Tag Archives: 2013

Aug 23

Punks That Rock, Plot that Panders: “Rooms, A Rock Romance”

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Photo Credit: Kevin Hadfield for Bad Habit Productions. Kicking ass/Taking names.

presented by Bad Habit Productions
music and lyrics by Paul Scott Goodman
book by Paul Scott Goodman and Miriam Gordon
directed by Daniel Morris
arrangements and orchestrations by Jesse Vargas

The production is in memory of Terri Meilus.

reviewed on August 22, 2013
August 10 – 25, 2013
Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA
Boston, MA
Bad Habit on Facebook

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Boston) Rooms: A Rock Romance is a contemporary rock musical dressed in vintage clothing. It has Folk, New Wave and Pop Rock influences. It sounds like the love child of John Cameron Mitchell and Jonathan Larson if Joni Mitchell was the surrogate and they all lived in Glasgow. It has a rich score well worth a listen. Continue reading →

Aug 22

Strength in Numbers: “Les Miserables”

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Photo Credit: Herb Philpott

presented by Reagle Music Theatre
music by Claude-Michel Schönberg
original French lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel
English-language libretto by Herbert Kretzmer
directed by David Hugo

August 8th – 18th 2013
617 Lexington Street
Waltham Massachusetts
Reagle Music Theatre on Facebook

Review by Kate Lew Idlebrook

(Waltham) What is it about this musical adaptation of Victor Hugo’s epic masterpiece, Les Miserables, that has captivated us since it’s opening in 1985? Perhaps it’s Javert’s fall from grace or Valjean’s salvation? Maybe it’s the rescue of innocents, or the death of innocents? Maybe it’s the music? There are so many reasons to love this musical; no doubt you have your own. But whatever they are, if you love the show, you’re bound to enjoy the Reagle Music Theatre’s production. Continue reading →

Aug 21

Flat Earth Sends “Rocket Man” to the Moon

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Photo via Flat Earth Theatre Facebook page. Awesome sauce.

presented by Flat Earth Theatre
By Steven Dietz
Directed by Lindsay Eagle

August 16 – 24, 2013
Arsenal Center for the Arts
321 Arsenal Street
Watertown, MA
Flat Earth Theatre on Facebook

Review by Gillian Daniels

(Watertown) The center of Rocket Man is the unraveling life of middle-aged divorcee, Donny (Robin Gabrielli), an unsteady center for an unassuming story.  Flat Earth Theatre has certainly taken on a tough show to pull off well.  Newly single and struggling to maintain his relationship with his teenage daughter, Trisha (Mariagrazia LaFauci), Donny is having a slow-moving breakdown.  He fights back with fantasies of traveling to space and going to another reality where time travels backward and his wife, Rita (Korinne T. Ritchey), is still with him. Continue reading →

Aug 20

Indian Sarod Master, Amjad Ali Khan: Sept. 15, 7:30PM

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Photo care of World Music/CRASHarts Press Center

WORLD MUSIC/CRASHarts presents INDIAN SAROD MASTER, AMJAD ALI KHAN
Sunday, September 15, 7:30pm, Berklee Performance Center
Amjad Ali Khan Website
Amjad Ali Khan Facebook
World Music/CRASHarts Facebook

BOSTON, MA — World Music/CRASHarts presents Amjad Ali Khan, from India, on Sunday, September 15, 7:30pm at the Berklee Performance Center, 136 Massachusetts Ave., Boston. Tickets are 48, $42, $37 or $28, reserved seating. For tickets and information call World Music/CRASHarts at (617) 876-4275 or buy online at www.WorldMusic.org.

In a career spanning 50 years, Amjad Ali Khan has single-handedly elevated the sarod to one of the most popular instruments in the Northern Indian tradition. Trained by his father, the legendary Haafiz Ali Khan, Amjad Ali Khan is the sixth in an uninterrupted lineage of music masters. Joining him are his sons, Amaan Ali Khan and Ayaan Ali Khan, who are already beloved as the next generation of masters on this ancient instrument. Two tabla virtuosi will add percussive richness to the ensemble sound.

