May 30

AISLE SIX at the NYC Fringe, PortFringe and San Diego Fringe!

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From Geek Reviewer, Nicola:

My musical, AISLE SIX, has been selected for three theatre festivals this summer: the New York International Fringe Festival (aka FringeNYC). This is very exciting but equally expensive. People have been incredibly generous in donating their time, talents and services, but I’m still trying to raise $3,600 to defray costs. If you can give even a little, please do. Just $10 will go an incredibly long way, and I’ll be most grateful. Plus, there are perks involved! 🙂 Check it out. And THANK YOU! – Nicola

Other Ways You Can Help

Even if you can’t contribute financially (and WHAT KIND OF UNFEELING MONSTER ARE YOU??!!! I SUPPOSE YOU’D HAVE ME BELIEVE YOU HAVE TO PAY “BILLS” OR SOMETHING?!?!), I humbly ask that you…

– Spread the word about Aisle Six and this campaign via social media

– Make some noise* in any other way possible!

* …about this, I mean.

That’s all, folks. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And remember: we’re all in this together at the Super Duper Store.

May 30

Promo: The Magic Mirror

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Promo by Gillian Daniels

Juventas New Music Ensemble will be presenting an interpretation of Snow White this weekend, Polina Nazaykinskaya’s The Magic Mirror.  Based on the version of the fairytale by Alexander Pushkin, the story is a classic that has been adapted for contemporary audiences. In this version of the tale, the seven dwarfs have been replaced with seven brothers and the Evil Queen’s perspective promises to be explored. Continue reading →

May 29

“Faerie Tales” Double Feature

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presented by Blue Spruce Theatre

Act 1: “Goblin Market”
by Polly Pen and Peggy Harmon
Music by Polly Pen
Based on the poem by Christina Rossetti

Act 2: World Premiere of “The Rag Doll”
Music and Lyrics by David Reiffel
Book by Silvia Graziano

Directed by Jesse Strachman
Music Direction by Dan Rodriguez
Choreography by Kira Cowan

May 23-26, 2013
321 Arsenal Street
Watertown, MA 02472
Blue Spruce Theatre Facebook Page

Review by Gillian Daniels

(Watertown) Blue Spruce Theatre’s Faerie Tales has a bit of charm, some nice music, and an engaging visual style. None of these things, however, manage to carry the show on their own. This is very sad as there are elements in the play, like fairies and the importance of family, that I adore when utilized in other media.

Faerie Tales uses two different stories that overlap in theme. The first act is devoted to adapting Christina Rossetti’s poem, Goblin Market, to the stage. Laura (Teresa Winner Blume) and Lizzie (Abigail Clarke) are sisters who stumble on a magical fairy marketplace. Lizzie shies away from eating the market food and going near the animal-like creatures, but Laura is too taken with their strangeness and is immediately seduced into spending a night among the goblins. When her sister returns and begins to grow ill, Lizzie struggles to find a cure. Continue reading →

May 29

WORLD MUSIC/CRASHarts and Crossroads Presents PRESENT: COEUR DE PIRATE with Kandle

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Coeur de pirate || Golden Baby [vidéoclip officiel] from Dare To Care Records on Vimeo.

WORLD MUSIC/CRASHarts and Crossroads Presents PRESENT
COEUR DE PIRATE
with Kandle
Thursday, June 6, 8pm, Paradise Rock Club, 18+

Coeur de Pirate (French for pirate heart) is the stage name for award-winning French-Canadian singer Béatrice Martin. Her whimsical, magical pop songs blend cabaret music, French lyrics and playful indie sensibilities. In November 2011,Coeur de Pirate released her highly anticipated second recording, Blonde, coproduced by Howard Bilerman (Arcade Fire, The Dears) and Béatrice Martin herself. Kandle will open.

Béatrice Martin has been playing piano and keyboards since she was only three years old. After a brief stint as keyboardist with the now defunct December Strikes First, Martin briefly joined the Montreal-based indie-pop band Bonjour Brumaire as a vocalist and pianist but left in 2008 to record her self-titled debut album. Coeur de Pirate was issued in September 2008 to immediate national and international acclaim. It was propelled by massive popularity via her MySpace page and an unexpected gift courtesy of famed Québécois photographer Francis Vachon who used the song “Ensemble” as the soundtrack to a time-lapse video of his 9-month old son that went viral on YouTube. This immensely popular clip showcased Martin’s music to millions of new fans, earning her praise from Good Morning America, The Globe and Mailand Perez Hilton, among many others. Stories ran in popular fashion magazines (Elle, Chatelaine) and on TV, and radio quickly followed, leading to a record deal in France. Coeur de Pirate has since gone platinum in Canada and Belgium, triple platinum in France and gold in Switzerland. The album has gone on to sell over 600,000 copies worldwide.

May 29

Open Theatre Project presents Acting Out Against Violence: an evening of Art, Performances, Silent Auctions, Community & more to benefit the One Fund.

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[BRIGHTON, MA] – On June 23, 2013 Open Theatre Project will be hosting an artistic celebration of community strength involving over 30 different artists, businesses & community members throughout the Greater Boston Area. We will be gathering at The Green Briar starting at 5PM with food, drinks & celebration to show our support and stand #BostonStrong together! The performance will start at 7PM & include: Original Scenes, Poetry, Monologues, Comedians, Music, Movement, and more with a community celebration after the performance!

