Tag Archives: Boston

Nov 03

Happiness is the Only Life Plan: TIGER STYLE!

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Presented by the Huntington Theatre Company
Written by Mike Lew
Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel

Oct. 14 – Nov. 20, 2016 Extended!
South End
Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA
Boston, MA
Huntington on Facebook

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Boston, MA) After a certain point, it’s your own fault if your “messed up” childhood is still ruining your adult life. If you live in your own space, have a real job(s), pay taxes or equivalent, date people your parents haven’t vetted, etc., then you’re old enough to work out some of the trauma they caused you with a therapist or dominatrix. You can’t blame your parents for how you choose to live after you’ve moved out. Adulthood means you get to choose what that means. What that means is get your stuff constructively sorted. Continue reading →

Nov 02

Shakespeare…with Zombies: “Twelfth Night of the Living Dead”

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Photo courtesy of Anthem's Facebook page

Photo courtesy of Anthem’s Facebook page

Presented by Anthem Theatre Company
Based on the work by William Shakespeare
Script by Brian MacInnis Smallwood
Directed by Bryn Boice

October 27 – November 5, 2016
Plaza Black Box Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts
Boston, MA
Anthem on Facebook

Review by Craig Idlebrook

(Boston, MA) I’m going to make a case for why Twelfth Night of the Living Dead, a mashup of Shakespeare and zombie movies, rises above its original source material. And I’m making this case post-Halloween, so I’m not gripped with Salem festival-like fever. Continue reading →

Oct 27

Beautiful and Painful: “The Scottsboro Boys”

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Nile Hawver / Nile Scott Shots; The ensemble getting down.

Nile Hawver / Nile Scott Shots; The ensemble getting down.

Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company
Music and Lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb
Book by David Thompson
Original Direction and Choreography by Susan Stroman
Directed by Paul Daigneault
Musical Direction by Matthew Stern
Choreography by Ilyse Robbins

October 21 – November 26
Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts
527 Tremont Street
Speakeasy on Facebook

Review by Danielle Rosvally

(Boston, MA) It’s difficult to know what to say about The Scottsboro Boys.  The piece is uncomfortable to watch not because of its incredible talent or flawless direction and design, but rather because it’s meant to be uncomfortable to watch.  The show is a remixed account of the historical case of The Scottsboro Boys, nine young black men who in 1931 were accused of raping two white women on a train, told through the lens of American Minstrelsy.  Performed with gusto and amazing energy, SpeakEasy’s production is a triumph that should be mandatory viewing for any American (particularly in an election year as fraught with the urge to “just give up” as this one has been). Continue reading →

Oct 26

“White Like Me”: Privilege and Politics (or Lack Thereof)

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Puppet Showplace Theater

Photo credit: Puppet Showplace Theater; childhood relics.

Presented by Puppet Showplace Theater
Written, Directed & Performed by Paul Zaloom

October 21 & 22, 2016
32 Station Street
Brookline, MA
Puppet Showplace Theater on Facebook
Puppets at Night

Review by Travis Manni

(Boston, MA) As a young, gay, white male, I try to be aware of my privileges. I experience them a great deal on a daily basis, and what I wanted White Like Me to do was remind me of this in a way that was both poignant and humorous. And while I did have a good time at this show, I was surprised that only the latter turned out to be true. Continue reading →

Oct 17

Sympathy for the Sinner: ABIGAIL/1702

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Photo by Meghan Moore; Rachel Napoleon and Jon Kovach.

Photo by Meghan Moore; Rachel Napoleon and Jon Kovach.

Presented by Merrimack Repertory Theatre
Script by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Directed by Tlaloc Rivas

October 12 – November 6, 2016
50 East Merrimack Street
Lowell, MA 01852
MRT on Facebook

Review by Craig Idlebrook

(Lowell, MA) Ever notice that there aren’t many Academy Awards won for performances given in horror films? This might be because such scripts require a form of acting gymnastics – extreme emotion in some moments and the ability to deliver silly-sounding lines with a straight face in others. Continue reading →

Oct 06

Figments of the Id: HERE ALL NIGHT

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Presented by ArtsEmerson and Gare St Lazare Ireland
Conceived and created by Judy Hegarty Lovett, Paul Clark, Conor Lovett, Caoimhin O’Raghallaigh
Includes texts from Watt, The Unnamable, First Love, Words and Music, and Malone Dies by Samuel Beckett
Directed by Judy Hegarty Lovett
Composed/music directed by Paul Clark
Additional compositions by Caoimhin O’Raghallaigh