In the West, the sitar has become better-known than the sarod, but in India both string instruments are held in the highest regard. The sarod is much smaller than the sitar and its sound has a lithe muscularity that is lean and clean, with less of the sitar’s prominent jangling of sympathetic strings. The sarod comes from the Afghan rubab, a folk instrument which still dominates Afghan music today. Amjad Ali Khan’s great great great grandfather, Mohammad Hashmi Khan Bangash brought the rubab to India about 200 years ago, and it was his descendants who gradually transformed the rubab into the sarod as it is known today. The name sarod comes from the Persian ‘sarood’ meaning ‘melody,’ alluding to its more melodic tone.

The sarod has four strings used for playing the melody, plus four drone and rhythm strings and 11 steel sympathetic strings. The strings are plucked with a small plectrum, which can be a hammer or a feather, and the fingerboard is covered with a smooth metal plate which makes it easy to slide from note to note. The range of colors that a player like Amjad Ali Khan can get out of the instrument is truly incredible, justifying the instrument¹s important role in classical Indian instrumental music.

For More Information:

About World Music/CRASHarts
World Music, a non-profit organization established in 1990, is New England¹s premier presenter of global culture, featuring music and dance from the far and near corners of the globe. In 2001, World Music launched CRASHarts as a division of World Music dedicated to presenting a contemporary performing arts series in greater Boston. World Music/CRASHarts strives to offer audiences an opportunity to share in many different cultural and artistic expressions and seeks to foster an atmosphere of discovery and exploration. The organization presents approximately 70 concerts and 15 educational programs per year. For more information, call (617) 876-4275 or visit www.WorldMusic.org.

World Music/CRASHarts is funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency which also receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Aug 14

Cowboys, Ninjas and Robots, Oh My!: THE VALENTINE TRILOGY

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Photo credit to Julie Fox; all super heroes should be required to sing.

Presented by The Circuit Theatre Company
Directed by Skylar Fox

August 2 – 17, 2013
Roberts Studio Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts
Boston, MA
Circuit Theatre Co Facebook Page

Review by Noe Kamelamela

(Boston) There is no such thing as too much thought-provoking theatre.  Sadly, the Circuit Theatre Company’s season must come to an end this weekend.  Their current production of The Valentine Trilogy is a massive and ambitious theatre explosion that ends the summer with an epic bang.  San Valentino and the Melancholy Kid, The Curse of the Crying Heart and Valentine Victorious! are the titles of the three separate plays in which a hero is forged to defeat a great evil across space, time . . . and genre. Continue reading →

Aug 09

Trip the Light Fantastic: Cavalia’s “ODYSSEO”

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Photo Credit: François Bergeron; the show is excruciatingly beautiful.

Presented by Cavalia, Inc.
Directed by Wayne Fowkes
Equestrian Direction and Choreography by Benjamin Aillaud
Choreography by Darren Charles & Alain Gauthier

August 7 – 25, 2013 (extended by demand)
Under the Big Top
Assembly Row
Somerville, MA 02145
Cavalia on Facebook, twitter

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Somerville) If there were a special Heaven divined for equines and the humans who love them to commune in the afterlife, it would look like Cavalia’s Odysseo. These horses are intelligent and strong. They call to mind the unicorn myths handed down through generations. Although, their human companions are equally as gifted, the show is not about Man. It’s about the sinuous beauty of the horse. This spectacle trades on Man’s obsession with these majestic beasts and provides a glimpse into where the obsession comes from. Continue reading →

Aug 05

It’s Only Torture if Organs Fail: “Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them”

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Photo Credit: Titanic Theatre Co’s Facebook page. The company is not afraid of icebergs or snuggles.

