Celebrity Series of Boston presents Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Matthew Rushing, Interim Artistic Director. At the Boch Center Wang Theatre May 2-5, 2024.
By Linda Chin
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, a cultural treasure celebrated for its founder Alvin Ailey’s choreographic genius, his passion for having all people represented and included, and for giving new voices to new choreographers, marks its 65th anniversary with a coast-to-coast tour in 2024. The Boston tour stop’s five-show run at the Boch Center Wang Theatre includes two premieres and a rare revival, and each performance closes with Ailey’s signature piece ‘Revelations.’ The repertory reflects dance diversity and showcases the dancers’ impeccable technique and ability to masterfully move from one dance genre to another.
SpeakEasy Stage Company & Front Porch Arts Collective present ‘A Strange Loop’. Book, Music and Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Music Direction by David Freeman Coleman. Choreographed by Taavon Gamble. Intimacy Direction by Greg Geffrard. Scenic Design by Jon Savage. Costume Design by Becca Jewett. Lighting Design by Brian J. Lilienthal. Sound Design by David Remedios. At the Wimberly Theater at the Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont Street, through May 25th.
By Linda Chin
As if the powerfully personal storytelling and rapturous standing ovation weren’t emotionally overwhelming enough, being part of the moment when director Maurice Emmanuel Parent shared the news that a special guest was in the house – and A Strange Loop’s creator Michael R. Jackson strolled onstage – made my head spin. Watching the Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning playwright praise the production and being so genuinely gracious to the cast, creatives, co-producers, crew, everyone – including the opening night crowds who supported the show’s Boston premiere – gave me goosebumps.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Presented by Celebrity Series of Boston. At Boch Center Wang Theatre through May 5.
By Shelley A. Sackett
There is always a special buzz in the air before the curtain rises on an Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performance, but at Saturday’s matinee, the packed house was positively gaga with anticipation. They were not disappointed. For over two hours, the company thrilled its audience, leaving it enraptured and standing in a deafening ovation.
The Umbrella Stage Company presents THE FULL MONTY. Book by Terrence McNally. Music & Lyrics by David Yazbek. Leigh Barrett, Director. Luke Molloy, Music Director. Najee Brown, Choreographer. Jenna McFarland Lord, Scenic Designer. PJ Strachman, Lighting Designer. Rebecca Glick, Costume Designer. James Cannon, Sound Designer. Gabrielle Hatcher, Properties & Set Dressing. Kat Shanahan, Assistant Director/Wig Designer. At The Umbrella Center for the Arts, Concord, through May 19, 2024.
By Linda Chin
Five pre–pandemic years ago, The Umbrella Stage Company opened its first season in a new state–of–the–art facility – and as Greater Boston’s newest professional theater – with the uplifting classic musical 42nd Street, featuring iconic songs like “Shuffle Off to Buffalo” and iconic actors like Aimee Doherty (as starlet Dorothy Brock) making their Umbrella debuts. Fast forward to the Company’s 2023–24 season closer, The Full Monty, a musical set in a Buffalo that’s not a desirable honeymoon destination but instead is economically depressed. Best buds Jerry Lukowski (Michael Levesque) and Dave Bukatinsky (Tim Lawton) are unemployed steelworkers who are desperate to pay their mortgages, provide for their families, and regain their pride. To do so, they decide to form a troupe of six male strippers called “Hot Metal.” The Full Monty puts several of Boston’s favorite actors in the spotlight, including Doherty (donning her dancing shoes as Vicki Nichols), Will McGarrahan (as her husband turned hot rod Harold Nichols), and Shonna McEachern (as Joanie Lish). Rounding out the sextet of strippers are John Breen (Malcolm), Joshua Wolf Coleman (Horse), and Jacob Thomas Less (Ethan). Coleman, Lawton, Less, McGarrahan, and McEachern are making their debuts at Umbrella, as is Norton & IRNE award–winning theater artist Leigh Barrett, who directs.
‘A Strange Loop’ — Book, Music and Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Music Direction by David Freeman Coleman. Choreographed by Taavon Gamble. Co-produced by SpeakEasy Stage and Front Porch Arts Collective at the Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont Street, through May 25.
