Tag Archives: Lyric Stage of Boston

May 22

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

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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. Continue reading →

Apr 11

Not a boy, Not a girl, Just a plain old baby: “The Great Reveal”

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The Cast. Photo by Mark S Howard.

Presented by Lyric Stage Boston
By David Valdes
Directed by Bridget Kathleen O’Leary and Charlotte Snow
Intimacy Choreography by Shira Helena Gitlin
Featuring: Paige Clark, Arthur Gomez, Jupiter Lê, Antonia Turilli 

Lyric Stage of Boston
140 Clarendon St,
2nd floor, Boston,
MA 02116

Running Time: 90-100 minutes with no intermission.

Critique by Kitty Drexel

“Fudge, Fudge,” traditional, a folk hand clapping/jump rope song
Fudge fudge, call the judge
Mama’s had a baby
Not a boy, not a girl
Just a plain old baby…

BOSTON – David Valdes’ The Great Reveal is a period piece about a socially distanced gender reveal party gone wrong. Lexi (Paige Clark) is seven months pregnant and wants every detail of her party to be picture-perfect for Momstagram. Her loving, mostly attentive husband Christopher (Arthur Gomez) supports her as much as he can, but Lexi is intense, and fatherhood is scary. Enter Lexi’s workaholic, commitment-resistant brother Linus (Jupiter Lê) and his forgiving, intelligent girlfriend with a medicinal hookup, Dosia (Antonia Turilli, who looked stunning in general but wore the hell out of a purple dress and matching necklace [costume design by E. Rosser]). Continue reading →

Sep 08

“Sweeney Todd” Delights in Dire Tragedy

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Christopher Chew, Paul C. Soper. Photo by Mark S. Howard

Photo by Mark S. Howard. Christopher Chew, Paul C. Soper.

Presented by the Lyric Stage of Boston
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
Directed & Staged by Spiro Veloudos
Music Director, Jonathan Goldberg

Sept. 5 – Oct. 11, 2014
140 Clarendon Street
Boston, MA 02116
Lyric on Facebook

Review Gillian Daniels

(Boston, MA) In today’s entertainment landscape, probably the most surprising thing about The Lyric Stage’s production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is how un-sexy it makes murder. No, grisly death probably shouldn’t be attractive as a rule, but television shows like Hannibal and Dexter and even some thriller novels give serial killers a stylized warmth. Blood is splashed artfully over plastic tarps and cannibalized flesh is prepared with exquisite attention to detail for unsuspecting dinner guests. Stephen Sondheim’s infamous musical gives us only Sweeney Todd’s icy vengeance, spinning more out of control with every throat he slits in his barber’s chair, and Mrs. Lovett’s questionable baking skills. Continue reading →