May 18

A Heartfelt Take on a Modern Classic: “The Light in the Piazza”

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The cast of The Light in the Piazza; directed by Loretta Greco; photo by Julieta Cervantes.

Presented by The Huntington
Book by Craig Lucas
Music and lyrics by Adam Guettel
Based on the novel by Elizabeth Spencer
Directed by Loretta Greco
Music direction by Andrea Grody
Scenic design by Andrew Boyce
Lighting design by Christopher Akerlind
Costume design by Alex Jaeger
Featuring Emily Skinner, Sarah-Anne Martinez, Joshua Grosso, William Michals,
Rebecca Pitcher, Alexander Ross, Rebekah Rae Robles

May 9 – June 15, 2025
The Huntington Theatre
264 Huntington Ave. Boston, MA 02115

Review by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

BOSTON – When The Light in the Piazza premiered on Broadway two decades ago, it was lauded as a quaint but refreshing return to style, and Adam Guettel’s delicate, almost operatic score became an instant classic. Compared to contemporary 2000s box-office smashes like Spamalot and Avenue Q, this intimate love story favors pathos over spectacle, sincerity over irony – on the surface, it’s as old school as a 21st Century musical can get.

Classic as it may look and sound, however, The Light in the Piazza is a weird little musical. It examines the idea of love through a myriad of refractions: passion, to be sure, but also power, possessiveness, and loss. It frequently shatters the fourth wall and its own idyllic veneer. At times, it is disarmingly funny; at others, profoundly sad. Continue reading →

May 18

Fame Puts You There Where Things Are Hollow: “As Bees in Honey Drown”

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The cast: photo by Gary Ng. Spot on costumes by Anna Silva. 

Presented by Theater UnCorked
By Douglas Carter Beane
Directed by David Miller
Fight Choreography & Intimacy Direction by Allison Olivia Choat

May 15 – May 18, 2025
BCA Plaza Black Box Theatre
539 Tremont St
Boston, MA 02116

Critique by Kitty Drexel

“In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” – Attributed to Andy Warhol. (The Smithsonian Magazine contests this attribution.)

BOSTON — There are days when life in the theatre feels like the lowest level in a multilevel marketing scheme. Famous artists and producers at the top of the pyramid (on Broadway and the West End) make the most money; their flashy success entices others to buy into the business: drama school, dance, voice, acting classes, accent coaches, pay-to-plays and voice-over camp. Semi-famous, professional artists and administrators who hustle like they’ve been conditioning since the womb make ends meet; they can afford niceties like starting a family without going into serious debt. The rest of us schmucks, to borrow a term from Theater Uncorked’s As Bees in Honey Drown, must work at least one (or three, if you’re a stage manager) side hustle to afford the theatre lifestyle. Continue reading →

May 13

Dark and Violent/Full of Butterflies: “The Head Is Not the Star of the Body”

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The ensemble of “The Head Is Not the Star of the Body;” Photo by Olivia Moon Photography.

Presented by Boston Dancemakers Residency Showcase
Directed and choreographed by Cassie Wang
Movement Collaborators and Past Contributors: Leah Misano, Juliet Paramor
Projection Artist by Genevieve Temple, Cassie Wang
Dramaturgy by Ilya Vidrin
Rehearsal Direction by Dara Nicole Capley
Lighting Design by Andrea Sala
Technical Direction by Anne Dresbach
Music by Big Thief
Performers: Gabriela Amy-Moreno, Hannah Franz, Sasha Peterson, Noli Rosen, Cassie Wang, Maude Warshaw

May 8 – 11, 2025 – in person
May 26–June 30, 2025 – virtual performance 
Boston Center for the Arts
Calderwood Pavilion
Martin Rehearsal Hall
527 Tremont St
Boston, MA 02116

Article by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON — Director and choreographer Cassie Wang’s choreopoem The Head is not the Star of the Body asked her audiences to consider longing in its purist form: raw emotion. Wang asked us, “How does longing reveal identity? How do we sit with someone else’s longing? How do we measure the distance between subjects of longing?” In the playbill’s Note From the Director, Wang leaned into her ask. She told her audience to prioritize feeling over thinking and to savor their responses. It’s a big ask; New England audiences are famously self-controlled.  It’s how we show respect. Continue reading →

