Tag Archives: Noises Off

Nov 26

“Funny, Antiquated Slapstick: Noises Off”

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The cast. Photo by Mark S Howard.

Presented by Lyric Stage Boston
By Michael Frayn
Directed by Ilyse Robbins
Sound Design – Andrew Duncan Will
​Scenic Design – Erik D. Diaz
Costume Design –  Seth Bodie
Lighting Design – SeifAllah Salotto-Cristobal
Props Artisan – Emily Allinson
Voice & Dialect Coach  – Allison Beauregard
Fight Consultant – Ted Hewlett
Featuring:  Amy Barker, Grace Experience, Dan Garcia, Eliza Fichter, Michael Jennings Mahoney, Joseph Marrella, Chip Phillips, Samantha Richert, Lewis D. Wheeler

Nov. 15 – December 22, 2024
Lyric Stage Boston
140 Clarendon St.
Boston, MA 02116

Critique by Craig Idlebrook

Two hours and thirty minutes, with two intermissions

Content Advisory: “The shenanigans of Noises Off include a bit of salty language, some sexual situations, and slapstick humor.” – Lyric Stage

BOSTON — Sometimes, reviewers best serve the audience by declaring their biases up front. Usually, those biases are about something we hate, but not always.

In this case, I should warn you that I love Noises Off as a play, and I fully realize I probably love it more than its inherent cultural worth warrants. Like with a close family member, I am inclined to defend it from accusations of its shortcomings more than I should. There is something about the play within a play about the ridiculous backstage antics of a middling theater cast that resonates with me as a high school drama nerd. 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) 

Mar 03

Character-Building: EQUALLY DIVIDED

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Photo by Meghan Moore. Pictured: Jill Tanner, Felicity La Fortune, Will Lyman and Anthony Newfield.

Photo by Meghan Moore. Pictured: Jill Tanner, Felicity La Fortune, Will Lyman and Anthony Newfield.

Presented by Merrimack Repertory Theatre
by Ronald Harwood
Directed by Charles Towers

February 13th – March 9th, 2014
Lowell, MA
MRT on Facebook

Review by Craig Idlebrook

(Lowell) Professional baseball player Ichiro Suzuki once got into hot water for saying that when his team is losing year after year he focuses instead on playing for his own individual accomplishments.  To some, it showed selfishness, but to me it showed professionalism. Continue reading →

Dec 17

Enduring Marriage: HALF N’ HALF N’ HALF

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Carol Halstead, Zoë Winters, Andrew Pastides and Jim Ortlieb. Photo by Meghan Moore.

Carol Halstead, Zoë Winters, Andrew Pastides and Jim Ortlieb. Photo by Meghan Moore.

by John Kolvenbach
directed by Kyle Fabel

Merrimack Repertory Theatre
50 East Merrimack Street
Lowell, MA
November 29th – December 23rd, 2012
Merrimack Repertory Theatre Facebook Page

Review by Craig Idlebrook

(Lowell) It is frustrating to see a craftsman like playwright John Kolvenbach run rings around pedestrian writers.  His play Half n’ Half n’ Half shows that he understands how a play functions on a deep level and that he could write in any genre he chooses, from The Seagull to Lend Me a Tenor.  Kolvenbach toys with the audience in several genres with this comedy, while demonstrating his near-mastery of them all.  This is more than an exercise in play writing, however.  Throughout this script of multiple plays, Kolvenbach is able to document how a lifetime romantic commitment often drives us to need to be committed. Continue reading →

Sep 22

Theater meets Chaos Theory: Jay Scheib’s “World of Wires”

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Photo Credit: Jay Scheib’s “World of Wires”, Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston

presented by The Institute of Contemporary Art/ Boston

The Institute of Art/Boston Website
Jay Scheib’s World of Wires Facebook Page
Friday + Saturday, September 21 + 22, 2012 , 7:30 pm
100 Northern Avenue
Boston, MA 02210 – directions

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Boston) Jay Scheib’s World of Wires is a live-cinema presentation that utilizes the mediums of television, live theater, the internet, music and all manners of spectating. It is an exhibition that posits that human experience on the internet is both defined by and created through actual and simulated human interaction. The result is a chaotic melodrama birthed by an obsessive zeitgeist. Continue reading →