Tag: Review

All’s Well That Ends Well For Star-Crossed Lovers In ASP’s ‘As You Like It’

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Genevieve Simon and the cast of Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s ‘As You Like It’. Photo by Nile Scott Studios

‘As You Like It’ – By William Shakespeare. Directed by Harold Steward. Associate directed by Brooke Hardman. Scenic Design by Ben Lieberson. Lighting Design by Amanda E. Fallon. Costume and Sound Design by Harold Steward. Props Design by Saskia Martinez. Associate Sound Design by Mackenzie Adamick. Presented by Actors’ Shakespeare Project in partnership with The Theater Offensive at Tufts University’s Balch Arena Theater, 40 Talbot Ave, Medford, MA through June 25

by Linda Chin

Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s current production of As You Like It, directed by artistic visionary Harold Steward, remains relevant and refreshing four centuries after it was first published in the Bard’s First Folio in 1623. This production also represents a first-time partnership between ASP and The Theatre Offensive.

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North Shore Music Theatre’s ‘Beautiful’ is Full of Feels

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Elena Ricardo as Carole King in “Beautiful – The Carole King Musical” at North Shore Music Theatre thru June 18, 2023. Photo @ Paul Lyden

Beautiful: The Music of Carole King – Book by Douglas McGrath. Words and Music by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Barry Mann, and Cynthia Weil. Directed and Choreographed by Marcos Santana. Music Direction by Camille Villalpando Rolla. Scenic and Lighting Design by Jack Mehler. Costume Design by Travis M. Grant. Co-Sound Design by Alex Berg and Don Hanna. Hair and Wig Design by Rachel Padula-Shufelt. At North Shore Music Theatre, Beverly, through June 18, 2023.

by Linda Chin

North Shore Music Theatre’s season opener, Beautiful: the Music of Carole King, is not a stop that is part of a national tour/Broadway in Beverly – but a regional production that has been created and cast de novo with a blend of professional and emerging theater-makers. NSMT Producer Bill Hanney and Producing Artistic Director Kevin Hill, in concert with show director/choreographer Marcos Santana (Jersey Boys, 2022), have imbued Beautiful with their signature stamp of artistic excellence. On a similar note, Elena Ricardo, who played the titular role in NSMT’s Peter Pan at NSMT and understudied the lead role in Broadway’s Beautiful, does not attempt to clone Ms. King (née Carol Klein) nor actor Jessie Mueller, who won the 2014 Tony for her portrayal, but makes the role her own. Other actors, such as Jean McCormick as Genie Klein, play down the stereotype of an overbearing Jewish mother.

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Superb Cast Delivers Murderously Good Comedy with GBSC’s ‘Clue’

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 Jennifer Ellis, Stewart Evan Smith, Sara Coombs, Bill Mootos, Mark Linehan, Paul Melendy, Maureen Keiller, Genevieve Lefevre in GBSC’s ‘Clue’. Photo Credit: Nile Scott Studios

 
‘Clue’ – Written by Sandy Rustin; Directed by Weylin Symes; Scenic Designer, Katy Monthei; Costume Designer, Deirdre Gerrard; Lighting Designer, Jeff Adelberg; Sound Designer, Caroline Eng; Properties Designer, Emily Allinson; Assistant Director, Tyler Rosati; Movement Consultant, Ceit Zweil; Production Stage Manager, Shauwna Dias Grillo; Assistant Stage Managers, Emily Fitzgerald, Cassie Lebeau; Production Assistant, Alexandra White; Production Manager/Master Electrician, Casey Leone Blackbird; Fight Choreographer, Alexander Platt; Scenery Built by The Ogunquit Playhouse Scene Shop. Adapted from the Paramount Pictures film written by Jonathan Lynn and the board game from Hasbro, Inc. Additional materials by Hunter Foster and Eric Price 
 
CAST (in alphabetical order): Fernando Barbosa, Sara Coombs, Jennifer Ellis, Lisa Kate Joyce, Maureen Keiller, Genevieve Lefevre, Mark Linehan, Paul Melendy, Bryan Miner, Bill Mootos, Katie Pickett, Stewart Evan Smith, Ceit Zweil. Performances through June 25 at Greater Boston Stage Company, 395 Main Street, Stoneham, MA 02180; Box Office: 781-279-2200 or greaterbostonstage.org


 
by Nancy Grossman
 
One of the hallmarks of growing up in the 1950s and 60s was the simplicity of it. On nice days, children played a variety of outdoor games with their friends – hopscotch, tag, hide ’n’ seek, and disorganized football or baseball, if there were enough kids to make teams. On rainy days or through the colder months, most families could gather around a selection of board games. Monopoly was probably the best-known and most popular, but Clue was one of my favorites for the mystery of it all. It was pretty exciting for a kid to have the chance to play detective and scope out who was the murderer, what was the murder weapon, and where did it happen? I probably didn’t know the term deductive reasoning, but I learned how to do it while playing a great game.

