Tag Archives: Boston

Jul 22

Pole Dancing Ants and Serenading Pill Bugs: Cirque du Soleil’s “OVO”

Posted on by

Photo by Vlad Lorenzo. OVO by Cirque du Soleil.

Presented by Cirque du Soleil 
Written, Directed, and Choreographed by Deborah Colker
Director of Creation: Chantal Tremblay
Costumes by Liz Vandal
Composed and music directed by Berna Ceppas
Makeup design by Julie Bégin
Acrobatic performance design by Philippe Aubertin
Rigging and acrobatic equipment designed by Fred Gérard
Set and props designed by Gringo Cardi
Sound design by Jonathan Deans
Lighting designed by Éric Champoux

Jul 19-28, 2024
The Agganis Arena
925 Commonwealth Ave
Boston, MA 02215

Critique by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON — OVO currently playing at the BU’s Agganis Arena is about anthropomorphized bugs falling in love, playing, and working. It features Cirque du Soleil’s famous feats of human athletic and artistic ingenuity. This production runs approximately two hours. A time that is slightly shorter than the touring productions previously housed at Suffolk Downs.

Ovo means “egg” in Portuguese (and many other languages) from the Latin “ovum.” Cirque du Soleil’s references to Portuguese culture end there. Many things hatch from eggs: birds, lizards, amphibians, rare marsupials. OVO is about insects. Temper your purchasing accordingly.  Continue reading →

Jul 15

Gold, Acrylic, Altar Work, Prayer, Selena & Janelle Monáe: “HOOPS”

Posted on by

Presented by Company One Theatre in partnership with Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and the City of Boston’s Office of Arts and Culture
By Eliana Pipes
Adapted from The HOOPS Project by Nicole Acosta 
Directed by Tonasia Jones
Dramaturgy by afrikah selah
Compositions by Brandie Blaze
Choreography by Jenny Oliver 
Featuring: Brandie Blaze, Elijah Brown, Albamarina Nahar, Tiffany Santiago, Kaili Y Turner, Karimah Williams, Beyonce Martinez (swing)

July 12 – August 10, 2024
The Strand Theatre
543 Columbia Road
Dorchester, MA

Approximate run time: 1 hour 30 minutes.
This production includes explicit language.

Critique by Kitty Drexel

DORCHESTER, Mass. — Hoops is adapted from The HOOPS Project by Nicole Acosta in 2019. It was created when Acosta asked fellow members of the art collective LUNA, “What do hoop earrings mean to you?” Their answers were accompanied by photos of the members wearing their own hoop earrings. 

Playwright Eliana Pipes adapted stories from The HOOPS Project for the stage. Company One presents HOOPS at the Strand Theatre in Dorchester through August 10. It has also played in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. Continue reading →

Jun 26

Critiques and Commentary: Moonbox’s 3rd Annual Boston New Works Festival

Posted on by

Presented by Moonbox Productions as part of the 3rd Annual
Boston New Works Festival Partnered with the Theatre Community Benevolent Fund

June 20-23, 2024
Calderwood Pavilion
Boston Center for the Arts
527 Tremont St 
Boston, MA

Critique by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON — Moonbox had its 3rd annual Boston New Works Festival at the BCA. The three performances I attended on different two days were well attended. This is a hopeful sign that the Boston theatre ecology is healing from lockdown. We love to see it.

The festival hosted readings and staged performances of new works by living playwrights over four days. The BCA’s foyers were alive with visual art by local artists. Actors, crew, and designers bustled from show to show with audience members. Moonbox did a good job of telling attendees they were in the right place: brave, tireless volunteers handed out playbill inserts and directed attendees; free pins awaited pickup on tables with festival information.

The bathrooms were atrocious, but that’s a festival for you. Transfer times from show to show were rushed, but that should be expected, too.

The vibes were otherwise positive and the seats had butts in them. Theatre is a lifestyle choice, and it was a good weekend to choose the theatre.

Moonbox partnered with TCBF to produce the 2024 3rd Annual Boston New Works Festival. TCBF provides financial relief to its community members in times of need. It is a venerable organization. Please consider donating. No donation is too large.

Continue reading →

Jun 23

Partying On with “Once Upon a Carnival” 

Posted on by

Presented by Moonbox Productions
Part of the 2024, third annual Boston New Works Festival
Directed by Regine Vitale
Written by Angele Maraj and Brianna Pierre
Music Directed by Harrison Acosta

June 22 – June 23, 2024
The Boston Center For The Arts
The Plaza Theatre
527 Tremont Street
Boston, MA
Moonbox Productions on Facebook
Once Upon a Carnival on Instagram

Review by Gillian Daniels

Note: The reviewer is acquainted with one of the writers.

