Category Archives: Uncategorized

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 →

Mar 13

The National Tour of “Parade” at the Emerson Colonial Theatre

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Max Chernin and the company in the National Tour of PARADE, photo by Joan Marcus.

The New York City Center production presented at the Emerson Colonial Theatre 
Book by Alfred Uhry
Music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown
Co-conceived by Harold Prince
Directed by Michael Arden
Choreography by Lauren Yalango-Grant & Christopher Cree Grant
Music direction by Charlie Alterman
U.S. Tour Website

March 11 – 23, 2025
Emerson Colonial Theatre
106 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116

2 hours and 30 minutes, including one intermission

Review by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON — Uhry and Brown’s Parade is at the Emerson Colonial Theatre through March 23. This heartbreaking musical about Christian nationalist antisemitism and its consequences on decent, law-abiding folk has become a musical theatre classic for the ages. It features strong choreography by Lauren Yalango-Grant & Christopher Cree Grant, decisive music direction by Charlie Alterman, and direction by Michael Arden. Continue reading →

Mar 11

When Bad Things Happen to Bad People: “Hedda Gabler”

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Photo credit: Apollinaire Theatre Company

Presented by Apollinaire Theatre Company
By Henrik Ibsen 
Adapted by ATC from the translation by Edmund Gosse and William Archer
Directed by Danielle Fauteux Jacques

Feb. 21 – March 16, 2025
Chelsea Theatre Works
189 Winnisimmet Street
Chelsea, MA 02150

Run time is 1 hour 45 minutes

Trigger warning: Gun shots, gun violence, death by suicide, mentions of murder 

CHELSEA, Mass. — Apollinaire Theatre Company takes extra care with its dramaturgy. The company immediately welcomes its patrons into the world of their show from the moment we enter their space. Earlier this season, The Antelope Party had internet memes and ponies. Every Brilliant Thing had sticky note lists. For Hedda Gabler now up at Chelsea Theatre Works through March 16, dried flowers adorn the walls of the lobby. Candles glow in corners. The theatre itself is as dark as a tomb. A single bright stage light shines into the audience and onto the floor like a portent of scarring things to come.    Continue reading →

Feb 10

Crones Belong in “SPACE”

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Presented by Central Square Theater
The Brit d’Arbeloff Women in Science Production
A Catalyst Collaborative@MIT Production
By L M Feldman
Directed by Larissa Lury
Created by L M Feldman and Larissa Lury

January 30 – February 23, 2025
Central Square Theater
450 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139

Critique by Kitty Drexel

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — There is no way Central Square Theater could have predicted the exact sequencing of events following the presidential inauguration on January 20, but, because its art is based in the sciences, it must have had an inkling that SPACE by LM Feldman and Larissa Lury would be topical. It’s Black History Month and the White House is stripping women and minorities of equity and inclusion opportunities to favor the most bleached, tantrum-fueled presidential idiocrasy oligarchy since Reagan allowed his hate and other mucuses to trickle down and stop up our national funding pipelines. But I digress. SPACE is a good show about badass astronauts who defied the odds to kick ass up and down U.S. history.   

SPACE is told in two parts and recognizes time as an a-linear construct. The story bounces through the years like a racquetball on a closed court. Part One integrates the stories of the U.S. aviation’s best and brightest pilots yesterday and today: Bessie Coleman & Irene Leverton (Valencia Proctor), Jerri Sloan & Christina Hernandez (Monica Risi), Hazel Ying Lee, Wally Funk & Ivy Rieker (Hui Ying Wen), Jackie Cochran & Gene Nora Stumbough, Jasmin Moghbeli & Jean Hixson (Mitra Sharif), Mae Jemison & Jane Hart (Kaili Y Turner), Sally Ride & Geraldyn Cobb (MK Tuomanen), and the male scientists and male politicians who stop them because they don’t believe vaginas belong in space (all played by Barlow Adamson who utilizes a grand JFK accent à la Abbott Vaughn Meader). We watch these heroic women go from the 1940s Women’s Airforce Service Pilots to lobbying Congress to allow women in the space race. We watch them undergo physical, mental and cultural tests to prove their space-worthiness. They do everything right and still can’t touch the cosmos because of military gatekeeping.

