Nov 14

Freedom is Not an Inconvenience: HOW SOFT THE LINING

Photo credit: Paul Cantillon, Lidecphoto.com.

Photo credit: Paul Cantillon, Lidecphoto.com. Borders and Hayes sharing a tender moment. Remember folks: intersectional feminism or nothing at all. 

Presented by Bad Habit Productions
Written by Kirsten Greenidge
Directed by M. Bevin O’Gara
Dialect coaching by Steven E. Emanuelson
Dramaturgy by Phaedra Scott
Fight choreography by Margaret Clark
Nov. 5 – 20, 2016

Boston Center for the Arts
Boston, MA
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Review by Kitty Drexel

(Boston, MA) How Soft the Lining is nearly a performance ready script. It isn’t there yet. There was a lot of good. There was some not so good too. It has a beautiful story that history nearly forgot thanks to history’s disregard for women’s stories. Thanks to Greenidge, we won’t forget. Continue reading

Aug 10

A Massive Cuddle for the Ears and Eyes: A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE

Photo credit: Earl Christie Photography, earlchristie.com.

Photo credit: Earl Christie Photography, earlchristie.com.

Presented by Bad Habit Productions
Book by Terrance McNally
Music by Stephen Flaherty
Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
Based on the 1994 film, “A Man of No Importance” by Suri Krishnamma
Directed by Daniel Morris
Music directed by Meghan MacFadden

August 6 – 28, 2016
The Stanford Calderwood Pavilion
Boston Center for the Arts
Boston, MA
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Review by Kitty Drexel

(Boston, MA) 1994’s “A Man of No Importance” is a difficult movie to find (legally). My library didn’t have a copy that wasn’t on VHS. Amazon won’t let one buy a copy for less than $95.00. eBay has laserdisc copies but who still uses a laserdisc player? My journey to view the source material before writing a review yielded no positive results. Albert Finney is an excellent actor. It must be a good movie to produce such a lovely musical. Bad Habit’s is a lovely musical. Sad face.    Continue reading

Nov 12

Too close but still comfortable: “Six Degrees of Separation”

Credit: Paul Cantillon, Lidecphoto.com.

Credit: Paul Cantillon, Lidecphoto.com.

Produced by Bad Habit Productions
Written by John Guare
Directed by Liz Fenstermaker

November 7-22, 2015
Deane Hall at the Boston Center for the Arts
Boston, MA
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http://badhabitproductions.org/shows/season-9/mainstage/six-degrees-of-separation/

(Boston, MA) Six Degrees of Separation was a celebrated play when it first hit New York stages, portraying stereotypes of the city, moneyed New Yorkers and people who aspire to be moneyed New Yorkers. This production elevates the writing to present a mix that is more than the Law & Order rerun it would like to be. Continue reading

Nov 14

You Know It’s Love When You Want to Stab* Your Partner but Don’t: THE REAL THING

Photos by Paul Cantillon, Lidec Photo.

Photos by Paul Cantillon, Lidec Photo.

Presented by Bad Habit Productions
By Tom Stoppard
Directed by A. Nora Long

November 8-23, 2014
Deane Hall
Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA
Boston, MA
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*Figuratively

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Boston) The Real Thing reminds us that mature, adult relationships are back breaking, hard work. Henry (Bob Mussett) is a playwright using his real life as fodder for his scripts. He’s having an affair with Annie (Courtland Jones), an actress and activist, for whom they’ve both divorced their spouses. In this play, Henry and Annie grow out of their patterns of selfish, abusive neglect and into a mature partnership. Henry and Annie barely survive with their sanity intact. Continue reading

Aug 04

“Translations” and Tribulations

Credit: Paul Cantillon, Lidecphoto.com

Presented by Bad Habit Productions
by Brian Friel
directed by M. Bevin O’Gara

August 2-17, 2014
Boston Center for the Arts
Calderwood Pavilion
Boston, MA
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Review by Gillian Daniels

Cultural erasure and the silencing power of colonialism—Translations is not a play that minces words. It’s a tragedy of linguistics. During the 19th century, the English army seeks to map out the Irish countryside, specifically the town of Baile Beag. In order to have unified names for the maps they draw, the soldiers end up Anglicizing the Gaelic names of rivers, roads, and mountain ridges. Staged by Bad Habit Productions, this play rages at the disappearance of local tradition in the name of Imperialism. Continue reading

