Category Archives: On Stage

Kiara Hines as Cinderella in TCT’s holiday production of CINDERELLA at the Taft Theatre December 9-18. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

CINDERELLA
The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati
Dec. 9-17
Taft Theatre [Downtown]

Directed and choreographed by Roderick Justice

Cast: Kayla Burress as Fairy Godmother, Chris Logan Carter as Pearl, Brinley Culver as Little Girl, Kiara Hines as Cinderella, Joey Logan as Doris, Dain Alan Paige as Grandfather, Ryan J. Pool as Lord High Chamberlain, Ryan Chavez Richmond as Prince Daniel, Michelle Wells as Stepmother
Puppeteer/Page: Isabella Lachey, Andrew Lippert
Ensemble/Puppeteer: Andrew Blake, Nick Godfrey, Sarah Hack, Allysun Mellick, Jonathan Pendergrass, Kelcey Steele, Renee Stoltzfus & Ria Villaver Collins

For the holidays, TCT will treat audiences to a Cinderella Christmas. In this hilarious holiday panto, you’ll jeer at the deliciously dysfunctional stepmother and sisters as much as you’ll cheer for Cinderella in her quest to attend the magnificent Christmas Ball. With plenty of audience participation, side-splitting humor, and outlandish characters, boys will love this classic fairytale set to pop music just as much as girls!

• Sat. Dec. 9 at 2pm*
• Sun, Dec. 10 at 2pm & 5pm
• Fri, Dec. 15 at 7:30pm
• Sat, Dec. 16 at 2pm & 5pm
• Sun, Dec. 17 at 2pm
  *signed for the hearing impaired.

Official page |

AN EVENING WITH GROUCHO presented Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park through Dec. 17. I attended the opening night performance.

Photo of Frank Ferrante as Groucho Marx courtesy of Frank Ferrante Productions.

If you never had a chance to see Groucho Marx perform in person, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park is giving you a month of opportunities to see the next best thing: Frank Ferrante.

Once Ferrante dons the iconic greasepaint mustache and eyebrows shortly into the performance, it is easy to forget you are not watching Marx. Personal stories of Groucho and the Marx Brothers are interspersed with classic comedy bits and songs.

Although listed with a run time of 90 minutes, Ferrante’s masterful improvisational skills and quick wit make his interactions with the audience a highlight of the evening – and adds about 30 minutes to the run-time. This, however, is not a complaint. 🙂

With the audience seated on three sides of the stage, there were times when it was hard to hear the dialogue if the actor had his back to your section of the audience. Ferrante could really use a microphone.

AN EVENING WITH GROUCHO is laugh-out-loud funny, with the jokes coming at breakneck speed and expertly delivered with great zeal and respect for the comic legend.

My rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Click here for more information on the production.