'Runaround Mitch': A song from the distant past repurposed to address the dismal present of health-care "reform"

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Actors Theatre Indiana romps through a farce — unusually, without a founder in the cast

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"Don't you love farce?" runs a memorable rhetorical question in Stephen Sondheim's "Send In the Clowns." There's lots to watch on the screen for characters in "Unnecessary Farce." Desiree's bitter song points to the conditions that underlie farce: Misunderstandings, false assumptions, confused or deceptive identities, upsets, personal disasters. None of that is any fun when you're  living it. If relatively minor, the conditions of farce may seem risible shortly after the dust has settled. If more serious, they will be permanently unsettling. As a literary or dramatic genre, however, most people do indeed love farce. But, frankly, the whole bag may seem unnecessary —  and not just as part of the pun in the last line of Paul Slade Smith's "Unnecessary Farce."  Actors Theatre Indiana opened the show Wednesday night in the Studio Theater at the Center for the Performing Arts . The premise is a police sting operatio...
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DK's 'Divas A-New': What's past is prologue (so is what's present)

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  Ensemble exuberance in "Stories from the Corner Bar" Joshua Blake Carter's curtain speech gave Dance Kaleidoscope 's opening-night audience Thursday a concise, graceful indication of how the transition from his illustrious predecessor as artistic director, David Hochoy, is settling in. Before "Divas A-New" took the stage, the audience at Schrott Center for the Arts (a new venue for the company) got brief exposure to DK's educational wing as two student troupes performed. That was a charming showcase for what's been possible since DK moved into a new permanent rehearsal and educational home in 2020. The solidity of the professional company no longer had to pose questions as to whether its growing profile was anything more than a castle in the air.  Setting aside what the hyphen in the program title must mean (since "anew" would seem to convey the idea), it's clear the "divas" idea builds upon the popular focus in earlier pr...
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Indianapolis Opera presents 'A Little Night Music,' a sexy comedy of Scandinavian manners

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"Send In the Clowns" is a rarity among modern musical-theater hits in being selectively lifted from the show by singers who simply want to do it, even though Stephen Sondheim's most popular song is thoroughly nestled in, and essential to, "A Little Night Music." A production of the sometimes blithe, sometimes sentimental operetta by Indianapolis Opera runs through today at the Toby at Newfields . Predictably, "Send In the Clowns" went over superbly as delivered by the aging actress Desiree Armfeldt in the second act. The song can best be understood in context, despite the way it has been put across by everyone from Frank Sinatra to Renata Scotto. Desiree and Frederik refresh their bond.  Here it was beautifully set up by the orchestra, under the sensitive direction of Alfred Savia, and performed within an aura of Desiree's cherished memories and indelible regret by Heather Hertling Narducci. In the reprise, she was joined by Daniel Narducci (her hu...
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