Tag Archives: Boston

Dec 28

Welcome to the Party, Pal: “Yippee Ki Yay” at The Huntington

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Darrel Bailey; photo by Rod Penn.

Presented by The Hungtington
A Die Hard parody
Produced by James Seabright
Written by Richard Marsh
Directed by Hal Chambers
Performed by Darrel Bailey

December 27-December 31, 2023
Huntington Theatre 
264 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 

The digital playbill 

Run Time: 75 minutes no intermission

Recommended for ages 14+

Review by Kitty Drexel 

BOSTON, Mass. — Bruce Willis told us Die Hard is not a Christmas movie in 2018.

Richard Marsh’s Yippee Ki Yay is a Die Hard parody, but it’s not about Die Hard. It’s about love: the love between a man and his favorite film, the love between two Die Hard uberfans, and the love between an NYPD cop and his shoes.

Yippee Ki Yay: The Die Hard Parody is visiting The Huntington through December 31. There are only a few performances left.

Allow me to explain why nearly everyone needs to see this one-man tour de force play about a Bruce Willis movie from 1988. It’s come from the Edinburgh Fringe (Do we want a fringe festival in Boston? Support fringe shows to get a fringe festival.) for audiences of most ages whether those ages enjoy action films or not. Bailey performs the play like an epically kinesthetic standup routine. Only people who hate fun dislike standup comedy. Continue reading →

Dec 01

Times When Even the Rain Smells Confusing: “The Heart Sellers”

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Jenna Agbayani and Judy Song; photo T Charles Erickson.

Presented by The Huntington
By Lloyd Suh
Directed by May Adrales
Sound Design and Original Music by Fabian Obispo
Dramaturgy by Christine Mok
Dialect coaching by Joy Lanceta Coronel
Starring Jenna Agbayani and Judy Song
Featuring Matt Goldstein as the Radio DJ voiceover

Tuesday, November 21 – Saturday, December 23, 2023
Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA 
527 Tremont St.
Boston, MA 02116

Review by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON — The Huntington presents The Heart Sellers by Lloyd Suh at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA now through December 23. It is directed by May Adrales with original music by Fabian Obispo. It stars Jenna Agbayani and Judy Song and features Matt Goldstein as the Radio DJ. 

It is Thanksgiving 1973. Pres. Richard Nixon told the Associated Press that he wasn’t a crook. Henry Kissinger started his term as Secretary of State. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving premiered on CBS. Millions of families celebrate the holiday with loved ones over turkey and congested driving conditions. 

We meet new friends Luna (Jenna Agbayani) and Jane (Judy Song) as they sit together for the first time. Their husbands are working during the holiday at the same hospital in different departments. Luna saw Jane in the grocery store, recognized a kindred spirit, and invited her over to cook Luna’s first turkey.  Continue reading →

Nov 30

Jingles in Her All the Way: “The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show”

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Press photo by Jiji Lee.

Produced by BenDeLaCreme Presents
Co-created and co-written by BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon
Directed by BenDeLaCreme
Performed by BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon
Featuring: Mr. Babygirl, Ruby Mimosa, Scott Spraags, Jim Kent, Chloe Albin, Jace Gonzalez, and Gus Lanza as Hunky the Elf
TOUR DATES

November 28, 2023 @ 8PM
Boch Center
Wang Theatre
270 Tremont St
Boston, MA 02116

Review by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON — Thanksgiving has passed. The Black Friday sales are over. Unread Giving Tuesday emails have been ceremoniously deleted. So you know what that means… Deck your halls and gird your loins, folx, it’s time for the first seasonal siege of the War on Christmas! 

Just kidding. Mostly.  

The 2023 December holidays are near and that means preparation for Hannukah, Advent, Yule, Christmas, the new moon, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s. While other theatre companies are rehearsing their annual A Christmas Carol for the family set, BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon are cinching their girdles for this year’s edition of The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show for queer adults (NETG recommended 17+) and their allies. Continue reading →

Nov 28

Hope Comes Floating on a Lemon Leaf: “The Band’s Visit”

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Cast of The Band’s Visit; Photo by T Charles Erickson. Skyline by Aja M Jackson.

