Cast of Sullivan Rep’s ‘Company’ (Dan Sullivan center, Meghan Rose, Kevin Hanley, foreground)
Sullivan Rep presents ‘Company’ – Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Book by George Furth. Direction & Choreography by Dan Sullivan. Musical Direction by Andrew Wray. Hair & Makeup Design by Bridget Sullivan. Costume Design by Dan Sullivan. Lighting Design by Erik Fox. Properties Design by Rick Grenier. Sound Design by Andrew Mulholland. At the American Legion Nonantum Post 440, Newton. Run has ended.
By Linda Chin
Once again, Sullivan Rep has shown that they are the little company that could — do justice to the work of late, great musical theater giant Stephen Sondheim, that is. Last year’s production of A Little Night Music garnered Norton nominations for Outstanding Musical (in good company with established giants ART, SpeakEasy, Central Square & Front Porch) and Outstanding Musical Direction (Jenny Tsai). Sullivan Rep’s limited engagement (four-show run) of Company on Easter/Passover holiday weekend has ended – but could easily have been enjoyed by another hundred people – or two, three, or four hundred more – if an extension, or expanded audience capacity, had been possible.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater atBoch Center Wang Theatre. Photos by Paul Kolnik
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Presented by Celebrity Series of Boston. At Boch Center Wang Theatre. Run has ended.
By Shelley A. Sackett
Like daylight savings time, red-winged blackbirds and early flowering trees, Celebrity Series of Boston’s presentation of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is an annual harbinger of spring. Its arrival is cause for celebration for the reliably breathtaking performances that await and as a sign that, at last, the long, dark, COLD winter months are behind us.
Cast of Apollinaire Theater Co.’s ‘The Squirrels’. Photos by Danielle Fauteux Jacques
‘The Squirrels.’ Written by Robert Askins. Directed by Brooks Reeves. Movement Choreography by Audrey Johnson; Fight Choreography by Matt Dray; Scenic and Sound Design by Joseph Lark-Riley; Costume Design by Susan Paino. Presented by Apollinaire Theater Co. at Chelsea Theatre Works, 189 Winnisimmet St., Chelsea through May 18th.
By Shelley A. Sackett
Playwright Robert Askins is known for fusing razor-edged socio-political insights and wacky, ingenious extended metaphors. In the irreverent comedy, Hand to God, he uses puppetry, including a possessed Christian ministry puppet, to explore themes of faith, morality, and the ties that bind us. In The Squirrels, he taps the squirrel world as a conceit through which to expose and study our own instinctual compulsion towards tribalism and ultimate self-destruction.
‘Skazki: Spell of Ice and Snow.’ Written by J.X.M. Corriss. Words and Music by Jonathan Blackshire. Musical Direction by Sam McLoughlin. Directed by Sean Robinson. Choreography by Katie Formosi. Costume Design by Kitty Prue. Lighting Design by Nick Tavares. Stage Management by Max Cavanaugh, assisted by Mason West. Presented by Mystic Evidence Productions at the Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St, Boston, MA 02116
By C.J. Williams
“Culture is also a casualty of war.” So what’s culture? And is its loss akin to losing a limb – or a family member?
Skazki: A Spell of Ice and Snow recently wrapped up its run at the Boston Center of the Arts. The brand-new musical, written by a first-time playwright (but veteran poet and novelist, X.M. Corriss), is a whimsical musical with a cold as steel fairy tale edge, and where it may falter in pacing, it more than evens out in its cast and crew’s passionate performances. If culture is indeed a casualty of war, Skazki is perhaps the result of artists who know that all art is a kind of healing.
Jonathan Raviv and Brooke Ishibashi in A.R.T.’s ‘Night Side Songs’. Photo: Nile Scott Studios
‘Night Side Songs.’ Words and Music by the Daniel and Patrick Lazour. Directed by Taibi Magar. Scenic Design by Matt Saunders; Costume Design by Jason A. Goodwin; Lighting Design by Amith Chandrashaker; Sound Design by Justin Stasiw. Music Direction and Piano Arrangements by Alex Bechtel. Presented by American Repertory Theater in association with Philadelphia Theatre Company at Hibernian Hall, 184 Dudley St., Boston through April 20.
By Shelley A. Sackett
Night Side Songs, the remarkable production by A.R.T. now at Hibernian Hall, bills itself as “communal music-theater experience performed for—and with—an intimate audience that gives voice to doctors, patients, researchers, and caregivers to celebrate the resilience of the human spirit.” This description barely scratches the surface of the uncharted grounds this play explores, and the transfixing heights it reaches.