Click it. Sally Ride wasn’t sorry. You won’t be either.

Continue reading →

Dec 31

Really Good Oranges: “Every Brilliant Thing”

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Cristhian Mancinas-García as the Narrator. Photo by Apollinaire Theatre.

Presented by Apollinaire Theatre Company
By Duncan Macmillan
With Jonny Donahoe
Directed by Danielle Fauteux Jacques
Scenic & Sound Design: Joseph Lark-Riley
Lighting Design: Danielle Fauteux Jacques
Stage Manager: Kaleb Perez
ASMs: Miguel Dominguez, Max Wanty

Dec. 27, 2024-Jan. 19, 2025
Performances Featuring Parker Jennings: Sat. 12/28, 1/4, 1/11, 1/18, Sun. 1/5, 1/19
Performances Featuring Cristhian Mancinas-García performing in English: Fri. Dec. 27, Sun. Dec. 29, Sun. Jan. 12, Sat. Jan 18 at 3:00
Featuring Cristhian Mancinas-García performing in Spanish: Fri. Jan 10, 17
Chelsea Theatre Works
189 Winnisimmet Street
Chelsea, MA 02150

Critique by Kitty Drexel

CHELSEA, Mass. — Every Brilliant Thing is currently in production at Chelsea Theatre Works by Apollinaire Theatre. It was last produced in the Boston area by SpeakEasy Stage in March 2018.  Adrianne Krstansky played the Narrator to the delight of the theatregoing population. The New England Theatre Geek review of that production is here. 

 It’s been many years and an entire pandemic since Massachusetts audiences last saw this play. While it is a play one never forgets and SpeakEasy’s production with Krstansky in the lead was memorable for its touching interpretation, it was not a monolith. There is room for alternative interpretations of Every Brilliant Thing. Sometimes, the most tender productions are intimate with a smaller impression. Apollinaire is one such production. 

Apollinaire’s Every Brilliant Thing is nestled in the third-floor black box theatre in Chelsea Theatre Works. After collecting one’s ticket (and adult beverage, if that’s your thing) from the hosts at the bar, patrons enter the performance space under white house lights as Big Band jazz classics tickle the ear. Our hosts told us, “All seating in the theatre is audience seating.” This means the black plastic chairs on risers, the velvet cushioned dining chairs and the loudly-patterned couches with pillows are intended for audience butts, too. We weren’t late but weren’t early so the couches were taken by other patrons. Get there early if your heart is set on couch surfing.   Continue reading →

Dec 02

A Toast to Life’s Simple Pleasures: “A Year with Frog and Toad”

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A Year with Frog and Toad. Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

Presented by Wheelock Family Theatre
Based on the books by Arnold Lobel
Music by Robert Reale
Book and lyrics by Willie Reale
Directed by Leigh Barrett
Music direction by David Freeman Coleman
Scenic design by Jenna McFarland Lord
Lighting design by Deb Sullivan
Costume design by Chelsea Kerl
Choreography by Brad Reinking
Featuring: Alan Cid, Kristian Espiritu, Will McGarrahan, Anthony Pires Jr., Tader Shipley

November 30 – December 15, 2024
200 The Riverway, Boston MA 02215
Tickets HERE

Run Time: Approximately 80 minutes without intermission

Review by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

BOSTON — The quiet seasonal joys depicted in A Year with Frog and Toad are a far cry from what many are experiencing this 2024 winter. Instead of end-of-year deadlines, unwelcome ads, and existential political dread, these beloved critters’ lives are occupied with kind favors and hot bowls of soup. It’s the kind of simple but evergreen message that’s best told through a children’s story: life’s richest moments are often the most mundane. Continue reading →

Nov 29

Don’t Trust Colonizers’ Stories: “The Thanksgiving Play”

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Ohad Ashkenazi, Jasmine Rochelle Goodspeed, Marisa Diamond* and Johnny Gordon; Photograph: Sharman Altshuler

Presented by Moonbox Productions
by Larissa FastHorse
Directed by Tara Moses
Dramaturgy by Kailey Bennett

Featuring: Jasmine Goodspeed, Johnny Gordon, Ohad Ashkenazi, Marisa Diamond
Partnered with the North American Indian Center of Boston (NAICOB)

Nov. 21 – Dec. 15, 2024
Arrow Street Arts
2 Arrow St.
Cambridge, MA 02138

Running Time: 90 minutes, no intermission

Age Guidelines: Recommended for ages 13+

Content Warning: This production contains adult language, mature themes, racism, redface, violence, and unsettling truths of both Massachusetts’ and America’s history.