Co-presented by The Huntington & SpeakEasy Stage Company
Music & Lyrics by David Yazbek
Book by Itamar Moses
Based on the screenplay by Eran Kolirin
Directed by Paul Daigneault
Choreography by Daniel Pelzig
Music Direction by José Delgado
Dramaturgy by Vahdat Yeganeh
Intimacy consultation by Kayleigh Kane

November 15 – December 17, 2023
The Huntington Theatre
264 Huntington Ave 
Boston, MA 02115

Review by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON, Mass. — The Band’s Visit is an adaptation of a 2007 movie of the same name by Eran Kolirin. The Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra travels from Egypt to Israel to celebrate the opening of a cultural center. They arrive in a small town in the Negev Desert to find they are in the wrong place, there are no more buses, and no hotels.  Continue reading →

Nov 04

Epic Theatre Adventure in Boston: “The Blue Man Group”

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Photo via Blue Man Group Boston

Presented by Blue Man Productions
Created, written and directed by Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton, Chris Wink
Blue Men: Mike Brown, Adam Erdossy, Bryce Flint-Somerville, Kean Haunt, Dan Keilbach, Jason McLin, Eric DeLima Rubb 
Musicians: Ryan Ainsworth, Kevin Asmus, Jonathan Dusoe, Kyle Harris, Oliver Hofer, Tony Irons, Alexander McGillivray, Victor McSurely, James Murphy, Darren Ray, Robb Simring, Randall Wooten

Performances are ongoing
The Charles Playhouse
74 Warrenton St
Boston, MA 02116

Duration: approximately 90 minutes. 

Review by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON, Mass. — Blue Man Group has performed in Boston at the Charles Playhouse for over 25 years. In October, the show added new sketches, new music, and new videos from the creative agency Pretty Damn Sweet. The show has even updated its grand finale to appeal to new audiences.  

Blue Man Group invited us to the new show on Nov. 2. Our press tickets gave us VIP access. The VIP package for ticketholders includes a bag of Blue Man goodies such as a branded water bottle, sunglasses, and lip balm. It got us a fun lanyard and ensured we could take photos with the Blue Men after the show at a meet-and-greet.  Continue reading →

Nov 03

If We Were Inferior, They Wouldn’t Need Racist Laws to Hold Us Back: “Phillis in Boston” at the Old South Meeting House

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Presented by Revolutionary Spaces
Written by Ade Solanke 
Directed by Regge Life
Featuring: Bobby Cius, Adreyanua Jean-Louis, Priscilla Manning, Joshua Olumide, Serenity S’rae 

November 3 – December 3, 2023
Old South Meeting House
310 Washington Street
Boston, MA 02108

Critique by Kitty Drexel

“On Being Brought from Africa to America”
By Phillis Wheatley 
“’Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there’s a God, that there’s a Saviour too:
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
“Their colour is a diabolic die.”
Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,
May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train.”

BOSTON, Mass. — Revolutionary Spaces presents Phillis in Boston by Ade Solanke at the Old South Meeting House in Boston. Directed by Regge Life. Performances run approximately 90 minutes. There is no intermission. 

Phillis in Boston is an historical play about Phillis Wheatley, an African woman born in Gambia, who was kidnapped by slave traders around 1753 and sold into enslavement to the Wheatley family in Boston. Educated to read and write by the Wheatley family, she began to write poetry around the age of 14. Wheatley was admitted to Old South Meeting House’s segregated congregation when she was about 18 years old.  Continue reading →

Oct 03

The Grim, Hilarious Carnival of “Assassins”

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John Hinkley (Jacob Thomas Less), Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme (Lisa Kate Joyce), Leon Czolgosz (Daniel Forest Sullivan), The Proprietor (Jackson Jirard), Sara Jane Moore (Shonna Cirone), and Samuel Byck (Phil Tayler) (Photo by Mark S. Howard)

Presented by The Lyric Stage Company of Boston
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by John Weidman
Directed by Courtney O’Connor
Music Directed by Dan Rodriguez
Based on an idea by Charles Gilbert, Jr.

Sept 15 – Oct 15, 2023
140 Clarendon Street
2nd Floor
Boston, MA 02116
Lyric Stage Company on Facebook

Review by Gillian Daniels

BOSTON, Mass. – Of the Sondheim shows I’ve seen, this is the most, well, Sondheim. Assassins is wonderfully bleak and hilarious. 

Lyric Stage explores the legacies of the lonely, disenfranchised, entitled, and deranged individuals who tried to share their personal darkness with the rest of the world by trying (and sometimes succeeding) in killing American presidents. Audiences looking for a conventional theater experience will likely be disappointed. There’s no singular, central protagonist here. But why should there be in a show that joyfully hopscotches between eras?  Continue reading →

Oct 03

Lyric Stage Company Shares Death of Spiro Veloudos, Producing Artistic Director Emeritus

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Spiro Veloudos. (Courtesy Lyric Stage Company)

BOSTON, Mass. — The Boston theatre community mourns today. 

The Lyric Stage Company of Boston announced the death of Spiro Veloudos, the long-time producing artistic director of Lyric Stage Company of Boston and avid supporter of small and mid-sized theatres, on October 3, 2023. He was 71. 

