May 18

“The Prom”: Celebrities Want Posterity, Find Purpose

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Tori Heinlein (center) and ensemble. (Photo via Nile Scott Studios)

Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company
Book & Lyrics by Chad Beguelin
Book by Bob Martin
Music by Matthew Sklar
Directed by Paul Daigneault
Music Direction by Paul S. Katz
Choreography by Taavon Gamble

The Huntington at the Calderwood Pavilion / BCA
527 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02116
May 5–June 10, 2023

To purchase tickets, visit SpeakEasy Stage

Review by Gillian Daniels

BOSTON, Mass – The Prom begins as an unsentimental, comic takedown of show business opportunism. Broadway diva Dee Dee Allen (Mary Callanan) and leading man Barry Glickman (the charismatic Johnny Kuntz) look to soften their public image after their recent musical flop by utilizing a viral controversy in the midwest. Continue reading →

May 09

Conjuring History from Between the Lines: “Omar”

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JAMEZ MCCORKLE C. AS THE TITLE CHARACTER IN BLOS OMAR. PHOTO BY OLIVIA MOON PHOTOGRAPHY

Presented by Boston Lyric Opera, co-produced by Spoleto Festival USA and Carolina Performing Arts at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Music by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels
Libretto by Rhianon Giddens
Conducted by Michael Ellis Ingram
Directed by Kaneza Schaal
Inspired by Dr. Ala Alryye’s translation of Mar ibn Said’s autobiography in his book, A Muslim American Slave: The Life of Omar Ibn
Published by and presented with permission of Subito Music Corporation

Emerson Cutler Majestic Theater
219 Tremont St, Boston, MA 02116
May 5 – 7, 2023

WCRB recorded a performance of BLO’s production for an episode of WCRB in Concert that will air in fall 2023. Sign up for recording broadcast updates here.

Critique by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

BOSTON, Mass. —

This past Saturday night, I was witness to a conjuring. Omar, a new opera co-created by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels, is not just in conversation with history. It brings the past to life by filling in the gaps of archival memory and giving voice to a narrative that has otherwise slipped through the cracks of history.

Until now, the story of Omar ibn Said has largely been contained to academic circles, where it holds a critical place as the only known surviving account of United States slavery to have been written in Arabic. From this account, we know that Omar was an accomplished and devout Islamic scholar in present-day Senegal, when, at 37 years of age, in 1807, he was captured, transported to Charleston, South Carolina, and sold into slavery. Continue reading →

Apr 11

Whimsy and Existential Dread in Swampland: “Alligator-a-Phobia in 3D!”

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Katherine Perry (foreground), Maurie Moore, Savannah Scott, Ernesto Garrido Gonzalez; Photo by Stratton McCrady.

Presented by Boston Playwrights’ Theatre
A BU New Play Initiative production, produced by Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and the Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Theatre
Directed by Shamus
Written and Music Composed by Jay Eddy
Set Design by Ami Okazaki

Boston Playwrights’ Theatre
949 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
April 6-16, 2023
Thurs. 7:30 p.m., Fri. and Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m.
To purchase, visit www.BostonPlaywrights.org
Boston Playwright’ Theatre on Facebook

Critique by Gillian Daniels

(Boston, MA) A heart trembling with anxiety beats inside the slimy gullet of the workshop production of Alligator-a-Phobia in 3D!, a quirky, genre-jumping play with high energy musical interludes. In this dramedy, a naive, young couple moves to alligator-infested southern Florida swampland. Nature photojournalist Sweetness (the charming Katherine Perry) makes the change with enthusiasm. Happy (Leah Kreitz in a powerful performance), a poet who’s recently completed an MFA, slowly becomes frozen in fear by their predatory neighbors (the frenetic alligator ensemble of Kendall McShane, Maurie Moore, Ernesto Garrido Gonzalez, and Savannah Scott). Continue reading →

Mar 30

Preach the Gospel of Good Eating: “Clyde’s” at The Huntington

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Left to right: Harold Surratt and April Nixon; Photo credit: Kevin Berne

Presented by The Huntington in co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre
By Lynn Nottage
Directed by Taylor Reynolds
Intimacy and fight consultant: Yo-El Cassell

March 24 – April 23, 2023
The Huntington Theatre
264 Huntington Ave. 
Boston, MA 02115
Digital Playbill

Critique by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON, Mass. — The Huntington reopens its doors to the public after a long hiatus for renovations with Clyde’s. It is written by Lynn Nottage and directed by Taylor Reynolds. Performances run through April 23.

