It’s THE BEST SHOW IN TOWN right now: JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING the Tony-nominated New England premiere now onstage. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage at the Calderwood, this comedy /drama by Jocelyn Bioh hits home at a hair salon on a hot Harlem summer day. Summer L.Williams directs an exceptional cast: Crystin Gilmore, MarHadoo Effeh,  Kwezi Shongwe, Catia, Hampton Richards, with several playing multi roles: Ashley Aldarondo,  Yasmeen Duncan. They spend the day together on one terrifically detailed set by Janie E. Howland as hair is braided and their lives unwind.

Photo: Nile Scott Studios

Marie a DREAMer (Dru Sky Berrian) runs the shop while her mother JaJa (MaConnia Chesser) is getting ready for her wedding day. As is the case in most beauty parlors, the women sit in chairs, unadorned and vulnerable, intimately sharing their lives, loves, hopes, and everyday dramas while their hairdressers interweave elaborate cornrows and embellished plaited creations– almost without our seeing how they do it, so engrossing is the conversation! The hairdressers have their own jealousies, quirks, and talents, and the atmosphere is thick with humor and gossip, rivalry and artistry all intertwined. Bioh’s dialogue is funny and observant, with characters sharply defined and instantly relatable. Joshua Olumide is particularly effective and amusing in 4 distinctly-drawn roles– men who drop by to charm or sell –sometimes, both…

Then, the show takes a dramatic turn which cuts across all story lines and unites the women in common cause. The threads of Bioh’s method link the madness of life-changing events with the next level courage and resilience of these women who emerge more than the sum of their beautiful parts. See JA JA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING through MAY 31 at the BCA Calderwood Pavilion! 

Next up is KIMBERLY AKIMBO (Trailer HERE)  presented by Broadway In Boston now onstage at EMERSON COLONIAL THEATRE. This absolutely absurd show won 5 Tony Awards including BEST MUSICAL.  I am mystified. There is only second rate music (Jeanine Tesori) nothing hummable, memorable,  just generic, meandering Broadway riffs, though the lyrics are more distinctive. The cast is also wonderful and get the max out of a farfetched tale which stretches credulity until it snaps.

Book & Lyrics (David Lindsay-Abaire ) involve a teenager with a rare terminal illness (progeria) which causes rapid premature aging. Just shy of 16 years old, Kimberly Levaco (Carolee Carmello) looks like a grandmother– which comes into play later along with a wacky check kiting scam involving a HS singing group trying to buy new costumes, Kimberly’s alcoholic father, kooky injured and pregnant mother, a scofflaw aunt with borderline personality disorder, first love with a nerdy young man hooked on anagrams, a 16th birthday party at an ice-skating rink, and even more family secrets spilling out in the show’s final moments involving a pig mask and a heart attack.

I went to High School with a young woman who had progeria; this is indeed a promising, moving premise for a musical about dysfunctional families, coping with the randomness of life, and yes–mortality.  But KIMBERLY AKIMBO goes so far out,  I just couldn’t find my way back in. See what you think at THE COLONIAL through May 18th.

The last two shows don’t work for me at all. There’s a reason THE SPITFIRE GRILL is rarely performed. It is now onstage at THE UMBRELLA STAGE COMPANY in Concord.  Maudlin and lacking emotional intelligence, this production featuring usually excellent vocalists (Liza Giangrande, Kerry A. Dowling, Anthony Pires Jr.) finds them here straining beyond their ranges and struggling with pitch throughout. The book involves a young woman (Giangrande) trying to reinvent her life in a small town after a stint in prison. She ends up in the town of Gilead in rural Wisconsin and an old inn with an owner (Dowling) who’s also looking for new horizons.  The tale also involves a raffle/essay (?) contest and a weird “outsider” (Cristhian Mancinas-Garcia) who hangs out around a tree stump for reasons which escape me. It’s supposed to be heartwarming but left me cold. Through May 18. 

Finally FOUNDING F%!#ERS/The Story of Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold— is a world premiere production we did not need. Billed as a “bold new comedy by playwright Conor Casey,” it is neither bold nor bawdy. It’s a bland retelling of rudimentary history about the rowdy and randy Vermonter Ethan Allen and the pompous turncoat Benedict Arnold. I was neither compelled nor enlightened. The play lacks a consistent tone, or point of view about the events or (non-events?) purported to have occurred and which lead to the rivalry and treachery. The material is a waste of a very talented cast who seem lost in the middle of a play about the Revolutionary War without a fighting chance. At Greater Boston Stage Company through MAY 18.