Dec 09

A Jumbled Jukebox Experience: “Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash”

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Photo by Meg Moore/megpix.com.

Presented by Merrimack Repertory Theatre
Created by Richard Maltby, Jr., Conceived by William Meade
Adapted from the larger-cast Broadway production by Richard Maltby, Jr. and Jason Edwards
Co-direction: Karen Oster and Correy West
Choreography: Correy West
Cast: Patrick Dinnsen, Nathan Yates Douglass, Jenna Fawcett, Andrew Frace, Celeste Vandermillen

November 26-December 14, 2025
Merrimack Repertory Theatre
Lowell Memorial Auditorium
50 E Merrimack St.
Lowell, MA 01852

Review by Craig Idlebrook

Content advisory: Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash is suitable for teenage and adult audiences. This musical celebrates the iconic Johnny Cash, featuring details of Johnny’s career, covering topics such as substance abuse, firearms, violence and murder.

Much has changed in the fifty-six years since Cash first recorded A Boy Named Sue. Some may feel that “A Boy Named Sue” is sexist and outdated, and this is certainly a reasonable view. However, just as it did in 1969, the song invites more than one interpretation. Please read here for some additional thoughts:  Further Reflection on A Boy Named Sue

LOWELL, Mass. — It is never a good sign for a biographical staging when the person you came to the play with leans over in the second act and asks, “Which one of those guys is Johnny Cash?”

It may be a testament to the music of Cash and the skillful performance of the small cast that this question only arose in the second act. Too often, we were swept up by the sweet harmonies and Americana-before-it-was-Americana sound on stage.

That’s just the rub. Was this a play or a concert? The title seems to disclose that the performance is intended solely to be the “music of Johnny Cash”, but the action on stage had just enough theater to be confusing. There is brief dialogue, some pantomime, and some direct musical-like interaction to provide a few breadcrumbs into the life and times of Johnny Cash, but not enough to follow the trail to lead to the full picture of his complicated and rich biography.  Continue reading →

Dec 02

Have Yourself A Horny ‘Lil Christmas: “Sweeney Claus: The Demon Father of Sleet Street”

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Photo by Michael von Redlich. Ryan Landry as Mrs. Leaveit and Thain Bertin as Sweeney

Presented by the Gold Dust Orphans
Written by Ryan Landry
Directed by Kiki Samko
Choreography by Hallie Nowicki
Music Direction and Arrangement by Tad McKitterick
Sets & Costumes by Scott Martino
Lights by Matthew Brian Cost
Props by Ryan Landry and Gina Carmela
Sound by Ryan Landry & Tad McKitterick
Spotlight Operation by Keith DeSutter
Wigs by Shaun O’Connor
Production Assistance by Clare Strickland and Clare Newman
Featuring: Ryan Landry, Thain Bertin, T Perry, Mary Mahoney, Tim Lawton, Kiki Samko, Scott Martino, Gina Carmela, Sarah Jones, Tad McKitterick, Lizette Morris, Dominika Zawada, Joey Pelletier, Hallie Nowicki, Marilyn Wilson, Simon Huynh, James Brooks Jr., Phaedra Ferrini, Lara Williams.

November 29 – December 21, 2025
The Iron Wolf Theatre
South Boston Lithuanian Citizens Association
368 West Broadway, 3rd Floor
South Boston, MA 02127

Critique by Kitty Drexel

UPDATE 12/02/2025:  Ensemble member Lara Williams was improperly credited in a previous draft. Her name is now correct. 

SOUTH BOSTON — December has arrived and so has this year’s Gold Dust Orphans Christmas panto parody, Sweeney Claus: The Demon Father of Sleet Street by Ryan Landry. It’s a rollicking good time! Get your tickets before they sell out. 

