"Pious, pompous, puffed up twits" beware: the Huntington Theatre Company's TARTUFFE is a screamingly funny, jubilant debunking of fakery in all its forms! Moliere's 17th century satire anticipated "the Enlightenment" as reason trumps religious pretense in this tale of a hypocritical holy man Tartuffe (actor/comedian Brett Gelman "Stranger Things") who hoodwinks a gentleman and head of [...]
A fierce and fiery production of "OLEANNA" is now onstage at New Rep Theatre, written by David Mamet and directed by Elaine Vaan Hogue. I remember seeing this explosive kernel of a play in its world premiere in Cambridge in 1992; it starred William H. Macy and Rebecca Pidgeon (Mamet's wife) and was the first [...]
MUST SEE: "A GUIDE FOR THE HOMESICK." On the night I saw it at the Huntington Theatre's second stage at the Calderwood, the audience wouldn't stop clapping until this killer two-man cast came out to take another bow. Penned by Ken Urban and directed by Tony Award nominee Colman Domingo, this swift and scorching play stars [...]
Wondering what TO SEE and NOT TO SEE onstage? Here's my take on what I've seen lately: (L to R): Victor Shopov, Aina Adler, Robert Orzalli, Ashley Risteen (Photo by Richard Hall/Silverline Images) FACELESS: SEE it! This New England premiere by young playwright Selina Fillinger and season opener at Zeitgeist Stage Company is [...]
By any measure, "Merrily We Roll Along" the Huntington Theatre Company's season opener is a first rate show with a brilliant cast, directed by Maria Friedman who recreates her smash hit London production with a challenging book by George Furth about luck and choice, and a Sondheim score that sheds light on those murky twists [...]
Here are three to see onstage right now beginning with CONSTELLATIONS presented by Underground Railway Theater at the Central Square Theater. This is one of the most fascinating and brilliantly performed productions I've ever seen locally, as emotionally charged as it is intellectually stimulating. I was entranced at first sight of the set-- a luminous, [...]
In the last days of summer, an out-of-this-world, world premiere, end-of-the-world musical has sprung up at OBERON (through September 8) the A.R.T.'s second stage where anything can and often does happen. BURN ALL NIGHT seems to be channeling the zeitgeist as it speaks to looming disaster: four millennials trying to find their way through life [...]
Two musicals have just descended on the Boston area: one old, one new--each with its ups and downs. Mara Cecilia as PEGGY SAWYER First,"Come and meet those dancing feet/On the avenue I'm taking you to/42ND STREET"--now in Waltham at the REAGLE THEATRE just finishing up its 49th season! This is the final weekend of [...]
I can always tell when a production hits the sweet spot for me. Words for my reviews start running through my head and I can't stop them. This week there are TWO such productions which you MUST SEE, both Shakespearean-- one a splendid production of his most popular play, and the other a searing one-man [...]
There's almost NOTHING to see at the movies these days except techno-driven retreads of assorted superheroes, smurfs, or humans acting like imbeciles. Unless you've put your brain on ice this summer, your resources are BEST spent on live theater. Here's my take on three onstage right now beginning with THE EFFECT a New England Premiere [...]
