“THE SCHOOL FOR LIES” (University of Rhode Island’s winter show)

February 1, 2017February 26, 2017 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

University of Rhode Island’s winter show is “The School for Lies” by David Ives which is a comic adaptation of “The Misanthrope” by Moliere. This show is set in the 1660’s and tells the comic tale of Frank, who shares with Moliere’s Alceste, a venomous hatred of the hypocrisy that surrounds him. Like his predecessor, Frank gets into trouble by insulting the work of a dreadful poet, Oronte and falls in love with Celimene, a witty widow. In this madcap version, the brightest, wittiest salon in Paris is that of Celimene, a beautiful young widow so known for her satiric tongue that she is being sued for it.

“DINNER WITH FRIENDS” (Rhode Island College)

February 1, 2017February 24, 2017 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Rhode Island College’s third show of the year is Donald Margulies’ 2000 Pulitzer winning play, “Dinner with Friends.” It opened Off Broadway in New York in 1999 playing 654 performances, having played in California and Paris before that. This comedy/drama, which is set in Connecticut, is an examination of the nature of friendship through the prism of two couples and the effect of one couple’s break up on themselves and their long time relationships.

Tension, Humor Ricochet in Lyric’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf”

January 28, 2017February 4, 2017 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

By Michele Markarian

‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf – Written by Edward Albee. Directed by Scott Edmiston. Presented by Lyric Stage Company of Boston, 140 Clarendon Street, Boston, MA, through February 12.

George (Steven Barkhimer) and Martha (Paula Plum), a middle-aged married couple with a fondness for alcohol, live on the campus of a college over which Martha’s father presides. George is a professor there, but Martha’s father has not nurtured his career the way he and Martha had hoped. One night, after a faculty party, Martha informs George that she has invited another couple over, a young professor and his wife, whom her father told her to be kind to. The fact that it’s 2:00am doesn’t deter anyone from acting on the invitation, and when Nick (Dan Whelton) and Honey (Erica Spyres) arrive and start to drink, the real fun begins.

Hamlet (Providence College Blackfriars Theatre Performance)

January 28, 2017January 28, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Providence College Blackfriars Theatre’s second show of their season is “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare. The play is set in the kingdom of Denmark and recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius, firstly for murdering the old King Hamlet, Claudius’ brother and the Prince’s father, secondly for then succeeding to the throne and marrying Gertrude, King Hamlet’s wife and the Prince’s mother. The play portrays real and feigned madness, from overwhelming grief to seething rage and explores themes of treachery, revenge, incest and moral corruption. Director John Garrity infuses the show with the energy and vitality necessary to make the show relevant to current day audiences with his talented cast. He brings out the best in his performers and gives them their moment to shine in this show.

The pacing and energy of the first act needs to be tightened up so it is worth wait for the second act to rivet you to your seats. Everyone can identify with the plight of Hamlet, it’s about being isolated in a corrupt world and how we all feel about it. The magnificent sword fight choreography is by Jim Beauregard while the mood music is by Hannah Y. Greene. Sophomore Timothy Brown is captivating as Hamlet whose heart is broken on as he mourns the death of his beloved father. He plays a wide range of emotions as he is plagued by doubts and conflict, erupting into anger at all the appropriate moments. Timothy gives an eloquent portrayal as Hamlet as he vows revenge and begins either his slow spiral into madness or puts on an act only to appear insane. He commands the stage in this role with his enormous amount of dialogue. A stunning moment is when he sees his father’s ghost projected onto the stage and sends chills up your spine during this segment.

The evil Claudius is well played by Daniel Carroll as he captures the deviousness of this smarmy and untrustworthy man. He also shines as the ghost of Hamlet’s father. Mireya Lopez’s best scene as Gertrude is the confrontation with Hamlet when Polonius is killed. It is electrifying as she wavers about whether Hamlet is truly mad or not. Mireya also delivers the goods in her final poignant scene after she drinks the cup of poison. Johnathan Coppe commands the stage as Polonius. He plays the role like a well seasoned politician rather than as a buffoon.

Ophelia is dynamically played by Jennifer Dorn. She is comical at first finding Trojans hidden in her brother’s suitcase, becomes ethereal in her first scene with Hamlet and then delivers a gut wrenching performance as Ophelia descends into madness in the second act. Laertes is wonderfully portrayed by A.J. Roskam. His character really comes to life after his father’s death when he vows revenge on Hamlet. He redeems himself near the end of the show as he confesses the poisoned sword tip to Hamlet. The sword fight between Timothy and him is brilliantly portrayed and stops the show at their expertise in doing it. Rosecrans and Guildenstern are well played by Emily Clark and Daniel Jameson. The stunning closing sequence of this show when Hamlet commands Horatio played expertly by Teddy Kiritsy (who played the Baker in “Into the Woods”) to not kill himself so he can tell the tale of Hamlet to one and all is the perfect finishing touch to one of Shakespeare’s best tales. So be sure to catch “Hamlet” at Providence College before time runs out.

HAMLET (26 January to 11 February)

Blackfriars Theatre, Bowab Studio, Providence College, Eaton Street, Providence, RI

1(401)865-2218 or www.providence.edu/theatre

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE (The Players, Barker Playhouse)

January 27, 2017January 27, 2018 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

The third show of The Players’ 109th season is the comedy “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” by Christopher Durang. Vanya and his adopted sister Sonia live a quiet life in the Pennsylvania farmhouse where they grew up. However their peace is disturbed when their movie star sister Masha returns unannounced with her twenty something boy toy, Spike. They discuss their lives and loves and argue then Masha who supports her siblings, threatens to sell the house. The only other resident of their home, is the cleaning lady, Cassandra who like her namesake is always making dire predictions that nobody believes. Some of the elements of the show are derived from Anton Chekov, including some of the characters names, the play’s setting in the cherry orchard and the possible loss of their ancestral home. The play is about accepting life the way it is. It’s also about change and accepting it as well as that there is no place like home no matter what happens along the way. Director Steven Vessella infuses his cast with high energy in these comic roles and obtains hilarious performances from all of them. However there is a dramatic punch from the two sisters in the second act and a brilliant powerful monologue from Vanya on the way things used to be when people took time to enjoy themselves and each other without rushing around on Twitter, cell phones and facebook.

