The north shore is alive with THE SOUND OF MUSIC! Don’t waste a moment and see if you can snag a ticket for the last performances this weekend (they’ve added an extra show Sunday) of North Shore Music Theatre’s season opener of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic that solves a problem like Maria, and climbs every mountain; it’s over the top wonderful! Every voice is splendid– especially Lisa O’Hare’s as the wayward postulant who finds her true calling among seven adorable children and one Captain von Trapp, and Suzanne Ishee as the mother superior who points Maria up that mountain with some damn good advice. Ishee’s thrillng rendition of the first act closer CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN brought tears to my eyes– and I was not alone.

I know every word of every song, every nuance– and this production succeeds on every level. Exceptionally well-cast and acted, simply staged with a muted soft palette, in the round so there are NO bad seats, and ringing with true emotional power, this production is quite an accomplishment for a musical that has seared itself into the culture by way of a near-perfect movie version. Only through this Sunday, June 23 at Beverly’s NORTH SHORE MUSIC THEATRE.

JoycesChoices reviewBack in Boston at the Calderwood Pavilion RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN by Gina Gionfriddo really had women buzzing in the ladies room during intermission– and no wonder. It’s a provocative exploration of the ongoing argument that is feminism, through the circumstances of two women who went different ways, each craving the path not taken. Gwen (Annie McNamara) has made her way as a wife and mother, while her college friend Catherine (Kate Shindle) has pursued a successful career as a star academic and author. What they also have in common is Gwen’s husband Don (Timothy John Smith) whom Catherine used to date but with whom Gwen has settled down.  The plot actually pivots on him– what getting a man means, and whether that’s a fair trade, or even if that choice is exclusionary– can you have a marriage and kids and a blazingly successful career all at once?

The question is tossed around from generation to generation.  Nancy Carroll brings her trademark authenticity and deadpan to the part of Catherine’s martini mixing mother who lived through the post suffragette proto-feminist Steinem/Schlafly imbroglio. And if you don’t know who they are, you most likely belong to the  post, post feminist generation represented here by college student Avery (Shannon Esper). Avery has no use for “feminism” and takes for granted an unencumbered view of women’s roles in the world, which overlooks the nuance of “choice” embedded in what the label initially meant.

I had some quibbles. Kate Shindle’s key role as Catherine is a weak link in the production, her stilted delivery loosening up only in act two. And there’s barely a play here; the drama is thinly hung on what is fundamentally a conversation about ideas– and that’s what grabs us.  In fact, the play takes the form of a discussion as Avery and Gwen sign up for Catherine’s seminar and hold debates in her living room. It’s no wonder Timothy John Smith’s performance suffers as he struggles to flesh out his character –more catalytic device than full-fledged human being.

But the conversation holds– and the proof was in the conversations I heard among the audience during and after the show. The “woman” question is a many headed hydra (and I mean that in the best possible sense) from Emmeline Pankhurst, Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Phyllis Schlafly, to Sheryl Sandberg and beyond.  Bravo to anyone who keeps this discussion front and center and most people seem to agree.  RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN has been extended through June 30, a Huntington Theatre Company production at the Calderwood Pavilion in the Boston Center for the Arts.