Sweeney Claus marries the Sondheim and Wheeler musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street to Christmas capitalism via the Gold Dust Orphan panto tradition. It follows the essential plotlines of the Sondheim classic with some deviations. Dasher (Thain Bertin) is a disillusioned sea captain who lands in Scituate, Massachusetts, to set up his barber shop and search for his lost wife and daughter. Dasher finds himself in the spare room at Mrs. Leaveit’s (Landry, giving the people what they want by occasionally showing some leg) bakery. They concoct a plot with an aptly named sailor, Semen (T Perry), to rescue Dasher’s daughter, Johanna (Mary Mahoney). Continue reading →

Nov 26

The Horrors Persist and So Do They: 8th Annual Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show

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Photo credit Santiago Felipe.

Presented by BenDeLaCreme
Created by BenDeLaCreme & Jinkx Monsoon
Written and directed by BenDeLaCreme 
With additional writing by Jinkx Monsoon
Choreographed by Chloe Albin
Original compositions by Major Scales
Lyrics by BenDeLaCreme, Jinkx Monsoon & Major Scales
Featuring: Chloe Albin, Isaiah Brooks, Jace Gonzalez, Jim Kent, Ruby Mimosa, Derrick Paris, and Gus Lanza as “Hunky the Elf”

November 22, 2025
Wang Theater
270 Tremont St
Boston, MA 02116

Review by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON — It’s nearly Thanksgiving, and the Winter Solstice is a little over a month away. You know what that means. It’s time to gird your chestnuts and deck your lover’s halls because Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme are touring their 8th annual Holiday Show across the U.S.! This year, they brought their strange, jolly, and unusual stage shenanigans to Boston’s Wang Theater stage in the most titillating way possible: through the horror anthology, The Gingerbread House of Horrors!  Continue reading →

Nov 23

Wrestling with empathy through documentary theatre: “SpaceBridge”

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The ensemble. Photo by Walter Wlodarczyk.

Presented by ArtsEmerson
Produced by Visual Echo & Irina Kruzhilina
Conceived and directed by Irina Kruzhilina
Written by Irina Kruzhilina and Clark Young
Cinematography by Aleksei Postnikov
Featuring Ellen Lauren, Alisa Shaverdova, Anastasia Skorobogach, Anna Skorobogach, Arina Skorobogach, Artem Skorobogach, Leon Ladia, Lily Borzenko, Mark Savin, Mars Markelov, Sasha Boikova, Sonia Tsatskina, Adele Nigrini, Alexis Edel, Drake Malave, Henry MacDowell, Isaac Stinson, Maisie Pickar, Nate Hatter, Sabine Gutenberg, Silas MacLean and Zora Graves

November 21 – 23, 2025
559 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111
Emerson Paramount Center
Tickets here 

Review by Maegan Clearwood

Recommended for ages 12+

BOSTON — If you’ve seen documentary theatre before, then nothing in SpaceBridge will surprise you: live movement is interspersed with statistics, news reports, and recorded interviews, split into chapters and stitched together with a framing device. The multimedia production elements are flashy and sophisticated, as one would expect from a piece spearheaded by Irina Kruzhilina, who, among other credits, co-founded the MFA program of the New School and is a resident artist at LaMaMa. 

But the true power of SpaceBridge comes from the storytellers themselves: 11 young Russian refugees, children of antiwar activists currently living in New York City shelters while seeking political asylum. With their eight American friends, they present the output of an intensive workshop program, telling story after story of fear, grief, compassion, and hope.  Continue reading →

Nov 23

Joy In the Act of Uplifting: “I AM”

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Photo By Steven Pisano.

Presented by Celebrity Series of Boston
Choreography & Direction – Camille A. Brown
Inspired by the television show Lovecraft Country (Episode: “I Am”)
Original Music by Deah Love Harriott, Juliette Jones, Jaylen Petinaud, Martine Mauro-Wade, Frédérique Gnaman, Monique Brooks Roberts
Additional Music by Busta Rhymes, Crystal Waters, Dru Hill, Lil Kim ft. Lil Cease, Method Man ft. Mary J. Blige, Sounds of Blackness, The Temptations
Performed by Camille A. Brown & Dancers
Company – Dorse Brown, Mikhail Calliste, Nya Cymone Carter, Courtney Cook, Brianna Dawkins, Eboni Edwards, Mykal Kilgore, Kai Irby, Alain ‘Hurrikane’ Lauture, Chaz Ryan, Courtney Ross, Curtis Thomas, Travon Williams
Musicians: Juliette Jones, Martine Mauro-Wade, Meech

November 14–15, 2025
Cutler Majestic Theatre
219 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02116

Critique by Craig Idlebrook

BOSTON — A smile can be infectious, and a sorrow shared becomes lighter. 

