The New England Theatre Geek

Tag: Janie E. Howland

  • Unapologetic Joy, Bursting at the Seams: “Hello, Dolly!”

    The cast of “Hello, Dolly!” Photo by Mark S. Howard.

    Presented by Lyric Stage of Boston
    Music and lyrics by Jerry Herman
    Book by Michael Stewart
    Based on “The Matchmaker” by Thornton Wilder
    Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent
    Music direction by Dan Rodriguez
    Choreography by Ilyse Robbins
    Featuring Temma Beaudreau, Joshua Wolf Coleman, Max Connor, Aimee Doherty,
    Kristian Espiritu, Mark Linehan, Michael Jennings Mahoney

    May 16 – June 22
    Lyric Stage Theatre
    140 Clarendon Street, 2nd floor
    Boston, MA 02116

    Runtime: 2 hours and 30 minutes including intermission.

    Review by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

    BOSTON — Full disclosure: I am something of a Hello, Dolly! apologist. Sure, it’s Broadway at its hammiest, and I won’t pretend that it’s aged perfectly. But beneath its veneer of feathers and bows and heteronormativity, this is a musical about characters pushing against turn-of-the-century gender and class constraints, straining to express themselves as loudly and brassily as possible.

    Jerry Herman, the composer-lyricist behind some of Broadway’s most fabulous characters (see Mame and La Cage aux Folles) knew what exactly he was doing here: Hello, Dolly! is queer joy incarnate, and you can’t convince me otherwise. (more…)

  • “Mermaid Hour”: A Tender Tale, Not Quite for Our Times

    Photo by Molly Shoemaker.

    Presented by Moonbox Productions
    Play by David Valdes
    Direction by Bridget Kathleen O’Leary
    Scenic Design by Janie E. Howland
    Lighting Design by Deb Sullivan
    Costume Design by E Rosser
    Composition by Kai Bohlman
    Sound Design by Kai Bohlman and Anna Drummond
    Dramaturgy by Wenxuan Xue
    Featuring: Brenny O’Brien, Phil Tayler, Monica Risi, Alex Goldman, Clara Tan

    April 26 – May 19
    Arrow Street Arts
    2 Arrow St, Cambridge, MA 02138
    Tickets here

    Article by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

    Content advisory for transphobic language such as misgendering, as well as mature content such as swearing, references to anatomy, and sexual activity. Recommended for ages 12 and up.

    CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — In the early 2010s, when Mermaid Hour was written, trans visibility was on the rise and Internet discourse was largely concerned with pronouns and representation. In David Valdes’ play, Pilar and David are searching for information about terminology and puberty blockers to support their trans daughter, Vi. Their efforts are earnest; they make mistakes; then they learn and adjust and move on. They love their kid, and that’s enough. (more…)

  • Love Against All Odds: “Mr. Popper’s Penguins”

    “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” cast: (l-r) Russell Garrett, Lisa Kate Joyce, Michael Jennings Mahoney, Kristian Espiritu, Yasmeen Duncan, and Todd McNeel. Photo by Jake Belcher.

    Presented by Wheelock Family Theatre
    Book by Robert Kauzlaric
    Music and Lyrics by George Howe
    Based on the novel by Richard and Florence Atwater
    Direction and Choreography by Ilyse Robbins
    Music Direction by Dan Rodriguez
    Scenic Design by Janie E. Howland
    Costume Design by Bethany Mullins
    Puppet Design by Alex Vernon
    Featuring: Yasmeen Duncan, Kristian Espiritu, Russell Garrett, Lisa Kate Joyce, Michael Jennings Mahoney, Todd McNeel

    February 10 – March 3, 2024
    Wheelock at Boston University
    180 Riverway
    Boston, MA 02215

    Run Time: 70 minutes with no intermission

    Recommended for ages 3+

    Review by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

    BOSTON, Mass. — After a long afternoon at work and a particularly sluggish MBTA ride, I was in a grim mood when I finally walked into the Wheelock Family Theatre last night – but my spirits were almost instantaneously lifted at the sight of Captain Cook (the first of many heartwarming creations by puppeteer Alex Vernon), a full-sized penguin puppet, complete with waddling feet, flapping wings, and expressive, blinking eyes. (more…)

  • An Imaginative View from Above: “Rooted”

    Photo by Ken Yotsukura Photography.

