THE HUNTINGTON just opened its season with what may be the dazzling Tom Stoppard's last play "LEOPOLDSTADT." I saw it on Broadway where it won the TONY Award for Best Play, and thought it not substantial enough to bear the weight of the playwright's experience at its core. The Huntington's production directed by Carey Perloff [...]
A long drive up to Gloucester Stage Company on a sunny Sunday was capped off by a smart, sweet piece of theater: THE HOMBRES by Tony Meneses, a co-presentation by Gloucester Stage and Teatro Chelsea. The play which closes out Gloucester's 45th season is a regional premiere as part of National Hispanic Heritage month. While not [...]
The fall theater season is back up and running! I had high hopes for American Repertory Theater's season opener Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet"! Alas, this most tragic and romantic tale of young lovers caught in the crossfire of their feuding families left me wanting-- but not for lack of trying. The set was beautiful and [...]
THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES is a rarity -- a multidimensional musical that speaks to this moment with all of the nuances of a real life lived, and at the heart of it a thrilling, complex, masterful performance by Kristin Chenoweth. That this world premiere musical is also now debuting in our own backyard at Boston's [...]
THE WINTER'S TALE is the ironic summer offering of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company's FREE Shakespeare on Boston common. It has certainly been a season of surprises all around, and this play for me is one of them. I had never seen nor read it, had no idea where it was going or how it would get [...]
It is always magical. Since 1937, Tanglewood has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra when the Berkshires are alive with the sound of music! Picture 500 acres of rolling green ringed with the most beautiful hemlock hedgerows I've ever seen! Tanglewood is not only the site of a world-renowned summer music festival, [...]
THELMA is one of the most enjoyable movies of the summer with much to say about how the elderly and young adults are infantilized in this coddling culture. The plot involves one Thelma Post, a 93 year-old grandmother living on her own in L.A. when she is conned out of $10,000 by a phone scammer [...]
DADDIO: A young woman gets into a NYC cab and by the time she gets out, she and the driver have traveled to places neither of them expected. The conversation propels them into parts unknown courtesy of revelatory performances by Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn all within the confines of a taxi from the airport [...]
Back from vacation as I continue my reviews of the 7 plays I've seen in the last 10 days! In addition to yesterday's Must Sees, here's my take on what to see before they close: L .to R. Anthony Pires, Jr., Sheree Marcelle, Diego Cintron NEXT TO NORMAL: An outstanding, moving, smart production [...]
There are three shows currently onstage that are MUST SEES: A.R.T.s GATSBY, Arlekin's THE DYBBUK, Broadway in Boston's MJ. These are among the finest productions ever mounted in greater Boston, all companies operating at the top of their game. photo credit: Julieta Cervantes GATSBY is the much anticipated world premiere musical based F.Scott [...]