Oct. 5 – 9, 216
Emerson/Paramount Main Stage
Boston, MA
Arts Emerson on Facebook
Gare St Lazare Ireland on Facebook

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Boston, MA) Here All Night is a chamber opera with women’s ensemble based on the works of Irish playwright Samuel Beckett. Let that sink in; it’s a contemporary opera with source texts by the man who wrote Waiting for Godot (among other abstractions). This is not a “normal” piece of pleasant theatre. Buckle your seatbelts and gird your loins, it’s going to be a bumpy night. Continue reading →

Oct 04

Lizzie is Not Herself Today: Angela Carter’s “The Fall River Axe Murders”

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Presented by imaginary beasts
Adapted from the short story by Angela Carter
Directed by Matthew Woods

Oct. 1-22, 2016
Plaza Black Box Theater
Boston Center for the Arts
Boston, MA
Imaginary beasts on Facebook

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Boston, MA) Anyone who lives in NE and isn’t familiar with the Lizzie Borden story, can’t call themselves a native. On August 4, 1892, Lizzie Borden allegedly murdered her father and stepmother with an axe. An axe any family of the times would have kept to chop wood for the kitchen or other necessary household fires. The Borden axe was spectacular for its extracurricular activities only. Continue reading →

Oct 03

“Carmen” Triumphs, Seduces, and Saddens

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© T Charles Erickson Photography; Carmen (Jennifer Johnson Cano) scrawls “love” on the chest of solider Joseph Yonaitis.

Presented by Boston Lyric Opera and San Francisco Opera
Conducted by David Angus
Production by Calixto Bieto
Music by Georges Bizet
Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy

September 23 – October 2, 2016
Boston Opera House
539 Washington Street
Boston, MA 02111
BLO on Facebook

Review by Gillian Daniels

(Boston, MA) So, okay, say you know this girl, right? More of a “broad,” maybe—flirts with the boys but won’t take shit from them, never lies to appease some dude’s ego, takes lovers and throws them away with ease. Say she gets in a tough situation—but it’s hard to say what’s tough for her, really, she’s not from a great background. But she’s in this situation, right? And it’s either go to prison or go home at the end of a long work day at the cigarette factory. So she flirts some with the poor, idiot small town officer that has her captive. Naïve guy, sweet enough. Continue reading →

Sep 29

“Machine” Delivers a Bumpy Ride

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Presented by Arts Emerson
Director, Co-Writer, and Original Idea by Vincent Dubé
A Machine de Cirque Production

September 21 – October 2, 2016
559 Washington St
Boston, MA 02111
Machine de Cirque on Facebook

Review by Gillian Daniels

(Boston, MA) In the face of the neon polish standard that is Cirque de Soleil in the Canadian acrobat scene, Machine de Cirque’s simplicity is real, grim, and refreshing. Here, the stage is covered in junk—bicycles, drums, stripped down scaffolding, juggling pins. The performers who encounter each item play and experiment, piecing the fragments into an act. It’s stunning. Perhaps a bit dark, too, as a viewer is left to wonder where, exactly, these performers are. Are these homeless young men in a junk yard? Or has the apocalypse come and gone, and they’re left with nothing but pieces in the dust of the cataclysm?  Continue reading →

Sep 29

Needs More Lesbian Kissing or No Dick is a Picnic: “Cleanliness, Godliness, and Madness: A User’s Guide”

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Daniels and Wiseman getting sexy with their Republican selves; Photo credit: David Marshall

Daniels and Wiseman getting sexy with their Republican selves; Photo credit: David Marshall. 

Presented by Sleeping Weazel
Written by Charlotte Meehan
Directed by Robbie McCauley

Sept. 15-24, 2016
Boston Center for the Arts
Plaza Black Box Theatre
Boston, MA
Sleeping Weazel on Facebook

Review by Kitty Drexel

My sincerest apologies to the good folks involved with Cleanliness, Godliness and Madness. I’ve been quite ill with what I can only describe as the Devil’s lurgy. I shall endeavor to disallow my human frailty in the face of illness to force my hand (quite literally) in this way ever again.

(Boston, MA) To the lovers of button pushing, wildly liberal avant garde theatre, Cleanliness, Godliness and Madness: A User’s Guide (CGM) has closed. You missed a striking theatrical event. Attempts to remedy this miscalculation should be attempted. Continue reading →