Rent, 20th Anniversary Tour – Book, Music, and Lyrics by Jonathan Larson. Directed by Evan Ensign. At the Shubert Theatre, 265 Tremont St., Boston, through November 10, 2019.
Twenty years ago I attended the musical Rent at the Shubert in Boston, the very same theater where it is being performed anew. I have some vivid memories of the show back then that were rekindled when I attended this current, electrifying touring version. Today’s version has more pizazz, more spunk, and it sparkles, as if the cast has each imbibed a hefty swig of Kool-Aid doused with adrenalin. The production is spirited and is well worth attending.
‘Rent’ – Book, Music and Lyrics by Jonathan
Larson; Directed by Evan Ensign; Music Supervision and Additional Arrangements
by Tim Weil; Choreography by Marlies Yearby; Scenic Design by Paul Clay;
Costume Design by Angela Wendt; Lighting Design by Jonathan Spencer; Sound
Design by Keith Caggiano. Produced by Work Light Productions at the Shubert
Theatre – Boch Center through November 10, 2019.
Rent, the quintessential rock musical loosely based on Giacomo Puccini’s opera “La Boheme,” is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a full-throated revival at the Shubert Theatre – Boch Center. One of the longest-running shows on Broadway (it ran for 12 years), Rent garnered a shelf full of awards in 1996, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, three Tony Awards and four Drama Desk Awards.
Nathan Malin, Michael Kaye and Maureen Keiller in SpeakEasy Stage’s Production of “Admissions.” (Maggie Hall Photography)
By
Julie-Anne Whitney
‘Admissions’ – Writtenby Joshua Harmon; Directed by Paul Daigneault; Scenic Design by Eric Levenson; Lighting Design by Karen Perlow; Costume Design by Charles Schoonmaker; Sound Design by Dewey Dellay; Stage Managed by Stephen MacDonald. Produced by SpeakEasy Stage Company at the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts through November 30, 2019.
The
Boston premiere production of Joshua Harmon’s play Admissions, directed
by Paul Daigneault, offers an unsettling behind-the-scenes look at issues of
class and race through the eyes of the most privileged among us: wealthy,
educated white people.
The story centers on Sherri Rosen-Mason (played with thoughtful sensitivity by Maureen Keiller), the head of admissions at Hillcrest, a small New Hampshire prep school, and her headmaster husband, Bill (played by the magnetic Michael Kaye), who have worked for years to expand the racial diversity of the school’s student body, which includes their son, a senior who is anxiously awaiting his college acceptance letters. Boston University student Nathan Malin, gives a commanding, stand-out performance as Charlie, son of Bill and Sherri, who spends the bulk of the play grappling with questions about privilege, fairness, fact versus opinion, and who “deserves” what and why.
(Jesse Hinson, Barlow Adamson, Grace Experience and Amanda Collins in ‘The Thanksgiving Play’ at Lyric Stage Company of Boston. Photos: Glenn Perry)
by Linda Chin
The Thanksgiving Play – Written by Larissa FastHorse; Directed by Scott Edmiston; Scenic Design by Janie E. Howland; Sound Design/Original Music by Dewey Dellay; Costume Design by Rachel Padula-Shufelt; Lighting Design by Karen Perlow. Presented by Lyric Stage Company, 140 Clarendon St., Boston through Nov. 10
In the opening scene of The Thanksgiving Play, now being presented at the Lyric Stage, the first of several children’s Thanksgiving limericks and songs within the play starts with verse, sung by a single white male Pilgrim (Barlow Adamson) to the familiar tune of the “Twelve Days of Christmas.”
On the fourth day of Thanksgiving, the natives gave to me – 4 Cornucopias, 3 Chief headdresses, 2 turkey gobblers and, A pumpki-in in a pumpkin patch.
Nathan Malin, Michael Kaye and Maureen Keiller in SpeakEasy Stage’s Production of “Admissions.” (Maggie Hall Photography)
by Sheila Barth
‘Admissions’ – Written by Joshua Harmon. One-act, 1
hour-50-minute play. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company at the Boston Center
for the Arts, Roberts Studio Theatre, 527 Tremont St., Boston through November
30
The timing for SpeakEasy Stage Company’s tense production of Joshua Harmon’s one-act play Admissions, couldn’t be more perfect. Educators, parents, students undergoing the college admissions process – no-one should miss it. Directed by SpeakEasy’s multiple-award-winning artistic director Paul Daigneault, Admissions delivers realistic, non-stop excitement about a contemporary controversial subject, and lingers long after the terrific cast’s final bows. The winner of the 2018 Drama Desk Award winner for Outstanding Play and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Play builds non-stop momentum, targeting the fairness-unfairness of colleges’ acceptance of worthy students.
