Theatre Review: Hello, Dolly!

Fellow Jackson citizens: Do you need anything? How about legal counsel? Perhaps varicose veins reductions? Are you a painter who needs dance classes? What about some good old-fashioned matchmaking? Then you need Dolly! Fortunately for us, Hello, Dolly! has come to the stage at The Ned, and she has brought all her business cards with her. Dolly Levi, played by Julie Glosson, is an expert at everything. In her own words, she’s a professional meddler.

A Brighter Vision for Downtown

Let’s suspend our thought for the next ten to fifteen minutes and imagine what could be. Let’s not think about dollars and cents or logistical structure. While those things are necessary, they’re not for us right now. What we need are open minds and unencumbered ideas about what our downtown might possibly be if we could just think a little bit beyond what we’ve always thought. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen beyond. I’ve seen what downtown Jackson could be if we could just all get on board.

Theatre Review: Rumors

The Jackson Theatre Guild is kicking off this spring with Neil Simon’s farcical play Rumors this weekend at The Ned. Rumors is crammed with two hours of mass chaos, assumptions, misunderstandings, and (of course) rumors. The play opens as Ken and Chris Gorman (played by Kyle Williams and Caitlin Kent) arrive at their friends’ Charlie and Myra Brock’s house to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary. But everything is amiss. Myra and the house staff are nowhere to be found, the meal isn’t cooked, and Charlie has survived a gunshot to his head.

Theatre Review: The 39 Steps

Richard Hannay gets swept into a spy thriller in the Jackson Theatre Guild's current production of The 39 Steps. When a gun is fired during a theater production, the seductive Annabella Schmidt convinces Richard Hannay to take her to his room for safety. While there, she is murdered. With her dying breaths, she mentions the mysterious "39 steps" in relation to a spy plot but does not reveal its meaning. Hannay, now a murder suspect, flees the country, follows Annabella's few, vague clues to discover the meaning of the 39 steps.

Curtain Call

Some of my favorite things about Jackson’s many weekend entertainment options are the gambling, exotic dancers, and running from the cops. Of course, I am a sucker for the more romantic selections as well, including salsa dancing and island-inspired drinks, all of which can cause a woman’s inhibitions to wave bye-bye at the door. All of these are what make Jackson what it is—a lively city teeming with less-than-honest citizens looking for even less honest entertainment.