    Presented by The Lyric Stage Company
    By Deborah Zoe Laufer
    Directed by Courtney O’Connor
    Composer & sound design: Dewey Dellay
    Featuring Karen MacDonald, Lisa Tucker, and Katherine Callaway

    June 2 – 25, 2023
    The Lyric Stage Company
    140 Clarendon Street, 2nd Floor
    Boston MA, 02116

    Critique by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

    BOSTON, Mass. — Rooted makes a breathless first impression. Walking into the theater at The Lyric Stage Company, perhaps for the first time since I’ve started attending theater post-lockdown, I literally gasped at the sight: part treehouse deck, part overgrown garden, all shrouded in dappled shade from the foundational tree’s outstretched limb.

    The set, designed by Janie E. Howland, is as much a character in Deb Zoe Laufer’s play as its protagonist, Emery (Lisa Tucker). Emery has sequestered herself to her treehouse sanctuary for 12 years by the start of the play, with only two connections to the world below: her caregiver sister, Hazel (Karen MacDonald), and her unexpectedly popular YouTube channel showcasing her plant experiments. Her compassionate, charismatic way with plants inspires her online fans to form a literal cult around her beloved tree. (more…)

  • Sometimes God Eats People: “Caroline or Change”


    L to R: Pier Lamia Porter* as “The Washing Machine”, Davron S. Monroe* as “The Dryer” and Yewande Odetoyinbo* as “Caroline Thibodeaux” ; Photograph: Sharman Altshuler

    Presented by Moonbox Productions
    Book and lyrics by Tony Kushner
    Score by Jeanine Tesori
    Directed by Allison Olivia Choat
    Music directed by Dan Rodriguez
    Choreography by Yewande Odetoyinbo

    April 20 – May 11, 2019
    The Stanford Calderwood Pavilion
    Boston Center for the Arts
    Boston, MA
    Moonbox on Facebook

    Critique by Kitty Drexel

    (Boston, MA) It isn’t true that money can’t buy happiness. Science, as dressed in commercially digestible articles from Time or Entrepreneur, told us in 2017 that happiness begins at an income that covers payment of non-negotiable needs such as food, rent, and other expenses. That amount was approximated between $50,000 – $75,000. Anything less or more than fiscal solvency lowers our quality of life. Minimum wage is still $7.25. And the 1% wonder why the 99% are angry all the time.   

    Caroline or Change is about a poor, Black woman raising four kids on her own in 1963 at the peak of the Civil Rights movement in Louisiana. She’s a maid in the Gellman household where she makes $30 a week (roughly $250/week in 2019) and it’s not enough. Caroline Thibodeaux (Yewande Odetoyinbo) isn’t paid enough to deal with any of the nonsense like throws at her but she does it anyway.  (more…)

  • “Cabaret” : Red Lights & Secrets

    Aimee Doherty* Photographer: Tom Shoemaker

    Presented by Moonbox Productions
    Based on stories by Christopher Isherwood
    Lyrics by Fred Ebb
    Music by John Kander
    Book by John Masteroff
    Directed by Rachel Bertone
    Music Direction by Dan Rodriguez

    April 14th thru 29th, 2018
    BCA Calderwood Pavilion
    Wimberly Theater, Boston
    Moonbox on Facebook

    Review by Bishop C. Knight

    (Boston, Massachusetts) I assume that unlike many in the audience at the Wimberly Theatre, I went to the Calderwood Pavilion knowing nothing substantial about Cabaret and naïvely expecting lots of eye-high rockette dance moves.  Seated with friends before the show, I opened up a program and encountered a quote by Christopher Isherwood, the British-American novelist who holds a principal place within my private imaginative world.  This quotation was from Isherwood’s Goodbye to Berlin, upon which Cabaret is based, and it goes “I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking. Recording the man shaving at the window opposite and the woman in the kimono washing her hair. Someday, all this will have to be developed, carefully printed, fixed.”   (more…)

