Oct 26

More than a Handful of Clever: A BEHANDING IN SPOKANE

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Photo credit: Theatre on Fire

by Martin McDonagh
Directed by Darren Evans

presented by Theatre on Fire
Charlestown Working Theater
Charlestown, MA
October 12 – October 27th, 2012
Theatre on Fire Facebook Page

Review by Craig Idlebrook

(Charlestown) Successful comedy and drama scripts employ a slightly sadistic withhold-and-give strategy with audiences. Comedy or tension must be built and dissipated and built again. There must be some normalcy to lead us on to the surprise. Think of the easygoing date that occurs before the heroin overdose in the movie Pulp Fiction. Two couples are out on a date making small talk. We know it will end up weird because the movie already has been very weird, but the date is downright boring, and the usually witty dialogue is purposely pedestrian. The payoff comes just a few minutes later with a group of strangers trying to decide what to do with a mob boss’s wife as she is overdosing. Continue reading →

Oct 25

Boston Debut of Kyle Abraham / Abraham.in.Motion

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WORLD MUSIC/CRASHarts PRESENTS THE BOSTON DEBUT OF
Kyle Abraham / Abraham.in.Motion
Performing the Boston premiere of The Radio Show
Friday, November 16, 7:30 pm | Saturday, November 17, 8pm
The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston
100 Northern Ave
Boston, 02210
Facebook Page

Bessie Award–winner Kyle Abraham and his seven-member company, Abraham.In.Motion, dance with
a highly engaging, larger-than-life style that combines influences ranging from hip-hop to ballet. The
Radio Show revolves around the closure of the urban Pittsburgh radio station that Abraham grew up
listening to and sets the stage for an exploration of cultural identity, personal history and the heartbeat of
a neighborhood.

Photo credits: Steven Schreiber and Renee Rosensteel

Oct 23

Accidentally Sexy: “Bloody, Bloody, Andrew Jackson”

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Photo by Craig Bailey / Perspective Photo. The show is accidentally sexy; the cast is sexy on purpose.

Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company

Written by Alex Timbers
Music & Lyrics by Michael Friedman
Directed by Paul Melone
Music directed by Nick Connell

SpeakEasy Stage Company
539 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02116
October 19 – November 17, 2012

SpeakEasy Facebook Page

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Boston) President Andrew Jackson (Gus Curry) invented the Democratic Party but was infamous for hating the English, the Spanish, American Aristocracy and Native American Indians. The book by Alex Timbers presents President Jackson as an angsty young man bristling with frenetic energy. He loves Populism, his wife Rachel and representing “The Voice of the People.” His hobbies include building the Trail of Tears, guns and erratic behavior. Even though there’s 100 years difference between his era and ours, not much has changed in politics: some political leaders just love a tantrum. Continue reading →

Oct 22

Drop Dead Funny: EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL

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Photo credit: Josh Nunes/ www.natlightphotography.com; the cast, feeling groovy.

Book and Lyrics by George Reinblatt
Music by Frank Cipolla, Christopher Bond, Melissa Morris, George Reinblatt
Music Supervision by Frank Cipolla
Additional Lyrics by Christopher Bond Additional Music by Rob Daleman

Director – Corey Jackson
Music Director – Mario Cruz
Choreographer – Nicole Spirito

presented by Arts After Hours
LynnArts
25 Exchange Street
Lynn, MA
October 18th – October 28th, 2012

Arts After Hours Facebook Page

Review by Craig Idlebrook

(Lynn) You know you’re in for something different with the Art After Hours production of Evil Dead: the Musical when you are given the option of sitting in the splatter zone with a poncho. The Sound of Music, this ain’t, but if you’re in the mood for a well- timed comedy that is side-splitting in more ways than one, this weird and bloody romp is for you. Continue reading →

Oct 21

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo: Hungry for Human Foibles

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Photo credit: Company One

by Rajiv Joseph
Directed by Shawn LaCount

presented by Company One
BCA Plaza Theatre
Boston, MA
October 19 – November 17, 2012
Company One Facebook Page
Adult content. Language.

Review by Gillian Daniels

(Boston) Rajiv Joseph’s play about the Iraq War is not so much a dark comedy as a sour one. Its humor is drawn from bitterness, the absurdity of invading a country in 2003 and dethroning its dictator without any real exit strategy. It’s bold not because it says anything not said before, but because the play picks fearlessly at a new, festering wound before it’s had time to heal. Continue reading →

Oct 21

An Incomplete Sentence: RACE

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Photo Credit: New Repertory Theatre; the cast

by David Mamet
Directed by Robert Walsh

presented by the New Repertory Theatre
Arsenal Center for the Arts
Watertown, MA
October 14th – November 4th, 2012

New Rep Facebook Page

Review by Craig Idlebrook

(Watertown) It’s become trickier to discuss racism in the post-2008 election era than it was before. We have elected a black president, many hope to say, and that is enough.