May 12

“Spiritual Advisors” at the Boston Fringe Festival

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Presented as part of the Boston Fringe Festival 
Produced by The Asian American Playwright Collective (AAPC)

May 6-11, 2025
The Rockwell 
255 Elm Street
Somerville, MA 02144

Critique by Kitty Drexel

SOMERVILLE, Mass. — The Boston Theatre Festival hosted at Somerville’s Rockwell Theater was not the first fringe festival in Massachusetts. But! It is the only festival currently carrying the fringe moniker. I sincerely hope the producers keep up the momentum for 2026. In these days of fascist, unconstitutional grant dissolution, joyful theatre production is a form of resistance.    Continue reading →

May 08

Naïve innocence to Vindictive corruption: “Mean Girls”

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Pictured (L-R): Katie Yeomans (Cady Heron), Kristen Amanda Smith (Gretchen Wieners), Maya Petropoulos (Regina George), and MaryRose Brendel (Karen Smith). Photo by Jeremy Daniel, 2025

Presented by Emerson Colonial Theater
Book by Tina Fey
Music by Jeff Richmond
Lyrics by Nell Bejnamin
Directed by Casey Hushion
Choreographed by John MacInnis

April 29th – May 4th, 2025
Emerson Colonial Theater
106 Boylston St
Boston, MA 02116

2 hours 15 minutes with one intermission

Review by Helen Ganley

BOSTON — Cliques endure throughout life, beginning as early as elementary school and continuing into adulthood. You might find them at work, with the crew that always goes to Happy Hour (with no extended invite), among couples who only hang out with other couples, or with PTA Power Parents who plan events without outside input. The most common place to find them, however, is in high school. Emerson Colonial Theater’s production of Mean Girls explores the dangers of cliques while emphasizing the importance of authenticity and kindness throughout life. Continue reading →

May 05

Focusing on the Footnotes: FOUNDING F%#ERS, A World Premiere

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Photo by Maggie Hall Photography.

Presented by Greater Boston Stage Company
A Don Fulton New Works Project
Written by Conor Casey
Director – Weylin Symes
Assistant Director/Choreographer – Tyler Rosati
Scenic Designer – Katy Monthei
Lighting Design – Corey Whittemore
Costume Design – Deidre Gerrard
Sound Design – Caroline Eng
Properties Master – Adelaide Majeski
Production Stage Manager – Marsha Smith
Fight Captain – Marge Dunn
Production Manager – Meghan Ward
Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Consultant – Kira Troilo, Art & Soul Consulting LLC

May 2 – May 18, 2025
Greater Boston Stage Company
395 Main Street
Stoneham, MA 02180

Critique by Craig Idlebrook

2 hours with a brief intermission

STONEHAM, Mass. —

Too often, history is presented as a straight line, especially when it comes to successful revolutionary moments in history. Think of the common perception of the Civil Rights movement; so often it is portrayed as a lone figure marching in a straight line to victory when, in reality, it was a coalition of competing voices and branches, with victories, defeats, missteps, and contradictions. This impulse to purge doubt and impose order on chaotic change sanctifies our view of these historical figures and movements, and obscures the messy work needed to make change. Continue reading →

Apr 28

Bleeding Heart Fox Lovers: “The Squirrels”

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Photo by Apollinaire Theatre. Great squirrels of our time.

Presented by Apollinaire Theatre Company 
By Robert Askins
Directed by Brooks Reeves
Movement Choreography by Audrey Johnson
Fight Choreography by Matt Dray

April 18-May 18, 2025
Chelsea Theatre Works
189 Winnisimmet St.
Chelsea, MA

Running Time: estimated 2 hours

Critique by Kitty Drexel

“Artists must let audiences in on the risk of the live performance through intentionally crafting moments in which it is revealed. This is why moments of misfire, moments that shatter the theatrical illusion, feel so resonant: they reveal the risk underpinning a truly live and dynamic experience… These moments don’t have to be literal mistakes… But rather ideas, images or performances that surprise us by upsetting our expectations and enhancing our awareness of events unfolding around us.” 

Theatre of the Unimpressed: In Search of Vital Drama by Jordan Tanahill, Coach House Books, Toronto: 2015.