Cast of Moonbox Productions’ “Crowns” at Arrow Street Arts. Photos: Chelcy Garrett
Moonbox Productions presents ‘Crowns’ by Regina Taylor, adapted from the book by Michael Cunningham and Craig Mayberry. Regine Vital, Director. David Coleman, Musical Director. Davron Monroe, Associate Director. Kurt Douglas, Choreographer. Isaak Olson, Lighting Designer. Baron E. Pugh, Scenic Designer. James Cannon, Sound Designer. Danielle Ibrahim, Props Designer. E Rosser, Costume Designer. Schanaya Barrows, Wig Designer. At Arrow Street Arts, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge, through May 4, 2025.
By Linda Chin
At Arrow Street Arts in Cambridge, American playwright Regina Taylor’s award-winning Crowns – the most performed musical in the country in 2006 – is getting the royal treatment from resident company Moonbox Productions. As are the audience members. Based on a series of ‘Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats’ whose images and personal narratives were captured by photographer Michael Cunningham and journalist Craig Mayberry in their book of the same name, Crowns takes us on a journey that teaches us about the significance of hats in Black culture, tantalizes us with glorious gospel, soul and hip hop sounds and treats us to the work of talented theater artists.
Cast of Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”Photos: Nile Scott Studios
‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’ Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Presented by Actors’ Shakespeare Project at Mosesian Center for the Arts,321 Arsenal St., Watertown through May 4.
By Shelley A. Sackett
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of those plays that is firmly etched in most people’s long-term memory banks, whether as a first introduction to Shakespeare in high school or as one of scores of film and theatrical productions. There are countless riffs on the play, from the sci-fi A Midsummer Night’s Gene to recently produced The Donkey Dream. Even The Beatles got in on the act in their 1964 TV special, “Around the Beatles,” when they played the “Pyramus and Thisbe” section of the play to an audience of hecklers and moonstruck fans, especially appropriate for this comedy play within a play. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvREt_w_KOE)
Cast of Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”Photos: Nile Scott Studios
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, by William Shakespeare. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Presented by Actors’ Shakespeare Project, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown through May 4.
Cast of Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”Photos: Nile Scott Studios
By Michele Markarian
“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind”, insists Helena (Deb Martin), a maid musing on the unreasonable and unpredictable foibles of attraction. The minds in this production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” are busy at work, their bodies preening and pursuing the objects of their lusty desires, a kind of Beltane in the middle of summer. This vigorous production is set in a disco, with all the dangers and dreams that go with it.
Cast of Boston Lyric Opera’s ‘Carousel’. Photo by Nile Scott Studios.
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s ‘Carousel,’ 80th Anniversary Production. Music by Richard Rodgers. Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Conducted by David Angus. Directed by Anne Bogart. Presented by Boston Lyric Opera, Emerson Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston Street, Boston. Run has ended
By Shelley A. Sackett
Boston Lyric Opera’s production of Carousel is being touted on many levels. It is a return of Rogers and Hammerstein’s second musical (written just two years after the smash hit Oklahoma) on the same stage where it débuted in 1945 with John Raitt (Bonnie Raitt’s late father) as the lead, Billy Bigelow. Director Anne Bogart’s program notes stress the tension inherent in staging a show with such strong nostalgic ties to tradition for a contemporary audience. She checks the reverence box by not changing a syllable of the original script or lyrics. The notes refer to checking the innovation box by envisioning the players-within-the-play as “a group of refugees who arrive from a great distance to perform the play, seeking to gain access and acceptance,” but, at least for this viewer, that intention yielded only confusion.
Cast of Lyric Stage’s ‘The Great Reveal’ Photos by Mark S. Howard
Lyric Stage Boston presents ‘The Great Reveal.’ Written by David Valdes. Directed by Bridget Kathleen O’Leary and Charlotte Snow. Scenic Design by Baron E. Pugh. Costume Design by E. Rosser. Lighting Design by Christopher Brusberg. Sound Design by Kai Bohlman. At Lyric Stage, 140 Clarendon Street, Boston, through April 27, 2025.
By Linda Chin
With concern about revenues and audience attendance – particularly post-pandemic – many theater companies have been skittish about including new titles or playwrights in their seasons. Lyric Stage Boston has boldly programmed a new work, The Great Reveal, by playwright David Valdes, as their spring 2025 production, right before the popular classic Hello, Dolly! as their season closer.