You would think you couldn’t fill up a theater with the musical and theatrical embodiment of these two sentiments for over an hour, but you’d be wrong. Continue reading →

Nov 19

No Ghosts Need Apply: “A Sherlock Carol”

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The cast; Photo by Nile Hawer.

Presented by the Lyric Stage Boston
By Mark Shanahan
Directed by Ilyse Robbins

Nov. 14 – Dec. 21, 2025
140 Clarendon St
2nd floor
Boston, MA 02116
Online Playbill

Running Time: Two hours plus one 15-minute intermission.

Critique by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON — A Sherlock Carol at Lyric Stage Boston is a Doyle and Dickens delight that mashes the beloved characters from both Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series in one gleeful package. This mashup is a needed departure from an overdone but beloved holiday tradition that will amuse Dickens fans, please Doyle fans, and introduce the children of both to classic literature in a new format. It runs through Dec. 21. Continue reading →

Nov 18

Tickets, Please: “the beautiful land i seek (la linda tierra que busco yo)”

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Photo scavenged from online.

Presented by Teatro Chelsea
by Matthew Barbot
Directed by Armando Rivera
Associate Director – Luz Lopez
Fight direction – Naomi Kim

October 31- November 22, 2025
Chelsea Theatre Works Blackbox
181 Winnisimmet Street
Chelsea, MA

Critique by Kitty Drexel

Estimated Runtime: 95min w/ no intermission

“Cuando a sus playas llegó Colón;
Exclamó lleno de admiración;
‘Oh!, oh!, oh!, esta es la linda
tierra que busco yo.’”
“When at her beaches Columbus arrived,
he exclaimed full of admiration:
‘Oh! Oh! Oh!
This is the beautiful land, that I seek.’”

– Taken from “La Borinqueña.” Lyrics by Manuel Fernández Juncos (1846-1928). Translation by Samuel Quiros. 

CHELSEA, Mass. —  The title of Matthew Barbot’s play, the beautiful land i seek (la linda tierra que busco yo), is derived from the lyrics of Puerto Rico’s national anthem, “La Borinqueña.” Parts Waiting for Godot and Snowpiercer (2013), the production asks what failed Puerto Rican nationalist assassins Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola would think of the United States’ appropriation of Puerto Rican culture through the decades. Was their sacrifice worth it? Who has taken up the mantle of independence since the event of their activism? Teatro Chelsea’s production is now running at Chelsea Theatre Works through November 22.

It’s 1950. Members of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, Oscar Collazo (Carlos Zalduondo) and Griselio Torresola (Nathaniel Justiniano), travel by train from New York to Washington, D.C. Their mission: to assassinate President Harry S. Truman (Alexander Crespo Rosaro II) in the name of Puerto Rican independence. They have two pistols and a conspiratorial Can-Do attitude. They intend to use their train trip to solidify their plans, but their fellow travelers (Ashley L. Aldarondo) keep interrupting Oscar and Griselio’s trip. Teatro Chelsea’s website says this play is “Loosely based on historical events and definitely based on recent ones, the beautiful land i seek (la linda tierra que busco yo) is a funny, gripping rollercoaster ride through Puerto Rico’s relationship to the United States.” Director Rivera plays a poet with one foot in the future and the other in the present.  Continue reading →

Nov 13

A Romy & Michele Adventure: “Romy & Michele: The Musical”

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Photo by Valerie Terranova.

