[Culpeper Times] CURTAIN CALLS: Islands of delight dot ‘South Pacific’
One enchanted evening many years ago (seventy, to be exact) Messrs. Rodgers and Hammerstein opened their mint new musical, “South Pacific”, for its New Haven and Boston previews. The response was immediate and enthusiastic… Riverside Center’s just-opened production scores where it counts most in this tale of two non-traditional love affairs and war in the Pacific. Central to the conflict are one middle-aged Frenchman with the mysterious past, Emile de Becque, and his much younger love interest, the Arkansas-bred nurse, Ensign Nellie Forbush. Around them swirl issues of Japanese invasion, high jinks among the sailors, and a separate, doomed love affair with further racial implications.
[Free Lance-Star] Riverside Center for the Performing Arts sets course for ‘South Pacific’
When “South Pacific” first débuted on Broadway, it was an immediate hit.
That was in 1949, pulling on the reflective heartstrings of audiences who had World War II fresh on their minds.
Flash forward to today: While WWII is long gone, many of the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein musical’s poignant messages still hit home. The show owns the Riverside Center for the Performing Arts stage through Sept. 15.
[Press Release] Riverside Center for the Performing Arts Announces Cast and Creative Team for South Pacific
Riverside Center for the Performing Arts is excited to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Pulitzer Prize-winning South Pacific with its new production in Fredericksburg, VA. The Rodgers and Hammerstein classic – which premiered in 1949 – did not have a revival until the 2008 Lincoln Center production (which, like its predecessor, won multiple Tony Awards®). Several of its songs, including “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair,” “Some Enchanted Evening,” “There is Nothing Like a Dame,” “Happy Talk,” and “I’m In Love with a Wonderful Guy” have become popular standards.
[CBS6’s Virginia This Morning] ‘South Pacific’ Returns!
RICHMOND, Va – Riverside Center for The Performing Arts features many great productions during the year. Their latest musical offering is “South Pacific” that creates a story during World War 2 that is filled with laughter, sorrow, and thought-provoking moments. Producing Artistic Director Patrick A’Hearn along with actors Branch Fields and Kate Marshall stop by CBS6’s Virginia This Morning for a brief interview and a musical performance.
Penny Ayn Maas previews “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific” with Town Talk’s Ted Schubel!
Listen to Penny Ayn Maas (Director & Choreographer) preview our upcoming production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific at Riverside alongside director and Riverside Center’s Producing Artistic Director, Patrick A’Hearn and Town Talk’s Ted Schubel (NewsTalk 1230 WFVA).
[Culpeper Times] CURTAINS: “Pirates…” The Very Model of a Modern Operetta
They fancy themselves a dangerous lot, but the grim list of killed and captured by the Pirates of Penzance is…nonexistent. Their job is to be fierce and take hostages, but somehow – dash it all! – the hostages always turn out to be orphans! And being orphans themselves, they just can’t take ungentlemanly advantage. That means our pirates are no more successful now in 2019 than they were back in 1879. That’s when this Gilbert and Sullivan jewel first held audiences captive with its rapier wit, and it’s been swashing its buckles ever since.
Three cannon shots of congratulation to Riverside for staging this gold nugget and doing it justice. In a whimsical modification, director Catherine Flye has renamed this the “Rascals of the Rappahannock” and brought the pirates to Fredericksburg in the time of George III, as opposed to the Victorian era Cornwall coast.
[CBS6’s Virginia This Morning] Pirates of Penzance hits the Riverside Center for the Performing Arts
RICHMOND, Va. – Riverside Center for the Performing Arts has a new offering on stage and you’re invited! Patrick A’Hearn, the Producing Artistic Director, along with Actress Claire Leyden and Musical Director Joe Walsh stopped by to share a preview of the event.
DC Metro Theater Arts Review: ‘The Pirates of Penzance (or the Rascals of the Rappahannock)’ at Riverside Center
Riverside Center of the Performing Arts reprises Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, a two-act comic operetta that was first produced in December of 1879, and remains in production to this day! Director and Adaptor Catherine Flye gives the show (originally set in Cornwall) a local spin by placing the action on the banks of the Rappahannock River and offering the revised title Rascals of the Rappahannock.
[The Free Lance-Star/Culpeper Star Exponent] Review: A shipshape ‘Pirates of Penzance’ is swashbuckling fun at Riverside
Brilliant wit, successfully delivered, is a rare delight—to experience such wit, joyously sustained and sprinkled steadily over several hours may occur only a handful of occasions in a lifetime.
“The Pirates of Penzance,” onstage now at the Riverside Center for the Performing Arts in Stafford County, qualifies as one of those occasions—an opportunity to be avidly sought and relished by any intelligent music lover with a sense of humor.
[The Zebra Press] Review: Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance” at Riverside Center for the Performing Arts, Fredericksburg, Va.
I have just seen/heard an absolutely first-rate production of “The Pirates of Penzance or The Rascals of the Rappahannock” at the Riverside Center for the Performing Arts in Fredericksburg, Va. Honestly, I’ve attended many, many productions of this piece with all kinds of adaptations, and this is—hands down—the best. Boom. Period.