By Christopher Durang
Directed by Adam Zahler
Presented by Titanic Theatre Company

July 25-August 10, 2013
Arsenal Center for the Arts
Watertown, MA
Titanic Theatre Co Facebook Page

Review by Kitty Drexel

M for Mature. Actors occasionally appear in their underoos.

(Watertown) The attack on the two towers in NYC and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001 changed the way the United States viewed itself forever. Before that day, many citizens viewed North America as the most powerful entity in the world. After 9/11, we recognized our vulnerability as a country. Almost everyone was looking for answers. There were many who turned to The Arts for catharsis. These same people reacted in anger when artists turned back to them for compassion. The Arts were supposed to provide answers. While coping with the same shock, we artists didn’t know what to do either.

It’s been 12 years since the attacks and the US is still divided. Our media has moved on to bigger and newer things. But our artists are still processing the events and asking questions. The media has given the American people plenty of reasons to explain why Taliban members attacked. Thank goodness for The Arts. Playwright Christopher Durang hasn’t given up on understanding the U.S.’s response to the attacks of 9/11. Rather than focus on the “badness” of Ossama Bin Laden*, Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them ponders the American people’s decade-long reaction from the perspective of western, 20/20 hindsight. He peppers his absurdist play with Dadaism and panic. The script is a sweet bouquet of human experience and dramatic flair. Continue reading →

Aug 02

Bread & Puppet Theater descends on the Cambridge Common: September 1, 2013

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BnPCircus2013

photo by Mark Dannenhauer

Total This & That Circus

Cambridge Common
Sunday, September 1st, 3 pm

(Cambridge, MA 02138) Bread & Puppet Theater: Total This & That Circus. Held outdoors on Sunday, September 1st at 3 pm. On the Cambridge Common, near the intersection of Mass. Ave. and Waterhouse St., Cambridge. Free performance [pass-the-hat donations welcome], rain or shine. For further details, call the Boston-area Bread & Puppet Theater information line 617-286-6694 or log onto www.breadandpuppet.org.

As part of a world-wide birthday celebration of “50 Years of Sublime Arsekicking Puppetry,” the award-winning Bread & Puppet Theater from Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom presents their Total This & That Circus on the Cambridge Common, a public space they used to frequent prior to the mid-1980’s. For the past few years, the company has once again revived its descent upon the park, resurrecting that age old Harvard Square tradition of outdoor theatrical political rabble rousing. Continue reading →

Jul 26

It’s Like A Jungle . . . Sometimes: HOW WE GOT ON

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© Craig Bailey/Perspective Photo

Presented by Company One
by Idris Goodwin
Directed by Summer L. Williams

July 19-August 17
Boston Center for the Arts
Boston, MA
Company One Facebook Page

Review by Noe Kamelamela

(Boston) Company One has spent over a decade in Boston bringing theater to bear on a list of problems, which is nearly as long as their list of awards.  Their latest is a vibrant production that lays down a phat beat for diversity.  The audience I sat in was the most visibly excited and diverse audience I’ve experienced all year, possibly due to one of its key topics:  hip-hop. Continue reading →

Jul 24

Ladies Pondering Lives, Fashion in “Love, Loss, and What I Wore”

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Presented by Hub Theatre Company of Boston
by Nora & Delia Ephron
based on the book by Ilene Beckerman
directed by Paula Plum

July 19 – August 3, 2013
The First Church in Boston
66 Marlborough Street
Boston, MA 02116
Hub Theatre Co of Boston Facebook Page

Review by Gillian Daniels

(Boston) Until recently, I scorned “chick lit” and “chick flicks,” resenting the idea that light, fluffy fare was meant for women alone.  I’ve begun to wonder, however, if the label has been stuck on books and films having to do with women because of how the material is approached or because it’s about women, period.  It’s an insulting, dismissive label and it would be a little too easy to slap it on Love, Loss, and What I Wore. Continue reading →