Fresh Ink Theatre Sees Green with Heritage Hills

May 17, 2018May 20, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Review by James Wilkinson

‘Heritage Hill Naturals’ – Written by Francisca Da Silveira. Directed by Phaedra Michelle Scott. Dramaturg: Sarah Schnebly. Assistant Director: G Cadogan. Scenic Design: Abby Shenker. Lighting Design: Emily Bearce. Costume Design: Stephanie K. Brownell. Prop Design: Cesara Walters. Sound Design: Lee Schuna. Presented by Fresh Ink Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts, Deane Hall, Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont St., Boston, through May 26, 2018

A millennial is an odd creature, or at least that’s what we’re told. I happen to be one (born in 1988, which puts me in the middle of the pack), but the way the generation is described in media, I sometimes get the feeling that we’re seen as a separate species rather than an age group. We’re growing up, though, and like the Boomers, the Yuppies, and the Gen Xer’s before us, we’re encountering a world with a very specific set of problems. And like those other generations, the artists among us will start to tell stories of what it was like to come of age at the time we did. Fresh Ink Theatre’s new show, Heritage Hill Naturals by Francisca Da Silveira, now playing at the Boston Center for the Arts, could be seen as one such entry into that canon, though it may first need a little more work.

THE KING & I Soars at Hanover Theatre

May 16, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

The closing Broadway series musical of Hanover Theatre’s ninth season is Rodgers and Hammerstein’s, “The King & I”, one of the duos best work. This version won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical in 2015. They based this musical on the true story of English school teacher, Anna Leonowens and the seven years she spent in Siam. This story is as fresh and meaningful as it was in her autobiography called “Anna and the King of Siam” which was turned into a movie under the same title. Set in 1860’s Bangkok, the modernistic King sends for the schoolteacher to tutor his many children and wives in the chauvinistic culture of the Eastern world. Two worlds collide in this exquisite and breathtaking musical and is told against the backdrop of the Orient. It also makes a strong statement about a woman’s place in the male dominated society of the 1860’s and by using the example of star crossed lovers, it shows the evilness of slavery. College of Holy Cross graduate Bartlet Sher returns in triumph to Worcester with the musical hit that he directed on Broadway to entrance audiences at the historic Hanover Theatre. He brings this meaningful musical masterpiece to life winning it and his multitalented cast a resounding and well deserved standing ovation as its reward.

Praxis Delivers Powerful, Stripped Down Version of Camus’ “The Plague”

May 15, 2018May 15, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

by Mike Hoban

‘The Plague, after La Peste’ – Written by Albert Camus; Adapted by Neil Bartlett; Directed by Daniel Boudreau; Lighting Design by Read Davidson; Sound Design by Jay Mobley; Costumes by Sarah Josselyn. Presented by Praxis Stage at the Dorchester Art Project at 1486 Dorchester Ave., Dorchester through May 20; and Boston Playwrights Theatre at 949 Commonwealth Ave Boston, May 23-27

One of the great things about live theater is that, unlike a movie, you can pack a powerful punch without the aid of a lot of window dressing. The barest of black box spaces, a table and five chairs, a couple of props that could be purchased at a CVS and voila! you’ve got a set. Of course it helps to have a great script, committed and talented actors and a sharp director – all of which Praxis Stage supplies in its chillingly stripped-down version of Albert Camus apocalyptic 1947 novel – The Plague (or its original French title, La Peste).

BLO Serves Up a Darkly Comic View of Life in 50’s Suburbia with Bernstein’s “Trouble in Tahiti”

May 14, 2018May 14, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

by Mike Hoban

Trouble in Tahiti and Arias & Barcarolles – Music & Libretto by Leonard Bernstein; Directed by David Schweizer; Scenic Design by Paul Tate dePoo III; Lighting Design by Jeff Adelberg; Costumes by Nancy Leary; Movement Director Melinda Sullivan. Presented by Boston Lyric Opera at DCR Steriti Memorial Rink, 561 Commercial Street on the North End Waterfront through May 20

The Boston Lyric Opera presents its second offering of the spring season geared towards the non-opera going crowd with an appealing mash-up of a pair of Leonard Bernstein works at the unlikeliest of venues – the DCR Steriti Memorial Skating Rink. There isn’t a Zamboni in sight, however, as the Steriti Rink has been beautifully transformed into an El Morocco-inspired 1950s-style nightclub by scenic designer Paul Tate DePoo II, whose previous work includes his stunning design of Showboat with the Fiddlehead Theatre Company, which earned him an IRNE Award for Scenic Design in 2017.

