Trinity Rep’s ‘MacBeth’ as Timely as Ever

January 31, 2019February 6, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Mauro Hantman as Macbeth and Julia Atwood as Lady Macbeth (Mark Turek photos)

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Trinity Repertory Company’s current show in their 55th season is the tale of “Macbeth”, by William Shakespeare, about political ambition and how that ambition can destroy a person as well as the multitude of people around them. “Macbeth” could have been written about the times we are now living in about the cost of blind ambition in our culture and how a sense of honor should triumph over that ambition. The show is set in modern times with a DJ playing contemporary music and many allusions to contemporary society. Macbeth is tempted by three mysterious witches who place a curse on him and he is pushed by his wife to overthrow King Duncan of Scotland. This act leads to a domino effect of killing off Macbeth’s enemies as the show progresses, making it one of Shakespeare’s bloodiest tragedies. Director Curt Columbus makes this show accessible to contemporary audiences with his brilliant direction and casting these roles perfectly. “Macbeth” definitely stands the test of time with its story of absolute power corrupting absolutely. It’s a scary comparison to current events that one would never have thought could happen again, and the show wins a well-deserved standing ovation.

Wheelock’s ‘Ragtime’ is a Heartfelt Triumph

January 28, 2019January 28, 2019 michaelhoban1 Comment

by Nicholas Whittaker

‘Ragtime’ – Book by Terrence McNally; Music by Stephen Flaherty; Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens; Based on the novel ‘Ragtime’ by E.L. Doctorow; Directed by Nick Vargas; Musical Direction by Jon Goldberg; Choreography by Nailah Randall-Bellinger; Scenic Design by Lindsay Genevieve Fuori; Scenic Painting by Matthew Lazure; Costume Design by Zoë Sundra; Lighting Design by Aja Jackson; Sound Design by B.C. Williams; Props by Elizabeth Rocha. Presented by Wheelock Family Theater at Boston University; Fenway Campus, 200 The Riverway, Boston, MA 02215 through February 17

Wheelock’s ‘Ragtime’ Still Hits Home

January 26, 2019February 12, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Sheila Barth

BOX INFO: Two-act Tony Award-winning musical, based on EL Doctorow’s novel, book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, presented by Wheelock Family Theatre through Feb. 17: Friday, Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Sunday, 2 p.m. recommended for ages 10+. 200 Riverway, Boston. 617-353-3001, WFTTix@bu.edu, wheelockfamilytheatre.org.

Attending a Wheelock Family Theatre matinee recently, I wondered how the 31-strong cast, Director Nick Vargas and production crew could make its production of 1998 Tony Award-winning musical, “Ragtime,” family-friendly.

Based on E.L. Doctorow’s stirring novel, with book by Terrence McNally, “Ragtime” isn’t a happy, tappy, song-and-dance musical. It’s set in the turn of the 20th century and beyond, when immigrants came here seeking the American dream, and immigrants, African-Americans, Jews, and others endured poverty, racism, bigotry, social inequality and more. The 2-1/2-hour play ends on a sad note, but with hope of a better future. It kinda sounds like today’s searing headlines, with throngs of dreamers – oppressed, frightened people with the same hope coming here – but they’re barred from entering our borders, families separated, and detained in camps.

Wintertime Adventures with imaginary beasts’ ‘Paul Bunyan’

January 23, 2019February 2, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Laura Detwiler, Joey Pelletier, Kiki Samko, Colin McIntire)

(Photos by Alex Sandberg)

Review by James Wilkinson

‘Paul Bunyan and the Winter of the Blue Snow’ – Story Conceived by Matthew Woods. Written by Matthew Woods and the Ensemble. Directed by Matthew Woods. Costume Design by Cotton Talbot-Minkin. Lighting Design by Robin Donovan Bocchiaro. Scenic Design by Megan Kinneen. Properties Design by Sophia Nora Giordano. Presented by imaginary beasts at Charlestown Working Theatre, 442 Bunker Hill St, Charlestown through February 10