Leave it to troublemaking playwright David Mamet to clear his throat amid the quiet in 2009 with his biting and succinct dramatic comedy, Race, now being performed by the New Repertory Theatre in Watertown. His play refuses to rest on recent racial gains, instead showing the trouble beneath the surface, the kind
that otherwise is obscured unless a police officer arrests a Harvard professor or a neighborhood watchman shoots an unarmed teen. Mamet’s script sparks necessary dialogue about an uncomfortable subject, but the flawed storyline of the play, combined with uneven execution by New Rep’s cast, misses the opportunity to create deeper understanding of inherent social inequality. Continue reading →

Oct 20

Jesus Christ Superstar: God and Everyone Else is Listening

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Photos: Copyright The Boston Conservatory. Max Wagenblass, photographer.

presented by The Boston Conservatory

Music by Andrew Lloyd Weber.
Lyrics by Tim Rice.

Directed by Neil Donohoe
Music Direction by Bill Casey.
Conducted by Reuben M. Reynolds, III.
Choreographed by Michelle Chasse.

The Boston Conservatory Theater
Boston, MA

October 18 – 21, 2012

(Boston) It started out as a lovely evening. Boston Conservatory’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar is excellent – not only as a student production but as a piece of art comparable to professional area theater. The students in Friday’s performance were electric on the stage, filling every crevice in the theater with palpable, thrumming energy. Their acting was fine, their dance was great and their vocals blew the roof off. The modern dance choreographed by Michelle Chasse lends itself well to this updated production. The subtle yet evocative lighting design by Franklin Meissner Jr. was the cherry on the performance sundae. It is a good show. Continue reading →

Oct 18

“Alice in Wonderland” but on More Meth: “The Lily’s Revenge”

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Photo credit: www.GretjenHelene.com; Lily and the Mary’s shaking what their mother, Time, gave them.

Written and Conceived by Taylor Mac
Composed by Rachelle Garniez

presented by American Repertory Theatre
OBERON
2 Arrow Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
October 12, 2012 to October 28, 2012

A.R.T. Facebook Page

The Lily’s Revenge is the epic nursery rhyme turned homo-rific, drag-tastic fairy tale of Lily, an ordinary houseplant, who undertakes to be more than what others make him to be. His is a delicious allegory/metaphor/cautionary tale/simile/hyperbole/paradox that spans 4+ hours of dance, drama and breakage of the 4th wall that warns never to settle for less than what you want. Even if that means shedding the skin of who you think you are to become who you are truly meant to be. Continue reading →

Oct 18

GoreFest X: 28 Days Latte

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Photo Credit: ImprovBoston; This ain’t your Daddy’s zombie-fest.

ImprovBoston
40 Prospect St.
Cambridge, MA 02139
October 24 – 31, 8pm and 10pm shows.

ImprovBoston Facebook Page

(Cambridge) GoreFest X: 28 Days Latte — ImprovBoston’s 10th Annual Halloween Horrorshow — is a brand new musical comedy from writer/lyricist Don Schuerman and composer Steve Gilbane. The Zombie Apocalypse is upon us, and a bunch of hipsters and two senior citizens are trapped inside a coffee place as they fight back the rampaging hordes. The show is dripping with tasteless dialog, juvenile humor, memorable music. Like every GoreFest, this year’s show features copious amounts of fake blood, gore and other bodily fluids, not all of which ends up on the actors.

BEWARE: AUDIENCES IN THE “SPLATTER ZONE” MAY BE COVERED IN FAKE EVERYTHING YOU CAN IMAGINE; WITH A COUPLE EXTRA SHOTS OF BLOODY ESPRESSO (Dress For The Season).

FOLLOW THE BLOODY TWEETS @IBGorefest


Oct 17

The Thing’s the Plays: Public Theater’s New “Shakespeare Machine”

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Next time you’re in the NYC area, why not take a look at some kick-ass art in the refurbished lobby of The Public Theater?
Link to Article from ArtNews
The Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street
NY, NY 10003

Artist Ben Rubin remixes 37 works in a site-specific, L.E.D-lit, linguistic-supercollider sculpture (that’s also a chandelier)

“The Shakespeare Machine is the creation of Ben Rubin, a local media artist with the spirit of a mad inventor and a passion for data. Commissioned by the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs as part of the Percent for Art program, which funds site-specific pieces in city-funded construction projects, Rubin’s device is at once artwork, chandelier, brain-teaser, and literary tourist attraction.”

ARTnews article excerpts written by Robin Cembalest, posted 10/16/12.