Boch Center’s Sound of Music Charms Audiences – While Providing a Cautionary Tale

May 7, 2018May 12, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

The Sound of Music – Music by Richard Rodgers; Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II; Book by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse; Suggested by “The Trapp Family Singers” by Maria Augusta Trapp. Staged by Networks Presentations at the Boch Center, Wang Theatre, 270 Tremont St., Boston, MA, through May 13.

One of the most beloved movie musicals is making its return to the stage at the Boch Center, with a marvelous production that warms the heart while chilling the bone. The Sound of Music, best known for its litany of iconic songs – “My Favorite Things,” “Do-Re-Mi,” “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” “Edelweiss” and the title song – is a masterclass in songwriting for the theater by the team of Rodgers & Hammerstein. But it is the dark undercurrent of the rise of the Nazis that lifts this classic from inspiring love story into something much weightier, and it is particularly resonant given the current political climate.

The Fabulous, Furious World of “Wig Out”

May 7, 2018May 7, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

By Michele Markarian

Wig Out – Written by Tarell Alvin McCraney. Directed by Summer L. Williams. Presented by Company One Theatre, in collaboration with American Repertory Theater as part of the Oberon Presents Series, at Oberon, 2 Arrow St. Cambridge, MA through May 13.

There’s nothing worse than the feeling of world-weary, convinced that life at large has no more worlds to offer up, after the first flush of youth. For those convinced they’ve seen and done it all, and even for those who haven’t, “Wig Out” is an electrifying and eye-opening glimpse into the world of queer color and drag that as a cysgender white female, I knew little about. Written by Tarell Alvin McCraney, co-writer of the Oscar-winning film “Moonlight” and superbly directed by Summer L. Williams, “Wig Out” is not only a theatrical event, but an experience.

LUCKY STIFF (Walpole Footlighters)

May 6, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Walpole Footlighters last show of their 94th season is “Lucky Stiff” by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty which is based on “The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo” by Michael Butterworth. This musical is a zany, offbeat and funny, murder mystery farce about an unassuming English shoe salesman who is forced to take the corpse of his recently murdered Atlantic City gambler uncle on a week long cruise to Monte Carlo. Should he succeed Harry Witherspoon stands to inherit six million dollars. If he doesn’t succeed the money would go to the Universal Dog Home of Brooklyn. The proceedings are sheer lunacy as Harry comes up against his uncle’s insanely jealous and legally blind mistress, her much put-upon optometrist brother and Annabel Glick, an overly zealous representative from the Universal Dog Home determined to see Harry’s money “go to the dogs.” The show is directed by Dan Delaporta who infuses his cast with high energy with marvelous musical direction by Dan Moore and some inventive and fun choreography by Lisa Kelliher. Their combined efforts leave you rolling in the aisles with laughter.

SpeakEasy Stage’s ‘ALLEGIANCE’ A Musical Look at WWII Japanese Internment

May 3, 2018June 3, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

By Sheila Barth

During World War II, inhumanities and atrocities weren’t limited to Nazi Germany. After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the US created its own black mark in history by rounding up more than 120,000 loyal Japanese-American citizens and placing them in internment camps.

Apollinaire’s “First Love” A Fun, Furry Take on Young Love

May 1, 2018May 2, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

by Mike Hoban

First Love is the Revolution – Written by Rita Kalnejais; Directed by Danielle Fauteux Jacques; Scenic Design: Nathan Lee/Elizabeth Rocha; Sound: Jennifer Timms; Costumes: Elizabeth Cole Sheehan. Presented by the Apollinaire Theatre Company at the Chelsea Theatre Works, 189 Winnisimmet St., Chelsea, MA through May 5

First Love is the Revolution, the darkly comic twist on the Romeo & Juliet theme now being given a delightful staging by Apollinaire Theatre Company, is not your typical star-crossed lovers tale. Sure, it’s got all of the key elements – a rebellious teen girl and her equally troubled teenage boy love interest pursuing a relationship that their parents (or anyone else alive or dead) would clearly disapprove of – but that’s where the similarities to any other love story end, with the possible exception of Beauty and the Beast. But don’t be looking for this story to be turned into a Disney film anytime soon – despite its undeniable charms.

