Tag Archives: Lyric Stage Company

Jan 18

Standing Up as Her Best Self: “Trouble in Mind”

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Patrice Jean-Baptiste, James Turner, Kadahj Bennett, Allison Beauregard, MaConnia Chesser, Bill Mootos, and Davron S. Monroe in Trouble in Mind. Photo by Nile Hawver Nile Scott Shots.

Presented by Lyric Stage Boston
By Alice Childress
Directed by Dawn M. Simmons
Featuring Barlow Adamson, Patrice Jean-Baptiste, Allison Beauregard, Kadahj Bennett, McConnia Chesser, Davron Monroe, Bill Mootos, James Turner, and Robert Walsh

January 12 – February 4, 2024
Lyric Stage Company theatre
140 Clarendon Street
2nd Floor
Boston, MA 02116

Running Time: 2 hours and 20 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission.  

Masks are strongly recommended in the theater. 

Critique by Kitty Drexel

Content warning: Overt racism, sexism, identity, class, micro and macro-aggressions, implied casting couch situation, mansplaining

“Psalm 23”
23 – The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
The King James Bible

BOSTON, Mass. — Trouble in Mind at the Lyric Stage in Boston is about the making of a play within a play. It is a well-constructed production. Exceedingly well acted. Beautifully curated. It hurt my heart to watch. 

Theatre has the unfortunate job of telling stories that must be told so we remember the ongoing pain of others. Trouble in Mind reminds us that it isn’t enough to be nice and to mean well. To make the world a better place for everyone, we must be diligent against the forces that would oppress us. We don’t get to pat ourselves on the back for watching this one. Continue reading →

Oct 03

Lyric Stage Company Shares Death of Spiro Veloudos, Producing Artistic Director Emeritus

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Spiro Veloudos. (Courtesy Lyric Stage Company)

BOSTON, Mass. — The Boston theatre community mourns today. 

The Lyric Stage Company of Boston announced the death of Spiro Veloudos, the long-time producing artistic director of Lyric Stage Company of Boston and avid supporter of small and mid-sized theatres, on October 3, 2023. He was 71. 

His death was confirmed on Monday night, October 2, by his sister, Shelia Demetriadis of Richmond, VA.

An accessible-to-all, loving Boston Globe announcement and obituary by Don Aucoin for Spiro Veloudos is available on the Lyric Stage website. 

The Lyric Stage Company sent a note of remembrance, penned by current Producing Artistic Director Courtney O’Connor to its email list at 10:50 AM today. It links to the Aucoin article. 

Spiro Veloudos was the producing director at Lyric Stage Company through 2019. He directed more than 65 productions at the Lyric: Nicholas Nickleby, Avenue Q, Assassins, Souvenir, Death of A Salesman, Noises Off, Superior Donuts, and Into the Woods. He directed ten Sondheim shows over twenty seasons through his Sondheim initiative. 

Veloudos earned the Best Director IRNE and Elliot Norton Awards multiple times. He received the 2006 Elliott Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence, the Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award from Salem State College, and the StageSource Theatre Hero Award (2003). He was named Best Artistic Director by Boston Magazine in 1999.

A more personal obituary for Veloudos is on Honoring Memory. 

Mr. Veloudos, you were a force of good in Boston. You are missed. 

May Mr. Veloudos’ legacy be a blessing to our theatre community.

Boston, MA – 02/23/17 – Spiro Veloudos on the Lyric Stage (Lane Turner/Globe Staff) Reporter: (Don Aucoin) 

Mar 23

Time to shut the door. Just- no more.: “Into the Woods” at Emerson Colonial Theatre

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(L to R) Stephanie J. Block and Sebastian Arcelus
Credit: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade

Presented by Emerson Colonial Theatre
A New York City Center Encores Production
Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by James Lapine
Directed by Lear deBessonet
Music directed by John Bell
Choreographed by Lorin Latarro
Music Supervisor: Rob Berman
Puppet design by James Ortiz

March 21 – April 2, 2023
Emerson Colonial Theatre
106 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116
Playbill

Review by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON, Mass. — The Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Tony-winning musical Into the Woods is on tour and is now performing at the Emerson Colonial Theatre through April 2. Broadway stars reprising their roles are Montego Glover as The Witch, Stephanie J. Block as The Baker’s Wife, Sebastian Arcelus as The Baker and Gavin Creel as Cinderella’s Prince/Wolf. Lear deBessonet directs this New York City Center Encores Production. John Bell music directs; Lorin Latarro choreographs; the puppet design is by James Ortiz. 

