By Michele Markarian

 

‘Grand Concourse’ – Written by Heidi Schrek. Directed by Bridget Kathleen O’Leary. Presented by Speakeasy Stage Company at the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, through April 1.

 

For starters, I haven’t been this engaged with a play since seeing a production of Annie Baker’s “The Flick” at Playwrights Horizons in 2013. Speakeasy hits all the right notes with “Grand Concourse”, from Bridget Kathleen O’Leary’s flawless direction to Jenna McFarland’s Lord’s super realistic set to the excellent cast of four. Judging from the audience, who never once displayed any signs of restlessness, we were all engrossed in the small drama that was unfolding.

Read more “Speakeasy Delivers a Riveting ‘Grand Concourse’”

 

By Michele Markarian

 

Precious Little, by Madeleine George. Directed by Melia Bensusen. Presented by The Nora Theatre Company, Central Square Theater, 450 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge through March 26.

 

Brodie, a single lesbian linguistics professor, is pregnant by a sperm donor. Brodie, quite honestly, is probably the least maternal person out there – she actively cringes when her beaming ultrasound technician urges her to say hello to her baby. Brodie is also having an affair with one of her young grad students, who urges her to come to the zoo and witness a gorilla who is being taught to speak by its trainers. Brodie is offended by this; it’s not real science. She is more concerned with preserving the dying language of Kari, for which she’s found a native speaker to record some sounds. But the ambiguous results of her ultrasound rock the bedrock of her intellectually safe and verbal world.

Read more “Heart Challenges Mind in Nora’s ‘Precious Little’”

 

By Mike Hoban

 

‘Stage Kiss’ – Written by Sarah Ruhl; Directed by Courtney O’Connor; Scenic Design by Matt Whiton; Costume Design by Amanda Mujica; Lighting Design by Chris Hudacs; Sound Design and Original Music by Arshan Gailus. Presented by the Lyric Stage Company, 140 Clarendon St., Boston through March 26.

 

Let’s cut right to the chase. There aren’t likely to be many theatrical productions this year that are as flat-out funny as “Stage Kiss”, now playing at the Lyric. Fueled by yet another terrific comic performance by Celeste Oliva (who also killed in the Lyric’s charming production of “Becky’s New Car” a few seasons back), “Stage Kiss” is a comic gem. And while there’s nothing overly clever or original about the play’s premise, playwright Sarah Ruhl blends slapstick, parody, and a brilliant talent for one liners into a riotous comedy that works great for those who have worked in the theater – and just as well for those who just enjoy watching it.

 

Read more “Lyric’s ‘Stage Kiss’ A Comic Gem”

 

By Richard Pacheco

 

The Jennifer Haley play, “The Nether” currently at the Gamm is an excursion into the dark side of the virtual worlds of the Internet. It is not lasting literature but more like a lurid side trip that leaves you disgusted by the virtual haven for pedophiles and its seamier aspects of murder in an interpretation and invention of polices procedurals. It is a sci-fi serpentine crime thriller that lingers in the darker side of private dreams. Read more ““The Nether” at the Gamm Theatre”

 

By Richard Pacheco

 

“Little Women: The Musical”, which takes on the novel of the same name by Louisa May Alcott, is a pleasant enough look at novel which seems to lack full, deeper characters, instead content to dwell more on the surface of traits and events while lacking the nuance and details that makes that vivid onstage. If it has a saving grace, it lies in the talented cast who manage to bring some of the lacking qualities to the fore.

Read more ““Little Women” (Ocean State Theatre)”

 

By Daniel Gewertz

 

 Night of the Iguana – Written by Tennessee Williams; Directed by Michael Wilson; Scenic Design by Derek McLane; Costume Design by Catherine Zuber: Lighting Design by David Lander; Sound Design by John Gromada. Presented by The American Repertory Theater at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge through March 18.

 

“The Night of the Iguana” doesn’t get produced as frequently as the other half-dozen of Tennessee Williams’ essential plays. That’s not just because it didn’t win as many awards or sell as many tickets as “Glass Menagerie” or “Streetcar” or “Cat.” It is also among the playwright’s most difficult to pull off.  Like Williams’ other major works, “Iguana” possesses a brilliant balance of dueling forces: each character represents a crucial human trait, or, in the more complex characters, a troublesome clash of traits, and their battle is metaphoric and philosophic as well as psychological.  The character of Shannon, the dissolute, sinful, regretful ex-pastor, plays a more dominant part in this drama than the leading men do in most other major works of the Williams’ canon.  (This dominance has less to do with the number of lines as to the fact that in “Iguana,” Shannon’s female counterweight is portrayed by two characters, the lusty Maxine and the spiritual Hannah.)

Read more “ART’s ‘Night of the Iguana’”