novel, including the...