Tag Archives: Boston

Feb 20

Wham! Comic mischief in “Flora & Ulysses”

Posted on by

Photo courtesy of Nile Scott Studios.

Presented by Wheelock Family Theatre
Adapted for the stage by John Glore
Based on the book by Kate DiCamillo
Directed by Joshua Rashon Streeter
Composed and Sound Designed by Mackenzie Adamick
Puppet Design by Amanda Gibson
Projection Design by Justin Lahue
Props Design by Saskia Martinez
Scenic Design by Danielle Delafuente
Costume Design by Nia Safarr Banks
Lighting Design by Lawrence A. Ware

Online playbill

February 15 – March 9, 2025
Wheelock Family Theatre
Boston University; Fenway Campus
200 The Riverway
Boston,  MA 02215

Critique by Helen Ganley

BOSTON — Common media often asserts that heroes come in all shapes and sizes, citing a range that stretches from DC’s Doll Man (thirteen inches tall, with an attitude) to Marvel’s Stature (fifty feet and fighting with the Young Avengers). But does this spectrum include a flying, super-strong, philosophy-spouting squirrel? Wheelock Family Theatre’s Flora & Ulysses expands the superhero multiverse beyond traditional humanity, following the story of a comic-obsessed 10-year-old girl and her unlikely superhero protégé as they navigate the trials of suburbia. Continue reading →

Jan 28

Stuck and Bored at the End of the Line: C1’s “Haunted”

Posted on by

Presented by Company One Theatre produced in partnership with the Boston Public Library with support from the National New Play Network and the Rolling World Premiere Program
Written, directed and choreographed by Tara Moses
Dramaturgy by Quita Sullivan
Fight choreography by Marisa Diamond
Community Advisor: Maria Hendricks

Jan. 24 – Feb. 15, 2025
Rabb Hall at the Boston Public Library, Central Branch
700 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116

Critique by Noelani Kamelamela

BOSTON — Comparisons between Tara Moses’ “Haunted”, Antoinette Nwandu’s “Pass Over” and Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” are inevitable. So, yes, there are two main characters waiting for something in this play and amusing each other while they pass the time. I admit it. Fine. That’s it, that’s all I’m saying about those connections. 

Below the surface, “Haunted” brings to life two young indigenous ghosts, Ash (Bradley Lewis) and Aaron (Chingwe Padraig Sullivan), who are rooted in one place while it changes around them. They constantly opine and long for freedom. One of their comforts and constants, the well-known hits of the early 2000s, provides emotional escape, but also constant reminders of how stuck and bored they have become. Continue reading →

Dec 03

Lucky Number 7: “The Jinkx and DeLa Holiday Show”

Posted on by

Photo credit: Jacob Ritts

The Jinkx and DeLa Holiday Show
Presented by Boch Center Wang Theatre
Created & Written by BenDeLaCreme & Jinkx Monsoon
Director: BenDeLaCreme
Choreographer: Chloe Albin
Movement Direction by BenDeLaCreme
Original Compositions by Major Scales
Lyrics: BenDeLaCreme, Jinkx Monsoon, & Major Scales
Music Production: Markaholic & Keith Harrison
Starring: BenDeLaCreme & Jinkx Monsoon
Featuring: Chloe Albin, Mr. Babygirl, Jace Gonzalez, Ruby Mimosa, Derrick Paris, Scott Spraags, and Gus Lanza as “Hunky the Elf”

Dec. 2, 2024
Wang Theatre at Boch Center
270 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02116

Critique by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON – December marks the start of a very special time for us in Boston. No, it’s not the Baby Jesus’ red and green capitalist wet dream known as Christmas. It’s the month when The Jinkx and DeLa Holiday Show visits Boston to spread cheer (and legs) across the land, sillies. Merry Kwanzanukkahdad and Mele New Year, the holiday season has begun!  Continue reading →

Dec 02

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

Posted on by

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 27

Plucky Repertory at BPT: “How to Not Save the World with Mr. Bezos” & “Soft Star”

Posted on by

Presented by Boston Playwrights’ Theatre 
Produced in collaboration with the Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Theatre.
BPT’s Fall Rep Festival

