Two quick reviews before HALLOWEEN-- both involving different kinds of -- Misery! MISERY was never so terrifying as what was conveyed in Stephen King's book about a writer's experience while being held captive by a rabid fan. His 1987 book became the 1990 horror thriller film starring the incomparable KATHY BATES who won the [...]
SPRING has sprung with a number of delightful, moving, first rate productions now in bloom on Boston stages! Here's my take on two of them, both of which speak to the moment we are in: the indispensability of LOVE and COMPASSION and the tragic consequences when they are missing. A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE [...]
I can't stop thinking about A STRANGE LOOP -- the Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award-winning musical written by Michael R. Jackson which has been mounted by SpeakEasy Stage and Front Porch Arts Collective in its New England premiere. That's a lot of accolades. I'm baffled. The show was monotonous, assaultively sung, and left me wanting. The [...]
ON STAGE NOW in its Boston premiere is 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winner COST OF LIVING presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company at The BCA Calderwood. I had NO idea what to expect going forward-- which is how I like it. This show in turn rewarded me by taking me places I had never been before and made [...]
There are TWO entertaining and meaningful shows to see on stage NOW in Boston and beyond! Head out to Concord, MA to see a very moving production of THE COLOR PURPLE before it closes, presented by The Umbrella Stage Company and one of the best productions I ever seen by this company. At the heart of [...]
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 [...]
No kidding-- THE CHILDREN is among the best plays and productions I've ever seen in Boston. In the shadow of a looming pandemic, Lucy Kirkwood's acutely timely Tony-nominated play is now onstage in a masterful production at SpeakEasy Stage. It is a divinely-acted, eerily relevant work that first gets under your skin, then leaves you [...]
Photo/Nile Scott Studios PASS OVER by Antoinette Nwandu co-presented by SpeakEasy Stage and the Front Porch Arts Collective is a potent 90 minutes that encapsulates then unleashes a penetrating take on the black experience in America. Stylistically and thematically, PASS OVER takes a cue from Samuel Beckett by way of the old testament. [...]
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 [...]
Here it is short and sweet--a guide on what to see this weekend onstage! THE LION KING: Disney's extravaganza by way of the movie and local wunderkind Tony Award-winner Julie Taymor, THE LION KING has roared back into town! The show literally emerges grandly from the audience and right up onto the stage [...]
