Tag: American Repertory Theater

A Moving, Jubilant “Real Women Have Curves”

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Cast of “Real Women Have Curves: The Musical” at the A.R.T.
Photos by Nile Hawver and Maggie Hall

By Michele Markarian

“Real Women Have Curves: The Musical”.  Music and Lyrics by Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez, Book by Lisa Loomer.  Based on the play by Josefina Lopez and HBO’s “Real Women Have Curves”, Screenplay by Josefina Lopez and George Lavoo.  Directed and Choreographed by Sergio Trujillo.  Presented by American Repertory Theater, Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge, through January 21, 2024.

Ana (Lucy Godinez) is the second daughter of an undocumented Mexican family living in Los Angeles, and the only one to have citizenship. She has just received a letter from Columbia University, admitting her as a college student with a full scholarship.  However, her sister, Estela (Florencia Cuenca), owner of a dressmaking business, has a huge order to fulfill and needs help.  The sisters’ mother, Carmen (Justina Machado), fully expects Ana to work in the family dress factory with Estela. As the only US citizen in the family, Ana has negotiating skills that the rest of the family does not feel comfortable executing themselves. Ana is too afraid to let her parents know her dream of going to a prestigious school, as family, in her case, must come before individual desires. As Carmen likes to say to her, “You have big dreams. Try sleeping less”. 

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With “The Half-God of Rainfall,” A.R.T. Once Again Breaks New Production Ground

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Cast of “The Half-God of Rainfall,” at A.R.T. Credit: Lauren Miller

‘The Half-God of Rainfall’ – Written by Inua Ellams. Directed by Taibi Magar. Movement Direction by Orlando Pabotoy. Scenic Design by Riccardo Hernández. Lighting Design by Stacey Derosier. Sound Design and Music Composition by Mikaal Sulaiman. Projection Design by Tal Yarden. Orisha Movement Consulting/Choreography by Beatrice Capote. Costume Design by Linda Cho. Presented by American Repertory Theater in co-production with New York Theatre Workshop. At Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge, through Sept. 24.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Will we ever become inured to the other-worldly team at American Repertory Theater and its ability to sprinkle fairy dust on Boston’s theater scene? With “The Half-God of Rainfall,” now in production through September 24, the answer is a resounding “No!”

It helps that Nigerian native Inua Ellam’s sinuous play is a masterful blending of unlikely ingredients: Greek mythology and Nigerian Yoruba spirituality, a war between mortals and gods, basketball, toxic patriarchy, white supremacy, female empowerment, and maternal love. Couple that with a script crafted as an epic poem, a stellar cast that works as a seamless ensemble, and breathtaking choreography, lighting, and sound designs, and well, you have all the makings for a night of unparalleled theatrical pageantry.

The scope and ambition of Ellam’s work is staggering.

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A.R.T.’s Spectacular ‘Evita’ Raises the Bar on the Term, “Production Values”

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Shereen Pimentel (Eva) in Evita at American Repertory Theater. Photo Credits: Emilio Madrid.

Lyrics by Tim Rice. Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Directed by Sammi Cannold. Choreography by Emily Maltby, Valeria Solomonoff; Music Direction by Mona Seyed-Bolorforosh; Scenic Design by Jason Sherwood; Costume Design by Alejo Vietti,; Lighting Design by Bradley King. Presented by the American Repertory Theater in Association with Shakespeare Theatre Company at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge through July 30.

by Shelley A. Sackett

A cross between an iron maiden and a fairy princess gown, the replica of Eva Peron’s famous Dior strapless gown hangs suspended over a neon-framed stage. Like a mummified 3-dimensional diorama, the white bejeweled dress takes on a life of its own, its bodice both unsettling and beckoning, warning the audience: look but do not touch.

