Cast of The Huntington Theatre’s production of The Bluest Eye by Lydia R. Diamond
by Shelley A. Sackett
‘The Bluest Eye’ – Based on the book by Toni Morrison, adapted for stage by Lydia R. Diamond, Dramaturgy by Sandy Alexandre. Directed by Awoye Timpo; Set Design by Jason Ardizzone-West; Costume Design by Dede Ayite and Rodrigo Muñoz; Lighting Design by Adam Honoré; Sound Design by Aubrey Dube; Original Music by Justin Ellington; Choreography by Kurt Douglas; Music Direction by David Freeman Coleman. Presented by Huntington Theatre Company at Boston Center for the Arts through March 26. Digital recordings available Feb. 14 through April 9.
Brimming with sparkling ensemble acting, inspired staging and soulful song and dance, Huntington Theatre’s The Bluest Eye packs a wallop. Thanks to Lydia R. Diamond’s faithful yet nuanced adaptation, Toni Morrison’s groundbreaking début novel about two poor Black families in 1940s Lorain, Ohio is brought to the stage with all its poetry, pathos and humor intact. You can almost feel Morrison’s presence in the audience, beaming pride and approval.
Based on the book by Cheryl Strayed, adapted for stage by Nia Vardalos, co-conceived by Marshall Heyman, Thomas Kail, and Nia Vardalos. Directed by Curt Columbus; Set Design by Baron E. Pugh; Costume Design by Amanda Downing Carney; Lighting Design by Dawn Chiang; Sound Design by Peter Sasha Hurowitz; Music Direction by Gunnar Manchester. Presented by Trinity Repertory Theater, 201 Washington Street, Providence, RI through February 13th
For some of us theater-loving empaths who’ve been feeling isolated, helpless and theater-deprived these past two years, doing puzzles has been a popular pastime, providing some semblance of calm and control in these socially distanced and socially divided times. My newest addiction is the Wordle puzzle that has taken the internet by storm (Wordle, for the uninitiated, is a daily challenge to correctly guess a five-letter word in six tries, charts your progress, and offers the option to post your results – eg. 5/6 – on social media). Sharing the latter, with friends and/or publicly, sparks virtual “water cooler” conversations and stokes our human desire for connection. So you can imagine my excitement about attending a live performance of the play Tiny Beautiful Things at Trinity Rep, in the company of other living, breathing, and yes, flawed humans.
“Mr. Parent” Written by Melinda Lopez with Maurice Emmanual Parent. Conceived with and Directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian. Scenic Design by Cristina Todesco; Sound Design/Composer, Arshan Gailus; Lighting Design by Karen Perlow; Costume Design by Yao Chen. Presented byThe Lyric Stage Company of Boston, 140 Clarendon St. through Feb. 6
For most anyone working in the arts – save for the top echelon of folks that are able to actually earn a living doing what they love – the thrill of being in the spotlight is all too often offset by the rigors of a day job. For some that means working in occupations that are solely about earning a paycheck, and for others it means their career clearly trumps the artistic endeavor. For Boston actor Maurice Emmanuel Parent, what started out as a way to earn a living and pay down his massive student loans eventually became much more than just a job, as he took on his most important role – that of a schoolteacher in the Boston Public School system.
cast of ‘By the Queen’ at Trinity Rep. Fiona Marie Maguire as Margaret 1, Rachel Christopher as Margaret 2, JāQuan Malik Jones as Ensemble 4 (background), Paula Plum as Margaret 3, and Jeff Church as Ensemble 5 (background). Photo by Mark Turek.
by Tony Annicone
The first show at Trinity Rep in 2023 is the world premiere of “By the Queen” by Whitney White, the Obie winning playwright who is a 2015 alumna of Trinity/Brown. This new show is based on William Shakespeare’s “Henry VI” plays and “Richard III.” White takes the character of Queen Margaret and creates this brand-new show with three women playing Margaret at different stages of her life and also makes it relevant to the 21st Century. She was inspired to do this after viewing “MJ” on Broadway which stars three actors as Michael Jackson. “By the Queen” starts off with Margaret as a princess from France through her ascension to the throne of England, to a long war and her eventual downfall. She is a warrior, a wife, a politician and a mother. In this production, White mixes four Shakespearean plays to create a fully developed character and brings together all the worlds she loves including music, Shakespeare, high quality performative art and entertainment. The first Margaret is naïve, while the second one is more confident and self-assured. The third one is wise as she looks back on her life and explores everything, she did through the years. The three women and five male cast members are onstage the whole show. Margaret has to figure out if all her machinations were really worth it as the three different Margarets look back on her life. They delve into why she did the things she did and even why she helped murder people who got in her way. Director Brian McEleney makes the show grab your attention from the start to the very end. He elicits splendid performances from his eight-member cast as he blends the comic moments of the contemporary show into the more dramatic Shakespearean ones. The combination of White’s splendid script and McEleney’s insightful direction results in a spontaneous standing ovation at the close of this well acted and directed show.
