Prudence Payne is a critic on the cusp of dementia. I trembled at the premise and buckled up for PRU PAYNE a Boston Theater Critics CRITICS' PICK now having its East Coast premiere at SPEAKEASY STAGE directed by Paul Daigneault. As soon as Karen MacDonald hits the stage I know I'm in good hands—her Pru [...]
It's a glorious FALL onstage everywhere in Boston right now with BOSTON BALLET and the BSO with fantastic programs for everyone! The Seasons' Canon Head over to The OPERA HOUSE where BOSTON BALLET has just kicked off its season with FALL EXPERIENCE which left me speechless. You don't have to know anything about [...]
WHAT TO SEE NOW! NASSIM presented by The Huntington at the BCA CALDERWOOD through 10/27! The show is never the same twice, literally. Each night a different performer takes the stage and that performer has never before seen the script! It's a leap of faith for all involved, performer and audience. Nassim has been performed [...]
My take on more of what I have seen on screens large and small lately. (Titles are hyperlinked to their trailers.) PEAK SEASON offers a soft slice of reality as two wildly different people who are either unavailable or unlikely to commit to a romantic relationship-- connect. It happens unexpectedly but for the conventions of [...]
I LOVE movies. But the summer, post pandemic and capped off by the writers' strike, was a dud. This fall seemed on its way to falling flat-- until today when I saw the best film of the year so far: THE APPRENTICE --a title that ironically references the TV show hosted by ex-president Donald Trump. [...]
You're in luck-- URINETOWN: THE MUSICAL the season opener at LYRIC STAGE BOSTON is a Boston Theater Critics Association CRITIC's PICK which means-- you just have to go! That stinky title announces the cesspool of corruption in a city where folks have been forced to pay to pee! It seems that a 20-year drought [...]
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 [...]
