musical theater

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Jan 24 2022

THEATER: MR. PARENT/PRETTY WOMAN

By |2022-01-24T17:45:26-05:00January 24th, 2022|Theater|0 Comments

I recently went to the theater, vaxxed and masked, and saw two productions which couldn't have been more diametrically opposed. One was an honest, affecting, reality-based memoir that shed light on one of the most crucial and challenging issues of our times. The other was a repackaged bundle of cliched claptrap, an embarrassment in motion.  [...]

Feb 07 2017

THEATER: BILLY ELLIOT The Musical

By |2017-02-07T23:37:28-05:00February 7th, 2017|Theater|0 Comments

In the middle of the snow, and the rain, and the wind, and the cold, and a million people heading into Boston for the PATRIOTS' victorious rolling rally onto City Hall Plaza (am still in SHOCK and AWE at that miraculous triumph), I found myself practicing evasive maneuvers in order to make my way to WHEELOCK FAMILY THEATRE's school matinee of BILLY [...]

Jun 18 2016

THEATER: MATILDA

By |2016-06-27T23:22:20-04:00June 18th, 2016|Theater|0 Comments

I have a new favorite musical and it's called MATILDA THE MUSICAL!!! This literate, darkly funny, empowering, and bizarrely inventive Tony award-winner just hit the Boston Opera House in its first national tour-- and don't you dare miss it!  MATILDA THE MUSICAL is based on Roald Dahl's best-selling novel, and captures the writer's strange and shadowy sensibility, as [...]

May 12 2016

THEATER: DOGFIGHT

By |2016-05-12T17:27:10-04:00May 12th, 2016|Theater|0 Comments

I had a catch in my throat from the first song. DOGFIGHT was instantly, emotionally stirring, from its poignant opening ballad, wise book, smart, rousing choreography, perfect cast and chemistry-- to its tender, heartbreaking conclusion. The Award-winning Off-Broadway musical having its Boston professional premiere at SpeakEasy Stage is a deeply moving coming of age tale with two young lovers at the heart of a world [...]

Feb 11 2016

THEATER: RENT, THE CONVERT, MILK LIKE SUGAR

By |2016-02-11T21:22:21-05:00February 11th, 2016|Theater|0 Comments

Paying the rent, colonizing a country, and milk like sugar--all cost; but these issues are definitely worth the price of admission as enacted on stages around town over the next few weeks. The 20th Anniversary production of RENT by Fiddlehead Theatre Company which runs only  through February 21 at the Back Bay Events Center is a musical about starving artists, drag queens, and AIDS based [...]

Feb 04 2016

THEATER: PIPPIN

By |2016-02-05T13:23:57-05:00February 4th, 2016|Theater|0 Comments

It's fair to mention that PIPPIN is not my favorite musical. I also happened to be sick as a dog as I sat in the audience on opening night. BUT, that said, I enjoyed this production so much more than I did the A.R.T.'s  pre-broadway update of the 1972 Tony-Award winning musical onstage in Cambridge. That adaptation did go on to Broadway and another Tony [...]

Jan 16 2016

THEATER ROUNDUP: GREAT LAKES/ VIA DOLOROSA/VIOLET

By |2016-01-16T12:41:07-05:00January 16th, 2016|Theater|0 Comments

Absolutely dash up to the Apollinaire Theatre Co. in Chelsea and catch the last weekend of "A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes." It's a wild and horribly funny take on family dynamics as blood sport! A superb and physically fit ensemble of actors literally throw themselves into the action as 4 generations of the Wembly [...]

Jan 09 2016

THEATER: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

By |2016-01-09T14:00:10-05:00January 9th, 2016|Theater|0 Comments

I've got the music from this show stuck in my head--so my life is now a Disney musical!  Such is the irresistible power of this Broadway in Boston production of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST once it gets going-- which is somewhere at the beginning of Act II. The long-running hit musical features a relentlessly catchy score, truly outstanding voices, clever staging, [...]

Dec 20 2015

THEATER: NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812

By |2015-12-21T10:58:49-05:00December 20th, 2015|Theater|0 Comments

Though I've just begun writing this review, I am already at a loss for superlatives. NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812  has to be one of the most fantastically alive and rapturous theatrical productions I've ever seen. THE 19th century Russian novel has come to dazzling life at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge after premiering off broadway and [...]

Dec 04 2015

THEATER: THE SNOW QUEEN/ ONE CHILD BORN THE MUSIC OF LAURA NYRO

By |2015-12-13T12:43:52-05:00December 4th, 2015|Theater|0 Comments

I hate to be the grinch, but the New Rep's New England Premiere of the new "steam punk" musical THE SNOW QUEEN left me cold. Almost numb. Neither enchanting nor uplifting, the show is overlong, with a fussy book, a clunky, bland "pop rock" score, cliched lyrics, and wobbly vocals, and marked by one of the most "awkward-bordering-on-creepy" scenes on [...]