Tag Archives: Boston

Jun 07

Tracing Lines of Humanity in “Brilliant Traces”

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Photo credit: Kyler Taustin

Photo credit: Kyler Taustin

Presented by Brown Box Theatre Project
By Cindy Lou Johnson
Directed by Kyler Taustin

June 4-12, 2016
All performances are free to the public
Atlantic Wharf, 290 Congress Street
Boston, MA
Brown Box Theatre Project on Facebook

Review by Travis Manni

(Boston, MA) A remote cabin in Alaska during a treacherous snowstorm is the perfect setup to isolate the characters in Cindy Lou Johnson’s Brilliant Traces. And while having one of these two people burst in wearing a wedding gown was quite shocking, what was even more captivating about this play was the emotional depths to which it was willing to plunge. Continue reading →

Jun 04

Keep Going: “Killer Maples: The Musical”

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The Cast of "Killer Maples," photo via http://www.yellingmantheatre.com/

The Cast of “Killer Maples,” photo via http://www.yellingmantheatre.com/

Presented by Yelling Man Theater
Book and lyrics by Trip Venturella
Music by Andres Ramos
Directed by John Scala

June 3-5, 2016
POP Allston
Allston, MA
Yelling Man on Facebook

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Allston, MA) Killer Maples is a cute chamber musical with exceedingly raw potential. It will eventually be a diamond in the rough. It’s still pressurized coal right now. The creators have a lot of work ahead of them if that’s something they are interested in. The performances set for this weekend are a preview of what the show can become with edits and rewrite for emotional and plot clarity. Continue reading →

Jun 01

Caravan Palace is Here for All Your Science Fictional Swing Dance Needs

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Presented by WORLD MUSIC/CRASHarts
CARAVAN PALACE
Sunday, May 22, 8:00 pm
House of Blues Boston
15 Lansdowne St., Boston
World Music/CRASHarts on Facebook
Caravan Palace on Facebook

Review by Gillian Daniels

(Boston, MA) Caravan Palace came out strong the other night when it started its engagement at House of Blues with, “Comics.” The song, simultaneously upbeat and chilling, is a rhythmic single off of their latest album, <|°_°|> [Robot Face]. The energy brought the room up to a high that stayed there through the entirety of the show and two encores. Continue reading →

May 25

“Mud Blue Sky”: A Comedy About Turbulent Lives

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Photo by Marc J. Franklin

Photo by Marc J. Franklin

Presented by Bridge Repertory Theater of Boston
By Marisa Wegrzyn
Directed by Bridget Kathleen O’Leary

May 15-June 5, 2016
Deane Hall, Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts
Boston, MA
Bridge Repertory Theater on Facebook

Review by Travis Manni

(Boston, MA) I tend to get bored easily when watching comedic plays. They need to be clever but relatable, funny but with strokes of brutal honesty. Most times, shows fail to live up to my expectations, but I continue to see them because when one does I have an amazingly good time. Thankfully, Marisa Wegrzyn’s Mud Blue Sky was a perfect example of the latter. Continue reading →

May 24

Cirque du Soleil’s “Kurios”: Raising the Tent

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Photo by Gillian Daniels

Photo by Gillian Daniels

Exposé by Gillian Daniels

(East Boston, MA) The day I watch the tent raised in Boston, the sky is blue and cloudless. The tent itself is partially up but looks like a deflated balloon. Men and women in hard hats stand around the interior circumference, speaking French Canadian-accented and Boston-tinged English. Continue reading →

May 12

Feelings Are Difficult for Marines: DOGFIGHT

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Eddie & Rose Take In the View; Photo by Glenn Perry.

Eddie & Rose Take In the View; Photo by Glenn Perry.

Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Co.
Music and lyrics by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul
Book by Peter Duchan
Based on the Warner Bros. film and screenplay by Bob Comfort
Directed by Paige Daigneault
Music direction by Jose Delgado
Choreography by Larry Sousa

May 7 – June 4, 2016
Stanford Calderwood Pavilion
Boston Center for the Arts
Boston, MA
Speakeasy on Facebook

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Boston, MA) Dogfight is yet another musical with serious complications that SpeakEasy maneuvers with poise and dignity. It’s like Disney’s Newsies if the newsboys are replaced with marines and their fight for entrepreneurial justice is replaced with explicitly misogynistic displays of dudebro cruelty. Well, the music sounds a little like Newsies anyway. Continue reading →

May 11

Caravan Palace, 5/22, House of Blues, Boston

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Promo by Gillian Daniels

Want to see a time traveling big band Sunday, May 22nd at the House of Blues? Well, one isn’t playing there, but the closest thing to it is. Caravan Palace is an energetic, vibrant, French electro-swing monster. They’re strange, science fictional, and sensational.

Caravan Palace is my personal ear candy and has been since I first heard “Bambous” off their self-titled 2008 album. Their sound is cheerful and energizing, something that gets me up on hard mornings and cools me off after bad days. They’re the retro-future earworm I’ve longed for, the jitterbug robot brass band perfect for listening to on loop. Continue reading →

May 11

More Meth-Girl, Less Romance Could Have Saved Apocalyptic Doom of “End of the World”

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Photo credit: Drew Linehan Jacobs

Photo credit: Drew Linehan Jacobs

Presented by Boston Actors Theater
By Elizabeth DuPré
Directed by Drew Jacobs

May 6-21, 2016
Rehearsal Hall A at the Boston Center for the Arts
Boston, MA
Boston Actors Theater on Facebook

Review by Travis Manni

(Boston, MA) As a manager at a movie theatre, I see quite a lot of mediocre movies come and go rather quickly. I always feel a special type of sympathetic pity for the rom-coms that just don’t do the business studios had expected, and I have to say I felt a similar way after going to see the Boston Actors Theater premiere production of End of the World. Continue reading →

May 06

No Sir, You’re The Ho*: A GREAT WILDERNESS

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Jake Orozco-Herman and Peter Brown; no tomatoes were harmed in the making of this theatre. (Photo by Richard Hall/Silverline Images.)

Jake Orozco-Herman and Peter Brown; no tomatoes were harmed in the making of this theatre.
(Photo by Richard Hall/Silverline Images.)

Presented by Zeitgeist Stage Company
Written by Samuel D. Hunter
Directed by David J. Miller

April 29 – May 21, 2016
Plaza Black Box
Boston Center for the Arts
Boston, MA
Zeitgeist on Facebook

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Boston, MA) I’ve never understood how some people can believe that it’s acceptable to be drastically unkind to others because “God told (them) to.” God is a terrible excuse for being a bad person. Morality structured around a potentially imagined creator that lives in the sky is not stabilized morality. Yet, plenty of people are beholden to this creator, if there is one, for their good behavior.  Continue reading →

May 03

A Passionate Concert: Ana Moura on April 30, 2016

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Presented by World Music/CRASH arts
April 30, 2016 @ 8pm only
Berklee Performance Center
Boston, MA
Ana Moura on Facebook
World Music/CRASH arts on Facebook

Review by Noelani Kamelamela

(Boston, MA) The last time Ana Moura was hosted by World Music/CRASH arts in 2014, she brought the house to its feet in a celebration of her latest release at the time Desfado.  This show was excellent in a different way.  Certainly, her latest album Moura has been touring since last year and those performances were condensed for her concert at the Berklee Performance Center this past Saturday. Featuring a great backing band, Ana Moura dazzled the typically stoic New England audience to the point of stupefication for two hours. Continue reading →