‘Born For This’ Lifts Us Up with Music, Comedy

June 27, 2018July 8, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

(Left to right: Donald Webber Jr. as BeBe Winans, Liisi LaFontaine as Whitney Houston, and Loren Lott as CeCe Winans in BORN FOR THIS. Photo ©Joan Marcus 2018)

By Mike Hoban

Born for This – Music and Lyrics by BeBe Winans. Book by Charles Randolph-Wright, BeBe Winans, and Lisa D’Amour. Directed by Charles Randolph-Wright; Scenic Design by Neil Patel; Lighting Design by Jason Lyons; Sound Design by Jon Weston; Choreography by Warren Adams. Presented by ArtsEmerson. At Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre, Boston, through July 15.

You’re not likely to find a more consistently entertaining musical on Boston stages this year than Born for This, gospel and pop star Bebe Winan’s autobiographical work now in its latest incarnation at the Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre. A powerhouse score delivered by an extraordinary cast combined with a very funny script are sure to make this show an overwhelming crowd-pleaser (if the opening night crowd is any indication), even if the book won’t make anyone forget Les Miserables or Ragtime anytime soon.

NEWSIES – Academy Players of RI

June 23, 2018December 27, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Academy Players of RI’s 63rd season starts off with a bang with the Rhode Island premiere of “Newsies” by Walt Disney. Disney’s “Newsies” is based on the 1992 Disney film and is inspired by the real-life “Newsboy Strike of 1899,” when Newsboy Kid Blink led a band of orphan and run away newsies on a two- week-long action against Pulitzer, Hearst and other powerful newspaper publishers. The show has music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Jack Feldman, and a book by Harvey Fierstein. The musical premiered at the Paper Mill Playhouse in 2011 and made its Broadway debut on March 29, 2012 where it ran for over 1005 performances closing August 24, 2014 before touring the country from then until October 2, 2016. The choreography in the musical by Julia Gillis is phenomenal, astounding, entertaining and energetic from start to finish. Director Rita Maron with music director Matthew Cunningham leading a splendid 7 piece orchestra wins these 54 performers a standing ovation.

NEWSIES

June 21, 2018December 27, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Weston Drama Workshop’s 56th season starts off with a bang with “Newsies” by Walt Disney. This group is a Youth Repertory Theater and the 56th season is dedicated to Andrew Ramsey who was a member of this group and sadly passed away last July 25. Disney’s “Newsies” is based on the 1992 Disney film and is inspired by the real-life “Newsboy Strike of 1899,” when Newsboy Kid Blink led a band of orphan and run away newsies on a two- week-long action against Pulitzer, Hearst and other powerful newspaper publishers. The show has music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Jack Feldman, and a book by Harvey Fierstein. The musical premiered at the Paper Mill Playhouse in 2011 and made its Broadway debut on March 29, 2012 where it ran for over 1005 performances closing August 24, 2014 before touring the country from then until October 2, 2016. The choreography in the musical is astounding, entertaining and energetic from start to finish. Director Chris Brindley, the choreographer Emily Craver with music director Bethany Aiken leading a splendid 9 piece orchestra with their combined expertise wins these 51 young performers a standing ovation.

Summer Fun with “Dirty Dancing”

June 15, 2018June 18, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

By Michele Markarian

Dirty Dancing by Eleanor Bergstein. Directed by Sarna Lapine. Presented by Amber Jacobsen, Networks Presentations LLC, Col Joye in Association with Lionsgate and Magic Hour Productions at the Boch Shubert Theatre Stage, 265 Tremont St, Boston, MA through June 17.

It would be hard to find anyone who hasn’t seen the 1987 film “Dirty Dancing”, starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, about a college-bound teenager who falls in love with a dance instructor at a family camp in the Catskills. The stage show is pretty faithful to the film, which gave all of us in attendance at the premiere of “Dirty Dancing” at the Boch Shubert Theatre Stage a healthy dose of familiar fun.

