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

June 6, 2022June 7, 2022 Theater Mirror1 Comment

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.

Cirque du Soleil Celebrates a Stunning Return to Boston with “Crystal”

June 5, 2022June 5, 2022 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

by Michael Cox

The 42nd original show from this live entertainment leader since it’s inception in 1984, Crystal is a high-energy ice ballet, featuring light comedy, music, dance and the signature high-flying acrobatics that defines what the circus has become in this day and age.

Sure, we’ve lost the lions, the elephants, the freaks, the geeks and the ring master that wrangles all these things together. No problem, we have the essentials — the greatest of acrobats and the most charming of clowns. Those two things have kept this institution charging into the 21st Century.

Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s ‘The Bomb-itty of Errors’ Brings out The Bomb in The Bard

May 31, 2022May 31, 2022 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Cast of Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s ‘The Bomb-itty of Errors’

‘The Bomb-itty of Errors’ — Written by Jordan Allen-Dutton, Jason Catalano, Gregory J. Qaiyum, Jeffrey Qaiyum and Erik Weiner. Based on ‘The Comedy of Errors’ by William Shakespeare. Directed by Christopher V. Edwards. Scenic Design by Baron E. Pugh; Costume Design by Zoe Sundra; Lighting Design by Max Wallace; Props Design by Steve Viera, Sound Design by Abraham Joyner-Meyers. Presented by the Actors’ Shakespeare Project at the Charlestown working Theater, 442 Bunker Hill St., Chares through June 26.

by Shelley A. Sackett

Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s “The Bomb-itty of Errors” is perfect pre-summer fare. Hip-hop and rap, a live DJ, a brilliantly exhaustive (and sometimes exhausting) script, some sublime acting and — as if that’s not enough — the Bard himself, camouflaged but hardly hidden. All wrapped neatly in a 90-minute intermission-less package that is as invigorating as it is boisterous.

Ogunquit Playhouse’s Beat Goes On with ‘The Cher Show’

May 28, 2022May 28, 2022 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Charissa Hogeland (Lady), Sara Gettelfinger (Star), Madeline Hudelson (Babe) in ‘The Cher Show’ at Ogunquit Playhouse. Photos by Nile Hawver, Nile Scott Studios.

‘The Cher Show’ – Rick Elice (writer), Gerry McIntyre (Director), Jane Lanier (Choreographer), Kristin Stowell (Music Director), Andy Walmsley (Set Design), Richard Latta (Lighting Design), Bob Mackie (Costume Design), Roxanne De Luna (Wig Design), Kevin Heard (Sound Design), John Narun (Projection Design). Presented by the Ogunquit Playhouse through June 25^th.

by Linda Chin

Ogunquit Playhouse is New England’s grande dame of the summer stock circuit, making The Cher Show an entirely fitting choice to open the theatre’s 90^th season in grand style. With a book by Rick Elice (Jersey Boys) and 35 tunes, this show about Cher’s early life and career spanning six decades is not your average musical, but in the “juke box musical” or bio-musical” category. The archival black-and-white clips from The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, colorful, over-the-top costumes by fashion designer Bob Mackie, and adoring (and adorable) back-up dancers make this production part-documentary, part-TV series, part-runway show, part-sketch comedy and nightclub act.

Theatre by the Sea’s ‘Million Dollar Quartet’ is a High Energy Musical Extravaganza

May 28, 2022May 29, 2022 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

The cast of MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET playing at Theatre By The Sea thru June 18, 2022. Photos by Mark Turek

by Tony Annicone

Owner and Producer Bill Hanney opens his historic “Theatre by the Sea” after a two-year pandemic with “Million Dollar Quartet.” This Tony nominated musical is set on December 4, 1956, when an extraordinary twist of fate brought Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley together at Sun Records in Memphis for what would be one of the greatest jam sessions ever. It tells the tale of record producer, Sam Phillips, who brought these four stars together for a once in a lifetime jam session – before Jerry Lee Lewis became famous. Sam wanted Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash to sign future contracts with his record label. Elvis, whom Sam sold his contract to RCA and has become a Hollywood movie star, brings his girlfriend to the meeting, while Jay Perkins and their friend, Fluke are also there. This high energy musical extravaganza enthralls you from start to finish. Director Greg Santos picks the best performers for these roles so you can forget about your cares and woes to escape back in time to Memphis, Tennessee to witness Rock n Roll over 60 years ago.

BLO’s ‘Champion: An Opera in Jazz’ Tackles Fate, Faith, Forgiveness and Redemption

May 26, 2022 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

by Shelley A. Sackett

“Champion: An Opera in Jazz.” Music by Terence Blanchard; Libretto by Michael Cristofer. Music Direction by David Angus; Music Conductor – Kwamé Ryan; Set Design by Sara Brown; Costume Design by Trevor Bowen; Lighting Design by Marcus Doshi. Produced by Boston Lyric Opera at the Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre, 219 Tremont Street, Boston. (Run has ended)

Switching gears overnight due to pandemic-related issues, Boston Lyric Opera is to be commended for its recent perseverance and quick-footed adaptability. Instead of offering three performances of “Champion: An Opera in Jazz” as a full opera as rehearsed and planned, the company pivoted to only two concert-style productions with the masked orchestra on stage, costumed chorus in balcony box seats and main performers making do with a sliver downstage.

