SO much theater and I've seen most of it! Here's my take on three running through MARCH 16! I loved LYRIC STAGE COMPANY's production of ART by Yasmina Reza starring a marvelous troika of veteran Boston stars who know just how to massage this three-way friendship into a roiling dramedy triggered by a piece of [...]
I recently went to the theater, vaxxed and masked, and saw two productions which couldn't have been more diametrically opposed. One was an honest, affecting, reality-based memoir that shed light on one of the most crucial and challenging issues of our times. The other was a repackaged bundle of cliched claptrap, an embarrassment in motion. [...]
There is a barrage of local theater on stages in and around Boston-- here's my take! Photo: Maggie Hall Photography ADMISSIONS-- Joshua Harmon's adroit take on one of the most incendiary issues of the day: diversity at an elite prep school. The play heats up on ignition when Maureen Keiller as admissions officer [...]
There's a trove of theater to discover in Boston RIGHT NOW! Here's more of what I've seen onstage in the last 10 days. "THE STONE"-- Take a trip to Needham and up a narrow staircase to a tiny theater and a troupe of artists bursting with ideas, talent, and drama. Award-winning Russian theater company Arlekin Players works [...]
If you're in town this weekend, take the kids and catch the hit musical strutting its stuff at LYRIC STAGE which has extended its run of "THE WIZ" til July 1! The 1975 classic which added soul to "The Wizard of Oz" and walked away with seven Tony Awards, is now easin' on down the [...]
Now that OSCAR has "officially" put last year's movie season to bed, here's what's kept me woke lately on stage: ORLANDO: This attractive, jam-packed production bursts from the compact LYRIC STAGE. Sets and costumes are stripped down, beautiful, and efficient-- allowing for the fleet passage of time! Sara Ruhl's play is adapted from Virginia Woolf's satiric, [...]
Here's three to see beginning with the Lyric Stage Company's smart and funny production of STAGE KISS by Sarah Ruhl ("The Clean House," "In the Next Room or the vibrator play")whose surface lightness illuminates real life in surprising and important ways. In "Stage Kiss" an actress called simply "She"(the consistently marvelous Celeste Oliva who hits the [...]
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 [...]
IF you love Stephen Sondheim-- and what self-respecting theater-goer with any taste doesn't--get immediately over to the Lyric Stage and revel in their splendid production of SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM, a treasure trove of Sondheim tunes and tales, delivered by some of our most treasured local musical theater talents. The original production was conceived and directed on Broadway [...]
BUYER & CELLAR now on at THE LYRIC STAGE is a terrifically entertaining, laugh out loud (I did many times) riot! It's a one-man show set in the basement of the one-woman show that is forever BARBRA. As in STREISAND. As in fabulous. And now a word about the fabulous Phil Tayler. He is utterly divine, holding us all [...]