Review by Noelani Kamelamela

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — I am Kanaka Maoli, and the mainstream Thanksgiving story never felt quite real to me especially once I became an adult, because the watered-down story we were fed in Hawai’i of how our people were betrayed to the Americans sounded very unlike what we knew. So, I sincerely doubted that the sweet, clean story of sharing and caring in the early British colonies was anything like the reality. I don’t expect theatergoers to glean the full story out of Moonbox Production’s run of The Thanksgiving Play by Larissa Fasthorse. I would love to see this show in rep with another biting satirical work Straight White Men by Young Jean Lee. Continue reading →

Nov 26

Ample Breast, Moist Leg: “The Thanksgiving Play”

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The cast; Photo by Sharman Altshuler

Presented by Moonbox Productions
by Larissa FastHorse
Directed by Tara Moses
Dramaturgy by Kailey Bennett

Featuring: Jasmine Goodspeed, Johnny Gordon, Ohad Ashkenazi, Marisa Diamond
Partnered with the North American Indian Center of Boston (NAICOB)

Nov. 21 – Dec. 15, 2024
Arrow Street Arts
2 Arrow St.
Cambridge, MA 02138 

Running Time: 90 minutes, no intermission

Age Guidelines: Recommended for ages 13+

Content Warning: This production contains adult language, mature themes, racism, redface, violence, and unsettling truths of both Massachusetts’ and America’s history.

Critique by Kitty Drexel

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Moonbox’s The Thanksgiving Play interprets the white American history of Thanksgiving that MAGA and its ilk want us to forget. Florida’s laws, for example, would keep copies of Larissa Fasthorse’s play out of school libraries just in case a white person might feel sad by its contents. Friends, the purpose of knowing our white, colonialist history isn’t to feel sad; it’s to recognize the white supremacist systems that enabled these atrocities so we can dismantle them. We aren’t responsible for our ancestors’ actions but we are responsible for repairing the damage they caused.   Continue reading →

Nov 13

Tomorrow Belongs to All of Us or None of Us: “Cabaret”

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Presented by the Kit Kat Club at the August Wilson Theatre 
Based on the play by John van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood
Book by Joe Masteroff
Music by John Kander
Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Directed by Rebecca Frecknall
Fight direction by Thomas Schall
Music direction by Meghann Zervoulis Bate
Choreographed by Julia Cheng

Tickets are available now – March 2025
August Wilson Theatre
245 W. 52nd St.
New York, NY

2 hours and 45 minutes, including one intermission

Critique by Kitty Drexel

I was offered press tickets to “Cabaret” as part of the ATCA conference in New York.

NEW YORK — “I’ll be watching ‘Cabaret’ for survival tactics,” my friend Julia said when I confirmed her ticket for “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club” on November 6. Julia and I are both gleefully queer on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum and terrified by the national and state election results. It was cathartic to watch a musical about the rise and tragic fall of queer culture in Weimar Germany as the Nazis rose to power. It looks a lot like the U.S. today. If one needs proof, they should take to their local news sources. Continue reading →

Nov 04

Same Procedure as Every Year: “Dinner For One”

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Photo by Nile Scott Studios

Presented by Greater Boston Stage Company
By Christina Baldwin, Sun Mee Chomet, and Jim Lichtscheidl 
Directed by Weylin Symes
Music direction by Tim Goss
Featuring Paul Melendy and Debra Wise
Violin: Tommaso Lorenson

November 1 – 17, 2024
395 Main Street
Stoneham, MA 02180

Online playbill

Critique by Kitty Drexel

STONEHAM, Mass. — Greater Boston Stage Company’s Dinner For One is a short but charming play about a grieving grand dame and her affectionate butler. It has expanded moments of prop work, physical comedy, unsettling puns and a broad range of accents. It’s a silly treat to dislodge the election panic curdling your stomach this presidential cycle. It runs in Stoneham through November 17.  Continue reading →