Rupert Everett | The Sleepless Critic

REVIEW: The Mark Morris Dance Group, presented by Global Arts Live, displayed a mostly fetching ‘Look of Love’

Posted on February 2, 2025 by The Sleepless Critic

You may be familiar with far more Burt Bacharach songs than you realize.

That was certainly my experience watching The Mark Morris Dance Group’s pre-Valentine’s Day and retro- inspired music dedication to Burt Bacharach, The Look of Love.

Named after Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s Academy Award-nominated song for the 1967 James Bond film, Casino Royale originally sung by Dusty Springfield, Global Arts Live presented The Mark Morris Dance Group’s The Look of Love for a limited engagement from January 23 to 25 at the Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts. Click here for more information, here for more on Global Arts Live and here for Mark Morris Dance Group’s next tour destination.

The Look of Love Jacobs Pillow 2023 Christopher Duggan

Burt Bacharach was an Oscar, Golden Globe, Grammy, and Emmy-winning composer and songwriter boasting an array of hits including songs from various movie soundtracks such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Arthur, Alfie, Promises Promises, My Best Friend’s Wedding, and interestingly enough, the strangely comical and catchy novelty tune to B horror flick, The Blob.

His songs are so memorable that they slip into contemporary culture in amazing ways as he continued releasing new songs into 2020. Who could forget the iconic, comedic and uplifting moment in My Best Friend’s Wedding when Rupert Everett started crooning I Say a Little Prayer before the whole table started singing along or when Kristen Wiig awkwardly started singing That’s What Friends are For at her best friend’s engagement party in Bridesmaids?

The Look Of Love Santa Monica 2022 Skye Schmidt

Burt Bacharach passed away in February 2023 so it was more than fitting to perform this dedication at the almost two-year anniversary of his passing. Kicking off with the Grammy award-winning and what Bacharach said was his favorite composition Alfie, The Mark Morris Dance Group embarks on a vivid journey in song and dance through an array of Bacharach’s popular hits.

Blaire Reinhard and Clinton Curtis create mellifluous harmony from the orchestra pit as dancers inhabit the stage for What the World Needs Now amid Nicole Pearce’s multicolored lighting which is at times luminous against Isaac Mizrahi’s multicolored assortment of flowing costumes and other times, overwhelming which can be a suitable description of love itself, striking a barrage of color before coming into luminous focus. The dancers are what coming into focus as brightly colored metal chairs and matching pillows complete this minimal set.

Bacharach has an array of peppy and sophisticated songs such as Do You Know the Way to San Jose, but Reinhard and Perry are at their best articulating heartache. Reinhard has an amazing belt and throws herself into Don’t Make Me Over and delivers charged vocals for Walk on By as dancers stride in rows concluding on a poignant moment of a woman looking on in the distance. Her expressive vocals for Are You There (With Another Girl) and Anyone Who Had a Heart in bold red lighting emphasize the pain of lost love, rejection and heartache while Curtis’s smooth vocals rise for The Look of Love in a dizzying display as dancers drift and sway in a green and purple backdrop punctuated by a tender embrace.

Ethan Iverson’s unique music arrangements deliver a fresh and exciting use of Bacharach’s work exemplified in the tapping and gradually athletic and urgent pace as light flashes overhead for Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.

This performance boasts mini situational love scenes depicted in Mark Morris’s storytelling choreography which includes a lip syncing karaoke singer for Message to Michael and other times dancer spin, leaping and soar at times quite literally depicting the lyrics in spreading wings or miming making a call.

The foreboding, kooky and funky vibe for The Blob reveals shadows of dancers possessed by a catchy beat. It is oddly comical in its red hued essence with the group in on the camp not to be taken too seriously.

UCSB Arts & Lectures – Mark Morris Dance Group “The Look of Love” 5/6/23 The Granada Theatre

The full company unites on a high note for I Say a Little Prayer with a joyful, fluttering, and sweet display amid a vibrant purple backdrop and a warm embrace much like the show began with a message of love, hope and support amid life’s suffering and struggles.

Though at times it can be visually overwhelming, The Mark Morris Dance Group provides an uplifting tribute to the genius that is Burt Bacharach and why his universal appeal and lasting impact will be celebrated for many generations to come.