An audience is a strange beast to contend with. When you gather a large group of people to sit together and watch a performance, it kicks off a reaction that’s actually not too dissimilar from a speed dating event. The lights go up and we all go, “Show me what you’ve got.” That first ten minutes can be lethal. The audience either buys your wares or kicks you to the curb. I bring this up because Imaginary Beasts has opened their new annual winter pantomime, Paul Bunyan and the Winter of the Blue Snow (An American Tall Tale), and part of what’s so fascinating and wonderful about it is the response it generates in the audience. Viewers are freed from everything they’ve ever been taught about “appropriate” theater audience behavior. They’re allowed to approach the work the way children do, with a giddy sense of play. This was only my second time going to one of Imaginary Beasts’ winter pantos. My first was last year’s production of 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, which was memorable for me because of how it caught me off guard with just how much fun it was. A year later, I’m happy to report back that Paul Bunyan keeps with the tradition of raising goofiness to the level of high art.

Gamm’s “The Night Watch” an Emotional Detective Story

January 23, 2019January 23, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Gillian Gordon and Michael Liebhauser in “The Night Watch”)

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Gamm’s newest show is the U.S. premiere of “The Night Watch”, Hattie Naylor’s adaptation of Sarah Water’s bestselling novel. It is the poignant story of liberation and loss set against the disorienting backdrop of the Second World War. It’s bursting with secrets and illicit affairs, “The Night Watch” moves backward in time through the 1940’s into the frenzy of the Blitz. Like an emotional detective story, the play follows the intertwined history of five young Londoners as they unfold in surprising ways. Director Tony Estrella says “Waters has created a stunning feat of reverse engineering. Starting in 1947 amid the rubble-strewn aftermath of the war, her story and Naylor’s adaptation unfold between the German blitzes of 1944 and 1941. This story is a love story, a tale of resistance, and a powerful, welcome reminder of the need for decency and compassion in hard times. As a result the tale’s heartbreaking end shines ironically like a beacon of hope.” The war with its never ending night watches serves as a reminder of the morbidity that surrounds life and love. The show is divided into three acts and is a series of vignettes. Director Tony Estrella casts powerful performers in these roles with some of them playing dual roles. He makes them delve into these complex characters and gives each of them their moment to shine in this show. The most exhilarating scenes are the ambulance rescue scene with Kay as well as the house collapsing onstage burying one of the performers.

Wellesley Rep’s Road to Wellsville

January 22, 2019January 22, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Sebastian Ryder/Lisa Foley in “Well”
(Photos by Helen Makadia Photography)

Review by James Wilkinson

‘Well’ – Written by Lisa Kron. Directed by Marta Rainer. Set Design by David Towlun; Costume Design by Chelsea Kerl; Lighting Design by Graham Edmonson; Presented by Wellesley Repertory Theatre at the Ruth Nagel Jones Theatre, 106 Central St, Wellesley through February 10

Is there anyone out there with an uncomplicated relationship with their parents? I mean truly uncomplicated from start to finish, birth to death, with no issues to work out or grudges held onto. Mazel tov to any of you who might have answered yes, but I remain skeptical that such a thing is possible. Even the Lorelai’s of Gilmore Girls managed to have their ups and downs over seven seasons of television. And in the real world, an entire self-help industry has risen dedicated to helping you work through the (supposed) damage your parents have inflicted on you. It seems that we all have at least one thing to wrestle with. If you want a window into how someone else is dealing with their own parental neuroses, Wellesley Repertory Theatre is currently presenting Lisa Kron’s play, Well. The play purports to be about Kron’s relationship with her own mother, but if anything it proves that our view of the ties to our parents are nothing more than a Rorschach test. At the end of the day, they say more about us than about them.

