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 art. It all starts in Paris when Serge (a cool Michael Kaye who has trouble seeing his bougie tendencies) pays 200,000 francs for a “modern” painting consisting of a white canvas with white diagonal lines. Marc (a hilariously enraged John Kuntz) is incensed that his friend has paid an inflated price for a painting with no artistic heft. A third friend Yvan (a remarkable Remo Airaldi) is somewhat moved by the painting but doesn’t take a side either way. In a fleet 90 minutes no intermission, their 15- year friendship is rocked by this reverse Rorschach of a “blank” canvas which elicits an explosion of heretofore unspoken and potentially destructive reactions: jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment around the value art, friendship, and life itself! The three bob and weave like boxers in a ring, striking and retreating, power shifting moment to moment. Watch a clip HERE!

Michael Kaye, Remo Airaldi, John Kuntz/ Photo: Mark S. Howard

 

Director Courtney O’Connor conducts the action like music, as these actors lock into the rhythms of each scene, and with remarkable timing and crystal clear characters, ride the tonal shifts releasing the comedy, tension, and drama in these all too recognizable interpersonal dynamics. Michael Kaye’s Serge defends his sophisticated canvas; John Kuntz  smugness masks his hurt about what he sees as Serge’s betrayal of their shared values. It was just a matter of time before they both turn on poor, sweet Yvan who infuriates them with his amoeba-like unwillingness to take a stand. Remo Airaldi has never been better, hiding a geyser of rage beneath a placid exterior. Hey. What’s a painting for? See ART through March 16!

HEDDA GABLER mounted by Apollinaire Theatre Company ends with a bang, but misfires from the start. I love this play, but was disappointed by this rendition. Overacted and ill-conceived, this production of Henrik Ibsen’s landmark turn of the century psychosocial drama finds its actors wearing the subtext on their sleeves– as if they all know what’s bugging them. They don’t. Or shouldn’t. Out of the gate, we find a too-obviously frustrated antiheroine Hedda Gabler (a haughty Parker Jennings) who looks like she’s about to kill someone, writhing under the strictures of a patriarchal society. She makes her entrance in what appears to be her underwear: white camisole and slip, and proceeds to greet visitors, including the lecherous Judge Brack (Cristhian Mancinas-Garcia) in this get up! Ridiculous. Hedda is newly married to the small-minded conventional George Tesman, played by Conall Sahler like a giddy teen who can’t believe his luck in his new bride, instead of a stuffed shirt in the making. This heavy-handed, suspenseless production skates over the complexity that is Hedda, a woman craving freedom from convention but is not brave enough to flout it. The climax felt like melodrama instead of a release from an unbearable, deep-seated and irresolvable conflict. Through March 16!

THE IRISH AND HOW THEY GOT THAT WAY is now onstage in Stoneham at GREATER BOSTON STAGE COMPANY, and though I saw a train wreck of a matinee, it managed to retain its charm before a packed house. The musical written by Frank McCourt and directed by A. Nora Long is a tribute to the pluck of this tribe through history and songs marking love and loss, through war, famine, immigration, politics, famous sons and tragic heroes. These gorgeous Celtic melodies, bittersweet and haunting, especially as sung by the sweet-voiced Kirsten Salpini, were played by musicians onstage amongst a few audience members seated at tables in a realistic pub setting. Despite some of the cast reading from scripts, going up on their lines, and but working hard to encourage audience participation from a timid crowd (intrepid bartender Janis Hudson, NEVER gave up!) the piece struck a chord. An afternoon at the pub, nigh on St. Patrick’s Day, made this Polish/Italian critic want to be just a little bit Irish. Through March 16!