Hub Theatre Searches for Meaning Out West

April 18, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Review by James Wilkinson

True West is presented by Hub Theatre Company. Written by Sam Shepard. Directed by Daniel Bourque. Set Design by Ben Lieberson. Lighting Design by Chris Bocchiaro. Costume Design by Nancy Ishihara. Sound Design by Jay Mobley. Props Design by Cesara Walters and Valerie Tracy. Fight Director: Samantha Richert. Presented by Hub Theatre Company at First Church in Boston, April 13-28, 2018.

I’m gonna miss Sam Shepard like hell. I never met the man, but I’ve been reading and rereading his plays since discovering them in college. Before his death in 2017 he had written over fifty plays in a career that spans just as many years. In that time he managed to leave his own distinct mark on American theater, providing a theatrical vision inspired by the myths of the American west. In much of his best work he examines and deconstructs what should be comforting and stable environments to expose an undercurrent of violence waiting to explode. And he does this while also occasionally taking the time to be howlingly funny. To the best of my recollection, it’s been a while since Boston theater has seen a production of a Shepard play, (I offer my profound apologies if there’s a production that I have overlooked/forgotten). Thankfully, Hub Theatre Company has taken up the cause with their fantastic new production of Shepard’s True West, now playing at First Church in Boston. For Shepard fans, the production is a gift. For those unfamiliar with his work, now’s the time to get on board.

Making America German Again – Moonbox “Cabaret” Will Take Your Breath Away

April 18, 2018April 18, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

By Beverly Creasey

You can’t experience Moonbox’s stunning version of Kander & Ebb’s CABARET (@ BCA through April 29th) without thinking of the Neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville. The current president and his nationalist (that’s nazionalist auf Deutsch) followers are fanning the flames of white supremacy with every other tweet. CABARET was shocking in 1966 for its dark eroticism but director/choreographer Rachel Bertone creates a chilling resonance in the Moonbox production which is “take-your-breath-away” devastating.

THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (Norton Singers)

April 4, 2018June 4, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

by Tony Annicone

Norton Singer’s latest musical production is “The Scarlet Pimpernel” based on the novel by Baroness Emma Orczy written in 1905. The novel was a romance-adventure novel. Both the novel and musical is about the double life of an English nobleman. Percy pretends to be a foppish wastrel while he and his band of other English noblemen sail over to France to rescue victims of the Reign of Terror from the guillotine following the French Revolution.

Humor and Pathos Abound in “Little Orphan Danny”

April 3, 2018April 4, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

By Michele Markarian

Little Orphan Danny. Books, music and lyrics by Dan Finnerty. Additional music by Dan Lipton. Created by Dan Finnerty and Sean Daniels. Directed by Sean Daniels. Presented by Merrimack Repertory Theatre, 132 Warren Street, Lowell through April 15.

Last year I saw a one-man autobiographical show in London, written and performed by David Baddiel, called “My Family, Not the Sitcom”, about his mother’s affair with the publisher of a golf magazine. I laughed until I cried. So it was with great enthusiasm that I got my ticket to “Little Orphan Danny”, the one-man show created and performed by Dan Finnerty, which has the added bonus of being a musical! The material, which covers 90-minutes without an intermission, is very funny, but also, in moments, extremely moving.

BLO Stages a Broadly Comic ‘Threepenny Opera’

March 27, 2018March 27, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

By Mike Hoban

Music by Kurt Weill; Libretto by Bertolt Brecht; English translation by Michael Feingold; Original German text based on Elisabeth Hauptmann’s German translation of John Gay’s “The Beggar’s Opera”. Directed by James Darrah; Music Direction by David Angus; Set Design by Julia Noulin-Mérat; Lighting Design by Pablo Santiago; and Costumes by Charles Neumann. Presented by the Boston Lyric Opera at the Huntington Avenue Theatre, 264 Huntington Avenue, Boston through March 25

Let me begin by saying that the sum total of my experience with opera is pretty much confined to multiple viewings of the Warner Bros. classic cartoon, What’s Opera Doc. But as a friend and colleague informed me when I told him at intermission that I had never seen an opera until now, he jokingly replied, “Well, you still haven’t.”

Flat Earth Theatre Looks to the Classics to Explain the Present

March 27, 2018March 27, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

by James Wilkinson

‘Antigone’ – Written by Jean Anouilh, and adapted by Lewis Galantiere. Presented by Flat Earth Theatre. Directed by Lindsay Eagle. Set Design: Darren Cornell. Assistant Set Design: Marina Sartori and Emily Penta. Costume Design: E. Rosser. Props Design: Emily Penta. Lighting Design: PJ Strachman. Sound Design: Chris Larson. Graphic Designer: Jake Scaltreto. Violence Designer: Matt Arnold. Dramaturg: Betsy S. Goldman. Artistic Sign Language Consultant: Kristin Johnson. Presented by Flat Earth Theatre at The Mosesian Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal St. through March 31

You don’t need to wait for the Greek chorus to tell you that things will not be turning out okay. A palpable aura of dread surrounds Flat Earth Theatre’s production of Antigone from the moment you enter the space. The audience takes their seats by passing through the a wreckage of a recent war, stared down by a trio of imposing soldiers, guided through the shadows by a dim set of industrial lights. A droning sound off in the distance envelops the space, keeping you from truly relaxing into your seat. It’s a wonderfully intoxicating environment to be stepping into. Most people tend to associate classical works with dusty libraries and dry academia. It’s nice to be reminded that in the right directorial hands, there’s a vital, thrilling world to be conjured with those texts.