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A.R.T’s ‘Wife of Willesden’ is a Pleasure with a Capital P

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Clare Perkins in ‘The Wife of Willesden’ at the A.R.T. Photo Credits: Marc Brenner

‘The Wife of Willesden’ – Adapted by Zadie Smith from Chaucer’s ‘The Wife of Bath’ from The Canterbury Tales; Directed by Kiln Theatre Artistic Director Indhu Rubasingham; Design by Robert Jones, Lighting Design by Guy Hoare; Composition and Sound Design by Drama Desk Ben and Max Ringham. The Wife of Willesden is a Kiln Theatre Production and is presented in association with BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge, MA through March 17

by Shelley A. Sackett

Whether by design or chance, the slightly tardy start to “The Wife of Willesden” gifted the audience with a few bonus minutes to soak in the vibe of Robert Jones’s magnificent set while seat dancing to disco party tunes. The stage, meant to represent a pub in Willesden (a multi-racial part of North London’s Brent) feels more like a holy shrine to drink and camaraderie. Six triple-case bays are filled floor to ceiling with glimmering bottles. A disco ball sparkles from above. A barmaid cuts fruit while local revelers mill about. Members of the audience sit at small tables on the stage, further breaking down the fourth wall. The effect is, well, intoxicating.

And then boom! The play starts.

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Perkins is a Dynamo in A.R.T.’s ‘Wife of Willesden’

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Marcus Adolphy, Clare Perkins, George Eggay, Andrew Frame, and the company of The Wife of Willesden at the A.R.T. Photo Credits: Marc Brenner

‘The Wife of Willesden’ – Adapted by Zadie Smith from Chaucer’s ‘The Wife of Bath’ from The Canterbury Tales; Directed by Kiln Theatre Artistic Director Indhu Rubasingham; Design by Robert Jones, Lighting Design by Guy Hoare; Composition and Sound Design by Drama Desk Ben and Max Ringham. The Wife of Willesden is a Kiln Theatre Production and is presented in association with BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge, MA through March 17

by Mike Hoban

What do women want?

Clearly, it depends on whom you ask (please shut up, men), but if you ask Alvita, the central character in The Wife of Willesden, the British import production now playing a limited engagement at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, a heaping helping of sex is a good start. As she rhetorically tells her five husbands as she spins her tale, “I demand pleasure. That is your debt to me…You’ll agree to owe me love, and good sex, and that when we marry, your body and soul will be mine as long as we’re a thing. From that time till we’re done, your body is my playground, (and) it’s for me, not for you.”

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ART Delivers a Spectacular “Life of Pi”

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Adi Dixit (“Pi”), Rowan Magee, Celia Mei Rubin, and Nikki Calonge (“Richard Parker”) in Life of Pi at the A.R.T. Photos: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade

by Michele Markarian

“Life of Pi.”  Based on the novel by Yann Martel. Adapted by Lolita Chakrabati. Directed by Max Webster. Presented by American Repertory Theater, Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge, through January 29.

In 2003, Yann Martel’s newly published “Life of Pi” was one of those must-reads that had to be gotten through in order to hold one’s own in literary discussions. I can’t honestly say I enjoyed the book. While it had an interesting beginning and a thoughtful ending, the middle was tedious – Pi alone at sea with diminishing zoo animals. Or at least that’s how I remember it. Luckily, Lolita Chakrabati’s stage adaptation cuts its way through that boring middle, interspersing scenes of Pi’s (Adi Dixit) interrogation with the ship’s insurer, Mr. Okamoto (Daisuke Tsuji) and Lulu Chen (Kirstin Louie) with his solo journey, lost at sea. Even with that structure, the brilliant stagecraft and artistry of this production eclipses any story line.

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Anna Deavere Smith Revisits Powerful ‘Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992’ Through New Lens at the A.R.T.

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Wesley T. Jones and Elena Hurst in A.R.T.s production of Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992. Photo Credits: Lauren Miller

Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 – Conceived, Written, and Revised by Anna Deavere Smith; Directed by Taibi Magar; Scenic Design by Riccardo Hernandez; Costume Design by Linda Cho; Lighting Design by Alan C. Edwards; Sound Design by Darron L West. Projection Design by David Bengali. Presented by American Repertory Theater in association with Signature Theatre at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge through Sept. 24.

by Mike Hoban

In 1992, at the height of the riots following the “not guilty” verdict of the four white L.A. police officers who had been caught on videotape delivering a brutal beating to Black motorist Rodney King, I was having a conversation with a Black male coworker, to get some perspective on why the city was on fire. “Listen,” he told me in an even but pointed tone. “If you’re a Black man in this country, there’s almost zero chance that you haven’t been stopped by a cop at least once – for no reason – by the time you reach 21.” And as Congresswoman Maxine Waters (who is quoted in the play) directly put it, “(The) riot is the voice of the unheard.”

