At North Shore Music Theatre, A Rousing Production of ‘The Full Monty’

September 30, 2023September 30, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Cast of “The Full Monty” at North Shore Music Theatre. Photo © Paul Lyden

Book by Terrence McNally. Music and Lyrics by David Yazbek. Gerry McIntyre, Director and Choreography, Milton Granger, Music Director. Kyle Dixon, Scenic Design. Kelly Baker, Costume Coordination. Travis McHale, Lighting Design. Alex Berg, Sound Design. Rachel Padula-Shufelt, Wig & Hair Design. At NSMT, Beverly, MA through October 8, 2023.

By Linda Chin

Hats off – literally – to North Shore Music Theatre, for putting on a rousing, crowd-pleasing production of The Full Monty and the sizzling ‘Hot Metal’ steel-workers-turned-strippers and for pulling off the fabulous final scene with total finesse. Donning full police uniforms over sparkly red thongs, the sextet executed energetic choreography (inspired by Michael Jordan’s smooth basketball moves) and did a full Monty, stripping naked from head to toe, their officer caps covering their cajónes. David Yazbek’s (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) rock-pop score bursts with sass and sentimentality, and his lyrics are expository and clever – deserving of extra credit for a rhyming bonus with cajónes. Terrence McNally’s (Ragtime) fleshed-out book and strong character development also make The Full Monty an atypical musical.

SpeakEasy’s “POTUS” Soothes Our Distressed Political Souls With the Balm of Humor

September 30, 2023September 30, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Cast of SpeakEasy Stage’s production of “POTUS” (Courtesy Nile Scott Studios)

“POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive” by Selina Fillinger. Directed by Paula Plum. Scenic Design by Jenna McFarland Lord. Sound Design by Aubrey Dube. Lighting Design by Karen Perlow. Costume Design by Rebecca Glick. Fight Choreography by Angie Jepson. Presented by Speakeasy Stage at the Calderwood Pavilion, Boston, through October 15.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Hands down, “POTUS” takes the prize for the most winning opening scene currently on stage in Boston. It is shriek-out-loud funny, clever, pithy, lightning-paced, and uncompromisingly no-nonsense.

The setting is The White House, not exactly the Trump administration, but also not exactly not the Trump administration. Two pantsuit-clad women are in mid-conversation when the audience joins them.

Chief of Staff Harriet (Lisa Yuen) is filling in Press Secretary Jean (Laura Latreille) on the morning’s diplomatic meeting and on what POTUS did that she, as press liaison, will have to spin at the press briefing that is about to start.

Part II of “Angels in America” Makes Eagerly Awaited Return to Central Square

September 25, 2023September 25, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Eddie Shields and Helen Hy-Yuen Swanson in “Angels in America: Perestroika” at the Central Square Theater. Photo: Nile Scott Studios.

“Angels in America: Perestroika” by Tony Kushner. Directed by Eric Tucker. Presented by Central Square Theater and Bedlam at 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, through October 8.

by Michele Markarian

“Perestroika,” now playing at the Central Square Theater, picks up where “Angels in America; Part One” leaves off. It’s 1985, and the world’s oldest Bolshevik (Debra Wise) is addressing a crowd in Moscow. “Show me the words that will reorder the future, or else keep silent,” he intones, as the future of the Soviet Union and Communism are on the wane. This sets the tone for the rest of the four-hour play, which wrestles with prophesies, change, and a reordering of a wrecked present that the Angel (Helen Hy-Yuen Swanson) insists should remain static, as it is the motion and mingling of human beings that have turned God away from the Angels.

