Apr 29

Richly Developed Heroines: BECOMING CUBA

Presented by Huntington Theatre Co
Written by Huntington Playwright-in-Residence Melinda Lopez
Directed by M. Bevin O’Gara

March 28 – May 3, 2014
Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA
Boston, MA
Huntington Co on Facebook

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Boston) Becoming Cuba at the Huntington Theatre is about blood origins. It is about the effect blood-ties have on our decisions, and the indirect way our origins affect the world around us. Specifically, it is about sisters Adele (Christina Pumariega) and Martina (Rebecca Soler) who run a pharmacie in Spanish-occupied Cuba. Adele attempts to remain neutral as war threatens the country she loves: her family fights in the rebellion; her husband died fighting for Spain. As Adele cares for the people of Havana, she comes to understand that loyalty is a complex beast. Love and loyalty can be divided while still remaining whole. Continue reading

Apr 28

Make ’em Laugh: “The Complete History of Comedy (abridged)”

­­­Michael Faulkner and Dominic Conti of the Reduced Shakespeare Company; Photos by Meghan MooreMichael Faulkner and Dominic Conti of the Reduced Shakespeare Company; Photos by Meghan Moore

Presented by The Reduced Shakespeare Company
Written and Directed by Reed Martin and Astin Tichenor

April 24th – May 18th, 2014
Merrimack Repertory Theatre
50 East Merrimack Street, Lowell MA
The Reduced Shakespeare Company on Facebook
Merrimack Repertory Theatre on Facebook

Review by Danielle Rosvally

(Lowell) The Reduced Shakespeare Company have long been proprietors of abridged histories and this touring production of The Complete History of Comedy (abridged) will deliver everything that you expect from the boys at the RSC: a three-man team dishing out biting satire, poignant historical and social commentary, and a dude in a really bad wig. Continue reading

Mar 07

Life is But a Dream: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

Presented by Bristol Old Vic
in association with Handspring Puppet Company
by William Shakespeare
Directed by Tom Morris

March 6th – 15, 2014
ArtsEmerson Cutler Majestic Theatre
Boston, MA
Handspring Puppet Company on Facebook
Bristol Old Vic on Facebook
ArtsEmerson on Facebook

Review by Danielle Rosvally

(Boston) As much as I love my Willy (and, trust me, there’s no girl in the world who loves Willy more than I do), Midsummer has always been a problematic play for me.

It’s not the language; this play is simply beautiful linguistically with enough famous speeches to keep a casual listener engaged but not so much that it begins to feel like Hamlet (bopping from one pop culture soliloquy to another with nary a breath in between). This play has more rhyming couplets than you can shake a stick at; and natural imagery that can lull even a colicky infant into the show’s titular pleasant reverie. Continue reading

Mar 05

Theatre@First: ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD AGAIN!

ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD AGAIN!
Theatre@First celebrates 10th Anniversary with a return to Stoppard’s masterwork

Theatre@First kicks off their second decade of providing local audiences with superlative live theatre at affordable prices with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Davis Square Theatre, April 4-12.

In 2004, a small group decided to put on a show in a church basement in Davis Square.  That show was Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and that group has become Theatre@First, Somerville’s own community theatre.  Now founding Artistic Director Elizabeth Hunter returns to the beginning with a new production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

Tom Stoppard’s Tony Award-winning script focuses on two minor characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, imagining their confusion at being caught up in the tragic plot. Full of some of the greatest wordplay in English drama, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead examines the meaning of death and the questions of life from an absurdist perspective that leaves audiences laughing at their own folly and gasping at the truths revealed.

For tickets and more information about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Theatre@First, visit www.theatreatfirst.org.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
7pm evening shows:                                            4pm matinee shows:
Friday April 4                                                      Saturday April 5
Sunday April 6                                                    Saturday April 12
Wednesday April 9
Thursday April 10
Friday April 11

PERFORMANCE SPACE
Davis Square Theatre
255 Elm St, Somerville
Wheelchair accessible space

TICKETS: $20 for adults
$15 for students/seniors.
brownpapertickets.com & goldstar.com
Group discounts available.

 

 

Nov 25

Nothing is but What Is Not: “Macbeth”

Presented by F.U.D.G.E. Theatre Company
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Joey DeMita
Original Music by Steven Bergman

November 22 – 30th, 2013
Arsenal Center for the Arts
F.U.D.G.E. Theatre Company on Facebook

Review by Danielle Rosvally

(Watertown) Some projects require a special touch.  There are, for instance, people who implicitly understand Musicals.  The musical form requires things that other theatre does not: an eye for choreography, an ear for music, an interest in balancing ham and legitimate acting…

Directing Shakespeare is a very specific task that requires a very specific skillset: an ear for rhetoric, an understanding of verse, a knowledge of history, an eye for embedded stage directions… F.U.D.G.E.’s Joey DeMita has none of these skills. Continue reading

Oct 31

Things to Do in Boston When You’re Dead: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD

Presented by the Post-Meridian Radio Players
Adapted by Jay Sekora
Original film script by George A. Romero and John A. Russo
Directed by Jay Sekora and Mindy Klenoff

October 25 – November 2nd, 2013
Responsible Grace Church
Somerville, MA
PMRP on Facebook

