Love and Loss Within “Without You”

April 7, 2024April 7, 2024 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Anthony Rapp in “Without You”. Photos by Russ Rowland

“Without You” by Anthony Rapp. Directed by Steven Maler. Presented by ATG Colonial at the Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, through April 14.

By Michele Markarian

At twenty-two, Anthony Rapp, hailing from Joliet, Illinois, and living in the East Village with his brother, Adam, was broke. A chance audition, for which he was late, led him to be cast in a workshop production of a new musical called “Rent.” The composer, Jonathan Larson, was a quirky, friendly person who soon became a good friend to Rapp. “Rent,” Rapp told his young cast right before thanking them for being his new friends, was about his friends, most of them dead. He also infuriated one of Rapp’s party guests, who had asked Larson, “What do you do for a living?’ and was told, “I am the future of musical theater.” “Rent” was Larson’s labor of love based on one of his favorite operas, “La Boheme”; tragically, Larson did not live to see the musical mounted on Broadway or off after the success of its studio production. He died suddenly and unexpectedly the night before the show was supposed to have its Off-Broadway premiere.

Campy ‘Evil Dead the Musical’ Delivers Comic Gore, Laughs

February 3, 2024February 3, 2024 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Evil Dead the Musical: The HD Tour – Book and Lyrics by George Reinblatt;Music by Frank Cipolla, Christopher Bond, Melissa Morris & George Reinblatt; Additional Lyrics by Christopher Bond; Additional Music by Rob Daleman; Based on characters created by Sam Raimi. Presented Roshi Entertainment in a special arrangement with Renaissance Pictures LTD & StudioCanal at the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre, 539 Tremont St., Boston, through February 25

by Mike Hoban

Broadway has a history of turning pretty good movies into bad musicals. Think Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark (ironically based on the 2002 Spider-Man movie by Sam Raimi, who also wrote and directed the Evil Dead movies on which Evil Dead the Musical is based) and too many others to count. But Off-Broadway had huge success turning a bad/campy horror movie into a stage success with Little Shop of Horrors. And while Evil Dead the Musical doesn’t quite reach those heights of artistic excellence, it’s a whacked-out good time – especially for fans of the cult classic movies.

Ogunquit’s ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ Will Give Audiences a “Glorious Feeling”

June 21, 2023June 28, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Max Clayton in *Singin’ in the Rain’* at Ogunquit Playhouse. Photo by Nile Hawver, Nile Scott Studios

‘Singin’ in the Rain’ – Story by Betty Comden and Adolph Green; Lyrics by Arthur Freed; Music by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown; Based on the classic Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film, by special arrangement with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, Inc. Directed by Jayme McDaniel; Musical Direction by Matt Smedal; Choreography by Kristyn Pope; Scenic Design by Andy Walmsley; Costume Design by Dustin Cross; Lighting Design by Richard Latta; Sound Design by Germán Martinez. Presented by Ogunquit Playhouse, Ogunquit, ME, through July 15

by Mike Hoban

It’s always a challenge when an iconic movie musical – particularly one as beloved as ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ – is brought to the stage. Comparisons to legendary performers are inevitable, and when you include complex dance routines that are also among the most recognizable of all time (Gene Kelly’s title song and dance number and Donald O’Connor’s “Make ‘Em Laugh”), the stakes are sky-high. Luckily for the audiences of Ogunquit’s excellent staging of the classic, the cast and production team serve up a winner that ups the comedy quotient while still delivering first-rate performances of the musical’s song and dance routines.

Finding Your Way Home in Company One’s ‘Vietgone’

May 2, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Quentin Nguyen-Duy and Rob Chen in Company One’s ‘Vietgone’ – Photo by Paul Fox)

By Deanna Dement Myers

“Vietgone” – Written by Qui Nguyen. Michelle Aguillon, Director; Kadahj Bennett, Music Director; Misha Shields, Choreographer; Jessie Baxter, Dramaturg; Jasmine Brooks, Assistant Director; Jessica Scout Malone; Assistant Dramaturg & Intimacy Coach; Izmir Ickbal, Scenic & Projections Designer; Debra Kim Sivigny, Costume Designer; Jennifer Fok, Lighting Designer; Aubrey Dube, Sound Designer; Kelly Smith, Properties Designer; Nate DeMare, Technical Director; Jadira Figueroa, Assistant Stage Manager. Presented by Company One at the BCA Black Box Theater, 539 Tremont St., Boston in partnership with Pao Art Center through May 25.

“I thought everything would be super nice here in America. That’s sorta what they advertise.”

In a play that is definitely not about his parents, playwright Qui Nguyen introduces us to two people who met at Fort Chaffee, a refugee resettlement camp in Arkansas, much like his parents did in 1975. Over the next raucous 90 minutes, the audience joins a wild ride across America in pursuit of love, acceptance, and home.

THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH (Wilbury Theatre Group, Providence, RI)

January 2, 2018December 27, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Tony Annicone

Wilbury Theatre Group’s current production is the 1943 Pulitzer Prize winning play “The Skin of Our Teeth” by Thornton Wilder. It opened on Broadway on November 18, 1942 and ran for 355 performances. The show also written in 1942 is an allegory on the history of mankind, told through the story of one family. It is a mixture of contemporary and biblical events and employs a farcical style seen in Wilder’s “The Matchmaker” as well as the presentational style seen in his “Our Town.” The phrase used as the title comes from the King James Bible, Job 19:20 “My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.” We meet the Antrobus family and their maid, Sabina who come from New Jersey. We barely escaped the depression by the skin of our teeth exclaims Sabina as Wilder works the title of the show into the dialogue. We also meet a woolly mammoth and a dinosaur in their home which helps give the show a theatrical mixture of farce, absurdism, satire and burlesque.