A Tense, Engaging “The Bakelite Masterpiece”

March 23, 2018March 23, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Laura Latreille (left) and Benjamin Evett (right). Photo by Andrew Brilliant/Brilliant Pictures.

By Michele Markarian

The Bakelite Masterpiece – Written by Kate Cayley. Directed by Jim Petosa. Scenic Design by Cristina Todesco; Lighting Design by Scott Pinckney; Sound Design by Dewey Dellay; Costume Design by Molly Trainer. Presented by New Repertory Theatre, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown through April 8.

If Cristina Todesco’s starkly beautiful set, with its three-sided tower of artwork surrounding a plain wooden desk and two overturned chairs doesn’t immediately draw you into The Bakelite Masterpeice, then the opening line, “Consider Lucifer”, certainly will. Set in 1945 post-war Amsterdam, The Bakelite Masterpiece is based on the true story of art forger Han van Meergeren (Benjamin Evett).

GBSC Brings Magic with “THE IRISH AND HOW THEY GOT THAT WAY”

March 22, 2018April 2, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

By Sheila Barth

BOX INFO: Greater Boston Stage Company adds a wee bit o’ green and Irish charm in Pulitzer Prize winner Frank McCourt’s play, directed by Dawn Simmons, through March 25: Wednesdays, Sundays,2 p.m.; Thursdays, 7:30 p.m.; Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 3,8 p.m. $50-$60; seniors, $45-$55; students with valid ID, $20. 395 Main St., Stoneham. 781-279-2200, greaterbostonstage.org.

’Twas an Irish song and story fest when I saw Mynnelou Productions Inc. and the Bernann Company, LLC’s rollicking production of Frank McCourt’s “The Irish and How They Got That Way,” five years ago, in Somerville.

That production was so successful, it was extended for another week, by popular demand. The upbeat, two-hour, two-act, potpourri of Irish traditional, folk and contemporary songs and music accompanying the ensemble’s re-telling of Ireland and Irish-American history through their energetic comic anecdotes and skits, made Irish and non-Irish eyes smile at Davis Square Theater.

‘THE HUMANS’ – A Candid Peek at Contemporary Family Life

March 22, 2018March 22, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

By Sheila Barth

BOX INFO: Joe Montello directs the Roundabout Theatre Company, in association with the Seattle Repertory Theatre, national touring company production of Stephen Karam’s dramatic one-act, 100-minute play, appearing through March 25: Tuesday,Thursday, 7:30 p.m.; Wednesday, 2,7:30 p.m; Friday, 8 p.m. Saturday, 2,8 p.m.; Sunday, 1 p.m., at the Boch Center Shubert Theatre Boston, 265 Tremont St., Boston. Tickets start at $25.

Renowned playwright-screenwriter Stephen Karam’s dramatic, multi-Tony Award-winning play, “The Humans,“ appearing at the Boch Center Shubert Theatre in Boston this week, is labeled “a new American classic”. However, nothing earth-shattering occurs in it. But there’s a simmering, dark undercurrent that keeps audiences alert. Besides winning six Tony Awards, the off-Broadway production won an Obie Award in 2016, among others. Directed by award-winning Joe Mantello, this US National Touring cast that started at the Seattle Repertory Theatre is terrific.

Company Theatre’s ‘La Cage’ Entertains, Enlightens

March 21, 2018April 2, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

By Evan McKenna

Music and lyrics by Jerry Herman; Book by Harvey Fierstein, based on the play “La Cage aux Folles” by Jean Poiret. Directed by Zoe Bradford and Jordie Saucerman. Musical Direction by Steve Bass. Choreography by Sally Ashton Forest. Costume Design by Cameron McEachern. Lighting Design by Adam Clark. Set Design by Ryan Barrow. Wigs & Hairstylist, James A. Valentin. Presented by Company Theatre: 30 Accord Park Dr, Norwell through Sunday, April 8th.

Just last month the Senate of Georgia voted on a law to give adoption agencies—both private and taxpayer funded—the right to reject service to LGBTQ couples. This, among other forms of both legal and de facto discrimination happening during the Trump-Pence administration, shows how many Americans today do not support LGBTQ couples as moral, adequate, or legitimate parents of children, making “La Cage aux Folles” not only a relevant work to see this year, but an important one. At its heart, the story testifies to the criticism and conflict that queer couples with children must face in their social and political environment. On the surface, however, the musical does not seem politically overt or necessarily tragic, and that is because of the sitcom-esque humor and drag queen performances, both of which the cast of the Company Theatre’s production executed wonderfully at the premiere last Friday, giving—much like “Cabaret”—laughter and fun to an otherwise dark underlying story.