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A.R.T. Delivers a Rousing Pre-Broadway Run of America’s Origin Story,  ‘1776’

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Cast of ‘1776’ at American Repertory Theatre

‘1776’ – Music and Lyrics by Sherman Edwards; Book by Peter Stone; Based on a concept by Sherman Edwards Directed by Jeffrey L. Page and Diane Paulus; Choreography by Jeffrey L. Page; Music Direction by Ryan Cantwell; Scenic Design by Scott Pask; Costume Design by Emilio Sosa; Lighting Design by Jen Schriever; Sound Design by Jonathan Deans; Projection Design by David Bengali. Co-presented by the Roundabout Theatre Company (RTC) and the American Repertory Theatre, at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St. Cambridge through July 24th.

by Mike Hoban

I must admit I was not overly enthused on my way to Brattle Street for the pre-Broadway opening of the musical 1776. The A.R.T.s 2021-2022 season, with the exception of the marvelous opening tap showcase, Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic, has largely been one of well-intentioned activism superseding any meaningful art, resulting in a string of preaching-to-the-choir productions that made me long for the dopey good fun of something like Waitress (which also had a pre-Broadway opening at the A.R.T.). A pair of climate change-themed shows Wild (great score, but a book that seemed like it was penned by Sid & Marty Kroft of “H.R. Pufnstuf” fame), and the spectacularly dreadful Ocean Filibuster made me wonder if this once-venerable institution had lost its way and would no longer deliver the creative energy blasts of shows like Six, Jagged Little Pill, The Black Clown, and Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812.

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A.R.T.s ‘Ocean Filibuster’ Drowns in Good Intentions

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Photos by Maggie HallJennifer Kidwell in A.R.T.s ‘Ocean Filibuster’. Photos by Maggie Hall

by Mike Hoban

Created by PearlDamour; Text by Lisa D’Amour; Music by Sxip Shirey; Directed by Katie Pearl; Scenic Design by Jian Jung; Music Direction by Sxip Shirey; Costume Design by Olivera Gajic; Lighting Design by Thomas Dunn; Sound Design by Germán Martínez; Projection Design by Tal Yarden. Presented by the American Repertory Theater and commissioned and developed through a collaboration with the Harvard University Center for the Environment. Through March 13 at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St. Cambridge, with a digital version available to stream March 9 – 27

Climate change is clearly the greatest threat to the continued existence of the planet as we know it – potentially impending nuclear war with Russia notwithstanding – but as we saw at the latest United Nations climate change summit in Glasgow this past fall, the folks in charge don’t seem all that willing to do anything about it. Despite the grandstanding from heads of state to phase-out coal power and subsidies for fossil fuels, nothing was codified, so it looks like we’ll just burn for another decade or two, until the megastorms and rising seas finally do us in.

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“Wild: A Musical Becoming” Soars at A.R.T.

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Cast of “Wild: A Musical Becoming” at A.R.T. Photo Credits Maggie Hall – Nile Scott Studios

by Michele Markarian

“Wild: A Musical Becoming”. Book by V (formerly Eve Ensler). Music by Justin Tranter and  Caroline Pennell, with contributions by Eren Cannata. Lyrics by Justin Tranter, Caroline Pennell and V, with contributions by Idina Menzel. Directed by Diane Paulus. Presented by American Repertory Theater, Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge, through January 2.

Admittedly, I was not 100% enthused about seeing a musical theater piece about climate change that was billed as a script-in-hand, concert production, but being a huge Idina Menzel fan, as well as a concerned citizen for the climate, I decided it might be worth it. Having seen it, I can say with conviction that even if you are not an Idina Menzel fan and are oblivious to the climate crisis, run, don’t walk, to your keyboard and order tickets to this musical happening. This is by far one of the most electrifying and energizing shows I have seen all year, delivering its urgent message with heart and hope. From the exuberant, toe tapping opening number by the entire cast of “Mouths to Feed”, the audience knew we were in for something special.

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