The show starts off with a bang as the three women lead the cast in “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” They speak directly to the audience and interact with some of the crowd in the playing area. The first act uses Henry IV Part 1 & 2, where we learn Margaret is a princess from France who is captured by the Duke of Suffolk. Fiona Marie Maguire plays the young girl who receives Margaret’s first kiss. Suffolk is supposed to deliver her to Henry VI but also wants to keep her as his own mistress. Fiona captures the youthful vigor of Margaret 1. This young woman becomes more aware of things as the show progresses. Modern day sensibilities are looked at during these scenes. It is apparent they are no longer acceptable by both the cast and audience.
The show crackles with electricity when Rachel Christopher’s confident and caustic character of Margaret 2 appears on the scene. Her witty line delivery and comic demeanor win the day for this character. Later she turns more serious as she rejects Henry VI’s Uncle, Gloucester, and has him put to death. Afterwards Margaret wants to run off with Suffolk which ends badly. The first act ends with Margaret winning the hearts of England. Act 2 begins with Rachel’s dramatic dialogue from Henry VI Part 3.
This leads into the next section of Act 2 which concerns Richard III. Veteran actress Paula Plum commands the stage as Margaret 3 as she rounds up the other two women to complete their examination of the life of this Queen. She has many comic lines which she delivers marvelously. She looks into the eyes of audience members as Margaret chastises them or questions them. Plum just gives a glance at them to win many laughs all night long. However, she also delivers a dramatic speech from Richard III to mesmerize the crowd before the show ends.
The five men in the show play multiple roles as they deliver the goods both comically and dramatically. Taavon Gamble plays the romantic Suffolk who captures Margaret’s heart although he gives her the first kiss against her will. Jeff Church wins many laughs as the Shakespeare purist who keeps correcting the play to go back to the original text. He also plays the diabolical Richard III, complete with hunched back. Mauro Hantman plays two dramatic roles of Gloucester and York where he gets killed off in violent and dramatic fashion. Matthew Russell plays the religious Henry VI who recites the Our Father the first time, he’s making love to Margaret which wins many laughs. JaQuan Malik Jones plays Warwick and the tragic son, Edward but does many comic turns in the first act to liven things up.
Whitney White adds musical numbers to the show including a fantastic dance number to “I Will Survive” which revved the crowd up to a fever pitch. Let me just say this show isn’t your grandparent’s idea of Shakespeare. So, for a world premiere of a show that will resonate with you and is very relevant for 21st century audiences, be sure to catch “By the Queen” at Trinity Repertory Company. You will laugh and be moved dramatically by this fantastic show. For tickets go to www.trinityrep.com before time runs out. Tell them Tony sent you.
BY THE QUEEN (12 January to 12 February)
Trinity Repertory Company, 201 Washington Street, Providence, RI
Zurin Villanueva and Gregg Mozgala in the Huntington’s ‘Teenage Dick’
Let’s face it, as eagerly as theatergoers anticipated the return to live theater in 2021, it was a fairly unremarkable year in terms of productions. And given that the season didn’t fully get underway until September (with the exception of Gloucester Stage’s solid outdoor programming at the Windhover Performing Arts Center inRockport), there wasn’t a wealth of shows to weigh in on for a top 10 list for the year, and please bear in mind that reviewers did not see all of the shows. So here are the Top 5 lists as submitted by our participating reviewers (with links provided to original Theater Mirror reviews):
It is hard to overstate the impact of walking into a 24,000 square foot architectural wonder that has been transformed into a blank canvas for multi-projections of 200 of the Dutch artist’s most vibrant and famous paintings. Viewers don’t just enter a gallery; they enter a world, miraculously passing through a magical keyhole that allows us to become part of these masterpieces.
Cast of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ at Emerson Colonial. Photos by Joan Marcus
by Michele Markarian
‘Fiddler on the Roof’ – Book by Joseph Stein. Music by Jerry Bock. Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick Original Direction by Bartlett Sher; Direction Recreated by Sari Ketter and Shirley Butler. Presented by NETworks Presentations, Emerson Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston Street, Boston through December 26.