Romy & Michele: The Musical
Presented by Stage 42
Book by Robin Schiff
Music and lyrics by Gwendolyn Sanford & Brandon Jay
Directed by Kristin Hanggi
Choreographed by Karla Puno Garcia
Music supervision by Keith Harrison Dworkin

TICKETS
New York, NY

Review by Kitty Drexel

NEW YORK — Last week, I attended the American Theatre Critics Association’s yearly conference in New York. It was lit! (R.I.P. “lit,” T.O.D.: 10:26 AM, 11/13/25) Press tickets were made available to attendees in exchange for coverage. I attended Romy & Michele: The Musical at Stage 42 on November 6 as part of the conference. 

I streamed the movie after securing tickets. Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion is fun. Not good, not bad. Fun.  I’d watch the movie again if it happened to be on. I feel the same about the musical. I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it if a local theatre was producing it, and I didn’t know anyone in the cast. I would totally attend as press to see what a different cast did with it. Because it’s fun. Some revolutions are built on fun.  

Based on the 1997 cult classic screenplay by Robin Schiff, Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion, Romy & Michele: The Musical is now playing off-Broadway at Stage 42 in New York. Romy (Laura Bell Bundy, who nails the accent and even brings the accent to her sick vocals) and Michele (Kara Lindsay, who gives Lisa Kudrow a run for her money and belts with equally as sick vocals) left their 80s Arizona high school for L.A. after graduation and never looked back. Except now, they are looking back.  Continue reading →

Nov 11

A Family Affair: KIM’S CONVENIENCE

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Ins Choi and Esther Chung in “Kim’s Convenience” (2025). Photo by Dahlia Katz

Adam Blanshay Productions presents the Soulpepper Theatre Company production in association with American Conservatory Theater
Presented by The Huntington
Written by Ins Choi
Director –  Weyni Mengesha
Cast –  Ins Choi, Kelly Seo, Esther Chung, Ryan Jinn, and Brandon McKnight
Set Design –  Joanna Yu
Costume Design – Ming Wong
Lighting Design –  Wen-Ling Liao
Video and Production Design – Nicole Eun-Ju Bell
Sound Design –  Fan Zhang

November 6–30, 2025
The Calderwood Pavilion
Boston Center for the Arts
527 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02116

Critique by Craig Idlebrook

BOSTON — Some performers become known for and steeped in the same work for years. For a few unfortunate souls, often those only known for one thing, the work becomes a prison as well as a meal ticket, and you watch them grimly go through the motions of performance. For others, the work becomes like a family member the artist can nurture and watch grow; the work may cause them heartache at times, but they still can cradle it with love and find new wonder in it. I suspect playwright and actor Ins Choi’s feelings toward Kim’s Convenience, a play about an imperfect Korean-Canadian family, fall in the latter category, and that may be what makes his return to the stage in the play so poignant to watch.   Continue reading →

Nov 10

Yearning for Connection Across Memory: “Summer, 1976”

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Laura Latreille, Lee Mikeska Gardner; Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

Presented by Central Square Theater
By David Auburn
Directed by Paula Plum
Featuring: Lee Mikeska Gardner, Laura Latreille

November 6 – 30th, 2025
Central Square Theater
450 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139

Critique by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

CAMBRIDGE, Mass — Summer, 1976 is an intimate play. It is literally small, with a cast of two, a runtime of just 90 minutes, and a cozy little set that brings the actors practically nose-to-nose with the audience. But more interestingly, it is a story about yearning: two women stumble headfirst into an unexpected friendship, underestimating how hungry they are for deep, heart-opening vulnerability. They also underestimate how terrifying that kind of connection can be.

David Auburn’s play transports us to Ohio during the American bicentennial. Offstage, the women’s liberation movement is in full swing. Onstage, at Central Square Theatre, we could be anywhere, anytime. The set (Kristin Loeffler) features two brightly colored dollhouse-like facades to indicate where different scenes take place, but nothing onstage screams 1970s, and the costumes (Sydney Hovasse) allude to a bit of hippy inspiration without throwing the audience back in time. Continue reading →