BOSTON, Mass. – Last year’s reading for the first half of Once Upon a Carnival was electric. In it, we watch New York teenager Bhavan (Marshall Romano) travel with his impulsive mother, Radhika (Shubhra Prakash), to Trinidad. With Bhavan, we learn the delights and perils of his new home and, once he meets fellow teenager Jada (Ekaterina Hicks-Magaña) and the eccentric Tantie (Nina Giselle, who approaches the part with charm and humor), they explore the magic of the island. The story’s initial joy and effervescence is largely untouched. It’s a bad sign, however, that the workshop I attended had more polish than the full production.  Continue reading →

Jun 05

Life Is Noisy: “The Dybbuk; Between Two Worlds”

Posted on by

Andrey Burkovskiy & Yana Gladkikh. Photo by Irina Danilova

Presented by Arlekin Players
Written by Roy Chen based on the original play by S. Ansky
Adapted by Igor Golyak with Dr. Rachel Merrill Moss
With additional material from the translation by Joachim Neugroschel
Directed by Igor Golya 
Jewish Music Consultant: Anthony Russell 
Compositions and Sound Design by Fedor Zhuravlev
Dramaturgy by Dr. Rachel Merrill Moss
Featuring: Andrey Burkovskiy, Yana Gladkikh, Olga Aronova, Jenya Brodskaia, Polina Dubovikova, Anna Furman, Boris Furman, Rimma Gluzman, Gene Ravvin, Juliya Shikh, Olga Sokolova, Irina Vilenchik, with Deb Martin, Robert Walsh

May 30 – June 23, 2024
The Vilna Shul 
Boston’s Center for Jewish Culture
18 Phillips St. 
Boston, MA 02114

Critique by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON, Mass. — The 2024 performance of The Dybbuk; Between Two Worlds occurs in Beacon Hill’s Vilna Shul, a century-old synagogue. A 20th century Polish ensemble called the Vilna Troupe premiered playwright and activist S. Ansky’s play, The Dybbuk; Between Two Worlds in Warsaw after observing 30 days of traditional mourning for Ansky’s death in 1920. The troupe split into smaller groups, toured the play through Europe, and it became famous.  

The Vilna Shul was built in 1919 near the time of the premier but the Vilna Trouple did not perform The Dybbuk in Boston’s Vilna Shul. The Vilna Troupe originally performed Ansky’s play and now Arlekin Players are performing it in the Vilna Shul. Igor Golyak said through a press rep that the concurrence of these events has invited the spirits of the original troupe to live in the walls of this historic synagogue. 

Arlekin Player’s production is based on Ansky’s play of the same name. Both are about a tragic love story in a turn-of-the-century shtetl about a young woman possessed by a dybuk, a restless, disembodied human spirit from Jewish folklore that wanders the earth because of past sins. 

Continue reading →

Jun 03

Nothing Human is Pure: “Yellow Face”

Posted on by

Presented by Lyric Stage Boston
By David Henry Hwang 
Directed by Ted Hewlett
Intimacy direction by Angie Jepson
Dramaturgy by Hailey Madison Sebastian
Featuring: JB Barricklo, Michael Hisamoto, Alexander Holden, Jupiter Le, Jenny S Lee, Mei MacQuarrie

May 31 – June 23, 2024
Asian Joy Night on June 7 @ 8PM
140 Clarendon St, 2nd Floor
Boston, MA 02116

Critique by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON, Mass. — David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face was first published in 2008. It is 16 years later, and the play remains relevant enough not to be a period piece. Yellow Face plays at the Lyric Stage through June 23.

History will remember Jonathan Pryce for being on the wrong side of the 1990s Broadway Miss Saigon scandal. Pryce blamed everyone except himself for playing the Engineer in Cameron Mackintosh’s West End production of Schonberg and Boublil’s musical. Pryce could have said no to the role. He didn’t. The Lyric’s dramaturg Hailey Madison Sebastian has an article about the scandal HERE.  Continue reading →

May 25

The Art of Making a Practical Thing Pretty: “Toni Stone”

Posted on by

Jennifer Mogbock as Toni Stone; Photograph © T Charles Erickson

Presented by The Huntington
Written and Directed by Lydia R. Diamond
Inspired by Curveball: The Remarkable True Story of Toni Stone by Martha Ackmann
Choreography by Ebony Williams
Dramaturgy by Charles Haugland
Fight direction and intimacy choreography by Ted Hewlett
Vocal coaching by Kim James Bey

May 17 – June 16, 2024
Blackout Performance: June 11, 7 pm
Open Caption Performance: 6/4 at 7:30 pm
ASL Performance: 6/7 at 8 pm
Audio Described Performance: 6/15 at 2:30 pm
Huntington Theatre 
264 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 02115

2 hours and 20 minutes including intermission

Content Advisories: Toni Stone contains flashing lights, the use of herbal cigarettes, strong themes of racism and misogyny, and discussions of sexual violence. 

