Jun 12

Ken Davenport’s Notice: Don’t Miss The Beautiful City of GODSPELL

Posted on June 12, 2012 by beccackidwell

photo by Jeremy Daniel from Playbill

Godspell, music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, book by John-Michael Tebelak, Circle In The Square Theatre (Broadway), 10/13/11-6/24/12, http://www.godspell.com/. DON’T MISS THIS BRILLIANT & EXCITING SHOW!! (Directed by Huntington’s God of Carnage director, Daniel Goldstein)

(source: http://www.godspellblog.com/the-godspell-update-we-built-a-beautiful-city)
Ken Davenport, the lead producer of Godspell, wrote this note on his blog:

“I just left the Circle in the Square Theatre moments ago, where with a very heavy heart I told the cast and crew that Godspell will play its final performance on Sunday, June 24th. While we certainly had hoped our show would run for years and years, we’re all very proud of the beautiful city we built.

Over the last nine months, our sensational cast has spread the joy of Godspell to over 153,000 people (and blasted them with over 1,000 pounds of confetti). And while this production of Godspell may not be at Circle in the Square past the 24th of June, it will be in our hearts and the hearts of everyone who saw it forever.

Continue reading →

Jun 12

THE BEAUTY: CANDICE BERGEN SURVIVES STROKE, TAKES BROADWAY STAGE

Posted on June 12, 2012 by beccackidwell

ROCK CENTER WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS interview airs on Thursday, June 14th at 10pm/9c on MSNBC.

The Best Man by Gore Vidal, Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (Broadway), 3/6/12-9/9/12, http://thebestmanonbroadway.com/.

“Candice Bergen is one of the great beauties – and most famous and versatile actresses – of her time. She speaks candidly with Harry Smith about how she has dealt with aging and the mild stroke she had six years ago. She looks back on her breakout role as Murphy Brown, and remembers growing up with her internationally-famous ‘puppet brother,’ Charlie McCarthy, who was given voice by her father, the ventriloquist and comedian Edgar Bergen. She is now appearing in a Broadway play, ‘The Best Man,’ and she shares the stage with such bold-face names as John Larroquette, James Earl Jones, Eric McCormack and Angela Lansbury.”–Copy by Brian Gross

Jun 11

Happy Medium Theatre’s The American Plan

Posted on June 11, 2012 by gilliandaniels

The American Plan by Richard Greenberg, Happy Medium Theatre Company, Factory Theatre, 6/8/12-6/16/12, http://www.happymediumtheatre.com/.

Feature by Gillian Daniels

Happy Medium Theatre’s The American Plan starts off light.

Set during an early-1960’s summer, a young couple meet cute and begin a hesitant courtship near a resort in the Catskill Mountains. The first act sets up initially simple obstacles, mysterious pasts and disapproving parents. By the second act, the play finally bears its teeth, revealing far more bile for the age than its nostalgic exterior would suggest. Continue reading →

Jun 02

Vampires, Actually: YOUR WILDEST DREAMS

Posted on June 2, 2012 by craigidlebrook

Your Wildest Dreams by Joey C. Pelletier, Heart & Dagger Productions, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, 5/18/12-6/2/12, http://heartanddagger.weebly.com/.

Reviewed by Craig Idlebrook

So you want to be a playwright. Great. From painful personal experience, let me offer one suggestion: limit your characters. I know you will be tempted by the prospect of adding a zany waiter with a secret past or a crazy aunt with who steals the scene at dinner, but don’t. Playwriting is hard. Making a fully dimensional character is hard. Keeping the audience’s attention is much harder than you think, and there is no worse sinking feeling than watching your friends make excuses halfway through your stage-reading, believe me. Continue reading →

Jun 01

Hell is Other People: PRIVATE LIVES

Posted on June 1, 2012 by craigidlebrook

Bianca Amato and James Waterston in Noël Coward’s PRIVATE LIVES. May 25 – June 24, 2012 at the BU Theatre. huntingtontheatre.org. Photo: Paul Marotta

Private Lives by Noel Coward, Huntington Theatre, Boston University Theatre, 5/25/12-6/24/12, http://www.huntingtontheatre.org/season/2011-2012/private-lives/.

