Tag Archives: Boston

Nov 07

Crossed Communications: The Sussman Variations

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by Richard Schotter
directed by Jeff Zinn
music by Phil Schroeder
Boston, MA 02215
November 1 – 18

Boston Playwright’s Theatre Facebook Page

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Boston) Loosely based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Charlie Sussman (Ken Baltin) is turning 75 and his entire family has come to celebrate with him at his Connecticut beach house to celebrate in The Sussman Variations. His son Jonathan (Steven Barkhimer) has a paper on The Tempest to write that will put his career on the world map. His daughter Janey (Erin Cole) has a big secret to share with the family and is afraid that they won’t share her happiness. Deirdre (Laura Latreille) needs to practice for her international tour and attempts to keep the peace. Granddaughter Miranda (Lauren Thomas) is on house arrest until she writes her college essay. Margery (Cheryl McMahon), Charlie’s wife, wants to throw a party that will reunite the family despite their differences. Each family member suffers under the weight of familial expectations, frustrated with the conflict of whom they are and whom they supposed they should be. Continue reading →

Nov 03

Trapped by the Words: THE CHOSEN

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Photo by Timothy Dunn

Adapted by Aaron Posner & Chaim Potok
Directed by Daniel Gidron

presented by The Lyric Stage Company
140 Clarendon Street
Boston, MA
October 19th – November 17th, 2012

Lyric Stage Company Facebook Page

Review by Craig Idlebrook

(Boston) Adapting a novel to the stage can be a wrenching exercise. Pages upon pages of description, of scene, of setting, of theme must be boiled down to dialogue and action that can stand alone. By all accounts, Chaim Potok’s novel The Chosen is considered a richly-layered and well-written story about the tension between Jewish communities, as told through the friendship of two young men who find themselves caught between the secular and religious communities at the dawn of Zionism. Unfortunately, he and co-writer Aaron Posner fail to adapt the novel to a script form, leaving in a narrator who breaks up the scenes and explains away the heartfelt tension between the characters, leaving us with a broken dialogue that tells an incomplete tale about the weight one must bear when one is called to carry the load of doing good. Continue reading →

Oct 30

Superfluous Songs, Sweet Spirit: ANNE OF GREEN GABLES

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Photo credit: Gary Ng; A History of PEI.

Script adapted by Don Harron
Score by Norman Campbell
Directed by Jane Staab

presented by Wheelock Family Theatre
200 The Riverway
Boston, MA
October 19th – November 18th, 2012
Wheelock Family Theatre Facebook Page

Review by Craig Idlebrook

The Anne of Green Gables franchise is prone to schmaltz. Any literary series that is adored by pre-teen girls, misty-eyed elderly women and Japanese soap opera anime fans can’t help but spin off some over-the-top theater. Few productions can find that young-at-heart sweet spot captured so perfectly by the series’ original creator L.M Montgomery. Anne, the orphan girl who shakes up Prince Edward
Island with her sentimental and vibrant perspective, is the tragic optimist in all of us. Wheelock Family Theatre’s production of the musical Anne of Green Gables largely succeeds in capturing the sweet spirit of the original tale with a strong cast that commits to looking at the world through the unjaded prism of youth. Continue reading →

Oct 25

Boston Debut of Kyle Abraham / Abraham.in.Motion

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WORLD MUSIC/CRASHarts PRESENTS THE BOSTON DEBUT OF
Kyle Abraham / Abraham.in.Motion
Performing the Boston premiere of The Radio Show
Friday, November 16, 7:30 pm | Saturday, November 17, 8pm
The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston
100 Northern Ave
Boston, 02210
Facebook Page

Bessie Award–winner Kyle Abraham and his seven-member company, Abraham.In.Motion, dance with
a highly engaging, larger-than-life style that combines influences ranging from hip-hop to ballet. The
Radio Show revolves around the closure of the urban Pittsburgh radio station that Abraham grew up
listening to and sets the stage for an exploration of cultural identity, personal history and the heartbeat of
a neighborhood.

Photo credits: Steven Schreiber and Renee Rosensteel

Oct 21

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo: Hungry for Human Foibles

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Photo credit: Company One

by Rajiv Joseph
Directed by Shawn LaCount

presented by Company One
BCA Plaza Theatre
Boston, MA
October 19 – November 17, 2012
Company One Facebook Page
Adult content. Language.

