Tag Archives: Brian Boruta

Mar 25

We Know You Can Dance to the Beat: An Interview with Brian Boruta about Umbrella Stage’s “Head Over Heels”

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Presented by Umbrella Stage
Adapted by James Magruder
Concept and Original Book by James Whitty
Music by The Go-Go’s
Directed by Brian Boruta
Music direction by David Wright
Choreography by Lara Finn

April 15 – May 8, 2022 (no performance 4/17)
Presented on the Main Stage
The Umbrella Arts Center
40 Stow Street
Concord, MA 01742

Interview by Kitty Drexel

CONCORD, Mass. — The Umbrella Stage returns to performances this April with Head Over Heels. Brian Boruta generously chatted with me on Friday, March 18 about the musical, gender politics, and The Go Go’s. 

This interview is condensed. It has been edited for grammar, congruity, and clarity. 

Queen Kitty: It’s awesome that you’re starting with Head Over Heels. Why this show now?

Brian Boruta: It’s funny; I think about this show now, because we had chosen this show earlier than now. Then things all got moved around.

We moved, a couple of years ago, to a committee-based approach to season planning. As we were coming out of the pandemic, it was really important that as many voices and perspectives as possible be included in program planning. 

One thing that came to the fore in that conversation was finding ways throughout the season coming out of the pandemic to just celebrate joy in many forms, to celebrate love, to amplify different marginalized voices throughout the season. Head Over Heels really popped out as that title that we could put towards the end of the season that celebrates joy, celebrates love, and celebrates community.  Continue reading →

Oct 07

The Broadway Facts of Life: “42nd Street”

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PREVIEW: The Umbrella Stage Company Presents 42nd Street from The Umbrella on Vimeo.

Presented by The Umbrella Stage Company 
Music by Harry Warren
Lyrics by Al Dubin
Book by Michael Stewart & Mark Bramble
Based on the novel by Bradford Ropes
Directed by Brian Boruta
Music direction by James Murphy
Musical restaging and new choreography by Lara Finn Banister

September 27 – October 20, 2019
The Umbrella Main Stage 
Concord, MA
The Umbrella Stage on Facebook 

Critique by Kitty Drexel

(Concord, MA) 42nd Street is a show-within-a-show jukebox musical serving as a thinly veiled excuse to pair tap dance with 1930’s Broadway hits. The 1933 Depression-era movie had choreography by Busby Berkeley and was nominated for an Academy Award. The movie (and eventually the musical) has deeply impacted musical theatre. Bullets Over Broadway, Kiss Me Kate and other backstage musicals have all been influenced by 42nd Street’s incarnations. It’s a classic but carries with it the problems of its time.   Continue reading →

Nov 17

Argentina Still Weeps: “EVITA”

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Photo courtesy of The Umbrella Facebook page.

Photo courtesy of The Umbrella Facebook page.

Presented by The Umbrella
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics by Tim Rice
Directed by Brian Boruta
Music Direction by Maria Robinson
Choreography by Lara Finn
Presented at the Emerson Umbrella Center for the Arts
November 14 – 29
Emerson Umbrella Center for the Arts
40 Stow St., Concord, MA 01742
Emerson Umbrella on Facebook

Review by Danielle Rosvally

(Concord, MA) Alright, Andrew Lloyd Weber. Here’s the deal.

I know that your career has sprouted some of the longest-running Broadway hits in the history of Broadway. Cats was my first Broadway musical, and I would be delusional if I said that Phantom of the Opera was anything other than a Broadway legend. But why, oh why, do you allow unsuspecting community theatres (or theatres of any degree of professionalism) to lease the rights for your early works? Continue reading →