Rdeca (Hayley Spivey) is a fox. And not the kind that Steve Martin and Dan Akroyd futilely pursued on SNL in the disco era either. She is an actual red fox living with her mother (Bridget Hayes), brother Thoreau (Armando Rivera) and sister Gustina (Khloe Alice Lin) in a wooded area just outside the city. When we first meet the family, Mom is dragging home Gregor the Mole (Dale J. Young) for the children to practice their killing skills on. The kids must learn to hunt since their father was recently run over by a car while pursuing a shish kebab that had been tossed on the roadway. But we quickly learn that Rdeca is not your ordinary fox. She balks at killing Gregor, and after merely stunning the mole, tells him she loves him and begins an uneasy friendship with the affable creature.

Across town, Basti (MacMillan Scott Leslie) – short for Sebastian – is living a teenage nightmare with his abusive and unemployed father, Simon (Rob Cope). Dad greets him at the breakfast table with gems like, “Hey Boss, you look like a douchebag in your (school) uniform”, then later gives him lessons in self-defense against school bullies – by repeatedly sucker punching him in the face. Basti’s mother is unable to help him, as she is currently residing in a local psych ward, no doubt as a result of her relationship with Simon.

Basti distracts himself by setting a trap for the animals that have been loitering in his backyard, and on her first night out as a hunter, Rdeca gets snagged in the trap. She persuades Basti to release her and the pair strike up an admiring friendship that you know will soon have sparks flying – as weird as that seems (and is). Did I mention that Rdeca is a talking fox? A story like this obviously requires an early buy-in of suspension of disbelief for it to work, and thankfully, I took the bait right from the start – largely due to the commitment of the players. The highly animated childlike play and physical movement of the fox brood right at the start created the necessary alternate reality – one that never faded.

The performances throughout the production are uniformly strong, beginning with Spivey and Leslie as the unlikely lovers. Spivey’s boundless enthusiasm in the role is infectious, and serves as a perfect counterpoint to Leslie’s convincing portrayal of the tortured Basti. Cope is plenty disturbing in his role as the creepy and sociopathic Simon, and the choice to cast veteran Boston actors Liz Adams and Caroline Keeler as grass seed-obsessed chickens is inspired (they’re hilarious). Director Danielle Jacques paces the action beautifully, balancing the absurd comedy with the pathos (not to mention the adorable but completely bizarre physical relationship between Rdeca and Basti) – which is no easy trick with this piece.

The set design by Nathan Lee and Elizabeth Rocha is simple but imaginative, creating three separate play areas including the woods, the fox den and Simon and Basti’s crappy apartment – all on one stage. First Love may not be everyone’s cup of tea because of it’s ludicrous nature, but it worked for me and I recommend it for those who like their theatre a little off the beaten trail – something Apollinaire excels at. For more information and tickets, go to: www.apollinairetheatre.com

Trinity’s “Ragtime” a Breathtaking Musical Extravaganza

May 1, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Welcome to the turn of the century with “Ragtime”, the closing musical of Trinity Rep’s season. This 1998 hit musical is based on E.L. Doctorow’s novel. Trinity begins the show in a contemporary room setting and from there we go back in time to 1905 with the epic sweep of this musical being captured in the opening prologue, a nine minute kaleidoscope of fictional characters mingling with historical figures from the early twentieth century. The cast is in current day costumes during most of Act 1 to reflect that what happened back then is happening now, too. As the story continues, we meet pianist Coalhouse Walker Jr. and his child’s mother, Sarah being taken in by a respectable WASP family in New Rochelle, NY. This family is ruled by “Father”, a patriarchal figure who dominates his household and submissive wife, “Mother” with his overbearing presence. Parallel storylines of the Jewish Latvian immigrant Tateh who unwittingly finds himself involved in the birth of the motion picture industry after inventing a flipbook for his young daughter as well as the real life entertainer, Evelyn Nesbit, the magician Harry Houdini, J.P. Morgan and the anarchist Emma Goldman eventually mingle and merge. This epic production boasts stellar performances from this talented cast with phenomenal insight and direction by Curt Columbus, Trinity’s artistic director, musical director, Michael Rice and choreographer, Sharon Jenkins as they capture the flavor and essence of the early 1900’s being comparable to current day happenings. Their combined expertise garners the entire cast a resounding standing ovation at the close of this breathtaking musical extravaganza.