How to Not Save the World with Mr. Bezos by Maggie Kearnan
Directed by Taylor Stark
Intimacy and violence choreography by Jess Scout Malone
Special effects by Lynn Wilcott
Featuring: Becca A. Lewis, Mark W. Soucy, Robbie Rodriguez

Soft Star by Tina Esper
Directed by Bridget Kathleen O’Leary
Intimacy & Violence Choreographer: Jess Scout Malone
Featuring: Annika Bolton, Mairéad O’Neill, Jesse Kodama, Kamran Bina

November 7-24, 2024 
Boston Playwrights’ Theatre (now with a water fountain!) 
Kate Snodgrass Stage
949 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215

Critique by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON — Boston Playwrights’ Theatre presents two plays as part of its Fall Rep Festival: How to Not Save the World with Mr. Bezos by Maggie Kearnan, a fictional interview with the nonfictional journalist, and Soft Star, a play about secrets between best friends, by Tina Esper. 

While they are running in repertory with each other, these plays will not be critiqued by the same standards. The scripts are at different levels of development: Bezos is nearly if not fully completed; Soft Star requires some tweaking and that’s okay; that’s why BPT exists.   

This critique discusses both plays in the order I viewed them. Both plays ran through Nov. 24 on different days on the Kate Snodgrass Stage at BPT. Their runs have ended but their legacy will live on.   Continue reading →

Nov 26

A Peek Inside the Funhouse of Our Minds: “Mindplay”

Posted on by

“Mindplay” photo by Chris Ruggiero.

Presented by the Huntington Theatre Company
Created by Vinny DePonto
Written by Vinny DePonto and Josh Koenigsberg
Director – Andrew Neisler
Scenic Design – Sibyl Wickersheimer
Lighting Design – Christopher Bowser
Sound Design – Kathy Ruvuna
Composer – Alex Harris

November 13 – December 1, 2024
Calderwood Pavilion
527 Tremont Street,
Boston, MA 02115

Critique by Craig Idlebrook

1.5 hours with no intermission

May be too intense for younger children

BOSTON — Towards the beginning of the intriguing one-man show Mindplay, mentalist Vinny DePonto was frank with the audience, telling them that the mind was easily manipulatable, and that he was good at doing it. DePonto was true to his word, as he mesmerized the audience with his quiet charm, sharp memory, and his apparent gift to read minds. However, the mentalist later attempted to mix frankness with artifice when he chose to tell his own story with a dazzling stage display as a prop, and this momentarily threatened to break the show’s spell. It may have been his greatest trick to still create a captivating theatrical experience despite this misstep. Continue reading →

Nov 20

Inside and Outside of Time: Hub’s “Tartuffe”

Posted on by

Photo by Benjamin Rose Photography

Presented by Hub Theatre Company of Boston
By Moliere
Translated by Richard Wilbur 
Director – Bryn Boice
Sound Design – Mackenzie Adamick
​Set Design – Justin Lahue
Costume Design –  Marissa Wolf
Lighting Design/ME – Nars Kelliher
Props Designer – Julia Wonkka

Featuring: Steve Auger, Lily Ayotte, Jeremy Beazlie, Patrick Vincent Curran, Lauren Elias, June Kfoury, Brendan O’Neill, Brooks Reeves, Laura Rocklyn, Kayla Sessoms, Robert Thorpe

Nov. 9 – Nov. 24, 2024
Boston Center for the Arts
539 Tremont St
Boston, MA 02116

Critique by Kitty Drexel

Two hours with one intermission
Appropriate for ages 13+

BOSTON — Hub Theatre Company’s Tartuffe is fun. It’s one of the better adaptations of Moliere’s play you’ll see in the next four years. No doubt, we will see quite a few performances of Tartuffe and other satires in the next four+ years. It’s better seeing satiric buffoonery on the stage now rather than the unfunny buffoonery we’ll see play out on the political stage coming this January.  Continue reading →

Nov 11

This Place Must Yield Something Good: “Sojourners”

Posted on by

Abigail C. Onwunali, Asha Basha Duniani in Sojourners; photo by Marc J. Franklin.