His death was confirmed on Monday night, October 2, by his sister, Shelia Demetriadis of Richmond, VA.

An accessible-to-all, loving Boston Globe announcement and obituary by Don Aucoin for Spiro Veloudos is available on the Lyric Stage website. 

The Lyric Stage Company sent a note of remembrance, penned by current Producing Artistic Director Courtney O’Connor to its email list at 10:50 AM today. It links to the Aucoin article. 

Spiro Veloudos was the producing director at Lyric Stage Company through 2019. He directed more than 65 productions at the Lyric: Nicholas Nickleby, Avenue Q, Assassins, Souvenir, Death of A Salesman, Noises Off, Superior Donuts, and Into the Woods. He directed ten Sondheim shows over twenty seasons through his Sondheim initiative. 

Veloudos earned the Best Director IRNE and Elliot Norton Awards multiple times. He received the 2006 Elliott Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence, the Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award from Salem State College, and the StageSource Theatre Hero Award (2003). He was named Best Artistic Director by Boston Magazine in 1999.

A more personal obituary for Veloudos is on Honoring Memory. 

Mr. Veloudos, you were a force of good in Boston. You are missed. 

May Mr. Veloudos’ legacy be a blessing to our theatre community.

Boston, MA – 02/23/17 – Spiro Veloudos on the Lyric Stage (Lane Turner/Globe Staff) Reporter: (Don Aucoin) 

Sep 29

Big Guts, Good Choices: The Huntington and The Porch present “Fat Ham”

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Presented by The Huntington in association with Alliance Theatre and Front Porch Arts Collective
Written by James Ijames
Directed by Stevie Walker-Webb
Choreography by PJ Johnnie Jr.
Fight Direction and Intimacy Coaching by Jesse Hinson
Dialect Coaching by Adi Cabral
Voice Lessons by David Freeman Coleman

September 22 – October 29, 2023
Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA 
527 Tremont St
Boston, MA 

Running time: 95 minutes, no intermission

Review by Kitty Drexel

“Haam”
Slang: Hard as a motherfucker. One can go haam for anything: Sports, homework, smoking, sex, drinking, driving, etc. From UrbanDictionary.com

Or, 

“HAM”
Slang: A Ham is a burger with no bread. A loser, a peasant, a bum with no motion and no desire or solution to make some money. Whatever you do stay away from Hams they are contagious and NEED a vaccine. From UrbanDictionary.com

BOSTON, Mass. — 2023 Pulitzer-prize winning play Fat Ham is at the BCA’s Calderwood Pavilion now thru October 29. Stevie Walker-Webb brings James Ijames’ hilarious opus to Boston thanks to the collaboration of Front Porch Arts Collective, the Huntington, and Alliance Theatre. 

Many modern Shakespeare productions claim to be for a new audience. Some of these productions are merely Shakespeare set in an urban environment or slightly updated to correct historical sexism, racism, or homophobia. There’s nothing wrong with maintaining this tradition.

Fewer Shakespeare productions are truly for a modern audience: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) summarizes the Bard’s works; Shit-Faced Shakespeare performs for improv-loving, alcohol-fueled audiences of frat-bros and frat-bro allies. Fat Ham truly goes where no modern production has gone before.  

Fat Ham transcends a retelling of Hamlet. It doesn’t merely transpose the story of a young man bent on parricide/patricide because the ghost of his father visits him after his uncle marries his mother. It goes harder.  Continue reading →

Sep 25

Too Much of a Good Thing: “MONKEY, A Kung Fu Puppet Parable”

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Presented by White Snake Projects
Based on Journey to the West
Libretto by Cerise Lim Jacobs
Composed by Jorge Sosa
Stage direction by Roxanna Myhrum
Music direction by Tianhui Ng
Puppet design by Tom Lee and Chicago Puppet Studio

Featuring Chuanyuan Liu, Dylan Morrongiello, Carami Hilaire, Cristina Maria Catro, John Paul Huckle, Maria Dominique, Lopez, Carlos Jose Torres Lopez, Nathaniel Justiniano, Angelo Guo, Eliott Purcell, Lawrence Chan, Amanda Gibson, VOICES Boston

September 23 – 24, 2023
Emerson’s Paramount Center Theater
559 Washington St
Boston, MA

Review by Maegon Bergeron-Clearwood

BOSTON, Mass. — MONKEY, A Kung Fu Puppet Parable ticks three of my personal favorite boxes. it features puppets and opera, two traditions that are rife with simple but powerful techniques for bringing fantastical stories to life. It also features martial arts, a personal passion of mine that I rarely see experimented with onstage. It’s a tantalizing combination of performance elements, and I could not have been more excited to discover how White Snake Projects would weave them together. Continue reading →