Theater Reviews
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Introducing Lee Gundersheimer – The Players Theater’s new Artistic Director
-31-22 Actor, Director, Playwright, Administrator, and Educator. Lee Gundersheimer has done it all. Actor in 75 shows in New York and more all over the country. Director of over 80 plays, from Shakespeare to Annie. Playwright of 7 full length plays and 4 one acts including “Incommunicado,” nominated for four Audelco Awards, and opened the new Federal Theater Season off Broadway and Pas De Deux which won Best play in the New Play Festival on Theater Row. Administrator – he built and ran two theaters in New York; a Rep Company an off Broadway theater, was the Managing Director of a professional Shakespeare Festival and Arts and Culture Coordinator for the city of Winona, MN. Educator he taught at 7 University’s. Listen to this passionate man describe a lifelong commitment to every aspect of Theater.
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Interview with Sharon Ohrenstein – Patra
5-13-19 Sharon Leslie Ohrenstein is a renaissance woman. Her extraordinary voice was first discovered in Kindergarten when she was chosen to sing the solo in the Christmas play and has delighted countess audiences since. She is a fine actor appearing in vastly dissimilar roles with authenticity. As a director she has helped actors find nuances which enabled them to be better than they were. And, as a teacher, she has enhanced the experience of the eager students at Roads Scholar for 16 years. Although writing came late in her life, along with her composer husband David, she wrote the book and lyrics to two musicals and two operas; producing, directing, and staring in many (she even made the costume). Listen to this amazing woman talk about her life journey and her current adventure; the creation of Patra a brand new Opera based on Cleopatra’s last days, which was chosen as a workshop production at the prestigious Seagle Music Colony in Schroon lake NY. And click here to donate to its gofundme page to be a part of this adventure. https://www.gofundme.com/patraopera
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Interview with Gil Brady and review of I Love You You’re Perfect, Now Change
Interview – Gil Brady is many characters in I Love You. You’re Perfect, Now Change which has been so successful at the Florida Studio Theater in Sarasota that they have had to extend it. But Gil like Kevin and Jeremy didn’t intend to be a performer. Like his siblings, little Gil (the baby boy of the family) danced and sang to entertain his parents, but he loved to draw and sketch and thought that would be his life. Then one day his interest in drawing simply disappeared. Gil’s family moved when he was in the 7th grade and, to help him “make friends,” his mother enrolled him in an acting class. By the end of his first year there Gil “knew,” this was for him, but it wasn’t an easy ride. A big fish in his hometown pond, Gil was confronted by many challenges when he went off to university – where they treated the students as though they were in “boot camp.” Listen to Gil’s determined struggle to overcome his physical and emotional difficulties, and find himself at a very young age a working actor.
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Interview with Victoria Hulland
Interview with Principal Ballet Dancer with the Sarasota Ballet Co, Victoria Hulland.
In this show I also include NY theater reviews of “Million $ Quartet”, “Memphis” and ” Freud’s Last Session”
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Review of ‘Contact’ and Interview with Iain Webb
I’m dedicating this show to a review by Sharon Leslie of the Tony Award winning musical “Contact,” which celebrates its 10th anniversary with a collaboration between the Asolo Repertory Company and the Sarasota Ballet Company at the Asolo Theater in Sarasota Florida till November 22nd. And an Interview with Iain Webb, Director of the Sarasota Ballet Company Iain has danced all over the world, with many of the world’s most prestigious companies. Because his career has connected him with some the ballet world’s greatest choreographers he is able to bring their works to Sarasota, making this season as remarkable as it is exciting. Iain’s story is compelling. Hear how a real live Billy Elliot found, protected and nurtured his dream of becoming a ballet dancer.
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Interview with Katherine Ohrenstein
In this show I begin to describe how our impulse to copy or model our parents leads us to chose the roles we then play in life, and Sharon reviews the musical Titanic which stars Katherine Ohrenstein who is also this weeks interviewee.
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Interviews with Michael Donald Edwards and Jason Wells
In this show I air my interview with the producing artistic director of the Asolo Rep, Michael Donald Edwards, in which he talks about his vision for theater. I replay Sharon’s review of Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale, which Michael directed and about which he takes at length. I also air my interview with actor/playwright Jason Wells, whose plan Perfect Mendacity is about to open.
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Interview with Tony Walton
In this show I introduce the concept of The Great Trait Swap and explain how difficult it can be to give up a role you’ve been assigned and take on a quality that had been assigned to another family member. I also air my interview with 3 times Tony Award winner, world famous scenic designer Tony Walton and air Sharon Lesley’s review of George Bernard Shaw’s The Devil’s Disciple which he directed for the Asolo repertory theater in Sarasota.
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Interview with Jimmy Hoskins
I explain how to use the Family Pie Exercise, to discover the role you were assigned and how that can stop you from changing. I air Sharon Lesley’s review of William Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale and I interview choreographer and movement specialist Jimmy Hoskins, who created the dances for the show.
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Interviews with Carolyn Michel and Howard Millman
Here I begin to describe how brain chemistry can be altered, and air Sharon’s reviews of The Imaginary Invalid and Visiting Mr. Green currently playing at the Asolo Rep, and also play parts of my interviews with Carolyn Michel, star of Invalid, & her husband Howard Millman, director of Mister Green.
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Interview with Stuart Kaminsky, Part 1
In the first show of the Year I explain why New Year’s Resolutions can be dangerous; tell my annual Holiday story, interview mystery and screen writer, professor, lecturer Stuart Kaminsky & air Sharon Lesley’s review of La Cage.
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