By Helen Ganley
Some days, escaping from your inner monologue feels impossible: apprehensions about upcoming appointments, embarrassment about a middle school memory, and tension about why a friend suddenly stopped speaking to you. Suddenly, it’s 3 AM, and you haven’t gotten a wink of sleep. The collaboration between Speakeasy Stage and Front Porch Arts Collective on A Strange Loop epitomizes this cognitive dissonance and the paths one must take to escape the labyrinths of one’s mind.
“The Mermaid Hour” by David Valdes. Directed by Bridget Kathleen O’Leary. Presented by Moonbox Productions, One Arrow Street, Cambridge, through May 19.
There’s a lot to unpack in David Valdes’s The Mermaid Hour, which deals with a trans child, her parents, her peers, and their parents, as well as marriage, the internet, and childrearing in general. If you happen to be a parent witnessing this production, it’s a pretty rocky ride indeed.
‘A Strange Loop’ — Book, Music and Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Music Direction by David Freeman Coleman. Choreographed by Taavon Gamble. Co-produced by SpeakEasy Stage and Front Porch Arts Collective at the Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont Street, through May 25.
By Shelley A. Sackett
Playwright Michael R. Jackson, a heavy-set Black queer man, has brought the concept of sharing to a new level in his Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical, “A Strange Loop.” The compulsively introspective show, which runs at 100 intermission-less minutes, spelunks into the deepest crevices of the anguished mind of its hero, Usher, a fat, Black, queer man writing a musical called “A Strange Loop” about a fat, Black queer man who’s writing a musical about a fat Black queer man.
‘Hadestown’ – Music, Lyrics & Book by Anaïs Mitchell. Developed with & Directed by Rachel Chavkin. Music Supervisor & Vocal Arrangements by Liam Robinson. Choreographed by David Neumann. At the Boch Wang Center through April 28
By Helen Ganley
The train releases belts of smoke, picking up passengers as it flies down the track toward Hadestown. Members of the Greek pantheon stand statuesque, chiseled into the set as the audience is warned: “It’s a sad tale. It’s a tragedy.” The tour of “Hadestown” at the Boch Center Wang Theatre weaves this epic saga with threads of hope and harmony.
‘Hadestown’ – Music, Lyrics & Book by Anaïs Mitchell. Developed with & Directed by Rachel Chavkin. Music Supervisor & Vocal Arrangements by Liam Robinson. Choreographed by David Neumann. At the Boch Wang Center through April 28
By Linda Chin
The intoxicating, eight-time Tony Award-winning Hadestown is back in Boston for a limited run, giving fans the opportunity to experience its otherworldly magic for the first, second, or eighth time. Haunting but harmonious and hopeful, Hadestown is a musical retelling of the distinct but interwoven love stories of two couples – Orpheus and Eurydice and Hades and Persephone, rooted in Greek mythology. The overarching themes of climate change and capitalism, the ruthless dictator Hades, who sings about building walls, and the blend of musical traditions bring these centuries-old tales to contemporary times.
Goodspeed Musicals presents THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD. Book, music, lyrics, and orchestrations by Rupert Holmes. Directed by Rob Ruggiero. Choreographed by James Gray. Music Direction by Adam Souza. Scenic Design by Ann Beyersdorfer. Costume Design by Hunter Kaczorowski. Lighting Design by Rob Denton. Sound Design by Jay Hilton. Hair & Wig Design by Tommy Kurzman. At Goodspeed Opera House, East Haddam, CT, through June 2nd.
By Linda Chin
Having read Dickens’ final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, decades ago and having seen the musical at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park in 1985 – but not the original Broadway show nor the 2012 revival (yes, I am still heartbroken that I missed Chita Rivera’s portrayal of Princess Puffer) – I was eager to see Drood again. Set in London in 1895, Drood is a musical about actors in an offbeat Victorian troupe called the Music Hall Royale who are putting on a musical. With Goodspeed Opera House’s soaring ceilings and ornate architectural details c. 1877 – and a little theater magic to the ornamentation on the balcony and the stage set by scenic designer Ann Beyersdorfer – there couldn’t be a more perfect setting for a whodunit murder mystery musical in Dickensian times.