Boston audiences saw Into the Woods grace the regional stage via the Lyric Stage Company’s 2014 production. It was directed by our own Spiro Veloudos and music directed by Catherine Stornetta. It coincided with the release of the Disney movie in movie theatres that year. The 2023 touring production has the same magic and pizzaz but on a much larger scale.  Continue reading →

May 05

The Politics of Punching Down: “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder”

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Jennifer Ellis, Robert St. Laurence*, Kate Klika, Phil Tayler, Jared Troilo*, Lori L’Italien, Aimee Doherty*, Todd McNeel, Jr., Leigh Barrett*. Photo by Mark S. Howard.

Presented by The Lyric Stage Company of Boston
Music and Lyrics by Steven Lutvak
Book and Lyrics by Robert L. Freedman
Directed by Spiro Veloudos
Music Direction by Matthew Stern
Choreography by Larry Sousa

April 15 – May 22, 2022
Lyric Stage Company
40 Clarendon St
Boston, MA
Tickets

Critique by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

BOSTON, Mass. — Laughter is never neutral. Whiteness is never neutral. A comedy of manners might stake the claim that farce is some great, humanizing equalizer, but humor is inherently directional: someone is always doing the laughing, and something, or someone, is always being laughed at.

A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, which won the Tony in 2014 for Best Musical, is vague about its directionality. Ostensibly, we’re laughing at the hypocritical mores of upper crust Edwardian England, but we’re just as often prompted to laugh at, for example, effeminate men, hyper-feminine women, or the “exotic” peoples suffering under the thumb of colonialism offstage. Continue reading →

Dec 05

Kissing Ass and Dropping Names: “The Tale of The Allergist’s Wife”

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Photo credit: Mark S. Howard

Photo credit: Mark S. Howard. Their mortgage must be astronomical!

Presented by the Lyric Stage Company of Boston
By Charles Busch
Directed by Larry Cohen

Nov. 21 – Dec. 20, 2014
Boston, MA
The Lyric on Facebook

Review by Kitty Drexel

Trigger warnings: nontraditional sexy times, liberal politics, poop jokes

(Boston, MA) Just as Busch’s other works, The Tale of The Allergist’s Wife features a diva resplendent in her advancing glamour, highly stylized hilarity, and juxtaposes low brow against high brow comedy. There is an overwhelming amount of name dropping (philosophers, celebrities, book titles, places, historical events) but this is de rigeur for Busch’s work. Allergist’s Wife wastes no time explaining anything but the emotional realities of its characters (which are diverse and complicated). It’s the product one would get if you bleached the crap out of How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, tossed in a quartet of rich Manhattan intelligentsia, and sauteed in a heaping spoonful of scatological humor. Allergist’s Wife is a highly enjoyable production if you can settle your stomach and keep up.   Continue reading →

Mar 01

Heavy Stagecraft: STONES IN HIS POCKETS

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Photo Credit: Lyric Stage Boston

Photo Credit: Lyric Stage Boston

By Marie Jones
Directed by Courtney O’Connor

The Lyric Stage Company of Boston
140 Clarendon Street
Copley Square
Boston, MA
February 15th – March 16th, 2013
Lyric Stage Company Facebook Page

Review by Craig Idlebrook

Here’s an ambitious idea: Re-film a warm buddy movie like Good Will Hunting, but have Ben Affleck and Matt Damon play all the characters in the movie….oh, and make sure they have flawless accents that represent all that can be found in the United Kingdom, too. It’s either Oscar bait or an actor’s nightmare.

The Irish dramady Stones in his Pockets, now playing at the Lyric Stage Company, is weighed down by this ambitious premise. The production charges the strong cast of Daniel Berger-Jones and Phil Tayler with credibly populating the stage with a bevy of U.K and U.S. characters who, we are to believe, are trying to film a Hollywood movie in Ireland. Masochistically, the play even starts off by talking about how ridiculous actors are when they try to fake the Irish accent, just when the actors are warming up to said accent themselves. A production this ambitious must hit every right note to have a chance, and, unfortunately, there are missteps that weigh it down and never allow it to reach its lofty goals of stagecraft. Continue reading →

Dec 17

A Mishmashed Culture Clash: CHING-LISH

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Photos by Nerys Powell

Photos by Nerys Powell

by David Henry Hwang
directed by Larry Coen
Lyric Stage Company
140 Clarendon St
Boston, MA
November 30th – December 23rd, 2012
Lyric Stage Facebook Page

Review by Craig Idlebrook

(Boston) There is something that can be excruciatingly transcendent about trying to communicate in a foreign language.  For one thing, you must forgo words like “excruciatingly” and “transcendent” for utilitarian expressions and gesticulations to get the job done.  You must expose yourself to ridicule and connect in a raw and childlike way in the hope that others will understand you.  If you stick with the process, it’s easy to believe your artifice is stripped away in the process to reveal the real you. Continue reading →