Review by Gillian Daniels

(Boston) Rajiv Joseph’s play about the Iraq War is not so much a dark comedy as a sour one. Its humor is drawn from bitterness, the absurdity of invading a country in 2003 and dethroning its dictator without any real exit strategy. It’s bold not because it says anything not said before, but because the play picks fearlessly at a new, festering wound before it’s had time to heal. Continue reading →

Oct 20

Jesus Christ Superstar: God and Everyone Else is Listening

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Photos: Copyright The Boston Conservatory. Max Wagenblass, photographer.

presented by The Boston Conservatory

Music by Andrew Lloyd Weber.
Lyrics by Tim Rice.

Directed by Neil Donohoe
Music Direction by Bill Casey.
Conducted by Reuben M. Reynolds, III.
Choreographed by Michelle Chasse.

The Boston Conservatory Theater
Boston, MA

October 18 – 21, 2012

(Boston) It started out as a lovely evening. Boston Conservatory’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar is excellent – not only as a student production but as a piece of art comparable to professional area theater. The students in Friday’s performance were electric on the stage, filling every crevice in the theater with palpable, thrumming energy. Their acting was fine, their dance was great and their vocals blew the roof off. The modern dance choreographed by Michelle Chasse lends itself well to this updated production. The subtle yet evocative lighting design by Franklin Meissner Jr. was the cherry on the performance sundae. It is a good show. Continue reading →

Oct 10

“The Company We Keep” by Jaclyn Villano

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Boston Playwrights’ Theatre

Presented by Boston Playwrights’ Theatre
October 4 – 21, 2012
Boston Playwrights’ Theatre
949 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215

(Boston) Boston Playwrights’ Theatre presents its 31st season of new plays in Boston starting with recent BPT alumna Jaclyn Villano’s The Company We Keep. We can joke about attorneys and sharks, but here the metaphor is apt. New to Georgetown with a law professorship and a freshly renovated home, attorneys Harry and wife Ellie are having difficulty settling their 12-year-old son into the new school. When their best friends Katherine and Greg come to the housewarming with surprises of their own, what ensues tests the bonds of friendship, marriage, and parenthood in this vicious, biting comedy of manners. This one is not to miss.

Continue reading →

Oct 10

Amazing Acrobatics: “Sequence 8”

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Photo credit: Les 7 doigts de la main

 Les 7 doigts de la main Production
Cutler Majestic Theatre
219 Tremont St., Boston, MA 02116
September 27 – October 7, 2012

Les 7 doights de la main Facebook Page

Review by Kate Lonberg-Lew

(Boston) Sequence 8, playing at the Arts Emerson’s Cutler Majestic Theatre, is not a play. What it is is a fabulous, entertaining and interactive demonstration of exactly what the human body is capable of doing. The young men and woman of the Les 7 doigts de la main troupe contort their bodies in the most amazing and graceful ways. This group is so talented and strong, you can’t help but walk away feeling you’ve
neglected to make use of all but the smallest fraction of your body’s capabilities. So, consider yourself warned. That said, if you miss an opportunity to see this production, you had better have one heck of an excuse. Continue reading →

Oct 04

Looking for Heaven in All Places: “A Bright New Boise”

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Photo by Richard Hall/Silverline Images

Photo by Richard Hall/Silverline Images; The Cast acting the crap out of “A Bright New Boise.”

 

by Samuel D. Hunter
presented by Zeitgeist Stage Company
directed by David J. Miller

Boston Center for the Arts
Plaza Black Box Theatre
September 28 – October 20

Zeitgeist Stage Company Facebook Page

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Boston) A Bright New Boise, is the tale of one man seeking redemption in the break-room of a craft store by reconnecting with his son. It is equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking.  The hero, soft-spoken and prodigal father, Will (Victor Shopov), reconnects with his son Alex (Zach Winston) after a successful interview at Hobby Lobby. Pauline (Janelle Mills), the manager, introduces the two and things start to go downhill, slightly uphill and then furiously downhill. They are joined by characters Anna (Dakota Shepard) and Leroy (David Lutheran), Alex’s brother. Continue reading →

Sep 24

Redemption in the Motherf**cker with the Hat

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Photo Credit: SpeakEasy Stage Company

by Stephen Adly Guirgis
Directed by David R. Gammons

presented by Speakeasy Stage Company
539 Tremont Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116
SpeakEasy Stage Company Facebook Page
September 14 – October 13, 2012

Review by Gillian Daniels

(Boston) Speakeasy Stage’s The Motherf**ker with the Hat is a dark comedy that never quite tips over into bleak. Its main characters are addicts, recovering and otherwise, but they either have a sense of humor about it or have learned to accept their shortcomings. Fresh out of jail, Jackie (Jaime Carrillo) tries to break the tight circuit of repeating behaviors that has him locked into a pattern of loving, drinking, and messing up. Continue reading →