I was tearing up within minutes of Obehi Janice being onstage, hearing her tell the story of a strange and lonely uncle who "hated" himself to sleep with the words, "I'm a piece of shit." Suddenly, I'm welling up. Who hasn't felt this way? But this show sets out to be a healing balm and the formula is familiar: misery loves [...]
OH GOD--A man walks into a psychologist's office. He needs to talk and she's the one. Oh...and he's God. As in the deity. As in The Word--first, last, and always. Presented by Israeli Stage and written by the late Anat Gov in a season of all female playwrights, "Oh God" cracks open this borderline blasphemous exclamation and releases [...]
Drama Critic Elliot Norton It's "NORTIE" time! The Boston Theater Critics Association (BTCA) of which I am president is pleased to announce its nominations for the 34th Annual Elliot Norton Awards! For one night--Monday May 23, 2016, on one stage--Boston's Citi Shubert Theatre, the greater Boston theater community will celebrate in the name of the late great [...]
The 34th Annual Elliot Norton Awards Ceremony is set for Monday May 23 at Boston’s Citi Shubert Theatre and will honor Award-winning actress Mary Louise Wilson! Here's her hilarious acceptance speech after receiving Broadway's 2007 Tony Award as best featured actress in a musical for her performance in "Grey Gardens": The curtain goes up at 7PM and the ceremony will feature [...]
HAMILTON's coming--in 2017-18!! DATES & ON-SALE TO BE ANNOUNCED LATER. BUT FIRST, here's NEXT Season 2016-2017 Lexus Broadway In Boston Season Direct from Broadway: *The National Tour of SOMETHING ROTTEN! officially launches in Boston *National Theatre production THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHTTIME *Lincoln Center Theater production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s THE KING AND I *American [...]
It has been an intense week for theater-- all of it worthy and wildly different! Check out THE LAUNCH PRIZE a terrifically engaging new play presented by MJ Halberstadt and produced by Bridge Rep. The situation is as timely as it is provocative. Four arts students are vying for the big, year-end academic prize which will launch their [...]
That title delivers exactly what it says and lucky for us. How often do we have the chance to find out directly from an artist what made him or her who they are? It's what I always want to know. That we get to have that experience at the Huntington Theatre the artistic home of Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist August Wilson, the place which helped birth eight of [...]
There's a pile of new shows onstage in town-- and I will sort through it for you right now! CAPS FOR SALE: The Musical--Take the kids to see this world premiere production based on the classic children's book, whimsically performed by Boston Children's Theatre at the Calderwood Pavilion. This tale of Pezzo the Peddler and his passel of caps burgled by a [...]
This is a MUST SEE now onstage only through Sunday 3/6: a breathtaking, translucent production of Chekhov's THREE SISTERS in Russian that was so staggeringly beautiful, vibrant, and accessible that I apprehended every word, every nuance. And I don't speak Russian. Rarely have I seen a production of a [...]
No one said totalitarianism was a walk in the park. But to the folks on opening night who walked out of the deeply disturbing and horrifying new adaptation of George Orwell's sci-fi cautionary tale 1984-- I don't blame you. The show now onstage at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge adapted and directed by Robert Icke & Duncan Macmillan [...]