Apr 15

Bachelor’s Degree Preferred: TOP GIRLS

Photos courtesy of Paul Cantillon for Bad Habit Productions

Presented by Bad Habit Productions
by Caryl Churchill
Directed by Liz Fenstermaker

April 12-27, 2014
Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA
Boston, MA
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Review by Noelani Kamelamela

(Boston) Bad Habit Productions closes their seventh season, “Ambition & Sacrifice,” with a sharp focus on the feminine. Their interpretation of Caryl Churchill’s work provides representation of classic and modern stereotypes of females while maintaining a quick pace. Continue reading

Nov 08

There is a train immediately behind this train: “Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me”

Photo courtesy of Kevin Hadfield for Bad Habit Productions.

Presented by Bad Habit Productions
by Frank McGuinness
Directed by A. Nora Long

November 1-16
Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA
Boston, MA
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Review by Noe Kamelamela

(Boston) In the second show of their seventh season, called Ambition & Sacrifice, Bad Habit Productions continues to create theatre in small spaces that convey big ideas. At a grueling two hours without intermission in a studio theatre, this production feels at times like a test of endurance for the audience and the three person ensemble. Continue reading

Aug 23

Punks That Rock, Plot that Panders: “Rooms, A Rock Romance”

Photo Credit: Kevin Hadfield for Bad Habit Productions. Kicking ass/Taking names.

presented by Bad Habit Productions
music and lyrics by Paul Scott Goodman
book by Paul Scott Goodman and Miriam Gordon
directed by Daniel Morris
arrangements and orchestrations by Jesse Vargas

The production is in memory of Terri Meilus.

reviewed on August 22, 2013
August 10 – 25, 2013
Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA
Boston, MA
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Review by Kitty Drexel

(Boston) Rooms: A Rock Romance is a contemporary rock musical dressed in vintage clothing. It has Folk, New Wave and Pop Rock influences. It sounds like the love child of John Cameron Mitchell and Jonathan Larson if Joni Mitchell was the surrogate and they all lived in Glasgow. It has a rich score well worth a listen. Continue reading

May 10

Keeping the Bard on His Toes: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Much Ado About Nothing…With A Twist adapted by Daniel Morris, Bad Habit Productions, Deane Hall at Boston Center for the Arts, 4/28/12-5/13/12, http://www.badhabitproductions.org/shows/season/MuchAdo.html.

Review by Craig Idlebrook

(Boston, MA) There’s a funny story the actor Charles Grodin shares about famed acting teacher Uta Hagen, where Hagen was dissecting the terribleness of a scene Grodin had just done.  She hated everything except for one moment when Grodin’s scene partner was slow to hand the actor a prop.  Because there was a delay, Grodin looked genuinely concerned, and that, Hagen announced, was true acting.

I’m not a big fan of the Method myself, but I’m starting to see her point, especially when it comes to Shakespeare.  Acting involves a weird combo of memorization and playful improvisation.  But when it comes to the Bard’s work, too many productions are populated with actors who know they are saying weighty words and making weighty gestures; every move is preordained and dripping with importance.  Such a style robs the lyrical and impish qualities of plays that once were performed for bawdy Elizabethans.

Luckily, there are productions like Bad Habit’s staging of Much Ado About Nothing to inject life into scripts that we have too long sanctified.   Continue reading

Nov 05

An Incomplete Canvas: And Neither Have I Wings to Fly

And Neither Have I Wings To Fly by Ann Noble, Bad Habit Productions, Deane Hall at Boston Center for the Arts, 11/4/11-11/20/11, http://www.badhabitproductions.org/index.html.

Reviewed by Craig Idlebrook

(Boston, MA) A cast of actors must take on the nearly-impossible task of becoming a family in the space of mere weeks.  They must create the timing and intricacies of a brood that normally would develop over decades.  It requires trust, big heart and the ability to listen on stage.  It’s when a troupe, full of jitters from opening night, doesn’t quite succeed that you understand just how difficult that task can be. Continue reading