The Fall Theater season is off and running and it's all about the ills our generation is heir to. Here's my take on two of the productions which have kicked off the season! Lorraine Victoria Kanyike, Joshua Mckenna, Juanita A. Rodrigues, Valyn Lyric Turner, Damon Singletary, & Jon Vellante/Photo: Ken Yotsukura Photography A [...]
Rounding out the season, I've seen a raft of shows-- here are the ones that floated my boat: Photo/GretjenHelene.com DRAGON MAMA: I was blown away by this one-woman show at Club Oberon part of A.R.T.'s breakout series in Harvard Square, Cambridge. This is a solo memoir and tour de force performance by the extraordinary [...]
SO MUCH THEATER OUT THERE NOW! I caught up with five shows while nursing a broken ankle (don't ask) and most of them were worth going the distance. OTHELLO at THE AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATER in Cambridge by way of The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is an update on Shakespeare's tragedy about a noble man of [...]
Let's begin with STRAIGHT WHITE MEN-- since most things do. But time's up and now what? That's the question raised by playwright Young Jean Lee in her Broadway hit now having its New England premiere onstage presented by New Rep Theatre. First, I am a fan of another work of Lee's-- "We're Gonna Die" which [...]
Beauty, Bakelite, and a dead Russian's diary are all the subjects of three quasi-interesting theatrical productions now onstage in the area. I sat through them all and only fell asleep at one: THE BAKELITE MASTERPIECE at NEW REP THEATRE through April 8. It's based on the true story of a masterpiece famously forged and laminated [...]
Here are three to see onstage right now beginning with CONSTELLATIONS presented by Underground Railway Theater at the Central Square Theater. This is one of the most fascinating and brilliantly performed productions I've ever seen locally, as emotionally charged as it is intellectually stimulating. I was entranced at first sight of the set-- a luminous, [...]
What a FASCINATING week for theater in town—I saw three plays this week: a one-man show, one classic, and one Tony-nominated play having its New England premiere all of which left me thinking, laughing, scratching my head, and utterly engaged. You gotta love theater! Here goes. SpeakEasy Stage is presenting the New England premiere of [...]
I hate to be the grinch, but the New Rep's New England Premiere of the new "steam punk" musical THE SNOW QUEEN left me cold. Almost numb. Neither enchanting nor uplifting, the show is overlong, with a fussy book, a clunky, bland "pop rock" score, cliched lyrics, and wobbly vocals, and marked by one of the most "awkward-bordering-on-creepy" scenes on [...]
There are two intense productions onstage in Boston right now--the first is an eye-opening, "in your face" piece of theater by that frisky but serious COMPANY ONE, now doing its first show at Arts Emerson's Paramount Black Box. "WE ARE PROUD TO PRESENT...." tells the story of the first genocide of the 20th century, the [...]
The first productions of the new year have hit the boards--some harder than others. But the New England premiere of IMAGINING MADOFF at New Rep Theatre in Watertown is right on the money. I've never personally encountered Mr. Madoff, but Jeremiah Kissel gives us a mighty, provocative, visceral, and wholly credible performance. Written by Deborah [...]