CHELSEA, Mass. — The Squirrels by Robert Askins (best known for Hand to God, a play about a boy and his outspoken hand puppet) is a strange ‘lil beastie of a play. At first glance, it is a departure for Apolliniaire Theatre Company – a company that stages adventurous plays about the human experience. But, upon further investigation, The Squirrels is well within Apollinaire’s bailiwick. Askins’ play is about the failures of our flesh, our need for compassion and warmth, and our propensity for greed when left unchecked. It is also about common street Rodentia. 

Apollinaire’s website summarizes The Squirrels thusly: “A bitter struggle for love, power, and the almighty acorn divides a once-peaceful tree in Robert Askins’ dark satire of prejudice and greed… A tragi-comical epic battle for nuts.” It is Watership Down meets King Lear with some Lysistrata thrown in for good measure. It is fluffy, horny, and entirely human.  Continue reading →

Apr 24

A House with Good Bones: “Alba”

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Presented by Teatro Chelsea
A new play by Alejandro Rodriguez
Based on The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca
Produced & directed by Mariela Lopez-Ponce

April 17-May 4, 2025 
Chelsea Theatre Works Black Box
181 Winnisimmet Street
Chelsea, MA 02150

Critique by Kitty Drexel

CHELSEA, Mass. — Alba, currently running at the Chelsea Theatre Works black box through May 4, is a modern adaptation of Federico Garcia Lorca’s 1945 classic The House of Bernarda Alba. Playwright Alejandro Rodriguez spins Lorca’s play by adding a narrator, a male Poet, to a play originally written for 12 women and one child. Rightly or wrongly, this adaptation provides the male perspective on the relationships between women in a family free of men.   Continue reading →

Apr 23

Might Sound Crazy but it Ain’t No Lie: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

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The cast of Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (2025). Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

Presented by Actors’ Shakespeare Project
By William Shakespeare 
Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent
Intimacy direction by Olivia Dumaine
Fight direction by Jesse Hinson
Scenic design by Ben Lieberson 
Costumes by Seth Bodie 
Lighting design by Brian Lilienthal
Sound design by Mackenzie Adamick 

April 11 through May 4, 2025
The Dorothy and Charles Mosesian Center for the Arts 
321 Arsenal St
Watertown, MA 02472

Review by Kitty Drexel

WATERTOWN, Mass. — Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a delight. I say this as someone who appreciates the plays of Shakespeare well enough but doesn’t prefer them to other theatre. This production is light and frothy fun that took me back to a much simpler time of bucket hats and glow sticks. Such fun is desperately needed now as fascism suffocates democracy like a knee on George Floyd’s neck. Continue reading →

Apr 20

A Springtime Treat for the Senses and Soul: “Crowns”

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Cast photo by Chelcy Garrett.

Presented by Moonbox Productions
Community Partner: Rosie’s Place
By Regina Taylor
Adapted from the book by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry
Directed by Regine Vital
Associate Directed by Davron Monroe
Music Directed by David Coleman
Music Accompaniment by David Freeman Coleman (keyboard) and Brandon Mayes (drums)
Costume Design by E Rosser
Set Design by Baron E. Pugh
Featuring: Cortlandt Barret, Janelle Grace, Kaedon Gray, Lovely Hoffman, Mirrorajah, Cheryl D. Singleton, Mildred E. Walker

April 11th – May 4th
Arrow Street Arts
2 Arrow St., Cambridge, MA 02138.
Tickets here

Article by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — After a long, dark winter, Crowns is a musical manifestation of springtime, bursting with color, decadence, and jubilation. Regina Taylor’s musical is adapted from Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry’s photography/oral history book of the same name, and it’s been a staple of the American regional theatre scene for over two decades. Although this musical celebration of African American womanhood is in many ways timeless, Moonbox Production’s staging, directed by Regine Vital, is impeccably here-and-now, coming across as a breath of sweet, fresh air in this dire political moment.

Crowns is largely structured like a church worship service, but it is bookended by Yoruban ritual. The first sounds we hear come from Man/Elegba’s (the only male character, played by Kaedon Gray) staff during the processional prologue, a heartbeat that echoes through the play and draws a clear connection between Black church culture and African tradition. Crowns proceeds with a scant narrative: Yolanda (Mirrorajah), a young, hardened teen, is sent from Brooklyn to the South after her brother is killed. There, her grandmother (Mildred E. Walker) welcomes her into a community of Church Ladies, who regale Yolanda with stories about their most sacred, royal accessory: hats. Continue reading →