Let's begin with STRAIGHT WHITE MEN-- since most things do. But time's up and now what? That's the question raised by playwright Young Jean Lee in her Broadway hit now having its New England premiere onstage presented by New Rep Theatre. First, I am a fan of another work of Lee's-- "We're Gonna Die" which [...]
My sympathies to this cast-- they have worked themselves to a frazzle trying to wring sense out of senselessness-- but this new work at the NEW REP THEATRE proves resistant. RANCHO MIRAGE may be the most preposterous thing I have ever seen. Described as a "dark comedy" by Stephen Dietz, RANCHO MIRAGE is a boneheaded [...]
MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET--is worth maybe $100,000. Now onstage at the Colonial (the video above features a different cast) the show speculates on what actually happened the night of Dec. 4, 1956 when Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis met at producer Sam Phillips studio and improvised an historic jam session, later dubbed [...]
It's a jungle out there! Two powerful productions take us for a walk on the wild side-- of politics, and a child's imagination! THE JUNGLE BOOK the Huntington Theatre Company's season opener is based on Rudyard Kipling's stories by way of Walt Disney's animated musical of a boy who can talk to the animals! Tony [...]
The FALL theater season is on-- with mostly winning productions! This is what I've seen so far--in order of "shelf-life."And so I begin with the first to expire: THE ELEPHANT MAN-- which is dead on arrival at New Rep Theatre in Watertown. It's a plodding play based on the true story of John Merrick born [...]
The Nora Theatre Company's terribly funny and nimbly-acted production of Alan Ayckbourn's bedroom farce: ABSURD PERSON SINGULAR has just been extended through August 25th-- and with good reason! Here, the holidays become an escalating disaster as we observe three socially climbing couples over the course of three successive and increasingly hysterical Christmas Eves. I normally hate [...]
There are three musicals now onstage in Boston. Only one really gave me a lift: The Tony award-winning IN THE HEIGHTS which has just been extended at The SpeakEasy Stage! Their production is MUCH better than the bloodless hip-jiggling, shoulder-shimmying Broadway roadshow that salsa-ed through town a few seasons ago. I thought it prosaic with [...]
The SpeakEasy Stage Company is off to a roaring start! Obscene? Most definitely. Three legged kittens, mothers, the deity herself --no one escapes unscathed. There's even mention of oral sex at Appleby's. But I was moved, and glued--first scene to last-- to this "street smart comedy" about deeply flawed people and their bruising [...]
Want to be superficial and delight in the moment? Then dash to the best show in town right now: the Huntington Theatre Company's season ender PRIVATE LIVES! Witness an effervescent ensemble who add extra crackle to Noel Coward's crisply witty comedy. On the surface everyone behaves beautifully, while underneath feelings are as unstable and evanescent [...]
It's marvelously entertaining, warm, funny, sweet and a bit bawdy at the same time-- and you're in luck BECAUSE: The Lyric Stage Company of Boston has extended the run of AVENUE Q for one more week- due to unprecedented ticket demand! Absolutely must close July 1!! Avenue Q is now the highest grossing production in [...]