Reviewed by Craig Idlebrook

Sometimes, the mark of a good play is how close it comes to the bone. If you are secure in your romantic relationship, you will laugh heartily at Noel Coward’s Private Lives, playing at the Huntington. If you aren’t secure, you will laugh nervously. If you are single, you will laugh derisively. Either way, you will laugh at this mashup of the foibles of all passionate lovers everywhere. Continue reading →

May 27

Connecting with the Cheerfully Cheesy “Xanadu”

Posted on May 27, 2012 by gilliandaniels

McCaela Donovan and Ryan Overberg, Photo: Craig Bailey/Perspective Photo

Xanadu, book by Douglas Carter Beane, music and lyrics by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar, Speakeasy Stage Company, Roberts Studio Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts, 5/11/12-6/9/12, http://www.speakeasystage.com/doc.php?section=showpage&page=xanadu.

Reviewed by Gillian Daniels

Xanadu, the 1980 film featuring Olivia Newton John and music by the Electric Light Orchestra, is well known for being a critical flop. The chief crime of this cinematic musical, however, is in creating entertainment that doesn’t connect with its audience. After all, it’s a movie about disco released a year after the genre died a largely un-mourned death. I’m hard pressed to find a better image of disconnection than that.

In being brought to the stage, Xanadu has finally found its correct medium. The show not only finds its audience but winks at it furiously throughout the course of the story. Continue reading →

May 23

Trojan Women: An Atmospheric View of the Devastation of War

Posted on May 23, 2012 by anthonygeehan

photo credit: Whistler in the Dark

Trojan Women by Euripides,
Whistler in the Dark,
The Factory Theatre,
5/18/12-6/2/12, http://www.whistlerinthedark.com/productions/trojanwomenprod.html.

Reviewed by Anthony Geehan

(Boston, MA) The end of war is something that is looked on as a celebratory event. Images of servicemen returning home, country’s flags being raised, and a collective sigh of relief from the population are the usual symbols that are associated with victory. There is however always a losing side in a war who must deal with a devastated homeland, a shamed or exterminated army, and the loss of everything their civilization was or could ever be. Continue reading →

May 20

Geeks Nerds and Artists Episode 7: Danny Bryck

Posted on May 20, 2012 by beccackidwell

Episode 7: Geeks, Nerds & Artists Podcast: Danny Bryck, local actor and dialect coach

http://dannybryck.com/

No Room For Wishing–one man documentary play by Danny Bryck
READING: May 27 @ 2pm at Wall Street to Main Street Festival, BRIK Gallery, 473 Main St, Catskill, NY
http://www.facebook.com/events/311862005560920/
READING (Excerpts): June 20 @ 7pm at Hall Space, 950 Dorchester Avenue, Boston, MA
MORE TO COME IN THE SUMMER & FALL, http://dannybryck.com/noroomforwishing/

Danny Bryck is an actor, writer and theatre artist hailing from Amherst, Massachusetts.

Continue reading →

May 19

Just Shy of Hilarious: AVENUE Q

Posted on May 19, 2012 by craigidlebrook

John Ambrosino & Phil Tayler; photo credit: Mark S. Howard

Avenue Q, music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, book by Jeff Whitty, Lyric Stage Company of Boston, 5/11/12- ~~6/24/12~~, EXTENDED to 7/1/12, https://lyricstage.com/main_stage/avenue_q/.

Reviewed by Craig Idlebrook

(Boston, MA) Comedy is a game of milliseconds. The difference between a good laugh and a belly laugh is all in the timing. If you don’t land the gag just right, the joke can fall flat. Lyric Stage’s production of Avenue Q is very funny, but it could have been crack-a-rib hilarious.

The script and song are the closest you can come to a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. Take the earnestness of Sesame Street, mash it with the slacker sensibilities of Friends and the crowd can’t help but laugh. Continue reading →