Sep 29

“Machine” Delivers a Bumpy Ride


Presented by Arts Emerson
Director, Co-Writer, and Original Idea by Vincent Dubé
A Machine de Cirque Production

September 21 – October 2, 2016
559 Washington St
Boston, MA 02111
Machine de Cirque on Facebook

Review by Gillian Daniels

(Boston, MA) In the face of the neon polish standard that is Cirque de Soleil in the Canadian acrobat scene, Machine de Cirque’s simplicity is real, grim, and refreshing. Here, the stage is covered in junk—bicycles, drums, stripped down scaffolding, juggling pins. The performers who encounter each item play and experiment, piecing the fragments into an act. It’s stunning. Perhaps a bit dark, too, as a viewer is left to wonder where, exactly, these performers are. Are these homeless young men in a junk yard? Or has the apocalypse come and gone, and they’re left with nothing but pieces in the dust of the cataclysm?  Continue reading

Oct 27

“Menopause”: A Plotless Riot

vEJor9_2I5iiUDfkvm7AcVReETVE8qgutEqE6QU8RHo,h2fYn9Qn0pz_-uSJfc4kGrofkvv5fiWk0OoIBSO2btk

Photo provided by Spectacle Management.

Presented by Spectacle Management
By Jeanie Linders

October 22-25, 2015
Cary Memorial Hall
Lexington, MA
Menopause the Musical Website and Facebook

Review by Travis Manni

(Lexington, MA) I wanted to review Menopause the Musical because I’ve never seen it, I wanted to laugh, and I am unfazed by excessive jokes about saggy breasts. And while I didn’t mind being literally the only twenty something male in the entire audience, the smell of red wine on the breath of many baby boomers around me was sign enough that I was not even a little bit in the demographic for Menopause’s target audience. Continue reading

Jun 07

Paris in the Rain: Coeur de Pirate at Paradise Rock Club

WORLD MUSIC/CRASHarts and Crossroads
Presents PRESENTS COEUR DE PIRATE
with Kandle

Thursday, June 6, 8pm,
Paradise Rock Club
, 18+
World Music/CRASHarts Facebook page
Coeur de Pirate Facebook page
Kandle Facebook page

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Boston) Coeur de Pirate vocalist, Béatrice Martin, has a lovely voice and charismatic stage presence. Her music sounds they way Paris in the rain feels; it is touched with lyric and pop influences. She was “under the weather” a.k.a. visibly ill yesterday evening. Therefore, giving her a review based on her performance would be unfair. What I saw was exemplary given the circumstances. You can decide on your own by listening to her CD (which I’ve been listening to on repeat all week) on Spotify, iTunes, or her website. Continue reading

Sep 13

Trout Stanley: Twin Purpose

Trout Stanley by Claudia Dey, Exquisite Theatre Corps, The Factory Theatre, 9/9/11-9/25/11.  http://www.exquisitecorps.org/trout-stanley/.

Reviewed by Leah White

(Boston, MA) Exquisite Corps Theatre opens its second season with the delightfully odd Trout Stanley.  Set in the middle-of-nowhere Canada, the old brick walls of the Factory Theatre make the perfect backdrop for the shabby home of twin sisters, Grace and Sugar Ducharme.

We meet the twins on their 30th birthday.  Kathryn Grace’s “Grace” struts around the stage, big and bombastic, almost over the top as she describes her likeness on a local hunting store’s billboard.  Grace has a lust for life and a slightly unusual respect for trash. Continue reading