ANYTHING GOES (Stadium Theatre, Woonsocket, RI)

June 15, 2018July 15, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

The Stadium Theatre’s first musical of their summer season is “Anything Goes” by Cole Porter. Originally written in 1934 for Ethel Merman where it ran for 420 performances, the show’s book was revised in 1962 and then again in 1987. Director Brian Lopes takes this 1934 version of the script and infuses his talented cast with high energy to pull off these roles. The show takes place in the 1930’s aboard the luxury liner S.S. American sailing from New York to London with a group of unusual passengers. The story of boy, Bill Crocker who loves girl, Hope Harcourt who is engaged to wealthy British suitor, Lord Evelyn, who is pursued by singing and dancing evangelist, Reno Sweeney is the basic storyline of this show. Throw in boy’s heavy drinking boss, girl’s overbearing mother, public enemy # 13, his sexy gun moll, Reno’s four fallen Angels, the captain, the purser, the sailors and the passengers plus fantastic music direction by Brittany Dyer and fabulous choreography by Julia Nelson and you have a sure fire crowd pleasing musical entertainment which wins a standing ovation at the end of the night.

Reagle’s A CHORUS LINE is a Singular Sensation

June 10, 2018June 10, 2018 Theater Mirror1 Comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston’s first musical of their historic 50th season is “A Chorus Line”, the 1976 winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical, Best Book and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It is a musical based on the lives and experiences of Broadway dancers. Original director/choreographer Michael Bennett wanted to do a show with the spotlight on the class of performers known as gypsies. The action takes place in an empty theatre, on a bare stage, where the casting for a new Broadway musical is almost complete.

A.R.T. Transforms ‘Jagged Little Pill’ Into a Musical for Our Times

May 29, 2018June 4, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

by Mike Hoban

Jagged Little Pill – Music by Alanis Morissette and Glen Ballard; Lyrics by Alanis Morissette; Book by Diablo Cody; Additional Music by Michael Farrell and Guy Sigsworth; Directed by Diane Paulus; Scenic Design, Riccardo Hernandez; Costume Design, Emily Rebholz; Lighting Design, Justin Townsend; Sound Design, Jonathan Deans; Video Design, Finn Ross; Music Director, Bryan Perri; Music Supervision, Orchestrations and Arrangements, Tom Kitt; Choreography, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Presented by the American Repertory Theater at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge through July 15

When I first heard Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know” on my car radio when it was released in 1995, it nearly blew a hole in my speakers. It was the kind of raw, unhinged fury that I mostly heard in late 70’s punk clubs or on college stations, but here it was on commercial radio, sung by one very pissed off, very young woman (19 years old) no less. It was a revelation then and it inarguably still stands as the single most magnificently rageful song in popular music. When a string of hit singles from the album were released, we got to experience a more thoughtful, almost spiritual side of Morissette. The album became not only one of the best-selling albums of all time – selling 33 million copies – but also something that spoke to a generation of young women while appealing to a broader audience.

“Allegiance” a Piece of America’s Dark History

May 13, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

By Michele Markarian

‘Allegiance’ – Book by Marc Acito, Jay Kuo, and Lorenzo Thione, Music and Lyrics by Jay Kuo. Directed by Paul Daigneault. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company, Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, through June 2.

“Every Pearl Harbor Day, they trot me out to prove that I’m still alive”, says the elderly Sam Kimura (Gary Thomas Ng), a decorated World War II war hero. If Sam sounds bitter, it is because the bombing of Pearl Harbor produced a declaration of war against Japan that adversely affected loyal Japanese Americans, including Sam and his family. It was just a few months afterwards that the US government forcibly rounded up 110,000 Japanese American from California, Washington, Arizona and Oregon. Families, just by virtue of looking like the enemy, had to sell their homes, businesses and items for a pittance of what they were worth to take up residence in camps, interned behind barbed wire.

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.