Presented by The Huntington 
Written by Mfoniso Udofia
Directed by Dawn M. Simmons
Dramaturgy by Christine Mok
Voice and dialect coaching by Dawn-Elin Fraser
Fight Director & Intimacy Coaching by Brian C Green
Featuring: Asha Basha Duniani, Nomè SiDone, Abigail C. Onwunali, Joshua Olumide 

Oct. 31 – Dec. 1, 2024
The Huntington Theatre
264 Huntington Ave. 
Boston, MA 02115

Critique by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON — Wednesday, November 6 was a lot. It should have been an occasion for much rejoicing. I can’t have been the only person who expected- whether innocently or obtusely- to celebrate the first female president of color as Boston celebrated Sojourners, the first play of Mfoniso Udofia’s Ufot Cycle at The Huntington. Instead, my heart was in my stomach and between my teeth. I am terrified for my friends, my found family, my community and our children’s children. May they forgive us. 

But, let history remember: We did celebrate Sojourners! Our community gathered at 264 Huntington Ave to rightly praise Udofia, Dawn M Simmons, their cast, crew, production staff, and community leaders for the beginning of a most intrepid, two-year project – to stage and witness Udofia’s complete Ufot Cycle as a unified city of great theatremakers and artists. (A list of involved companies is HERE.) 

Mayor Michelle Wu proclaimed Nov. 6 Mfoniso Udofia Day in Boston before the play started. There was cheering from the swankily dressed crowd. It was a happy moment before a gorgeous play that capped a sad day for the history books.  Continue reading →

Oct 22

Beating Back the Leviathan of Mediocrity: “Pru Payne”

Posted on by

Karen MacDonald and Gordon Clapp; Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company
Written by Steven Drukman
Directed by Paul Daigneault
Intimacy Direction by Jesse Hinson
Featuring: Marianna Bassham, Gordon Clapp, De’Lon Grant, Karen MacDonald, Greg Maraio

Oct 18 – Nov 16, 2024
Boston Center for the Arts
527 Tremont St
Boston, MA 02116

Critique by Kitty Drexel

“The first thing I do in the morning is brush my teeth and sharpen my tongue.”

― Dorothy Parker

BOSTON — It’s another excellent production from SpeakEasy Stage and the last non-musical from director Paul Daigneault before he moves to different things. Pru Payne by Steven Drukman is at the Calderwood Pavilion through Nov. 16.

Pru Payne (New England grand dame, Karen MacDonald) is a New York theatre critic with strong opinions, a caustic wit and decades of education and experience who finds herself writing her memoirs when the play begins. She’s trying to write, but she’s experiencing memory lapses. Her son Thomas (De’Lon Grant) sets her up at a state-of-the-art research facility. There, Pru meets Gus Cudahy (Gordon Clapp), a salt-of-the-earth custodial engineer with a heart of gold.  Continue reading →

Oct 13

Controlled Chaos: “Nassim”

Posted on by

Jared Bowen in “Nassim.” Photo credit: Mike Ritter.

Presented by The Huntington
Written and Performed by Nassim Soleimanpour
With a different local, featured artist for each performance
Directed by Omar Elerian

October 4 – October 27, 2024
The Huntington Calderwood
527 Tremont St. Boston, MA 02116

The digital playbill

Review by Noe Kamelamela

BOSTON — I consume a decent amount of theatre every two weeks, and I go primarily because I enjoy the audiences in Boston. Even when I occasionally go to the movies or a concert, I sit in an active, mostly respectful crowd. To me, Boston folks seem sedate and also cheerful at most shows. I suspect that is because they are sitting down and not driving a car at the time. It is rare that we, the patrons, disrupt the proceedings. It’s also rare to be asked or expected to engage with anyone onstage. Nassim is a mainstage show where an audience member should expect regular interaction.

The Huntington’s synopsis: “Each night a different VIP performs, while the script waits unseen in a sealed box…Nassim is toured globally and is translated and performed in the native language of each country.”

We are introduced to our mainstage entertainer who then must meet the playwright. Once they have truly met despite language and cultural barriers, they both work together to tell a story in the playwright’s native tongue, with mixed success depending on the performance’s audience. It felt more that we were all part of the show, but it was not just performance art, rather it was the ritual of theatre that included us and our input. Continue reading →