The only downside to the downsizing was that fewer people were able to experience this ambitious, modern masterwork that brings to life boxer Emile Griffith’s complicated story through a heart-rending melding of music styles and poignant lyrics. By the show’s end — at least in my row — there was not a dry eye. And isn’t that, after all, why we go to the theater and especially to opera? To feel?

GBSC’s ‘Miss Holmes Returns’ Is Not Just for Sherlock Fans

May 10, 2022 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Marge Dunn, Alexander Platt, and Shonna Cirone in GBSC’s ‘Miss Holmes Returns’

by Shelley A. Sackett

“Miss Holmes Returns” — Based on the characters by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Written by Christopher M. Walsh. Directed by Weylin Symes. Set Design by Katy Monthel; Lighting Design by Corey Whittemore; Sound Design by David Remedios; Costume Design by Deirdre McCable Gerrand. Produced by Greater Boston Stage Company, 395 Main St, Stoneham, MA. (Run has ended)

In this world premiere, the all-male main characters of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous mysteries are recast as women. Miss Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Dorothy Watson are called upon to get to the bottom of a murder (or two) for which an Indian nurse is framed. Along the way, they encounter the effects of racism, sexism, classism and the Contagious Disease Act, laws enacted by men to “tell women what they can and cannot do with their own bodies.”

The Victorian era never seemed so far away, and yet so close.

Trinity Rep’s “Fairview” Takes an Interactive Look at Race

May 10, 2022May 31, 2022 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Mia Ellis, Aizhaneya Carter, and Jackie Davis in Trinity Rep’s “Fairview”

by Tony Annicone

Trinity Repertory Company’s closing show of their 2021/22 season is “Fairview”, a Pulitzer Prize winning show by Jackie Sibblies Drury. It is about an upper middle class African American family that starts off as a sitcom a la “Good Times”, but then becomes confrontational. The play also turns interactive with a riveting performance by Aizhaneya Carter, who plays the young daughter, Keisha. The play opens with Beverly peeling carrots and humming a song as she prepares a Birthday dinner for her mother. She wants the birthday party to be a success, and waits for Keisha to join in the festivities when she gets home from basketball practice, while her husband, Dayton shows up to help her with the dinner. Her sister Jasmine arrives with the best wine from France and starts to gossip and complain about things. Here are the ingredients for the first part of the show. All seems well with a harried wife, a goofy husband, an exuberant daughter and a snooty sister until voices are heard spouting some unpleasantries during scene 2.

Shall We Cancel A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder? It Appears To Be the Only Civilized Thing to Do.

May 5, 2022May 5, 2022 Theater Mirror2 Comments

*Cast of ‘A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder’ at the Lyric Stage. Photos by Mark S. Howard*

by Michael Cox

Times have changed. The theatre, especially, has changed in the past few years. Every theatre company in this city has declared as much.

This musical comedy, the culminating play of Lyric Stage Company’s season, is filled from beginning to end with the most vile and offensive sentiments. Exploitative and entitled characters espouse horrific colonialist ideals – racism, eugenics and open marriages between cousins – while they systematically quell the lower classes, hold back their capacity for progress and curtail their human dignity at every turn. Woke audience members must endure the most appalling rhetoric. The playmakers who have created A Gentleman’s Guide excuse these problematic sentiments by stating that the characters who express these things are murdered in increasingly fiendish ways. And murder can be delightful when it’s the obnoxious, entitled and tone deaf who are murdered.

“Ain’t Misbehavin’” Sets the Joint Jumpin’

May 5, 2022May 5, 2022 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

*Sheree Marcelle,* *Jackson Jirard*, *Lovely Hoffman, Christina Jones, and Anthony Pires, Jr. in* *‘Ain’t Misbehavin*‘ at Central Square Theater. *Photos by Nile Scott*

by Michele Markarian

“Ain’t Misbehavin’” – The Fats Waller Musical. Conceived by Richard Maltby Jr. and Murray Horowitz, Musical Adaptations, Orchestrations and Arrangements by Luther Henderson. Directed and Choreographed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Co-produced by The Nora@Central Square Theater, The Front Porch Arts Collective, and Greater Boston Stage Company, 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, through May 29.

Years ago, for our parents’ 20th wedding anniversary, my siblings and I bought them tickets to see “Ain’t Misbehavin’”. I don’t remember why we picked this particular show, except that they liked musicals and this one was new. They came back from their evening raving about how incredible it was; they talked about it for days. From what I was hearing, it was the music that hooked them, as they didn’t tell us much in the way of the storyline. The memory of their experience stayed with me, for who doesn’t want to be deeply rocked by a musical? After seeing “Ain’t Misbehavin’” for the first time in Central Square, I totally get where they were coming from.