ART Delivers a Contemporary, Absorbing “Othello”

January 21, 2019January 21, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Michele Markarian

‘Othello’ – Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Bill Rauch. Scenic Design by Christopher Acebo; Costume Design by Dede M. Ayite; Lighting Design by Xavier Pierce; Composer & Sound Designer, Andre J. Pluess; Projection Design by Tom Ontiveros. The American Repertory Theater presents the Oregon Shakespeare Festival production at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St. Cambridge through February 9.

“This is wonderful, isn’t it?” “Terrific!” was the buzz on the stairs to the restroom during the intermission for Othello, currently playing at A.R.T. People sounded pleased and slightly surprised. Not because it was good – who doesn’t like, or pretend to like, Shakespeare? – but because it was so stunningly good. We weren’t watching a play, we were immersed in it.

Comedic Feast in MRT’s ‘Slow Food’

January 21, 2019January 21, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Joel Van Liew, Brian Beacock, Daina Michelle Griffith
*(All Photos by Meghan Moore)*

by Deanna Dement Myers

Slow Food – Written by Wendy MacLeod; Directed by Artistic Director Sean Daniels. Scenic Design by Apollo Mark Weaver; Costume Design by Deborah Newhall; Lighting Design by Brian J. Lilienthal; Sound Design by David Remedios. Presented by the Merrimack Repertory Theater 50 E Merrimack St, Lowell through February 3

“Everybody needs a compliment now and again.”

A vacationing couple sits waiting for food in a restaurant, as they have many times over their long marriage. An obsequious waiter engages them with personal and extraordinary service. The man and woman want a meal. The waiter wants to make the evening perfect for them. What could possibly go wrong?

LYRIC’S ‘THE WOLVES’ A TITLE IX WINNER

January 20, 2019January 20, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Linda Chin

THE WOLVES – Written by Sarah DeLappe. Directed by A. Nora Long; Scenic Design by Shelley Barish; Costume Design by Amanda Mujica; Sound Design by Elizabeth Cahill; Lighting Design by Karen Perlow. Cast: Lydia Barnett-Mulligan, Sarah Elizabeth Bedard, Simone Black, Olivia Z. Cote, Chelsea Evered, Grace Experience, Laura Latreille, Julia Lennon, Valerie Terranova, Jarielle Whitney. Presented by Lyric Stage Company ay 40 Clarendon St., Boston through February 3

2017 Pulitzer finalist Sarah DeLappe titled her impressive debut play The Wolves after the story’s subject, a soccer team of sixteen and seventeen-year old young women. Nine actors play the team members, identified to the audience and each other during the five weeks the action takes place by their jersey numbers. Not until the last scene do we hear a series of girls’ names, and connect that player #7 is Alex and #14 is Megan. Out of earshot of adults, the Wolves freely discuss a range of mature topics – abortion, pads vs. tampons, eating disorders, Mexican children locked in cages, and various adult figures – parents, coaches, and Cambodian genocide leader Pol Pot with a familiar vernacular (#11: “but it’s like he’s old”; #25: “he murdered thousands of people”). Not until close to the end of the play does the tenth and only adult cast member (Soccer mom) appear, and not surprisingly the group dynamic and flow of the conversation changes with her presence.

Manual Cinema’s “The End of TV” a Compelling Theatrical/Cinematic Experience

January 19, 2019January 20, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Michele Markarian

“The End of TV” by Manual Cinema. Screenplay by Kyle Vegter and Ben Kauffman. Direction and Storyboards by Julia Vanarsdale Miller. Presented by Arts Emerson, Emerson Paramount Center, 559 Washington Street, Boston, through January 27.

“They tiptoe into your heart until you care for them so much,” is the first line of Manual Cinema’s new work, “The End of TV”. The line is from a commercial referring to cats, but works well as a through-line for the rest of the piece, which deals with love and loss and the failed promise of the American Dream against the relentless backdrop of consumerism. A self-described performance collective, design studio and film/video production company, Manual Cinema uses shadow puppets, on-the-spot video feeds, multi-channel sound design and a live, five-piece band to create a theatrical cinematic experience.