Articles by Davina Grace Hill

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Davina Grace Hill - 9/20/12

Colonial Players’ Bell, Book and Candle

You’ll still find enchantment in this 63-year-old spell

Colonial Players opens its 64th season with a third take on Bell, Book and Candle a whimsical comedy about the power of love. Written by John van Druten in 1949 and better known as the 1958 movie, Bell, Book and Candle asks the same questions Bewitched asked many years later on television. Can a witch fall in love with a human? What happens if she does? Gillian Holroyd (Ali Vellon) is the witch. Her upstairs tenant, a publisher, Shep Henderson (Jason...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Davina Grace Hill - 8/16/12

Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre’s Xanadu

Irrepressible fun!

Spoiler alert for readers not current on 1980s’ kitsch: The musical Xanadu has nothing to do with Citizen Kane or with Coleridge’s poem of the same name. The motif of creating a stately pleasure dome, however, does link all three disparate references to Xanadu. Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre ends its 2012 season irrepressibly with goofy fun. Set in 1980 — the era of leg warmers and big-hair bands — as a tongue-in-cheek theatrical send up of a...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Davina Grace Hill - 7/19/12

Dames at Sea

Infinity Theatre delivers a ship-shape song-and-dance spectacle

Dames at Sea offers top-notch singing and tap-dancing in a lighthearted musical theater romp. This small-cast, low-key homage to the great days of 1930s’ musicals has all the requisite and appropriately named characters. From Utah the ingénue Ruby arrives backstage at a Broadway theater without a dime to her name and joins the cast of the musical on her first day in New York. She makes friends with Joan, a smart-talking dancer. A sailor, Dick, who also happens to be an...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Davina Grace Hill - 7/5/12

Bay Theatre Company’s Rumple Who?

Who — regardless of age — doesn’t love a good story?

Will Bartlett’s light musical adaptation of Rumplestiltskin has run continuously off-Broadway since 1985 with good reason. With its cantankerous characters and timeless moral, Rumple Who? makes an entertaining way for parents and grandparents to share love of theater with their children. The familiar story is distilled, updated and less Grimm than the original with musical summaries for each plot development. In this version, Rumpelstiltskin is a kinder and gentler...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Davina Grace Hill - 6/14/12

Moonlight and Magnolias

Colonial Players explores what It took to make Gone with the Wind

Margaret Mitchell’s publishing blockbuster Gone with the Wind became an iconic American film, but first a screenplay had to be written. Playwright Ron Hutchinson whimsically, hysterically and sometimes seriously turned the Hollywood lore of the scriptwriting into Moonlight and Magnolias, now playing at Colonial Players of Annapolis. Three weeks into filming, without an acceptable script and slow production work by director George Cukor, producer David O. Selznick...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Davina Grace Hill - 6/7/12

Stones in His Pocket

Two actors expand themselves into 15 characters in this Dignity Players performance

Stones in His Pockets, now at Dignity Players, has a wonderful premise: an American film crew comes back to the Irish town where The Quiet Man was filmed decades ago to make another movie. The return provides for a clash of cultures and nationalities, heightened by the incongruities of filmmaking and stereotypical star and fan behaviors. Stones in His Pockets was written by Marie Jones, a writer celebrated in Ireland and the United Kingdom and deserving of greater American...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Davina Grace Hill - 3/29/12

Colonial Players’ The Spitfire Grill

Slow change and a bit of redemption in Gilead, Wisconsin

The Spitfire Grill is a musical about redemption that isn’t preachy. Written by James Valcq (book and music) and Fred Alley (book and lyrics) it is a musical with only one dance number, albeit a very effective one. It has a comedic touch yet only a few laugh-out-loud lines. It has one powerful song about frustration, made so by the actor who sings it. Its storyline and ending are a bit contrived, yet there is charm in setting and characters. What to make of this play? ...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Davina Grace Hill - 3/1/12

2nd Star Productions’ The Lion in Winter

Think your family is dysfunctional? You’ve not seen The Lion in Winter.

The Lion in Winter, now playing at 2nd Star Productions, is a masterful, gleeful verbal chess game. The players are intense because the fate of a nation and a family dynasty are at stake in this game of ever-changing checkmates. It is Christmas 1183 at King Henry II’s castle in Chignon, France. To celebrate the occasion, Henry has released his imprisoned wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, for the holidays. Their three sons — Richard, Geoffrey and John — all want...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Davina Grace Hill - 2/16/12

Colonial Players’ Chapter 2

Starting over can be very funny

Chapter 2, now at Colonial Players of Annapolis, is Neil Simon’s comedy about the blossoming of a new relationship in middle age, when starting over means stepping away from your past. Since it is Neil Simon, it is very, very funny. Simon can condense a reaction or thought into an unexpected but perfect line in a way few other authors can. Add actors and directors who bring great timing to those lines, and the audience gets a crackling good night. ...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Davina Grace Hill - 1/5/12

Bay Theatre Company’s Becky’s New Car

A new approach to winter cheer

The writing in Becky’s New Car is very funny, the Bay Theatre actors very talented. Still, it’s all in service of making adultery funny and survivable with no damage done. Becky — wife, mother and car dealership office manager — juggles work, family, a college son still at home. She’s content except for wondering if there’s more to life. One late night at the dealership Walter enters her life. He buys nine cars on the spot, assumes Becky...