OMG. I just saw what has to be one of the most exciting new plays, productions, and ensembles of the year--by the excellent actor Steven Barkhimer called WINDOWMEN at Boston Playwrights' Theatre. The whole thing takes place in one dingy room of the wholesale lower Manhattan fish market known to the world as the Fulton [...]
If you see only one play in this life--it might have to be WAITING FOR GODOT. Samuel Beckett's game-changing, landmark tragicomedy that yanks us out of ourselves so we can see the outlines-- and perhaps the substance-- of our own existence, is a mind blower. And the production by Ireland's Gare St. Lazare Players and [...]
The best show I've seen lately -- no question-- is onstage only until November 2 at the Cutler Majestic: Luis Bravo's FOREVER TANGO!!! We're talking 14 gorgeous Tango dancers and an 11 piece orchestra. Theater? you ask. Absolutely! I say. The Argentinian tango-- originally considered indecent, came out of the bordellos of Buenos Aires in [...]
My sympathies to this cast-- they have worked themselves to a frazzle trying to wring sense out of senselessness-- but this new work at the NEW REP THEATRE proves resistant. RANCHO MIRAGE may be the most preposterous thing I have ever seen. Described as a "dark comedy" by Stephen Dietz, RANCHO MIRAGE is a boneheaded [...]
MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET--is worth maybe $100,000. Now onstage at the Colonial (the video above features a different cast) the show speculates on what actually happened the night of Dec. 4, 1956 when Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis met at producer Sam Phillips studio and improvised an historic jam session, later dubbed [...]
It's a jungle out there! Two powerful productions take us for a walk on the wild side-- of politics, and a child's imagination! THE JUNGLE BOOK the Huntington Theatre Company's season opener is based on Rudyard Kipling's stories by way of Walt Disney's animated musical of a boy who can talk to the animals! Tony [...]
The FALL theater season is on-- with mostly winning productions! This is what I've seen so far--in order of "shelf-life."And so I begin with the first to expire: THE ELEPHANT MAN-- which is dead on arrival at New Rep Theatre in Watertown. It's a plodding play based on the true story of John Merrick born [...]
I'm feeling WICKED. I mean, really feeling it. I saw the Tony Award-winning musical again, at Boston's Opera House, and again, found myself caught up and trembling at this smart, moving, goose-bump-inducing production of a brilliant show that deserves to be as "popular" as it is. What is it about this show? About me? Yes, [...]
The Nora Theatre Company's terribly funny and nimbly-acted production of Alan Ayckbourn's bedroom farce: ABSURD PERSON SINGULAR has just been extended through August 25th-- and with good reason! Here, the holidays become an escalating disaster as we observe three socially climbing couples over the course of three successive and increasingly hysterical Christmas Eves. I normally hate [...]
You MUST see Company One's entertaining and enlightening HOW WE GOT ON! This is a jubilant show directed by Summer L. Williams that not only made me understand rap in a new way-- but made me FEEL it! This show captures the heart, mind, and soul of the art form, and channels the here and [...]