I love “Fiddler on the Roof”. I have seen this show more times than I can count, including a middle school production in Rhode Island with a then twelve-year old Andrew Burnap, winner of this year’s Tony award for his role in “Inheritance”, as a very convincing Tevye. It’s a great show, and it’s hard to imagine that any one production could make it even greater. But last night’s show at the Emerson Colonial did exactly that.
William Fournier and Carolyn Saxon with cast in ‘Christmas Revels’- Photos by Shep Ferguson
by Mike Hoban
‘The Christmas Revels: In Celebration of the Winter Solstice’ – Directed by Patrick Swanson; Musical Direction by George Emlen, Edmar Colon, Associate Music Director;Set Design by Jeremy Barnett; Sound Design by Bill Winn; Lighting Design by Jeff Adelberg; Choreography by Kelli Edwards; Costume Design by Kelli Edwards, Gillian Stewart, Tony Tucker; Heidi A. Hermiller; Projection Designer; Presented by Revels at The Sanders Theater at Harvard University, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge, through December 23rd (run cut short by COVID concerns)
Following a year when the Christmas Revels celebrated its 50th anniversary with a virtual performance made up mostly of taped snippets from the previous 49 years of shows, the Celebration of the Winter Solstice returns live once again to the magnificent Sanders Theater with its truly traditional holiday-themed fare. And while previous editions have taken us back in time to various locales of the northern hemisphere to celebrate traditions around the Winter Solstice (the shortest day), this year’s performance is set in a present-day English pub, where the patrons gather to sing traditional English village carols, led by pub owners Rita (Revels veteran Carolyn Saxon) and her partner (William Forchion). The pub is visited by time travelers from the Elizabethan era (or a Renaissance fair), who threaten to revoke the Christmas Revels charter for their failure to comply with some vague rules of conduct. It’s an interesting set up to a show that offers a number of creative twists to the standard programming.
‘Witness’– Writtenby Nana Grinstein with Igor Golyak and Blair Cadden; conceived and directed by Igor Golyak; scenography and costume design by Anna Fedorova; virtual design by Daniel Cormino; sound design by Victor Semenov; editing by Anton Nikolaev; cinematography by Austin de Besche; dramaturgy by Blair Cadden; stage managed by Kendyl Trott. This world premiere production runs at the (zero-G) Virtual Theater Lab through January 23, 2022.
“Where do unwanted people go?” This is the question that Arlekin Players Theater is asking us to consider in their new virtual documentary theater piece, Witness.
Set on a ship that travels through time, Witness explores the seemingly endless migratory experiences of Jewish people throughout history. The source material for the script comes from historical letters, journals, and newspaper articles as well as recent interviews with immigrants and refugees from around the world. The story, written by Nana Grinstein, is inspired by the 1939 transatlantic voyage of the M.S. St. Louis. With over 900 Jewish refugees on board, the St. Louis was cruelly turned away from ports in Cuba, Canada, and the U.S., and ultimately forced to return to Europe. Of the more than 500 passengers who became trapped in Nazi-controlled countries, 254 of them were killed in concentration camps.
Cast of Moonbox Productions’ ‘Passing Strange’ Photos: Nikolai Alexander
by James Wilkinson
‘Passing Strange’ – Book and Lyrics by Stew. Music By Stew and Heidi Rodewald. Created in collaboration with Annie Dorsen. Directed by Arthur Gomez. Associate Director: Regine Vital. Music Director: Julius LaFlamme. Associate Music Director: David Freeman Coleman. Set Designer: Lindsay Fuori. Lighting Designer: Aja M. Jackson. Choreographer: Elmer Martinez. Costume Design: Chelsea Kerl. Sound Design: James Cannon. Props Design: Michelle Sparks. Presented by Moonbox Productions at the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, December 10, 2021-January 1, 2021.
It’s all about the atmosphere here. That’s the vibe you get when you walk into Moonbox Productions’ Passing Strange and the stage is awash in electric blue light. The performance space is devoid of furniture, the musicians haven’t yet taken their places on the side, but the theater already has a crisp glow to it. Get ready. Musicals as an artform tend to veer toward the bombastic. Even for supposedly intimate chamber pieces, it’s all about getting to that moment when mere dialogue doesn’t do the emotions justice and the songs explode out of the characters diaphragms. Passing Strange is working on a different wave length. It’s not that the show lacks big musical moments that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, (they’re here and they rip), it’s that it gets to those moments in a much more circuitous way. Moonbox’s production is one that you slide right into and it feels as lived-in as a memoir. Everything we witness is through the eyes of our lead character; we’re practically under his skin.
