Category Archives: Uncategorized

Mar 24

Rock Out with Your Snark Out: BLOODY, BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON

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Photo care of Emerson Umbrella Facebook page.

Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson
Presented by The Umbrella Mainstage
Written by Alex Timbers
Music & Lyrics by Michael Friedman
Directed by James Tallach
Music Directed by Maria Duaime Robinson
Choreography by Lara Finn
Fight Choreography by Micah Greene

March 21 – April 5
The Umbrella Community Arts Center
Concord, MA
The Umbrella on Facebook

Review by Kitty Drexel

Disclosure: I have worked with both directors James Tallach, Maria Duaime Robinson, and a cast member or two. This review is tempered to reflect this.

(Concord) History favors old, White dudes. Heck, old, White dudes are favored now.  If Green Day had collaborated on an historical punk musical with Bill Clinton, Lindsay Lohan and George Michael, chances are they would have written Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson (let us all say a silent prayer for Clinton’s potential saxophone career). And it would be a huge hit. Fans of American Idiot the musical will appreciate the music of BBAJ. They will also appreciate the snarky treatment of a politician who purported to be the People’s President but, after all is said and done, was only in it for himself. History has repeated itself and punk happens to be the medium for this particular telling. Continue reading →

Mar 24

Eavesdropping on a Moment: TALLEY’S FOLLY

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Photo by Meghan Moore

Photo by Meghan Moore

Presented by Merrimack Repertory Theatre
By Lanford Wilson
Directed by Kyle Fabel

March 20th – April 13th, 2014
Lowell, MA
MRT on Facebook

Review by Craig Idlebrook

(Lowell) Why in the 21st century do we feel compelled to make all our special private moments so public, especially when it comes to marriage proposals? These days, a proposal is not Facebook official unless you enlist your family, Joe Biden, and the Michigan State marching band to take part in a carefully choreographed proposal that you can upload to YouTube. Continue reading →

Mar 04

World Music/CRASHarts Presents: LO’JO at Johnny D’s, March 15, 7:00 pm

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LO’JO presented by World Music/ CRASHarts
ONE NIGHT ONLY: Saturday, March 15, 7:00 pm
17 Holland St. Somerville, 02144
General Admission. 21+ with valid ID. Seating is limited and guaranteed with a dinner reservation $25.00
World Music/CRASHarts on Facebook
Lo’Jo on Facebook

Founded in Angers, France by singer-keyboardist Denis Péan and violinist and kora player Richard Bourreau, Lo’Jo’s musical adventurism is the stuff of legend. The globe-trotting French daredevils have traveled the world for 30 years, playing in remote outposts, soaking up sounds, and founding the annual Festival in the Desert in northern Mali with Tuareg rockers Tinariwen. The six-member band plays funky, dubbed-up chansons laced with a bewildering variety of jazz, pop, reggae, circus, cabaret, klezmer, Roma, West African, and Maghrebian traditions. Péan’s rough-edged Tom Waits–like voice contrasts beautifully with those of sisters Yamina and Nadia Nid el Mourid for a sound that’s totally unclassifiable but utterly enthralling.

Boston Debut

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 →

Feb 24

Voluptuous Bluesy, Folksy Glam Rock: Asaf Avidan

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Presented by World Music/CRASHarts
A concert by Asaf Avidan

Attended performance was on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014
Somerville Theatre
Davis Square
Somerville, MA
World Music/ CRASHarts on Facebook
Asaf Avidan on Facebook

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Somerville) Asaf Avidan is compared to Janis Joplin and Billie Holiday. The timbre of his voice has similarities to that of the Joplin rasp and the warmth of Holiday, Avidan’s voice is vulnerable and striking in a way uniquely his own. Joplin and Holiday were distant from their audiences whereas it appeared that Avidan sang as if he wished to become one with us through his music. Continue reading →

Feb 07

Admiral Kittypants Presents: PENDING

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Admiral Kittypants Presents:

Pending:
The production will run for two performances on May 30 & 31, 2014 at Responsible Grace Church in Davis Square. Auditions will be in March. A modest stipend is available. Persons filling these positions will be expected to aid in basic marketing, and PR development.