The facade of the Huntington Ave theater remains largely the same. It is as pristine and classic as Symphony Hall across the street, but there are some changes: the new front door is to the right of the old one. It is accessible to wheelchair users! A glowing sign lights the way to the new front door.  Continue reading →

Mar 27

Choose Flying: “Wild Goose Dreams”

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Jeffrey Song and Eunji Lim; Nile Scott Studios.

Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company
Written by Hansol Jung
Directed by Seonjae Kim
Intimacy choreography by Yo-El Cassell 
Original compositions by Jeffrey Song
Featuring: Amanda Centeno, Ciaran D’Hondt, Fady Demian, John D. Haggerty, Elaine Hom, Eunji Lim, Ryan Mardesich, Jeffrey Song.

March 17 – April 8, 2023
Roberts Studio Theatre 
Calderwood Pavilion
Boston Center for the Arts
527 Tremont Street
Boston, MA

Run time is estimated to be 1:40 without intermission.  

Critique by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON, Mass. — Wild Goose Dreams is a play with music by Hansol Jung and directed by Seonjae Kim. It is presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company and currently running at the Boston Center for the Arts. Audiences will encounter themes of loneliness, internet dependence, and censorship. 

Boston began its relationship with Wild Goose Dreams in May 2020 on Facebook Live during the Lockdown. Central Square Theater hosted a reading of Jung’s play with Underground Railway as part of its “Art is our Activism” series. Debra Wise directed a different cast (also led by Jeffrey Song!) that featured actor Michael Tow. Geek writer Diana Lu interviewed Tow after the reading for the blog. 

Shortly before the Lockdown, Company One performed Jung’s Wolf Play through February 2020 – just before lockdown began. Boston’s artists and audiences were ready for Jung’s work! History had other plans. 

At long last, SpeakEasy Stage Co brings Wild Goose Dreams, a play with musical vignettes, to Boston! (I bet it had some steep competition.) Wild Goose Dreams gets the New England premiere it deserves. We don’t have to wait any longer to see this play in person.  Continue reading →

Mar 17

I Didn’t Make the World, I Just Live Here: Front Porch Arts Collective and The Huntington present “K-I-S-S-I-N-G”

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Sharmarke Yusuf and Regan Sims; Photo: T Charles Erickson.

Presented by the Front Porch Arts Collective and The Huntington
Written by Lenelle Moïse
Directed by Dawn M. Simmons
Dramaturgy by Charles Haugland 
Choreography by Misha Shields
Intimacy consultant: Gregory Geffrard
Voice coaching by Christine Hamel, Rebecca Schneebaum
Cultural consultant: New England Aces

March 3, 2023 – April 2, 2023
The Calderwood Pavilion/BCA
Boston, MA 02116
2 hours and 20 minutes with one intermission
Digital access to the filmed performance is available until April 16, 2023. 

Spoiler Alert: New England Theatre Geek discusses a central theme of K-I-S-S-I-N-G. Knowing this information shouldn’t ruin the play’s other surprises, character arcs, or ending. Your reaction to this plot point, how the characters react to it, and the audience’s reaction may teach you about your own inherent biases.

Critique by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON, MA —  The Huntington and The Porch must please update their summary for K-I-S-S-I-N-G. It no longer accurately describes the show. I thought there was going to be a lot more David Bowie and at least one quote from bell hooks. There are no pizza box art projects or fireworks displays. The co-production is/was highly anticipated. That part can stay.

K-I-S-S-I-N-G is a quasi-Cinderella story about the emotional and sexual awakening of Lala (Regan Sims), a young woman living on the edge of poverty who craves art, poetry, and the feel of warm, supportive arms around her. She lives with her emotionally stunted mother Dot (the ethereal Patrese D McClain who dominated the stage with her presence) and her little brother Max. Lala’s father Jack (James Milord) loves Lala like the sun loves the sparkle on the ocean’s waves, but he can only visit once a week. Continue reading →

Mar 13

Show More, Explain Less: “POV: You Are An AI Achieving Consciousness”

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Presented by CirqueSaw
Created by Nathan Leigh
Performed by Nicole Orabona

March 9-18, 2023
A Virtual Event
Zoom access required
40 Minutes

Critique by Kitty Drexel

ONLINE — I greatly respect artists who are involved in every aspect of the creation process of their art, but I don’t advise it. Creator Nathan Leigh is a multi-hyphenate who wrote, composed, directed, coded, and designed POV: You Are An AI Achieving Consciousness. Such intimacy with his work means he knows he can track every nuance and fine detail.