  • Poetic License: “Einstein’s Dreams”

    A.R. Sinclair Photography
    A.R. Sinclair Photography

    Presented by Underground Railway Theater
    Part of the Catalyst Collaborative@MIT
    Based on a book by Alan Lightman
    Adapted and Directed by Wesley Savick

    September 24 – November 15, 2015
    Central Square Theatre
    450 Massachusetts Ave Cambridge, MA
    Central Square Theatre on Facebook

    Review by Danielle Rosvally

    (Cambridge, MA) Even as I sit here staring at a blank page, I am having trouble putting into words the experience of seeing Einstein’s Dreams at Central Square Theatre.  What I know for a certainty is that I can extend to the piece the highest comment that this reviewer can give: it sparked discussion, and it made me think. (more…)

  • “Other Desert Cities”: Facades Collide With Reality

    Photo caption: Anne Gottlieb and Christopher M. Smith in a scene from SpeakEasy Stage's production of Other DesertCities, running January 11 through February 9 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts. Tickets at speakeasystage.com or 617.933.8600. Photo by Craig Bailey/Perspective Photo
    Photo caption: Anne Gottlieb and Christopher M. Smith, Photo by Craig Bailey/Perspective Photo

    By Jon Robin Baitz
    Directed by Scott Edmiston

    Presented by Speakeasy Stage Company
    January 11 – February 9
    Wimberly Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts
    Boston, MA
    Speakeasy Stage Co Facebook Page

    Review by Becca Kidwell

    (Boston) At a time when nostalgia for the eighties is heightening (neon, rubber bracelets, leg warmers,
    cut off tees), Jon Robin Baitz reminds us that our recent past was neither as lavish or simple
    as we would like to contain it. As the last of the Reaganite politicians cling desperately to
    the “grand old party,” gen-xers (like myself) try to find meaning out of a part of seeming trivial
    history. Baitz sends a thermobaric weapon to the Wyeth household in the form of Brooke Wyeth, played by Anne Gottlieb. (more…)

  • Election-Year Escapism: THE MIKADO

    Erica Spyres (Yum-Yum) and cast of The Mikado at The Lyric Stage. Photo by Mark S. Howard

    The Mikado, music by Arthur Sullivan, libretto by W.S. Gilbert
    Directed by Spiro Veloudos

    Lyric Stage Company, 140 Clarendon Street, Boston, MA
    September 9 – October 13

    Reviewed by Craig Idlebrook

    It is rare to see good actors overacting, over-annunciating and mugging the audience to ring out every laugh. It is even rarer to enjoy every minute of it. In the Lyric Stage Company’s staging of Gilbert and Sullivan’s the Mikado, you get the delicious treat of both.

    If you have never seen a Gilbert and Sullivan play, then now’s the time to get initiated with this production. (more…)

  • EPISODE 1 GEEKS, NERDS & ARTISTS Janie E. Howland

    Episode 1:  Geeks, Nerds & Artists Podcast: Janie E. Howland 10 April 2012

    Photos of designs are displayed in this Flickr photoset.

    Interview with Boston based set designer Janie E. Howland.  http://www.janiehowland.com

    Credits include: Long Day’s Journey Into Night (New Rep), The Miracle Worker (Wheelock Family Theatre), History Boys and 5 by Tenn (Speakeasy Stage), Big River (Lyric Stage Company), Tonya & Nancy (Oberon), Breaking the Code (Underground Railway), Spring Awakening and Little Women (Boston Children’s Theatre). Venues include: Weston Playhouse, NSMT, New Rep, ART Instit., Nora Theatre, Stoneham Theatre, Seacoast Rep, Merrimack Repertory, Wheelock Family Theatre, New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, Huntington Theatre Studio 210, Opera Boston, Emerson Stage, Barnstormers, Foothills Theatre. Founding member of CYCO SCENIC; MFA from Brandeis University; 2009, 2006 and 1997 winner of the Elliot Norton Award; 2007 & 2006 winner of the IRNE award; part time faculty at Wellesley College and Emerson College; USA local 829.

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