The letter below was sent to everyone in house over at the Huntington Theatre by Managing Director Michael Maso announcing the death of Nicholas Martin, beloved former artistic director there who died April 30, at age 75 in New York after battling a long illness. Martin directed 18 shows for the Huntington while serving as [...]
THE SHAPE SHE MAKES-- floored me. I have always known that we are driven by our unconscious desires, hangups, hurts; that we are deeply formed early on by our first experiences within the family dynamic. Yes, I spent years in therapy, but never have I seen this "through-line" as clearly drawn-- dramatically, musically, and choreographically-- [...]
As President of the BOSTON THEATER CRITICS ASSOCIATION I am happy to announce our 32nd ANNUAL ELLIOT NORTON AWARDS NOMINATIONS! Academy Award-winner Olympia Dukakis To Receive Elliot Norton Lifetime Achievement Award SpeakEasy Stage Founder/Artistic Director Paul Daigneault To Receive Annual Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence Monday May 19, 2013 at 7pm The Wheelock Family [...]
So much theater-- so little time! Here's a round up beginning with the best of what's onstage right now! TALLEY'S FOLLY at Merrimack Repertory Theatre is terrific. This 1980 Pulitzer Prize-winning play set on July 4, 1944 by Lanford Wilson about two lonely souls navigating a potentially romantic relationship finds a lovely home at the [...]
You know how Chekhov insists that his plays are comedies? Well the Huntington Theatre Company's production of THE SEAGULL proves the point--it's practically a laugh riot, which only enhances its serious impact. From the play's first two lines, when the schoolmaster Medvedenko asks Masha why she is always wearing black, Masha-- who is in love [...]
DANCE WITH ME & THE CAST of HEARTBEAT OF HOME and WIN 4 FREE TICKETS to the new music and dance spectacular created by the producers and director of RIVERDANCE! I'll be there-- kicking up my heels along with two lucky JoycesChoices Winners and a few other Boston celebs when we all take a Master Class [...]
OK-- BREAKING THE SHAKESPEARE CODE is a terrible title for a great new play put on by Vagabond Theatre Group but don't let that put you off! Last Saturday I felt "ultra-Bohemian" as I made my way to one of Boston's tiny little hidden theaters in the South End, through a parking lot and down [...]
MORE great theater in town--this time at SpeakEasy Stage Company which presents the New England premiere of Samuel D. Hunter's off-broadway hit THE WHALE. Superbly cast and tackling a profusion of problems, the show rivets us with its initial image. But first-- we hear the ocean; then we see a 600 pound man sitting center stage [...]
There are two extremely well-executed classics on stage in Boston right now, but you couldn't find two more wildly different experiences, in theme and execution: the first a tragedy about illusions that destroy, and the other a comedy about illusions that reveal and make merry; one realistic/naturalistic, the other, cutting edge-- with puppets! Lyric Stage [...]
The Oscar blitz is over and it's bottom of the barrel time for movies. BUT-- there's some GREAT theater out there beginning with an absolutely gorgeous, funny, poignant, beautifully acted THE CHERRY ORCHARD which has been knocking 'em dead at an elegant mansion in Newton! I love theater in beautiful, unusual places-- and Actors' Shakespeare [...]
