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Showing posts from April, 2026

Arsenic and Old Lace review- Empress Theatre

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Arsenic and Old Lace   is a 1941 dark comedy by Joseph Kesselring centered on Mortimer Brewster, a theater critic who discovers his sweet, elderly aunts, Abby and Martha, are poisoning lonely old men with elderberry wine. Set in Brooklyn, the chaotic plot involves Mortimer trying to manage his aunts, his brother who thinks he is Theodore Roosevelt, and his murderous brother Jonathan, who returns home. Direction: The director and costumer for this production was  Carleigh-Jo Naylor and the assistant director was Sara Goldberg-McRae.  Naylor made  sure to assemble a production team that worked well together. She had a clear vision, and made sure to let her team know what she wanted. All parts of the show flowed together because of her clear direction. Naylor made sure to play to all comedic moments and had the audience laughing throughout the night. I especially appreciated her choice of pre-show music. Naylor's choice of costumes put you into the time period. The...