For more information, interested parties should email Kitty Drexel at blognetheatregeek@gmail.com with the position in the subject line. Please include resume and description of intent in the email.

Website: https://www.netheatregeek.com/admiral-kittypants-full-frontal-artistry/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AdmiralKittypantsFFA

Mascot, Admiral Dudley T. Kittypants

Mascot, Admiral Dudley T. Kittypants

 

Jan 16

Performing Fusion Theatre presents the Somerville Theatre Festival

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Performing Fusion Theatre presents the Somerville Theatre Festival, an exciting weekend of short plays, music, food and drink.

Please join us at The Somerville Center for Arts at the Armory on January 24th and 25th, 2014. Show starts at 7:15pm and will showcase the same plays both nights.
Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Cash and credit bar for food/drink.
Free parking is available behind the Armory or in their overflow lot (allow a little extra time!). The Armory is just a 15 minute walk from the Davis T (Redline) and is accessible by several bus lines.

Buy tickets here:
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/somerville-theatre-festival-tickets-8575865645

The plays include:

  • Angled Light, by Andrea Fleck Clardy
  • Take Out The Trash, by Con Chapman
  • Drinks, Dinner, and DNA and Press Pray, by Seth Freeman
  • Caliban’s, by Raymond Salcedo
  • The Space Behind Her Heart, by Steven Simoncic
  • It Doesn’t and The Philosophy of Dog, by George Smart
  • After Death and Another Day in Paradise, by Joe Starzyk

The festival takes place at The Center for Arts at the Armory. You can learn more and get tickets at the festival’s eventbrite page.

Mission

Performing Fusion Theatre’s mission is to promote multiculturalism by producing work that showcases multicultural talent, provides a space for shared culture through the integration of other art forms, and unifies members of the greater Boston community by exposing them to a creative atmosphere which idealizes cultural pluralism and equality. A crucial element to the realization of Performing Fusion’s mission is to encourage intercultural dialogue between all members of the community, while actively giving a voice to our underrepresented members, including women and people of color, and those of the LGBT, disabled, foreign born, and/or otherwise politically alienated identities. Performing Fusion will stage transformative theatre that fosters intercultural value, acceptance and openness to understanding our differences. Our theatre will encourage work which may embody history, but speaks to issues currently affecting the intercultural community.

Jan 07

Regarding the Best of the Biz We Call Show in 2013

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Dearest Readers,

In the new year, after reflecting on what has been good and what has been bad in 2013, I can honestly say, that the best theatre I’ve seen all year was the show I saw at that one venue, playing on a day that ends in “Y,” in the city of Blerg.

People should get out and see theatre. All theatre. Because it’s usually good to someone. You won’t know until you attend. The only opinion that should truly matter to you is your own*.

With Love,
The Queen Geek

P.S. While you’re at it, go ahead and make some too.

*Except for this blog. My Geeks are awesome.

Jan 07

As in Life, “Working” is a Mixed Bag

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Photo by Mark S. Howard for Lyric Stage Co of Boston; The Cast.

Presented by The Lyric Stage Company of Boston
Based on the book, Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do, by Studs Terkel.
Adapted by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso.
Additional contributions by Gordon Greenberg. Songs by Craig Carnella, Micki Grant, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mary Rodgers and Susan Birkenhead, Stephen Schwartz, James Taylor.
Directed & Choreographed by Ilyse Robbins
Music Direction by Jonathan Goldberg

January 3 to February 1, 2014
140 Clarendon St.
Boston, MA
The Lyric on Facebook

Running time: Approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes with no intermission.

Review by Kitty Drexel

Boston) Studs Terkel’s book Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do is a collection of essays/interviews with Americans in the workforce. It spans a variety of jobs and careers while exploring the motivations behind the work the subjects do. The employed and unemployed look for recognition, justification and greater purpose looking for recognition in the work that we do. The musical, Working adapted by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso, uses samples from Terkel’s book to bring the dialogue to the stage. Continue reading →