Antonia (Toni) Turilli and Jupiter Lê
The Great Reveal is about a gender reveal party hosted by Lexi and Christopher, a married and expectant cis couple. Set in 2020 during the pandemic, all of the expected guests opt out, except for two – Lexi’s brother, Linus, and his partner, Dosia, a trans couple. Linus and Dosia are conflicted – not only about condoning a celebration that reaffirms society’s gender binarism, but also with each other – Dosia has a plan up her sleeve for making her feelings known that might sabotage the event and damage their relationship; Linus wants to maintain a peaceful relationship with his sister.
Casting plays that put queer and trans characters in the foreground – which Valdes enjoys writing – can also be challenging. With directors Bridget Kathleen O’Leary (who directed Valdes’ The Mermaid Hour at Moonbox last year) and Charlotte Snow at the helm of an ensemble that includes Paige Clark as Lexi, Arthur Gomez as her husband Christopher, Jupiter Lê as Linus, and Antonia Turilli as Dosia, this four-hander dramedy is brought to life with authentic storytellers.
Lê and Paige Clark
Last seen at Lyric Stage in Yellowface (NWOAOC) and in many other productions around town, Jupiter Lê delivers a soft-spoken but powerfully-heard, seen, and felt portrayal of Linus and demonstrates his versatility as an actor. A recent graduate of Northeastern University, Jupiter is a queer trans masculine Vietnamese theater-maker who was born and raised in Boston.
Making her Lyric Stage debut with her portrayal of Dosia, actor Antonia (Toni) Turilli, a recent graduate of The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, who is a “proud transgender woman,” is positively luminous. Her passion for her artistry is palpable, and I look forward to seeing her onstage again.
Both Lê and Turilli seem younger than their characters are written, but they are well-matched and both possess a depth of maturity, poise, and lived experience that never caused a mismatch between their actual age and the script or took me out of the moment.
As the married cis couple Lexi and Christopher, Boston stage veterans Paige Clark and Arthur Gomez add their considerable acting talents to the ensemble (which notably includes 75% BIPOC actors despite none of the characters being specified as BIPOC in the script).
Arthur Gomez’ and Turilli
Playing Lexi in The Great Reveal marks Paige Clark’s Lyric Stage debut, and shows off her generosity as a scene partner. I found the scenes where Lexi and Linus recalled experiences from their childhood – both loving and rivalrous – and bonded over their parents’ limitations and absence (Valdes’ fifth character is their elderly father, who does not appear but whose stubbornness and sense of loneliness and isolation pervades the production) extremely moving – possibly because I couldn’t help but imagine him as an Asian dad like my own.
Returning to the Lyric Stage, where he appeared in Assassins and Kiss of the Spider Woman, Boston actor and director Arthur Gomez’ added humor and heart to the ensemble as father-to-be Christopher. To relieve his anxiety and relax his nerves, he took drugs that he got from Dosia. While amusing at first – and showing off Gomez’s comedy chops – he was high for much of the play/party, and these scenes dragged. (The play in general could benefit from some trimming and attention to pacing.) A scene towards the end of the play – a poignant flashback to Chris and Lexi’s wedding day – when Jupiter helps Chris tie his bow tie, cementing their bond as “brothers from another mother” was worth waiting for.
The life-sized working set, thoughtfully designed for the Lyric’s ¾ thrust stage by Scenic Designer Baron E. Pugh, contributed to this world premiere production’s artistic excellence. Set in a backyard in the Boston area, the clapboard-sided house, painted a lovely sage green, with patio sliders that open onto a fenced wooden deck, provides wonderful stage pictures and views from every seat in the audience and ample playing areas for the two-person scenes.
Turilli, Clark
In the Artist Spotlight in the show program, in response to the question “What has being a part of The Great Reveal meant to you?” Antonia Turilli (Dosia) states, “My hope is that audiences feel seen in the story we share with them, as these characters are truly not that different from any one of us.” Paige Clark (Lexi) notes, “I hope everyone watching gets a chance to recognize their shadow self and find ways to heal it.” My favorite moment was a flashback scene on the beach when Lexi and Dosia connect and bond as the sisters they’ve each wanted. Heartfelt and real, they showed us that their friendship’s foundation was strong enough to withstand some hard conversations. I also related to the important role that chosen family members have in my own life. For more information and tickets, go to: https://www.lyricstage.com/