Such intimacy does not grant Leigh a fresh perspective or even moderate insight into glaring problems. In academic circles, this is when a professor would invite the dreaded reviewer #2 into the editing process.

 Reviewer #2, in theory, should offer handy advice that a writer hasn’t considered. This is almost never the case in scientific circles. In artistic workshopping, it will be helpful if the artists are open-minded. It is in the spirit of creating thoughtful and mind-enriching art that I offer the following critique. Continue reading →

Mar 10

If You See Something, No You Didn’t: “Cointelshow: A Patriot Act”

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Presented by ArtsEmerson 
Produced by Mondo Bizarro Productions
Written by L.M. Bogad
Performed by Bruce France
Composed by Peter J. Bowling
Virtual backend by Dan Pruksarnukul
Directed by Nick Slie and Dan Pruksarnukul
Scenic design by Bruce France, Dan Pruksarnukul, Nick Slie & Yamil Rodriguez
Additional collaboration: Yamil Rodriguez

March 8-12, 2023
Virtual Event
Zoom access required
Zoom closed captioning available
60-minutes

Critique by Kitty Drexel

“Listen, I can’t even get my dog to stay down. Do I look to you like someone who could overthrow the government?”

-Critic, playwright, and screenwriter Dorothy Parker in Parker’s home in April 1951 responding to FBI interrogation about Communist party activities. The dog, smelling dirty rats, began barking as soon as the agents entered the premises. 

Good dog.

ONLINE — Cointelshow: A Patriot Act is brought to you by the letters H, U, A, C and the numbers 1,9,6 and 9. It’s a niche theatre project that will appeal to folks invested in streamed live theatre. It will intrigue folks who see the internet as the new frontier of civil liberties. We are the ones who must watch the watchers. 

Cointelshow: A Patriot Act is righteously, gloriously subversive AF. It dresses its subversion up in parody, parades it in front of an audience of judgmental peers, reveals its subversion as an unreliable narrator with mental illnesses, and then proclaims its subversion as completely normal and meme-worthy. Here kids, have a Tiktok.  Continue reading →

Mar 08

We Would Do Anything for Love, Including That: “Alma”

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Full frontal chancla fight, Karina Beleno Carney and Luz Lopez in “Alma”. Photo: Nile Scott Studios.

Presented by Central Square Theater
Written by Benjamin Benne
Directed by Elena Velasco
Choreography by Angie Jepson
Dialect Coaching by Cristhian Mancinas-García
Community Connectivity Dramaturgy by Zowie Rico
Featuring Karina Beleno Carney (she/ella) and Luz Lopez (she/her)

February 23 to March 26, 2023
Central Square Theater
450 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 
75 minutes with no intermission

Critique by Kitty Drexel

Cambridge, MA — The Oxford English Dictionary says the American Dream is “the ideal that every citizen of the United States should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.” Benjamin Benne’s Alma at Central Square Theater is the story of a family that comes to accept that some American dreams are only available to wealthy, white, and documented dreamers.   Continue reading →

Mar 05

Politically Stale Content v. Beautiful Production Work: “The Wife of Willesden”

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Marcus Adolphy, Clare Perkins, George Eggay, Andrew Frame, and the company of “The Wife of Willesden.” Photo: Marc Brenner

A Kiln Theatre Production presented by the American Repertory Theater
Adapted by Zadie Smith, adapted from Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath”
Direction by Indhu Rubasingham
Composition and sound design by Ben and Max Ringham
Movement Direction by Imogen Knight
Fight Direction by Kev McCurdy
Voice & Dialect Coaching by Hazel Holder

February 25 – March 17
Loeb Drama Center
64 Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tickets and Info

Critique by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

Cambridge, MA –Loud, rebellious female characters from classic literature are juicy fodder for feminist reclamation, and understandably so. For women and folks of marginalized gender identities, it’s rare to see ourselves reflected as complex human beings in historical texts, even if most of these surviving texts are by dead white men. Shakespeare, for instance, likely didn’t have radical feminist intentions when he wrote Taming of the Shrew. But, Kate’s story is reshaped and retold again and again and again, problematic parts and all, if only to prove to the world that yes, women like her always existed.

The Wife of Willesden, a Kiln Theatre Production currently running at the A.R.T., strives to continue in this tradition, reexamining with the titular character from Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath” (a tale from The Canterbury Tales) through a 21st century lens. The text was adapted (or translated, which I would argue is more accurate) by novelist Zadie Smith, with raucous, ensemble-driven direction by Indhu Rubasingham. Continue reading →