Dan Kremer and Rebecca Harris. Photo by Meghan Moore.
Ghost-Writer by Michael Hollinger, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, 4/19/12-5/13/12, http://www.merrimackrep.org/season/show.aspx?sid=109.
Reviewed by Craig Idlebrook
(Lowell, MA) The author starts with a blank page. It fills with words. From where do the words come? That is the underlying mystery of Merrimack Repertory Theatre’s masterful production of Ghost-Writer. Continue reading
T: An MBTA Musical Starts 6/8/12 at Club Oberon in Cambridge, MA.
photo credit: Elizabeth Woodward (from last year's production.)
Interview by Becca Kidwell
They’re ba-ack…Alice, John, and Michelle return to thwart the troublesome MBTA. On June 8th, T: An MBTA Musical, the surprising smash hit of last summer, makes stops at Club Oberon. Where do ideas for musicals come from? Melissa Carubia, the show’s composer, takes us on the underground journey.
25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, music and lyrics by William Finn, book by Rachel Sheinkin, Turtle Lane Playhouse, 4/13/12-4/29/12, http://www.turtlelane.org/showdetail.php?show=SpellingBee.
Reviewed by Becca Kidwell
(Auburndale, MA) Healthy competition is good for children!–Well, that’s what everyone says. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee tells a story that soccer and hockey parents have been learning in the past few years: kids still need to be kids. It’s hard enough to adjust to the physical, social, emotional changes without being expected to act like an adult. Continue reading
Nikkole Salter and McCaleb Burnett in Kirsten Greenidge’s THE LUCK OF THE IRISH. March 30 – April 29, 2012 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. huntingtontheatre.org. Photo: T. Charles Erickson.
The Luck of the Irish by Kirsten Greenidge, Huntington Theatre Company, Boston Center for the Arts Virginia Wimberly Theatre, 3/30/12-5/6/12, http://www.huntingtontheatre.org/season/2011-2012/The-Luck-of-the-Irish/.
Reviewed by Gillian Daniels
(Boston, MA) When the upwardly mobile Lucy and Rex Taylor (Nikkole Salter and Victor Williams, respectively) are unable to buy a house in Boston because they’re black, they turn to Patty Ann and Joe Donovan (Marianna Bassham and McCaleb Burnett) to buy one for them during the 1950’s. The complex relationship this creates between them bleeds over into the early 2000’s when the Harrisons’ grandchildren discover the elderly Donovans want the house back. The drama that results is tight and enjoyable. Continue reading
Steve Kidd, Will McGarrahan, Victor L. Shopov, & Shelley Bolman in The Temperamentals. Photo by Mark S. Howard
The Tempermentals by Jon Marans, Lyric Stage Company, 3/30/12-4/28/12, https://lyricstage.com/
main_stage/the_temperamentals/.
Reviewed by Craig Idlebrook
The oppressed can’t name their condition without fear of reprisal. They can’t gather together. They can’t escape their condition in the traditional refuges of family, community, friendship and sex. Imagine trying to create change swimming against such a tide. Continue reading
Long Day’s Journey Into Night by Eugene O’Neill, New Repertory Theatre, Charles Mosesian Theater at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, 4/1/12-4/22/12, http://newrep.org/long_days.php.
Reviewed by Craig Idlebrook
(Watertown, MA) Inconvenient truths sometimes come from the mouth of the mad, from those with the least to lose. From the most hopeless in the New Repertory Theatre’s unflinching drama Long Day’s Journey into Night, we receive the troubling message that you can’t outrun the past. If the past is not dealt with, it can rise from the grave and overtake the present and the future. Along with this, we also learn that perhaps you should ask your doctor about possible side effects before taking any new medication. Continue reading
Phil Tayler as Floyd Collins, photo by Sharman Altshuler
Floyd Collins, Music and Lyrics by Adam Guettal, Book and Additional Lyrics by Tina Landau, Moonbox Productions, Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre, 4/5/12-4/15/12, http://www.moonboxproductions.org/.
Reviewed by Craig Idlebrook
(Boston, MA) There are many ways to be trapped. For some thrill-seekers, the risk of death and the short life it might bring is a better alternative than dying incrementally in quiet desperation. Continue reading
On Ego by Mick Gordon (playwright) and Paul Broks (neuroscientist), Science Fiction Theatre Company, Factory Theatre, 3/30/12-4/15/12, http://www.sciencefictiontheatrecompany.com/.
Reviewed by Becca Kidwell
(Boston, MA) Quantum Leap and Star Trek have enticed us with the possibility of travelling through time and space through a transporter of some sort. When I used to work an hour and a half away from my home, I longed for a teleportation device that would transport me home in the blink of an eye.
But while the fiction is intriguing, the science leaves a lot of mystery and questions before we take that leap. Continue reading
Alison Meirowitz and Mr. Limbs, photo credit Apollinaire Theatre Company
Smudge by Rachel Axler, Apollinaire Theatre Company, Chelsea Theatre Works, 3/23/12-4/21/12, http://www.apollinairetheatre.com/productions/productions.html, in repertory with Cut by Crystal Skillman.
Reviewed by Gillian Daniels
(Chelsea, MA) New parents Colby (Allison Meirowitz) and Nick (Chris LaVoie) find themselves with a newborn of monstrous description. Multi-colored feeding tubes pour upward out of her bassinet and occasional beeps indicate a life support system, but said child is never seen. We’re only told she has one eye and a body that narrows to a single limb. Characters imply the baby may not even be human, but regardless of what she is, the newborn certainly isn’t what was expected. Continue reading
Danni, Mom, and Gabrielle at the mall — with Jo d'Angelo and Jenny Reagan., photo credit: Boston Actors' Theatre
Expecting by Noah Tobin, Boston Actors’ Theatre, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, 3/30/12-4/7/12, http://www.bostonactorstheater.com/.
Reviewed by Kate Lonberg-Lew
(Boston, MA) Have you ever found your cell phone lying on the back seat after ripping open the box of the replacement? Or perhaps you found your watch at the bottom of the hamper after strapping on your new Swatch? Somehow, we always manage to find what we’re looking for the moment we stop looking for it. This is what Expecting, currently at the Boston Actors Theater, is all about and the experience is wonderfully complex. Continue reading
