The New York Times:
"8 Things to Do With Your Kids in NYC This Weekend" "This isn’t the Mendelssohn music you’re familiar with, and not just because it’s electric. Commissioned by the armory and created by Trusty Sidekick Theater Company, this interactive production for audiences 10 and older illuminates the life of Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-47), a gifted composer and performer who largely labored in the shadow of her more famous younger brother, Felix. The show gives Fanny the spotlight while also exploring her relationship with Felix and with Wilhelm Hensel, the painter she eventually married. Featuring an original score that draws on 1980s musical influences, “The Mendelssohn Electric” reimagines all three as teenage pop strivers in 19th-century Berlin, where Felix becomes — here, literally — a rock star." -Laurel Graber The New York Times:
Review: 'Up and Away,' A Trip Into the Clouds for a Special Audience "Worthy endeavors are easy to applaud, but “Up and Away,” which I attended one morning this week with a school group of 7- and 8-year-olds, is small-batch, immersive theater at its most thoughtful and deliberate. Making its audience feel welcome and at ease is fundamental to the production — an approach a lot of mainstream theater could stand to learn from." -Laura Collins-Hughes 
The Score:
"Bringing Everyone Around The Campfire" "Every individual student or audience member has unique wants, attachments, and sensitivities," says Jamie Agnello, Ensemble Development Manager and Campfire's Ranger East. "Our goal is to provide a world where there are a lot of options, and then to custom tailor it based on our evolution of understanding each audience member, as well as the sensory tools and the points of engagement that are going to work." -T. Michelle Murphy |
StageBiz:
Review: "One Small Step at ICE Factory, New Ohio Theatre" "One Small Step…is a giant star jump through the sixth dimension and into an alternative reality where history is reworded. It’s an ode to otherness, to our desire to expand beyond the confines of our three dimensional universe and sniff at the possibility of realms beyond the known... Natalie Mack starts to sing and you slide on moonbeams and feel a supernova explode in your solar plexus. She conjures shadows and invigorates your inner-space... Her voice penetrates your defenses and leaves your heart open." - Jacquelyn Claire 
The New York Times:
"'Up & Away', For Young Audiences Who Don't Want Surprises" "'For an audience that sometimes doesn’t feel welcome, we wanted to create an experience that was the opposite of that, where we are waiting for them to arrive,' Mr. Chapman said. In the solarium, where several lounge chairs are placed, visitors will be told that they can return there at any time if they would like. The group will then head into the performance space, where the hot-air balloon replicas are set up. One is for the show’s musicians — Natalie Ann Mack and Jason Vance — and the others are for audience members to sit, two per balloon, in soft blue chairs, with their guardians behind them and a cast member next to them." -Steven McElroy |