Intimate Exchanges Sizzles with Possibilities

January 25, 2017February 4, 2017 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

By Michele Markarian

Intimate Exchanges, Written by Alan Ayckbourn; Directed by Olivia D’Ambrosio. Presented by The Nora Theatre Company, 450 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge through February 12.

Lionel is a gardener, who is employed – like his elderly father before him – by the wealthy Celia Teasdale and her alcoholic headmaster husband, Mr. Teasdale. Sylvie is a young woman who is also employed by the Teasdales to do work around the home. All of the characters want to remold and remake the working-class Sylvie, including Sylvie herself. These were the characters and plotlines that were present the night I saw “Intimate Exchanges”, as there are actually two different versions of the play, with four different endings, two possibilities per show, that the audience votes on during intermission. All of the characters are played by two actors, Sarah Elizabeth Bedard and Jade Ziane.

imaginary beasts’ Winter Panto is Devilishly Good Fun!

January 24, 2017January 25, 2017 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

By CJ Williams

‘Winter Panto 2017 – Princess and the Pea – by Imaginary Beasts; Directed by Matthew Woods; Set and Sound Design by Jason Sherwood and Matthew Woods; Set Construction by Daniel Atchason and Joe Oullette; Puppet Design by Beth Owens and Jill Rogati; Stage Management by Nate Goebel; Costume Design by Cotton Talbot-Minkin; Lighting design by Chris Bocchiaro. Presented by Imaginary Beasts at Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St, Boston, MA 02116 through February 4.

You don’t have to be a child to enjoy the delightful Winter Pantomime being put on by Imaginary Beasts this chill season – nor do you have to be an adult to giggle at the devilish and timely jabs and jibes the troupe insert regarding current events and personalities. As I sat in the theatre this weekend, surrounded by old, young, and innumerable in-betweens, the slapstick and sly both elicited hearty merriment. Sometimes, the stuff I thought might go over the littler one’s heads got the largest laughs from them in particular. But this is partially because the audience-involved pandemonium was written – and performed – with enough versatility that where subtle politics miss some, there’s enough energy and incongruity to the situations themselves to leave humor a-plenty, references aside.

Echoes of the Past Pulse through the Present in “Incident at Vichy”

January 15, 2017February 2, 2017 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

By Michele Markarian

Incident at Vichy, by Arthur Miller. Directed by Hatem Adel and Daniel Boudreau. Presented by Praxis Stage, Inner Sanctum, 1127 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA, through January 26.

The year is 1942. Nine men and one fifteen-year old boy find themselves in a detention center in Vichy, France. With one exception, none of them have committed any crime in the eyes of the authorities, save for one thing – they’re Jewish. The reality of this fact differs for each of them – several men, like Leduc and Lebeau, have been in hiding already. Monceau, an actor, believes that with the right aplomb, he can pull off anything, including false papers. The Waiter, who regularly serves the German officers, keeps insisting that they’re nice. Bayard, a Socialist electrician, believes that the working class will rise up and defeat the elitist Nazis. He is incensed when von Berg, the only known non-Jew in the prison, insists that the Nazis are working class. The tension between those who are in denial of what is happening around them and those who know the truth is only eclipsed by the tension and fear that they all share at being held. Various authority figures come in and out of the room, occasionally summoning one of the captives to another room offstage, which only makes the men more fearful.

Davenport Artfully Celebrates the Life of Marshall in New Rep’s ‘Thurgood’

January 12, 2017January 14, 2017 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Johnny Lee Davenport as Thurgood Marshall (by Andrew Brilliant/Brilliant Pictures)

by Mike Hoban

Thurgood – Written by George Stevens, Jr.; Directed by Benny Sato Ambush; Scenic Design by Ryan Bates; Lighting Design by Bridget K. Doyle; Composer & Sound Designer, Dewey Dellay. Presented by New Repertory Theatre at the Black Box Theater at the Mosesian Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown through February 5th.

When New Rep artistic director Jim Petosa and managing director Harriet Sheets were formulating their theme for their 2016-2017 season “What’s Past is Prologue”, they could not have possibly known how disturbingly prescient that idea would be. Although I did not see the season’s opener “Regular Singing” (about a family coming together to celebrate the life of an aging relative on the fiftieth anniversary of the Kennedy assassination), the storylines of the past three productions have served to remind us that if we’re not careful, past could indeed become prologue.

HEATHERS, THE MUSICAL Coventry High School

December 8, 2016December 8, 2017 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Coventry High School Drama’s current show is “Heathers, the Musical”, the Rhode Island premier of PG 13 version of this musical. It was written by Laurence O’Keefe who created “Legally Blonde” and Kevin Murphy of Reefer Madness. Their terrific pop score expands the story while keeping the black edge comedy of the original movie. “Heathers, the Musical” is the darkly, delicious story of Veronica Sawyer, a brainy, beautiful teenage misfit who hustles her way into the most powerful and ruthless clique at Westerberg High: The Heathers. But before she can get comfortable at the top of the high school food chain, Veronica falls in love with the dangerously, sexy new kid, J.D. When Heather Chandler, the almighty, kicks her out of the group, Veronica decides to bite the bullet and kiss Heather’s aerobicized ass, But J.D. has another plan for that bullet.