Tickets for the evening are $15 and can be purchased directly attheopentheatre.com/actingout

May 28

From Denmark With Love: Closing Weekend!

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Photo courtesy of Vaquero Playground and John J King’s sexy booty.

You Only Live Twice!

Today, May 28 2013, would have been Ian Fleming’s 105th birthday.  But he was a life long smoker; that shit’ll kill you.Unlike Fleming, Tomorrow Never Dies.  But come this weekend, DENMARK must close.  Give yourself a Quantum of Solace and come enjoy the show before it does!

Senior Mirth Manager John J King has vowed to do his curtain speech as an iconic Bond Girl for every show that sells out – see his gold-plated Tilly Masterson, from Goldfinger, above.  Who knows what this week will bring?! Continue reading →

May 25

Too Much is Never Enough: FROM DENMARK WITH LOVE

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photo by Omar Robinson

(This post brought to you from Paris where the Queen Geek is currently on vacation. Don’t say I never got you anything.)

presented by Vaquero Playground 
By John J King
Directed by Barlow Adamson

Boston Playwrights Theatre
Boston, MA
May 10th – June 1, 2013
Vaquero Playground Facebook Page

The Compilation Album (featuring Queen Geek, Kitty Drexel on All’s Well That Ends Another Day)

(Boston) Review by Craig Idlebrook

When I was in college, a friend of mine decided the best birthday gift for his jock roommate would be a striptease, and he would not be dissuaded. As the birthday party was winding down, my friend burst into the party wearing nothing but terrible lingerie and he proceeded to slowly strip. His roommate laughed as the joke began, but he grew increasingly alarmed, realizing that my friend might go the Full Monty. The jock began to plead with my friend not to go all the way (this was Indiana in the nineties, after all), but with a big build-up, my friend took it all off anyway. It has become the most memorable striptease in my (cough) semi-extensive memory. Continue reading →

May 21

Stellar Science Fiction: SOLACE

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Image courtesy of Science Fiction Theatre Company

Image courtesy of Science Fiction Theatre Company

Presented by Science Fiction Theatre Company
By A. Vincent Ularich
Directed by Anna Trachtman

The Factory Theatre
Boston, MA
May 10th – May 25th, 2013

Review by Craig Idlebrook

(Boston) Oh, science fiction looks so easy to do when you have a CGI budget and a sleek deck of a starship to command, but it can be deadly to stage, especially when you’re working with a new play.  It’s then that we learn that space thrusters look ridiculous when constructed by duct tape, and phrases like “reverse the ion thrusters” just don’t roll off the tongue.

That’s what makes the sci-fi play Solace, written by Boston playwright A. Vincent Ularich, such a marvel.  For my money, this production, staged imaginatively and thoughtfully by the Science Fiction Theatre Company, is the sweetest surprise of the theater season.  Ularich, director Anna Trachtman and the strong overall cast have conjured up a love story about the future that retains all the heart of the present.  This play’s flaws quickly fell by the wayside, as I was drawn into the funny, sad and evocative world created on stage.    Continue reading →

May 21

Troubled Flight for “Icarus”

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With Austin Auh and Corianna Moffatt. Photo courtesy of Liars & Believers Facebook Page.

Presented by Liars & Believers
Directed by Faye Dupras

May 17 & 18, 2013 (Grab tickets while you can!)
Cambridge YMCA Theater in Central Square
Cambridge, MA
Liars & Believers Facebook Group

Gillian Daniels

Liars and Believers’ Icarus is a wobbly production, a Depression Era circus fable that limps when it pushes hard to soar.  Like a small bird, the show is both endearing but weak.  Its flourishes are strong: puppets, bluegrass, and robots.  The result gives the audience a series of intriguing set pieces but nothing that really coalesces into a grand story.

Jason Slavick packs a lot into the show, the separate parts fluid and vibrant.  The lead-up to the play itself includes burlesque and music, giving the centerpiece, Minnie Minoseczeck’s Menagerie of Marvels, a vaudevillean glamour.  The trimmings for the circus are convincing, complete with posters promising a minotaur and a flying woman, Penny (Corianna Moffatt). Continue reading →

May 21

“Pirates of Penzance” Pillages Hearts

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Emily Casey, Sean Pfautsch, Matt Kahler, Ryan Bourque, Dana Omar. Photo by Evgenia Eliseeva

presented by American Repertory Theater
produced by The Hypocrites
by Gilbert & Sullivan
adapted by Sean Graney, Kevin O’Donnell
directed by Sean Graney

Loeb Drama Center
64 Brattle St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
The Hypocrites’ Facebook Page

Review by Gillian Daniels

(Cambridge) The Hypocrites’ production of Pirates of Penzance is an absolute confection.  Adapting the beloved Gilbert and Sullivan operetta to a quirkier, more contemporary stage, Sean Graney and Kevin O’Donnell infuse the original libretto and its score with banjos, bathing suits, beach balls, and a warmth that charms but never cloys.  It’s energetic and just plain fun.

Premiering in New York in 1879, the original show has a long history of making audiences titter at lyrics like, “I am the very model of a modern major general.”  The comic opera lampoons Victorian concepts of honor, piracy, politeness, the literary inconveniences of being a foundling, and, most importantly, duty. Continue reading →