Speakeasy’s POTUS: A Farce to Be Reckoned With

September 23, 2023September 23, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Catia, Marianna Bassham, and Johanna Carlisle-Zepeda SpeakEasy Stage’s production of “POTUS” (Courtesy Nile Scott Studios)

By Linda Chin

U.S. presidents are the central figures of two productions running concurrently in Boston theatres this fall – Lyric’s Assassins, a musical about seven men and two women trying to kill the president by the legendary Stephen Sondheim, and Speakeasy’s POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, an uproariously funny ‘straight’ play that marked playwright Selina Fillinger’s recent Broadway debut. Fillinger’s commander-in-chief is not named or seen on stage; the play puts seven women who are typically behind the scenes front and center. Individually, the chief of staff, first lady, lover, press secretary, secretary, sister, and a White House reporter are forces of nature; banded together, they make POTUS a farce to be reckoned with.

Lyric Stage’s ‘Assassins’ Hits the Mark

September 19, 2023September 19, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Cast of “Assassins” at Lyric Stage Company. Photos by Mark S. Howard

‘Assassins’ – Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Book by John Weidman. Courtney O’Connor (Director). Dan Rodriguez (Music Director). Ilyse Robbins (Select Choreography). Baron E. Pugh (Scenic and Lighting Design). Rachel Paula-Shufelt (Costume Design). Alex Berg (Sound Design). At Lyric Stage, Clarendon Street, Boston, through October 15, 2023.

by Linda Chin

Like the late composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim, Lyric Stage has not shied away from exploring challenging themes or dark material. But opening a theatre season in the angry aftermath of a post-Trump America with one of Sondheim’s less familiar works – about violent attacks on U.S. presidents, no less – is a risky proposition. Assassins takes us into the minds of nine men and women who gained notoriety through our nation’s history because they killed (or failed to, but gave it a good shot) former Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, Roosevelt, McKinley, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Kennedy). Not exactly uplifting fare, but in the capable hands of director Courtney O’Connor, music director/conductor Dan Rodriguez and his four-piece orchestra, and 15 outstanding actors, audiences can expect a thoroughly engrossing and entertaining theater experience.

“Prayer for the French Republic” Tackles Existential Issues with Humor, Grit and Gravitas

September 19, 2023December 26, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Cast of The Huntington’s ‘Prayer for the French Republic’. Photo by Nile Hawver.

‘Prayer for the French Republic’ – Written by Joshua Harmon. Directed by Loretta Greco. Scenic Design by Andrew Boyce. Costume Design by Alex Jaeger. Lighting Design by Christopher Akerlind. Sound Design and Composition by Fan Zhang. Presented by Huntington Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave., through October 8.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Playwright Joshua Harmon has a gift for tackling important, profoundly challenging and topical subjects and, through sheer brilliance of characters and dialogue, creating intimate and accessible theater that both rivets his audience and leaves them in a standing ovation of thunderous applause.

He did it with “Bad Jews,” “Admissions,” and “Significant Other,” which Boston theatergoers had the good fortune to see at SpeakEasy Stage Company. Thanks to the Huntington Theatre’s season opener, the 2022 Drama Desk Outstanding Play Award-winning “A Prayer for the French Republic,” they have the opportunity to experience this supremely talented writer’s latest and most ambitious project.

And experience it they should.

Speakeasy’s ‘POTUS’ Mines Chaos, Laughs in the Oval Office

September 19, 2023September 19, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

“POTUS; Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive” – Written by Selina Fillinger. Directed by Paula Plum. Scenic Design by Jenna McFarland Lord; Sound Design by Audrey Dube; Lighting Design by Karen Perlow; Costume Design by Rebecca Glick; Fight Choreography by Angie Jepson. Presented by Speakeasy Stage Company at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St., Boston, through October 15

by Mike Hoban

There’s a lot to like about POTUS, the opening production for Speakeasy Stage’s 2023-2024 season. Featuring not only an all-female cast but an all-female production team, this lightning-paced farce sends up the absurdity of a crew of over-qualified, under-appreciated women propping up a misogynistic boob as he bumbles his way through his leadership role. Only in this case, it’s not an American corporation or institution; it’s the most pressure-packed job on the planet – the U.S. presidency.

