Tag Archives: Boston

Jul 16

Compassion, Uniqueness, Nerve and Talent: HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH

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Photo by Na Eun Park, nabbed from https://www.facebook.com/HedwigOnStage

Produced by Rose Tinted Productions
Presented by Oberon, A.R.T.
By John Cameron Mitchell
Score by Stephen Trask
Directed by Ben Skinner

July 14, 2013
Club Oberon
Cambridge, MA

July 16, 8:30 PM > 10:00
Outside The Box Festival
Boston Common: Spiegeltent at Tremont Street
Boston, MA
Hedwig on Facebook

“Honey, if you can’t love yourself, how the hell you gonna love someone else?…..Can I get an amen?”
– RuPaul
RuPaul’s Drag Race, seasons 1 – Eternity

(Cambridge) It is difficult to come up with something new to say about Hedwig and her angry inch. It’s an amazing show with brilliant music. It’s easy to do well as long as the leading lady gives herself freely to her audience and the art. Even bad performances can be good so long as the performers remain sincere. Rose Tinted Productions’ version of Hedwige and the Angry Inch sits somewhere in the middle – it’s not mediocre but it isn’t revolutionary either. The cast, band and crew are dedicated to Hedwig’s story. That’s more than enough reason to attend. Continue reading →

Jul 15

The Theory of Everything Explained: “Supergravity and the Eleventh Dimension”

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Photo Credit: Paul Cantillon, LIDEC Photo

Presented by Vagabond Theatre Group
By Heather Houston
Directed by James Peter Sotis

July 11 – 20, 2013
The Factory Theatre
Boston, MA
Vagabond Theatre Group Facebook Page

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Boston) Einstein’s Law of Thermodynamics states that “energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another.” This quote from a beloved theoretical physicist describes the natural state of constant flux in the world around us. This quote is often bastardized by Religion* to explain the existence of God, a Super-creator from whence all the energy of life flows. God must exist, they paraphrase, because the energy to create the universe must have come from somewhere… It must have come from God! Ladies and Gentlemen, God and Science can sit at the same table but this isn’t the room they sit in. Continue reading →

Jul 15

But still, like terrible comments on unmoderated blogs, I’ll rise: PAPER CITY PHOENIX

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Photo Credit: Boston Actors Theater

Presented by Boston Actors Theater
By Walt McGough
Directed by Melanie Garber

July 12-27
Boston Playwrights’ Theatre
Boston, MA
Boston Actors Theater Facebook Page

Review by Noe Kamelamela

(Boston) For the past nine years, Boston Actor’s Theater has made every effort to involve community in choosing and putting on performances that have distinct flavor.  Their latest production of local playwright Walt McGough’s salute to The Connected Era is an homage to the Internet and how we, as users, understand and relate to it. Continue reading →

Jul 09

You Only Live Twice!

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Photo care of Vaquero Playground

You Only Live Twice!

Summer heat too much for you?  Cool your heels with us in #DENMARK – back for ONE NIGHT ONLY!
Wednesday, July 17th 9pm
Boston Common Spiegeltent
FREE

Vaquero Playground is pleased to bring you a One-Nite-Only reprise of DENMARK as part of the Outside The Box Festival, a fab arts fest happening on and around the Boston Common.

And you know what?  It’s all FREE.

Check out the kick ass trailer, re-vamped for summer.

And don’t forget to check out the full schedule of events at the festival such as:
Danny Bryck’s No Room for Wishing
Puppet Showplace Theatre
Liars & Believers’ ICARUS
Awesome poets and performers of ARTiculation
Mary Bichner (who’s Much Ado About Skyfall featured on our compilation CD for DENMARK!)

The fest runs July 13 – 21 and there’s a whole lot of great stuff, all of it FREE.  Be sure to check it out!

You can still purchase the FDWL ALBUM or DenmART on the V.P. website – all created by local artists and all proceeds go right back to them!

Jul 08

“Nicky Park Memorial Park”: Lonely Girl Seeks Ghost Companion

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Presented by The Circuit Theatre Company
A rock musical by Ned Riseley and Deepali Gupta
Directed by Abby Colella

July 5-7, 2013
Boston Playwrights’ Theatre
Boston, MA
The Circuit Theatre Co Facebook Page

Review by Gillian Daniels

(Boston) Referred to only as “Girl” in the cast list, it feels as if Ellie Shepley’s character in Nicky Park Memorial Park is meant to embody some sort of universal narrative of being a young woman. Instead, Deepali Gupta’s play distills what it means to be thoughtful and introspective.  The result is a drama about figurative and literal ghosts of the past, a love letter to nostalgia that never quite crystallizes into a story. Continue reading →

Jul 08

Free Shakespeare in the Park: “Two Gentlemen of Verona”

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http://www.commshakes.org/system/storage/222/65/a/640/2_gents_website.jpg

Music Director, Colin Thurmond
Set Designer, Beowulf Boritt
Sound Designer, J. Hagenbuckle
Lighting Designer, Eric Southern
Costume Designer, Nancy Leary

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company Main Page, Facebook Page
Boston Common venue
Comm Shakes FAQ page

“Two Gents” tells the tale of two friends who leave their hometown of Verona to find their happy fortunes in Milan. Instead, they find temptation, trickery, and trouble as they vie for favor with the high-society Duke… and his debutante daughter. All are drawn into a web of disguise and secrecy where the last thing anyone wants is for the truth to surface — least of all the dog.

