Don’t Throw Away Your Shot to See Broadway in Boston’s Spectacular ‘Hamilton’

October 9, 2025 Theater Mirror1 Comment

Cast of Broadway in Boston’s ‘Hamilton’. Photos: Joan Marcus

‘Hamilton’ — Book, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Inspired by Ron Chernow’s “Alexander Hamilton.” Directed by Thomas Kail. Choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler; Music Supervision and Orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire. Presented by Broadway in Boston at Citizens Opera House, Boston through Nov. 2.

By Shelley A. Sackett

How lucky are we that Lin-Manuel Miranda decided to pack Ron Chernow’s biography, “Alexander Hamilton,” when preparing his bag to take on his first vacation in seven years after the Broadway run of his smash hit, In the Heights. He plowed through the 800+ page book and was mesmerized by Hamilton, particularly his story as a poor immigrant rising to power.

“The moment my brain got a moment’s rest, Hamilton walked into it,” he told Ariana Huffington in an interview.

With Top-Notch Performances, Front Porch Arts Collective’s ‘The Mountaintop’ Soars

October 8, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Dominic Carter as MLK in Front Porch Arts Collective‘s ‘The Mountaintop’

‘The Mountaintop’ – Written by Katori Hall. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Scenic Design by Ben Lieberman. Lighting Design by Brian Lilienthal. Sound Design by Joshua Jackson. Presented by the Front Porch Arts Collective at the Suffolk University Modern Theatre, 525 Tremont Street, Boston, through October 12, 2025

A powerful production of the play The Mountaintop is running at Suffolk’s Modern Theatre – a short Green Line ride away from the university (BU) where MLK earned a PhD in systematic theology in 1955, on the same campus where he delivered a speech entitled “The Future of Desegregation” at the Ford Hall Forum in 1963, and blocks away from the Boston Common, where he delivered a speech in 1965 and where a permanent monument honoring the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King was unveiled in 2023.

ASP’s ‘Macbeth’ is Imaginative, Disquieting

October 7, 2025October 8, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Cast of Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s ‘Macbeth’ Photos by Benjamin Rose Photography.

‘Macbeth’– Written by William Shakespeare; Directed by Christopher V. Edwards; Featuring Brooke Hardman, Jade Guerra, Jesse Hinson, Jennie Israel, Brian Demar Jones, Claire Mitchell, Vince Nguyen, Amanda Esmie Reynolds, Omar Robinson, Chingwe Padraig Sullivan, Dennis Trainor Jr.; Scenic Design Danielle Ibrahim; Sound Design by Julian Crocamo; Lighting Design Elmera Martinez; Costume Design Marissa Wolf; Sound Design Mackenzie Adamick; Production Design Sue Rees; Audio Engineer Irene Wang; Fight Director Naomi Kim. Presented by Actors Shakespeare Project, Boston, MA, through October 26.

By C.J. Williams

Macbeth, as you know, is one of those plays that takes sanity and hope and puts them through a meat grinder. Once you’ve seen Macbeth, you’ve seen not only that blood will out, but that blood will douse, drench, and seep through skin into the deepest crevices of your heart, mind, and conscience. But what if you want to make it more disquieting? Perhaps this is what Director Christopher V. Edwards and the Actors’ Shakespeare Project team asked themselves as they planned this year’s production of the iconic play. How about staging the political and relational shenanigans during the Cold War?

A.R.T.’s ‘300 Paintings’ Brings Humor to Harrowing Story of Mental Illness

October 5, 2025October 6, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Sam Kissajukian in performance of ‘300 Paintings’ at A.R.T. Credit: Evgenia Eliseeva.

300 Paintings, Created and performed by Sam Kissajukian; Produced by Sally Horchow and Matt Ross in association with Octopus Theatricals; Presented by American Repertory Theater at Farkas Hall in Cambridge, MA through October 25, 2025.

by Julie-Anne Whitney

Aussie comedian Sam Kissajukian didn’t know anything about art when he quit stand-up comedy four years ago. During his 10-year career, he toured throughout Australia, Europe, the UK, and the USA. Despite his success, he confessed, “I just did whatever the audiences wanted me to do, and I hated it. I hated myself.” For him, comedy had become performative and superficial – “It made me feel invisible inside.” After abandoning his comedy career, Kissajukian devoted himself to painting. What he didn’t know at the time was that he had been living with bipolar disorder, and he was about to enter into a brutal six-month manic episode that would completely sever him from reality.

Kilian Melloy Talks with Liz Callaway About Her Career and SpeakEasy’s Upcoming New Musical Showcase, “Boston Bound”

October 4, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Boston theaters have long served as a testing ground for new musicals headed to Broadway. Recent major works like Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (2015), The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (2011), and Waitress (2015)all premiered at the American Repertory Theater in Harvard Square in recent years before becoming sensations on the Great White Way. It’s a tradition that reaches as far back as 1943 (Oklahoma!) if not even earlier, and endures as recently as 2018 (Moulin Rouge! The Musical! and Jagged Little Pill both lit up Boston area stages that year).

