In recent years she consciously balanced the recognisable Maeve Binchy charm of her work with more modern themes, and introduced a sharper edge to her humour and a darker tone to her stories of contemporary Irish life.
The Paper Mill Playhouse has mounted a revival of "Carnival!" And while it reminds us of the genuine charm of the work and provides several show-stopping numbers for its talented players, it does little to dispel the shadow that the play casts.
Waterman was exacting in her specifications: She wanted the building to look aged as well as have the "charm of the work of half-skilled Indian hands", although modern conveniences such as electricity and indoor plumbing were included.
But neither Milo nor Nicole succeeds in being very interesting, and while Ms. Aniston can fall back on her easy, nicely worn charm, Mr. Butler has only the opposite of charm to work with.
The humour and charm of this works only if carried on a wave of buoyancy – if it's quick and full of vim and affection.
March pieces included "Kiss", (2002) a pas de deux of erotic embraces from art history, and April featured "This is So Contemporary" (2004), a humorous sketch in which three chanting, dancing guards sprang out to circle unwary patrons.The charm of these works lies in their evanescence.
Ghiberti's three panels seem an embodiment of the humanist's formulations for Renaissance pictorial art, and it is clear that any assessment of his art must account for the incorporation of the new theory as well as for the beauty and charm of these works.
At this stage in his career Poulenc was conscious of his lack of academic musical training; the critic and biographer Jeremy Sams writes that it was the composer's good luck that the public mood was turning against late-romantic lushness in favour of the "freshness and insouciant charm" of his works, technically unsophisticated though they were.
He played all the notes but suggested few of the extroverted charms of a work that jumps from nocturne to mania.
Apart from the charms of the work itself, the draw in the company's "Princess Ida" was the comedian Frank Gorshin, who sang the role of King Gama, and who was both in good voice and fine comic form on Saturday evening.