Inspired by Rat Pack-era Vegas — the glamor, the hedonism, and the morning after agonies — the production brings new meaning to the line “what happens in Milan, stays in Milan…”

SPECIAL PERFORMANCES AND EVENTS:
JULY 18TH: AUDIO-DESCRIBED PERFORMANCE
JULY 21ST: ASL-INTERPRETED PERFORMANCE
JULY 26TH: “FAMILY DAY” AND “FREE FUN FRIDAY”
JULY 27TH @ 2PM: ASL-INTERPRETED PERFORMANCE

Jun 30

When a Cigar is Everything: A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

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presented by Wax Wings Productions
by Tennessee Williams
Directed by Vicki Schairer

@ the Factory Theatre
Boston, MA
June 27th – July 7th, 2013
Wax Wings Facebook Page

Review by Craig Idlebrook

(Boston) Over time, A Streetcar Named Desire has become like that favorite album you skip over in shuffle to keep special. Oft quoted but performed less and less, it sits on the shelf of American theatre and gathers dust and pious weight until some community theatre takes it down and puts on an ill-advised, chest-beating version down in a church basement. That’s partly because it can seem such a dated portrait of overt sexual politics, something that would fit Michelle Bachman’s view of marriage and gay cures, perhaps, but with little relevance in a blue state. Continue reading →

Jun 22

A Shrieking Mess: BLACK COMEDY

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Photo Credit: The Happy Medium Theatre Co. Where can I get that dress?

Photo Credit: The Happy Medium Theatre Co. Where can I get that dress? – Kitty

presented by Happy Medium Theatre
by Peter Shaffer
Co-Directed by Lizette M. Morris and Michael Underhill

@ The Factory Theatre
Boston, MA
June 14th – June 22nd, 2013
Happy Medium Facebook Page

Review by Craig Idlebrook

(Boston) There is the top, there is going over the top and then there is trampling on the top and spitting on its grave. You have to hand it to the talented Happy Medium cast that performs Black Comedy; they commit to an outrageously loud and brash style that infuses a punk sensibility to a tired and silly British farce. Each actor delivers their lines with such gusto that it’s like being in a room with a guitarist who cranks the amp up to 11. Unfortunately, this loud performance quickly grates, and it’s impossible to emotionally invest in the offensive, obnoxious and one-dimensional characters. The unfunny end product may waste the energetic performances by some talented actors, but at least there’s no danger of falling asleep. Continue reading →

Jun 12

“Shaping Sound”: Fabulous, Weightless Contortions

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Photo Credit: Shaping Sound website, http://www.shapingsoundco.com/media

Produced by Break The Floor Productions
Created and executed by the Creative Team

Colonial Theatre
Boston, MA
June 10, 2012
Touring Schedule
Shaping Sound Facebook Page

Review by Gillian Daniels

(Boston) Break the Floor Productions’ Shaping Sound is a slick beast.  It unfolds like a series of pop music videos, surreal not in how the company experiments with choreography but in how the dancers create a synchronized smoothness.  Set to artists like Florence and the Machine, Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeroes, and Queen, each number is a crowd-pleasing mechanism of synthesized glamour. Continue reading →

Jun 10

Wistful, Warm and Inconclusive: SELECTED SHORTS ON TOUR: SPRINGTIME, SEX & BASEBALL

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A National Public Radio Production
Hosted by the Huntington Theatre Company

Avenue of the Arts
BU Theatre
June 8th, 2013
Huntington Theatre Co Facebook Page

Review by Craig Idlebrook

Short review: It was great.  You missed it.  Support your public radio.

(Boston) Kidding, kidding, but really what else is there to say?  Take four well-crafted short stories of love, baseball and awkwardness, mix in three superb actors and stir.  Watching the touring production of Selected Shorts is a powerful reminder that we are creatures of narrative.  Whole societies are shaped by storytelling, be it a creation myth or an endearing belief of what a well-regulated militia looks like.  People die for stories, people become president by telling stories.  Without stories we might as well climb back up into the trees (unless you believe in the Christian creation story….see?). Continue reading →