Here's a rewarding artistic excursion for the new year-- an erotic crime thriller two ways, one onscreen, the other onstage. Both are based on the devilishly byzantine novel and Mann Booker finalist by Sarah Waters called "FINGERSMITH." (Also a 2005 BBC mini series.) The staged version called FINGERSMITH and adapted by Alexa Junge is now in its final week at [...]
If you're still looking for that perfect gift for someone you love who loves the arts, I am passing along this 2016 Holiday Gift Guide, itself a gift from WBUR's The ARTery writers-- and I am proud to be one! This annual gift guide has several stockings full of suggestions in every discipline [...]
Last week was a big disappointment on the theater scene for me-- two plays I couldn't wait to see came up short. AN AMERICAN IN PARIS which just opened its national tour onstage at the new Boch Center's Wang Theatre (through November 6) is gorgeous to look at with great choreography, sets, costumes, and music-- but a book that [...]
Take one of the most flagrant miscarriages of justice in American history, fueled by racial hatred, hitch it to a minstrel show and you’ve got “The Scottsboro Boys.” Even more painfully relevant now than when it opened on Broadway in 2010, the Tony-nominated musical is having its New England premiere at SpeakEasy Stage Company in [...]
WHEELOCK FAMILY THEATRE is giving away 3 pairs of tickets to Akeelah and the Bee for the 7:30 pm show on Friday, October 28, 2016. Enter to win! Akeelah and the Bee is the story of an 11-year old girl with a talent for spelling and a big heart. With persistence, determination and the support of her Chicago community she earns a [...]
It was nominated for ten and won four Tony awards including "Best Musical" and just arrived at Boston's Shubert Theatre (only until 10/23!) on its first national tour: A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE & MURDER! It's a howlingly funny, sexy, saucy, romantic musical comedy-mystery-farce with a dazzling script, score, sets, costumes, and performances! This is one of the most entertaining evenings at [...]
Making plans for the weekend? Absolutely head up to Stoneham Theatre to see two of our best local actors in a really surprising, and intriguing play that looks into the future of artificial intelligence and the possibility of living forever! That weird title UNCANNY VALLEY refers to a concept in the field of robotics-- the more "human" an artificial being becomes, the more [...]
Shakespeare's tragic Prince of indecision, HAMLET, is having a grand staging at Church of the Covenant at the hands of Actors' Shakespeare Project! I've seen the play set everywhere, but this is an inspired venue. Doug Lockwood's direction rises to the challenge and opportunity of the space; though pivoting in my seat to follow the [...]
I'm exhausted. A few nights ago I watched 5 French Canadians called MACHINE DE CIRQUE high on guts and testosterone, hurtle through 90 minutes of breathtaking (mine and theirs) acrobatics, juggling, and jocularity using bicycles, trapezes, seesaws, unicycles, ropes and poles, scaffolding and towels--yes towels--which may have been most breathtaking of all. The towels were all that kept them from being in the "all together" and me [...]
Still catching my breath and catching up with three more on the boards to check out: REGULAR SINGING at NEW REP THEATRE takes the final bite out of the four-part “The Apple Family: Scenes from Life in the Country ” cycle of plays by Tony Award-winning playwright Richard Nelson. We now know this family intimately as [...]