‘The Mountaintop’ Is A Gripping Rendering of MLK’s Last Night

October 2, 2025October 8, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

The Mountaintop – Written by Katori Hall. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Presented by The Front Porch Arts Collective in collaboration with Suffolk University at Modern Theatre, 525 Washington St., Boston, through October 12.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Playwright Katori Hall couldn’t have asked for a better production of his Olivier Award-winning play, The Mountaintop, than the one it is receiving at the Modern Theater at Suffolk University. Under Maurice Emmanuel Parent’s pitch-perfect direction, its two stars, Dominic Carter and Kiera Prusmack, deliver impeccable performances as civil rights and social justice leader, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Camae, a motel employee. Ben Lieberson’s set is straightforward and literal, a classic 1960s era, no frills, wood-paneled motel room.

‘The Ceremony’ Revisits and Rewrites the Ufot Legacy

September 30, 2025October 1, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Lumanti Shrestha, Khadaj Bennett in CHUANG Stage’s ‘The Ceremony’
Photos by Ken Yotsukura

‘The Ceremony’ — Written by Mfoniso Udofia. Directed by Kevin R. Free. Presented by CHUANG Stage at Boston University’s Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre, 820 Commonwealth Ave., Boston through October 5.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Playwright Mfoniso Udofia’s nine-play Ufot Family Cycle follows the various members of the Nigerian Ufot family across three generations, starting with the brutal Nigerian Civil War (also known as the Biafran War) of 1967-1970. With the world premiere of The Ceremony, the sixth in the series, Udofia brings the family firmly into the present (2023) with all its contemporary social mores and cultural pressures.

Kilian Melloy Talks with Chris Grace About His Upcoming Solo Show, “Sardines” at the Huntington

September 26, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Chris Grace in ‘Sardines’ at The Huntington. Photos by Eric Michaud

You might know comedian Chris Grace from his role on Superstore or his appearances on Broad City, Pen15, and other TV shows. But beyond the screen, he’s a busy standup comedian with such a packed itinerary that, he tells Theater Mirror, he hasn’t been home since July… and he won’t be back until just before Thanksgiving.

One of Grace’s most recent stops was the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where he created new material nonstop — a show every day, he says, for each day he was there. Now he’s getting ready to come to Boston, bringing his solo show Sardines (a comedy about death) to the Huntington Theatre for a six-week run, Sept. 30 – Nov. 16. (Find out more at https://www.huntingtontheatre.org/whats-on/sardines/ .)

Lyric Stage’s ‘Our Town’ Is A Classy Production of A Timeless Classic

September 25, 2025September 26, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Will McGarrahan as the Stage Manager in Lyric Stages’ “Our Town”
Photos by Nile Hawver

‘Our Town’ – Written by Thornton Wilder. Directed by Courtney O’Connor; Scenic Design by Shelley Barish; Costume Design by Rachel Padula-Shufelt; Lighting Design by Deb Sullivan; Sound Design by Andrew Duncan Will. Presented by The Lyric Stage Company of Boston, 140 Clarendon Street, Boston, through October 19.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Our Town, Thornton Wilder’s 1938 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, is set in the fictional New Hampshire town of Grover’s Corners. Narrated by a Stage Manager (Will McGarrahan, excellent in the sober yet not dispassionate part), this classic uses a minimal set to explore universal themes of life, love, and death. Described by Edward Albee as “the greatest American play ever written,” it presents the fictional American town of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, between 1901 and 1913. Through its citizens, and especially the Webb and Gibbs families, Wilder celebrates our shared humanity and the importance of appreciating the present moment, especially the glimmers of community and connection that keep us grounded and give our lives meaning.

And who couldn’t use a glimmer of light during dark times, whether it’s 1938 or 87 years later?

“Our Town” A Poignant, Sobering Reminder of Gratitude

September 24, 2025September 25, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

“Our Town” – Written by Thornton Wilder. Directed by Courtney O’Connor; Scenic Design by Shelley Barish; Costume Design by Rachel Padula-Shufelt; Lighting Design by Deb Sullivan; Sound Design by Andrew Duncan Will. Presented by The Lyric Stage Company of Boston, 140 Clarendon Street, Boston, through October 19.

By Michele Markarian

I first saw “Our Town” on television as a teenager, and I have to say, it freaked me out. As a young person, I didn’t understand the piece for its depth; I thought that it was about death. With some perspective, it is very much a play about life, a point that the superb production at the Lyric Stage subtly brings home.