(Cheaza Figueroa (Rachel Marron) and the cast of THE BODYGUARD at North Shore Music Theatre thru November 10. Photo by Paul Lyden)
by Tony
Annicone
Las Vegas glitz and glam comes to North Shore Music Theatre’s latest musical production, the Boston area premiere of “The Bodyguard, the Musical”, based on the 1992 movie starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner. The stage version debuted in London back in 2012. A superstar is threatened by a stalker, so her manager hires a former Secret Service Agent to protect her. Both of them have a stubborn streak a mile long and both want to be in charge of any situation that arises. The music from the movie won a Grammy Award and the album was # 1 for five months. There are 15 songs in this musical version and Nick Kenkel returns in triumph to direct and choreograph another hit musical at NSMT. His past NSMT hits were “Legally Blonde”, “Chicago”, “Dreamgirls” and “Evita.” He molds his 19 cast members marvelously with their dance steps and their motivation for their characters. He is aided in his task by musical director, Wendall L. Vaughn, who conducts the superb orchestra. The musical numbers sparkle and shine with the energetic cast wowing the crowd completely. The last number of the show encourages the audience to join in the singing and dancing of “I Wanna Dance with Somebody”, and the already standing audience happily obliged after their thunderous standing ovation before the song “I Will Always Love You” was finished.
Zalmy (Ben Swimmer) and Shmuel (David Picariello) in New Rep’s ‘Trayf’
by Linda Chin
“Trayf”. Written by
Lindsay Joelle. Directed by Celine Rosenthal. Scenic Design: Grace Laubacher.
Lighting Design: Marcella Barbeau. Costume Design: Becca Jewett. Sound Design:
Aubrey Dube. Stage Manager: Jenna Worden. Produced by New Repertory Theatre in
partnership with Jewish Arts Collaborative, 321 Arsenal St., Watertown through
November 3.
Lindsay Joelle’s positively terrific play, Trayf, is the story of Shmuel (David Picariello) and Zalmy (Ben Swimmer), two BFFs who’ve lived in Crown Heights NYC’s Hasidic community since childhood. Now 19, they spend their days cruising the streets of NYC in an RV converted into a Mitzvah Tank, seeking people to converse with about their Jewish faith. Shmuel was gifted the vehicle from his dad, so he’s the duo’s designated driver, and Zalmy’s in charge of navigating and the cassette deck. Zalmy lovingly prepares mixtapes with non-secular, non-trayf music they can listen to. At one point he reveals that he’s listened to Elton John, to which Shmuel asks – with curiosity, protectiveness, and concern – “Is he Jewish?”
(Pier Lamia Porter as Marie and Lovely Hoffman as Sister Rosetta in Greater Boston Stage Company’s ‘Marie and Rosetta’. Photos by Nile Scott Studios)
By Julie-Anne
Whitney
‘Marie and Rosetta’ – Writtenby George Brant, Directed by Pascale Florestal; Music Direction by Erica Telisnor; Scenic Design by Baron E. Pugh; Lighting Design by Kathleen Zhou; Sound Design by John Stone; Costume Design by Michelle Villada. Co-Produced by Greater Boston Stage Company and The Front Porch Arts Collective at 395 Main Street Stoneham, MA through November 10, 2019.
In collaboration with The Front Porch Arts Collective, Greater Boston Stage Company (GBSC) continues their 20th Anniversary Season with the New England premiere of George Brant’s Marie and Rosetta. This 90-minute biographical play with music follows the revolutionary American gospel rock musician, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and her protégée, gospel singer Marie Knight, on the eve of their first rehearsal before embarking on a concert tour that would change their lives forever.
Jonathan (Nile Scott Hawver), Zalmy (Ben Swimmer) and Shmuel (David Picariello) in New Rep’s ‘Trayf’
“Trayf”. Written by
Lindsay Joelle. Directed by Celine Rosenthal. Scenic Design: Grace Laubacher.
Lighting Design: Marcella Barbeau. Costume Design: Becca Jewett. Sound Design:
Aubrey Dube. Stage Manager: Jenna Worden. Produced by New Repertory Theatre in
partnership with Jewish Arts Collaborative, 321 Arsenal St., Watertown through
November 3.
By Shelley A. Sackett
Hasidic teenagers Zalmy and Shmuel, the main characters of the New Repertory Theatre’s “Trayf,” are, at face value, typical 1990s adolescents. They love cruising around New York City in their brand-new van, blasting their favorite music and singing along at the top of their lungs. Their good-natured banter, conversational short cuts and puppy-like rapport reveal a chemistry borne of lifelong friendship. They talk about everything, from music to families to the riddle of sex. Any mother would be proud to claim them as her budding mensches.
(Cast of Moonbox Productions’ “Rocky Horror Show” – Photos by Sharman Altshuler )
“The Rocky Horror Show”. Music, Lyrics and
Book by Richard O’Brien. Directed by David Lucey. Presented by Moonbox
Productions, 25 Brattle Street, Cambridge, through November 2.
Recent developments in Cambridge’s iconic Harvard Square have been pretty depressing. An entire block of buildings that once housed Curious George as well as my dentist’s office is now kaput, torn down to make way for – get this – a mall. Storefronts that once held funky shops are now banks or empty. Cheap restaurants have all but disappeared. From now until November 2, however, Harvard Square gets its mojo back with Moonbox Productions’ electrifying, dynamic and sexy “The Rocky Horror Show”. The bold and beautiful signage that adorns the windows and door of the former site of Hidden Sweets is the tipoff: this is no ordinary production. Interestingly enough, the film version of the stage show ran at midnight for 28 years at another empty space, the AMC Loew’s Theater.
