The news is out! The BOSTON THEATER CRITICS ASSOCIATION of which I am proud to be President has officially announced that our season-end extravaganza known as The Elliot Norton Awards honoring the best of greater Boston theater is back LIVE and IN PERSON after three years! The Boston Globe ran the story today-- READ IT [...]
TWO WORLD PREMIERES hit the stage in Boston-- BOTH very much worth seeing. While not perfect, these works live at the edge of what's happening now, reminding us with urgency of what we already know and need to address. THE ART OF BURNING is onstage now at Huntington's Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. It's [...]
Two to see as we head into Christmas WEEKEND! Moonbox productions continually grows in stature as a presenter of first-rate productions in a consistently excellent repertoire! This time it's Harvey Fierstein's classic TORCH SONG (Fierstein's 2017 reworked and reduced revival of "Torch Song Trilogy") with a funny, tender performance by Peter Mill as Arnold Beckoff [...]
'Tis the season to be jolly! From the sacred to the profane, you'll find it all onstage now--with MUSIC! Hang onto your hot cocoa and here we go. Head on up to Stoneham to see one of the best productions ever mounted by Greater Boston Stage Company: LITTLE WOMEN The Broadway Musical! It's Louisa [...]
THREE TO SEE ONSTAGE NOW: "SIX The Musical" at the Emerson Colonial Theatre! I first saw it at the American Repertory Theater in 2019, reviewed it then (read what I said here), and haven't changed my mind about its problems, but this time I enjoyed it more. It's won a pair of Tonys for original [...]
The theater season is off and running! Here's my take on three productions that kicked the Fall into high gear! The newly renovated Huntington Theatre has returned to its physical home on Huntington Ave and its artistic home with August Wilson's JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE, the first of his plays produced by the Huntington [...]
Here's what I've seen onstage lately-- let this be a guide and a warning. DRACULA mounted by The Umbrella Stage Company in Concord, is seasonally appropriate with a twist. This version is playwright Kate Hamill's take on Bram Stoker's original which she dubs "A feminist revenge fantasy, really." I love a little Dracula and some [...]
SPEAKEASY STAGE has just kicked off its season with perhaps the most daring, intelligently written, and eye-opening production onstage right now in progressive theater circles: HEROES OF THE FOURTH TURNING. The play is a sharp, densely-written theatrical exploration of conservatism, specifically the rift between old and new Catholic conservatives as they debate the hot topics [...]
THE HUNTINGTON opened its fall season with the musical "SING STREET" based on the 2016 movie by writer/director John Carney. It's a coming of age story set in 1980's Dublin about a teenage boy who falls for a beautiful mysterious girl who calls herself a "model." So he claims to have a band and then [...]
TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, 1992 is the magnificent season-opening salvo at The American Repertory Theater! Anna Deavere Smith's astonishing theatrical document captures the fraught history of racism in America, here revised as an ensemble piece and sleekly directed by Taibi Magar. It's hard to imagine that Anna Deveare Smith ever acted all the parts herself, but [...]
