"The Adding Machine" by Clevername Theatre at the Hive Collaborative

Clevername Theatre's production of the 1923 play The Adding Machine feels like a sequel of sorts to last year's production of the 1928 play Machinal, or at least a continuation of the theme. Both plays are a little weird and dark, performed in an Expressionist style, are about the mundanity and absurdity of everyday life, and even share some cast and creative team. Where Machinal focused on a woman trapped in societal expectations and the extremes she goes to to escape, The Adding Machine tells the story of a man fired from his boring job of 25 years, also going to extremes to escape, only to find more of the same. Once again, Clevername has taken a hundred-year-old play, performed it in the style it was intended, and made it relevant to today. See it at The Hive Collaborative through June 22.

"Ruddigore; or, The Witch's Curse" by the Gilbert and Sullivan Very Light Opera Company at the Howard Conn Fine Arts Center

Another 2020 "ghost show" has returned! (And this one is a "ghost show" in more ways than one.) The Gilbert and Sullivan Very Light Opera Company had just opened their production of Ruddigore; or, The Witch's Curse in March of 2020 when the pandemic shut down all live performance. Finally, two years later, they've re-opened the show for a (hopefully) full run, and it's delightful! A huge and talented cast, a gorgeously full opera, and a clever concept that pays homage to classic movies makes this show a thoroughly enjoyable evening, and worth the wait.