 
Fast forward about sixty years and CLUE (adapted from the board game and the 1985 Paramount Pictures film) is now onstage at the Greater Boston Stage Company. The black comedy/mystery features a fabulous ensemble cast playing a group of strangers invited to a dinner party where they are to confront their blackmailer, only to find themselves suspect when he is murdered. Mirth and mayhem (and not a whole lot else) ensue, but this trivial pursuit is an amusing ride.
 
Your gracious host is Wadsworth, the butler, captivatingly played by GBSC favorite Paul Melendy (Elliot Norton Award winner for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow). He sets the pace and tone as the other characters arrive on the scene and jump into the fray. Thanks to Ceit Zweil’s inventive movement design and Melendy’s physical comedy chops, seven actors snake and trot from room to room in a series of humorous parades, enhanced by atmospheric lighting changes (Jeff Adelberg) and zippy music (Caroline Eng, sound). 
 
The familiar suspects include pompous Professor Plum (Mark Linehan), femme (is-she-or-isn’t-she) fatale Miss Scarlet (Jennifer Ellis), tipsy Mrs. Peacock (Maureen Keiller, over the top in a good way), stuffy Colonel Mustard (Bill Mootos), timid Mr. Green (Stewart Evan Smith), and serial widow Mrs. White (Sara Coombs, u/s). They are supported by the maid Yvette (Genevieve Lefevre) and cook (Katie Pickett, u/s) until they join the growing pile of bodies atop Mr. Boddy (Bryan Miner), the apparent blackmailer. 
 
Scenic designer Katy Monthei and the Ogunquit Playhouse Scene Shop provide a dollhouse of a set with lots of moveable walls and a multitude of doors that add to the fun. Watch for little details like color-coded costumes (Deirdre Gerrard) and oversized murder weapons (Emily Allison, properties) to heighten the experience. Like any good detective, the more things you notice, the more likely you are to solve the puzzle. Kudos to Director Weylin Symes for putting together this crackerjack ensemble and helping them to show that murder and blackmail can be a team sport. 

 
 

 
 
 

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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Gloucester Stage’s ‘Private Lives’ Injects New Life into Comedy Classic

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Katie Croyle and Gunnar Manchester in ‘Private Lives’ at Gloucester Stage. Photos by James Grow

‘Private Lives’ – by Noël Coward; Directed by Diego Arciniegas; Scenic Design by Izmir Ickbal; Sound Design by Eric Hamel; Costume Design by Nia Safarr Banks; Lighting Design by Anshuman Bhatia; Fight & Intimacy Direction by Angie Jepson. Presented by Gloucester Stage at 267 E. Main St., Gloucester, through June 25

by Mike Hoban

Early on in the classic Noel Coward comedy Private Lives, Victor, the blissfully unaware second husband of Amanda, the beautiful and sophisticated socialite, laments to her, “I wish I knew you better,” to which she quickly replies, “It’s just as well you don’t.” Truer words were never spoken, and over the next two hours, he and Sybil Chase, his equally unlucky marital counterpart, will get to know their new spouses in ways that they never bargained for in this riotous season opener for Gloucester Stage.

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Small Town, Big Dreams in Lyric’s ‘Rooted’

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Katherine Callaway, Karen MacDonald, and Lisa Tucker in ‘Rooted’ at the Lyric

Written by Deborah Zoe Laufer. Directed by Courtney O’Connor. Scenic Design by Janie E. Howland, Costume Design by Chelsea Kerl, Lighting Design by Karen Perlow, Original Music and Sound Co-Design by Dewey Dellay, and Sound Co-Design by Andrew Duncan Will. Properties by Lauren Corcuera.

by Linda Chin

In crafting Rooted, the story of two small-town, medium-aged women with big dreams, playwright Deborah Zoe Laufer returned to her childhood roots in the Catskills for inspiration. Besides Hazel (Karen MacDonald), an energetic, fast-talking waitress and primary caregiver of her younger sister, Emery (Lisa Tucker), who has a physical disability and uses a walker, the fictional town of Millerville’s inhabitants include Stuart, Giancarlo, and dozens of other potted plants who live with the people-phobic, biophilic Emery in a tree house – named Mabel – that she hasn’t emerged from in over a decade. There are also lots of animals – birds in the sky above, cows in the pasture below. From the safety of the tree house, Emery does plant research and broadcasts her results via YouTube, and is satisfied with having no direct human contact – just peace, calm, and quiet. In contrast, Hazel is dissatisfied and bored with small-town life, and though she loves her sister deeply, she desperately wants to escape.   