Critique by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON, Mass. — Lydia R Diamond’s Toni Stone had a triumphant opening on Wednesday, May 22. The Huntington took America’s pastime, the culture of and for the masses, into art for those who can afford a ticket. Toni Stone plays at The Huntington through June 16. It is available for pay-what-you-wish digital streaming HERE.

I’m a bespectacled geek made for comfort, not speed with an avid distaste for projectiles in all forms. I loathed gym class in school. Every New England summer, it felt like the world opened its heart and screen doors for Spring Training. I couldn’t wait for it to be over.  Continue reading →

May 19

Her Smile Contains A Primal Scream: “Morning, Noon, and Night”

Posted on by

Sydney Jackson, Kaili Y. Turner (Photography by Ken Yotsukura)

Presented by Company One Theatre with Boston University’s College of Fine Arts
A new play by Kirsten Greenidge
Directed by Summer L. Williams
Dramaturgy by Ilana M. Brownstein
Featuring: Kaili Y. Turner, Sydney Jackson, Eliza Fichter, Schanaya Barrows, Aislinn Brophy, Alexandria King

Apr 26 – May 25, 2024
Boston Center for the Arts
Plaza Theatre
539 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02116

Critique by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON, Mass. — Company One presents Kirsten Greenidge’s Morning, Noon, and Night at the BCA through May 25. Greenidge’s play examines society’s crushing demand for motherly perfection with brilliant comedy and heartrending honesty. She is joined by director Summer L Williams, and dramaturg Ilana M Brownstein to complete Company One’s trifecta of power.  Continue reading →

May 13

Hades is the Drama: “Orpheus in the Overworld”

Posted on by

Eurydice and Orpheus. Photo by Erin Solomon.

Presented by Fresh Ink Theatre 
By Dante Gonzalez
Directed by Shira Helena Gitlin
Composer/Music Director – Abacus Dean-Polacheckan
Dramaturgy by AJ Helm
Fight and Intimacy Coordinator – Kayleigh Kane
Lighting Designer – Z Weber 
Costume Design by  Mikayla Reid 
Production Stage Management by Micaela Slotin 
Assistant Stage Manager – Katelyn Paddock
Featuring: Elijah Brown, Isabel Ginsberg, Lucy Bertolet, Kulfi Jaan, Matthew Suchecki, Rebekah Brunson

April 27 – May 11, 2024 
Boston Center for the Arts 
539 Tremont St.
Boston, MA 02116

Critique by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON, Mass. — Fresh Ink’s Orpheus in the Overworld asks what if the Greek gods’ wills were as free as humanity’s? Dante Gonzalez reimagines the “Orpheus and Euridice” myth as a queer as the day is long burlesque with music and dance. It is for the queer community yet can be enjoyed by anyone. Continue reading →

May 07

Glimpses of Brilliance: “Ailey Classics”

Posted on by

Photo: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Alvin Ailey’s “For Bird – With Love.” Photo by Paul Kolnik

Presented by the Celebrity Series of Boston
Performed by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Alvin Ailey, founder
Judith Jamison, artistic director emerita
Matthew Rushing, interim artistic director

May 2 – 5, 2024
Boch Center, Wang Theatre
270 Tremont St.
Boston, MA 02116

Review by Craig Idlebrook

BOSTON, Mass. — Choreographer Alvin Ailey often felt the need to mask much of his private life to the public, but he unabashedly shared the emotion of his art with audiences. A publicly closeted gay Black man with bipolar disorder who grew up in the southern United States during the height of the brutality of the Jim Crow era, he staged heartfelt shows reflecting the highs and lows of Black life through dance.

In a 1973 New York Times Magazine interview, he said of his shows, “They are as honest and truthful as we can make them. I’m interested in putting something on stage that will have a very wide appeal without being condescending; that will reach an audience and make it part of the dance.”

That emotional integrity of Ailey’s work was evident in the recent staging of Ailey Classics, featuring excerpts of his most well-known works by the dance troupe he founded. More than 30 years after Ailey’s death, there were moments on stage when it felt as if he were personally greeting each member of the audience through his art. Continue reading →