“TOPDOG, UNDERDOG” at the Gamm Theatre

September 13, 2023September 18, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Anthony Goss and Marc Pierre in Topdog/Underdog at the Gamm. Photo by Cat Laine

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Gamm Theatre’s opening show of their 39th season is “Topdog/Underdog,” the 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Suzan-Lori Parks, the first African-American woman to win the prize. In 2023 this show won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. This play is about brotherly love, sibling rivalry, and surviving the American Dream. The story centers on two fiercely competitive African-American brothers with a troubled past who share a room in a squalid boardinghouse. The two brothers are Lincoln and Booth. Lincoln is an ex-card shark now working a “straight” job impersonating Abraham Lincoln at an arcade, while Booth is a petty thief set on surpassing his older brother’s reputation as a notorious three-card Monte hustler. Director Cliff Odle casts these two roles splendidly and elicits multilayered performances from both actors. They fully embody these two characters, displaying what makes them the way they are. The audience discovers where they’ve been and how each has either changed or stayed the same. It examines how these two brothers live in dire economic circumstances and how they try to navigate them differently. As Lincoln and Booth, Anthony Goss and Marc Pierre display great depth of emotions as these two siblings. Their brilliant performances propel the audience to their feet at the end of the show. Bravo on jobs well done.

With “The Half-God of Rainfall,” A.R.T. Once Again Breaks New Production Ground

September 13, 2023September 13, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Cast of “The Half-God of Rainfall,” at A.R.T. Credit: Lauren Miller

‘The Half-God of Rainfall’ – Written by Inua Ellams. Directed by Taibi Magar. Movement Direction by Orlando Pabotoy. Scenic Design by Riccardo Hernández. Lighting Design by Stacey Derosier. Sound Design and Music Composition by Mikaal Sulaiman. Projection Design by Tal Yarden. Orisha Movement Consulting/Choreography by Beatrice Capote. Costume Design by Linda Cho. Presented by American Repertory Theater in co-production with New York Theatre Workshop. At Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge, through Sept. 24.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Will we ever become inured to the other-worldly team at American Repertory Theater and its ability to sprinkle fairy dust on Boston’s theater scene? With “The Half-God of Rainfall,” now in production through September 24, the answer is a resounding “No!”

It helps that Nigerian native Inua Ellam’s sinuous play is a masterful blending of unlikely ingredients: Greek mythology and Nigerian Yoruba spirituality, a war between mortals and gods, basketball, toxic patriarchy, white supremacy, female empowerment, and maternal love. Couple that with a script crafted as an epic poem, a stellar cast that works as a seamless ensemble, and breathtaking choreography, lighting, and sound designs, and well, you have all the makings for a night of unparalleled theatrical pageantry.

The scope and ambition of Ellam’s work is staggering.

“A Raisin in the Sun” Captivates at New Rep

September 9, 2023September 18, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Lorraine Victoria Kanyike, Joshua McKenna, Juanita A. Rodrigues, Valyn Lyric Turner, Damon Singletary, and Jon Vellante in “A Raisin in the Sun” at New Repertory Theatre. Photos by
Ken Yotsukura Photography

by Michele Markarian

“A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry. Directed by Lois Roach. Presented by New Repertory Theatre, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown, MA through October 1.

“Colored folks ain’t gonna get ahead in the world unless they start investing in some different things,” Walter Lee Younger (Damon Singletary) says to his wife, Ruth Younger (Lorraine Victoria Kanyike). Walter is tired of chauffeuring around rich white men and wants to do something of his own, namely, set up a bar with two friends. He’s hoping that his Mama Lena (the magnificent Juanita Rodrigues) will give him access to an insurance check coming to the household, after the death of his father, Walter. But Lena wants to move her family to a more spacious home in a nice neighborhood, rather than stay in the dilapidated apartment she’s had since the beginning of her marriage. Walter feels trapped, caught between two oppressors – the white world of privilege and his domineering mother. His manhood, and judgment, are affected by it. When a mild-mannered white man, Karl Lindner (Jon Vallante), from the neighborhood association of the home they’ve yet to move into comes to the apartment with a proposition, Walter Lee has to decide what kind of man he wants to be.