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A Life-Affirming Production Of ‘The Color Purple’ at Umbrella Stage

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Cast of ‘The Color Purple’ at Umbrella Stage

Book by Marsha Norman. Music and Lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray. Produced by Brian Boruta. Directed by BW Gonzalez. Music Direction by Nathanael Wilkerson. Choreographed by Najee A. Brown. Scenic Design by Janie E. Howland. Lighting Design by SeifAllah Salotto-Cristobal; Sound Design by James Cannon. Costume Designer: Danielle Domingue SumiHair, Hair & Makeup Design by Schanaya Barrows. Through June 4 at Umbrella Stage, 40 Stow St., Concord, MA.

by Linda Chin

Umbrella Stage’s production of The Color Purple, a musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, is – in a word – epic.

Designers Janie E. Howland, Danielle Domingue Sumi, and SeifAllah Salotto-Cristobal have created a world that is simultaneously unassuming and powerful: an unpainted, multi-level structure constructed of rough-hewn beams and natural wood deck boards, unadorned, well-worn period costumes in earthy tones, and soft, dusky lighting punctuated with jewel tones (including the titular color) transport us to rural Georgia in 1909-1949.  

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SWEENEY TODD

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by Tony Annicone

Trinity Rep’s closing musical of their 59th season is Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd,” which opened on Broadway on March 1, 1979, and won 8 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. This musical is a macabre tragicomedy based on the legend of a half-mad 19th Century English barber driven to crime when an evil judge takes his wife and daughter from him. Unjustly imprisoned, Todd eventually escapes 15 years later and vows to bring justice to the judge who destroyed his life and all the people of London. He forms a partnership with Mrs. Lovett, an enterprising bar mistress whose previously worst meat pies in London soon become the tastiest, with Todd’s victims as their secret ingredient. This musical also shines with a fabulous turntable set by the late Eugene Lee and Patrick Lynch with terrific costumes by Shahrzad Mazaheri. Director Curt Columbus infuses his cast with the energy and insight to pull off these complex characters. At the same time, music director Andrew Smithson taught the talented cast members the intricate and precise Sondheim music and lyrics in this over three-hundred-page score. The diction is crystal clear. Their combined efforts produce a sensational musical that must not be missed. It is rewarded with a resounding standing ovation at night’s close.

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‘Beautiful’ Continues its Reign as King of Jukebox Musicals at Ogunquit Playhouse

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Matthew Amira, Sarak Bockel in Beautiful – The Carole King Musical at Ogunquit Playhouse

‘Beautiful’ – Book by Douglas McGrath. Words and Music by Gerry Goffin, Carole King, Barry Mann, and Cynthia Weil. David Ruttura, Director. Joyce Chittick, Choreographer/Associate Director. Nick Williams, Music Director. Derek McLane, Scenic Design. Alejo Vieti, Costume Design. Richard Latta, Lighting Design. Kevin Heard, Sound Design. Roxanne De Luna, Wig Design. At Ogunquit Playhouse through June 10

by Mike Hoban

One of the good things about the plethora of jukebox musicals that have dominated the theater scene in recent years (as well as tribute bands in music venues) is that if you’re a fan of the artist, you can pretty much bank on having a reasonably good time. But if it’s the Ogunquit Playhouse’s spectacular production of Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, then you can count on having a GREAT time. Ogunquit has brought back the show barely six months after its run last fall (which I also saw), and if anything, the show feels even more energized in this restaging.

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Sparkly Promsembles Elevate SpeakEasy’s ‘The Prom’

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Cast of SpeakEasy Stage Company’s production of “The Prom.” (Photos: Nile Scott Studios)

‘The Prom’ – Music and Lyrics by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin. Book by Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin. Directed by Paul Daigneault. Music Direction by Paul S. Katz. Choreography by Taavon Gamble. Scenic Design by Jenna McFarland Lord. Costume Design by Miranda Kau Giurleo. Lighting Design by Karen Perlow. Sound Design by Andrew Duncan Will. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company at the Calderwood/ Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston through June 10, 2023.

by Linda Chin

Though their Broadway show closed on opening night and the critics wrote them off as “aging narcissists,” co-stars Dee Dee Allen (a dee-lightful Mary Callanan), and Barry Glickman (an effervescent Johnny Kuntz) are determined to stay in the limelight. Joined by fellow #wasOnBroadwaynowOff actors Angie Dickinson (a zazzy Lisa Yuen) and Julliard alum Trent Oliver (a hilarious Jared Troilo), the group decides to become “celebrity activists,” who selflessly support a cause, and are “the kind of stars the press adores.” With publicist Sheldon (a charismatic Meagan Lewis Michelson) along for the adventure, the five “liberal democrats from Broadway” head to Indiana to help a teenager whose story is trending on Twitter: “a girl who wanted to take her girlfriend to the high school prom and the PTA went apeshit.”

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