Review by Danielle Rosvally

(Somerville) Halloween can be a bit bizarre for those of us in our twenty-somethings.  That weird age bracket when you’re not yet ready to give up the idea that this time of year should be about more than the hum-drum and ordinary; that perhaps there was something to the sugar-coated memories of your childhood walks around the neighborhood in the brisk autumn air wrapped in some crude approximation of a Jedi robe that came from a Party City bag; that perhaps, if you look hard enough, there’s something out there to do that’s not sit at a bar and commiserate with the other “adults” who are still trying hopelessly to deny the fact that they’re too old for free candy from strangers (no matter how good their home-made Hogwarts uniform looks). Continue reading

Jul 29

Kids Cheer, Parents Endure: WIZARD OF OZ

http://www.nsmt.org/images/Press/2013/WizardofOz/production/nsmt-oz-Witch.jpg

Photo Credit: North Shore Music Theatre

Presented by North Shore Music Theatre
Based on the book by Frank L. Baum
Music & Lyrics of the MGM Motion Picture score by: Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg
Background Music by: Herbert Stohart
Book Adaptation from the motion picture screenplay by: John Kane
Directed by Joel Ferrell
Music directed by William Stanley

July 16 – August 4, 2013
62 Dunham Road
Beverly, MA 01915
North Shore Music Theatre Facebook Page

Review by Craig Idlebrook

(Beverly) Let’s cut to the chase: your kids will love it.  The North Shore Music Theatre’s production of the Wizard of Oz is colorful and brimming with energy and special effects.

But is it any good?  Ah, now there’s the rub.

First, you have to do a gut-check of the source material.  Can you handle a razzle-dazzle, overly-cute 1930’s big-box-office musical onstage?  Frankly, I have always had a hard time with it.  Strip away our strange reverence for this campy tale and it’s just bizarre that this show has such long legs. Continue reading

Jul 19

Strung Together with Friends and Family: THE SHAKESPEAREAN JAZZ SHOW

Photo Credit: Tripp Clemens

Presented by ArtsEmerson
“Conceiver”, Director – Alex Ates
Composer, Musical Director: Patrick Greeley
Puppeteers – Christina Kuchan, Orrin Whalen
Created by Alex Ates & Patrick Greeley

The Shakespearean Jazz Show is a Boston-born project created by young artists from Emerson College and Berklee College of Music.

July 18 & 19, 2013 at 8pm
Paramount Center Mainstage
Boston, MA
ArtsEmerson Facebook Page
Berklee College of Music Facebook Page
The Nine Worthies band Tumblr

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Boston) There is so much potential for greatness in The Shakespearean Jazz Show that it’s truly tragic that it falls so far from its mark. Patrick Greeley writes some damn fine music; the Nine Worthies are a great band (I’m looking at you Jamila Dunham); the vocalists are quite sincere, the shadow puppets are very clever… But these separate elements do not make art on their own. They must be strung together. The talented members of Jazz Show did not make this happen. Continue reading

Jul 08

Free Shakespeare in the Park: “Two Gentlemen of Verona”

http://www.commshakes.org/system/storage/222/65/a/640/2_gents_website.jpg

Music Director, Colin Thurmond
Set Designer, Beowulf Boritt
Sound Designer, J. Hagenbuckle
Lighting Designer, Eric Southern
Costume Designer, Nancy Leary

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company Main Page, Facebook Page
Boston Common venue
Comm Shakes FAQ page

“Two Gents” tells the tale of two friends who leave their hometown of Verona to find their happy fortunes in Milan. Instead, they find temptation, trickery, and trouble as they vie for favor with the high-society Duke… and his debutante daughter. All are drawn into a web of disguise and secrecy where the last thing anyone wants is for the truth to surface — least of all the dog.

Inspired by Rat Pack-era Vegas — the glamor, the hedonism, and the morning after agonies — the production brings new meaning to the line “what happens in Milan, stays in Milan…”

SPECIAL PERFORMANCES AND EVENTS:
JULY 18TH: AUDIO-DESCRIBED PERFORMANCE
JULY 21ST: ASL-INTERPRETED PERFORMANCE
JULY 26TH: “FAMILY DAY” AND “FREE FUN FRIDAY”
JULY 27TH @ 2PM: ASL-INTERPRETED PERFORMANCE

May 10

Sexy: Shaken, Not Stirred

Velkommen to Denmark!

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have landed in Denmark.  To your left you will see Elsinore Castle. To your right is the MI6 Headquarters.  Enjoy your stay!

From Denmark With Love opens tonight!
We hope to see you this weekend or sometime soon.
In the meantime:
Check out a preview article about us in the Boston Metro!
Check out the same on WBUR!
Get your copy of THE ALBUM: 11 original James Bond theme songs by local Boston Bands! (SHAMELESS PLUG: featuring Queen Geek Kitty Drexel)

TICKETS ON SALE http://www.vaqueroplayground.com/

by John J King
Directed by Barlow Adamson
Starring: Daniel Jones, Bridgette Hayes, Janelle Mills, Chelsea Schmidt, Bob Mussett, Terrence Patrick Haddad, and Brett Milanowski