Global Arts Live presented The Mark Morris Dance Group’s The Look of Love for a limited engagement from January 23 to 25 at the Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts. Click here for more information, here for more on Global Arts Live and here for Mark Morris Dance Group’s next tour destination.

REVIEW: Footlight Club’s ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ clever and comedic fun

Posted on June 12, 2019 by The Sleepless Critic

It’s the age old question: “What’s in a name?” Apparently it makes all the difference in the world in Oscar Wilde’s classic play, The Importance of Being Earnest, a high society romantic farcical comedy written twenty years after The Footlight Club was established in 1877. Full of adages about life and relationships as well as its fair share of ploys, elaborate scheming, love at first sight, and mistaken identity, The Importance of Being Earnest proves that some things are timeless.

The Footlight Club, the oldest running theatre in the nation, boasts renovations that include new seating and more at Eliot Hall. Directed by David Marino, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest continues at Eliot Hall in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts through Sunday, June 15. Click here for more information and for tickets.

It is amazing to see how far theatre has come over the years. The Importance of Being Earnest is a lighthearted production told in three acts with each act separated by the drop of the stage curtain. It is refreshing to see this production in vintage form, especially in a day and age where rolling sets and elevated scenery eliminates the need to close the curtain until intermission.

The Footlight Club The Importance of Being Earnest Michael Jay and Frances Price

Michael Jay as Jack and Frances Price as Lady Bracknell Photo credit to Elizabeth Bean/Footlight Club

Zach Best, David Alger, and Cara Guappone’s elegantly-detailed set, which includes a brass chandelier, seemingly expensive wall hangings, and plush furniture, reflect 1895 London, where high society’s seemingly biggest worries are when to dine, when to have tea, and when to go to the club. However, even in Audrey Stuck-Girard’s regal costumes, the rich nevertheless have their own relatable issues whether it’s over family, love, and happiness.

What keeps Oscar Wilde’s show so relevant is its witty and hilarious script, showing even the simplest things in life can be the most elusive. Its comic observations about family, love and society can be scathing, but possess a remarkable ring of truth.

The madcap, clever cast has impressive comic timing, especially Bradley Boucher’s knack for physical humor as Algernon Moncrieff. Back in 2002, Rupert Everett starred as Algernon Moncrieff at age 43 in the film adaptation joined by a stellar cast that included Colin Firth, Reese Witherspoon, Judi Dench, and Tom Wilkinson. At first glance, Bradley Boutcher looked too young to portray the suave and sardonic Algernon, especially as he spends a great deal of the show making quips about life as only a well-experienced individual can. However, Boutcher’s smug smile and shrewd comic timing gradually won me over despite some misgivings and he became quite a scene stealer.

Footlight Club The Importance of Being Earnest Elizabeth Loranth as Gwendolyn and Michael Jay as Jack Worthing

Elizabeth Loranth as Gwendolyn and Michael Jay as Jack Worthing Photo credit to Matt McKee/Footlight Club

Boutcher as Moncrieff and Michael Jay as excitable and anxious Jack Worthing share an amusing, competitive camaraderie as they attempt to prove one wiser than the other. It is fun to see two very different personalities collide over something as trivial as muffins.

In an extravagant feathered hat, Frances Price flourishes as outspoken, society-minded Lady Augusta Bracknell. Price strikes a delicate balance between well intentioned and intrusive, making distinguished Lady Bracknell likable, even when her lips curve into a judgmental frown.

Kevin Brunton’s droll presence as Lane/Merriman enhances each scene while Gabrielle Jaques as seemingly sweet, wide-eyed Cecily and Elizabeth Loranth as elegant Gwendolyn are fascinating to watch as their characters become increasingly more complicated. Jennifer Bean as quirky, love struck Miss Prism and Tim Joseph as amiable Reverend Chasuble round out this stellar cast and make Earnest much more than a name, indeed.

Footlight Club The Importance of Being Earnest Jennifer Beam as Miss Prism and Tim Joseph as Reverend Chasuble

Jennifer Bean as Miss Prism and Tim Joseph as Reverend Chasuble Photo credit to Elizabeth Bean/Footlight Club

The Footlight Club presents Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest at Eliot Hall, 7A Eliot Street in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts through Sunday, June 15. Click here for more information and tickets to Footlight’s Club final show of the season.