Apr 02

Smudge: Parental Nightmare Thinly Disguised with Sci-Fi

Alison Meirowitz and Mr. Limbs, photo credit Apollinaire Theatre Company

Smudge by Rachel Axler, Apollinaire Theatre Company, Chelsea Theatre Works, 3/23/12-4/21/12, http://www.apollinairetheatre.com/productions/productions.html, in repertory with Cut by Crystal Skillman.

Reviewed by Gillian Daniels

(Chelsea, MA) New parents Colby (Allison Meirowitz) and Nick (Chris LaVoie) find themselves with a newborn of monstrous description.  Multi-colored feeding tubes pour upward out of her bassinet and occasional beeps indicate a life support system, but said child is never seen.  We’re only told she has one eye and a body that narrows to a single limb.  Characters imply the baby may not even be human, but regardless of what she is, the newborn certainly isn’t what was expected. Continue reading

Apr 01

A Pleasant Surprise: EXPECTING

Danni, Mom, and Gabrielle at the mall — with Jo d'Angelo and Jenny Reagan., photo credit: Boston Actors' Theatre

Expecting by Noah Tobin, Boston Actors’ Theatre, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, 3/30/12-4/7/12,    http://www.bostonactorstheater.com/.

Reviewed by Kate Lonberg-Lew

(Boston, MA) Have you ever found your cell phone lying on the back seat after ripping open the box of the replacement? Or perhaps you found your watch at the bottom of the hamper after strapping on your new Swatch? Somehow, we always manage to find what we’re looking for the moment we stop looking for it. This is what Expecting, currently at the Boston Actors Theater, is all about and the experience is wonderfully complex. Continue reading

Apr 01

rogerandtom: Pardon My Fourth Wall

 

Stephen Radochia and Anna Waldron, Photo by Diane Libby.

rogerandtom by Julien Schwab, Simple Machine Theatre, Davis Square Theatre, 3/30/12-4/7/12, http://www.simplemachinetheatre.com/productions.html. (one spoiler–marked)

Reviewed by Becca Kidwell

(Somerville, MA) Julien Schwab takes the idea of a play within a play to a new level.  Exploring drama and its tools, rogerandtom pulls, tears, twists, and turns its melodramatic plot cleverly until its end. Continue reading

Mar 31

Uneven Edits: CUT

Alyce Householter, Liz Rimar, Stewart Evan Smith Jr — photo credit: Apollinaire Theatre

Cut by Crystal Skillman, Apollinaire Theatre Company, Chelsea Theatre Works, 3/30/12-4/21/12, http://www.apollinairetheatre.com/ productions/productions.html, in repertory with Smudge by Rachel Axler.

Review by Craig Idlebrook

(Chelsea, MA) Reality programming might be so attractive to TV. watchers because its slick production values and clean edits hold out the hope that we can make some sense out of life. As the central protagonists of our own dramas, we want the chance for playbacks and edits to gain some introspection, or at least to come off looking good. But as the characters of Chelsea Theatre Works’ Cut learn, God is a lousy editor, and life doesn’t wrap up neatly when the cameras stop rolling.

Continue reading

Mar 29

Textured Clowning: TOMÁŠ KUBÍNEK: CERTIFIED LUNATIC & MASTER OF THE IMPOSSIBLE

Photo Credit: d.a. Hill

TOMÁŠ KUBÍNEK: CERTIFIED LUNATIC & MASTER OF THE IMPOSSIBLE, ArtsEmerson, Paramount Theatre, 3/29/12-4/1/12, http://alturl.com/255s3.

Reviewed by Craig Idlebrook

(Boston, MA) Funny is a funny thing.  You can be mean and be funny.  You can shock and be funny.  You can do knock-knock jokes and be funny, at least to a five-year old.  Or you can just be super-talented, a bit caustic and kind of weird and be funny.  Tomáš Kubínek has chosen the last option to deliver a memorable and nicely brief one-man show for ArtsEmerson at the Paramount Theatre. Continue reading

Mar 25

Hookman: Existential Thriller for the 21st Century Girl

 

Joe Kidawski and Erin Butcher, Photo credit: Company One

Hookman by Lauren Yee, Company One, Boston Center for the Arts Hall A, 3/23/12-4/14/12, http://www.companyone.org/Season13/Hookman/synopsis.shtml.

Reviewed by Gillian Daniels

(Boston, MA) Lexi (Erin Eva Butcher) appears to be the only one in Hookman aware she’s in slasher movie.

With reason to believe a masked murderer (Joseph Kidawski) is responsible for the death of her friend Jess (Nicole Prefontaine), she attempts to protect her college roommate (Pearl Shin) and various others from his hook. Continue reading

Mar 24

Lovely Confusion: MRS. WHITNEY

Deirdre Madigan, Photo by Meghan Moore

Mrs. Whitney by John Kolvenbach, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, 3/15/12-4/8/12, http://www.merrimackrep.org/season/show.aspx?sid=107.

Reviewed by Kate Lonberg-Lew

(Lowell, MA) Unless you are lucky enough to have met your soulmate at fifteen and lived happily ever after (and if you have, please take a moment to pinch yourself and make sure you’re real) then you will relate to the feelings of loneliness, love and the existence of your own romantic Achilles heel in this superb production of Mrs. Whitney at the Merrimack Repertory Theater in Lowell. Continue reading

Mar 24

Pride and Prejudice: Stage Proves a Better Home for the Classic Satire Than Film

Pride and Prejudice, based on the novel by Jane Austen, adapted by Elizabeth Hunter, Theatre@First, Somerville Theatre, 3/22/12-3/31/12,   http://www.theatreatfirst.org/shows/pride_prejudice/pride_prejudice.shtml.

 

Reviewed by Gillian Daniels

(Somerville, MA) Elizabeth Hunter adapts, directs, and brings an enormously funny Pride and Prejudice to the stage.  Longtime Austen-fans should rejoice at their good fortune.  The thorough play is probably closest to my own imagining of the classic 1813 novel.

The book is a smart satire of the husband-hunting rat race that young women engaged in during the Georgian Era when inheritances were more likely to pass to sons.  Continue reading

Mar 18

Apocalypse Weird: BOOM

Photo by Peter Goldberg

BOOM by Peter Sinn Nachtreib, Sandra Feinstein Gamm Theatre, 3/8/12-4/8/12,

http://www.gammtheatre.org/OurSeason/Season2720112012/Boom/tabid/
332/Default.aspx
contains nudity.

Reviewed by Craig Idlebrook

(Pawtucket, RI) Every creation story has a few holes in it, be it the Big Bang or the Garden of Eden.  (I will now pause for defenders of said creation stories to get snippy.)  But few creation stories have holes as absurdly funny as in the play Boom, which is now playing at the Gamm Theatre in Rhode Island.

Boom may best be described as what happens after you have to back up your statement of “Not if you were the last person on Earth.”  Continue reading

Mar 17

James and the Giant Peach

James and the Giant Peach, based on the book by Roald Dahl, Boston Children’s Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre, 3/17/12-3/25/12, http://bostonchildrenstheatre.org/season/jamesandthegiantpeach/.

Reviewed by John Herring

(Boston, MA) James and the Giant Peach follows a young orphan boy and the charming crew of insects he befriends on an entertaining and hilarious trans-Atlantic journey aboard a gigantic piece of fruit.” If you have read the story, or have been read the story, you know and probably love it already. If not, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN HIDING?! And you also will love the story in full live presentation. Continue reading