The Bear in the Room at Brown Box Theatre

March 20, 2019 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Review by James Wilkinson

don’t feed the bear – Written and performed by Cam Torres. Directed by Alex Lonati. Lighting Design by Connor O’Brien. Presented by Brown Box Theatre March 15-17, 2019 at Atlantic Wharf in Boston and March 22-24, 2019 at Ocean City Center for the Arts in Ocean City.

Brown Box Theatre’s new production, don’t feed the bear, tells the story of Will. Or rather, it would, but Will doesn’t exist. Except that he might exist. By the end of the play it certainly seems like he might exist and I think I can build a pretty convincing case that he does. That might be a misdirection though, much like the laptop he’s working on. Let me explain. The laptop exists, but it’s not real. None of this is real. You might want it to be real, but that’s too bad. None of this is real. That much you can know for certain; none of this is real. None of this is necessary. The title of the show isn’t even relevant to what’s happening on stage. (Except that I think it might be…)

The ‘Haves’ Are Taken to Task in ArtsEmerson’s ‘An Inspector Calls’

March 19, 2019March 19, 2019 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

(Jeff Harmer, Diana Payne-Myers, Lianne Harvey, Hamish Riddle, Andrew Macklin, Christine Kavanagh and Ensemble in An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley, P.W. Productions on tour 2018/19 Directed by Stephen Daldry Designed by Ian MacNeil Lighting by Rick Fisher Associate Director Julian Webber Photo by Mark Douet)

By Mike Hoban

‘An Inspector Calls’ – Written by J.B. Priestley; Directed by Stephen Daldry; Set Design by Ian MacNeil; Lighting Design by Rick Fisher; Music Direction by Stephen Warbeck; Sound Design by Sebastian Frost. Presented by ArtsEmerson at the Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre, 219 Tremont St., Boston through March 24

Perhaps what is most striking about An Inspector Calls, the riveting National Theatre touring production from London now being presented by ArtsEmerson, is how closely its theme and language reflect the current state of affairs between the haves and have nots – despite the fact that the play made its stage debut just after the close of World War II. An Inspector Calls is an Agatha Christie-style drawing room crime drama that – on the surface – investigates the connection between the apparent suicide of a young woman and the Birlings, a wealthy and politically connected family in the fictitious industrial town of Brumley, England, where the family patriarch owns a factory.

Love is Everything in “Onegin”

March 18, 2019March 18, 2019 Theater Mirror1 Comment

*(Greater Boston Stage Company’s ‘Onegin’)*

By Michele Markarian

“Onegin” – Based on the poem by Pushkin and the opera by Tchaikovsky. Written by Amiel Gladstone and Veda Hille. Directed by Weylin Symes; Choreographed by Ilyse Robbins; Music Direction by Steve Bass; Scenic Design by Katy Monthei; Lighting Design by Jeff Adelberg;Costume Design by Deirdre Gerrard; Sound Design by John Stone. Presented by Greater Boston Stage Company, 395 Main Street, Stoneham through March 31.

“Do you see someone worth dying for?” asked Vladimir Lensky (a winsome Michael Jennings Mahoney) to a random woman in the audience. She thought a moment. “You!” she said softly. He looked momentarily taken aback, but recovered enough to thank her and keep the scene moving. Such is the spirit of “Onegin”, a randy, insouciant and utterly captivating musical rendering of Pushkin’s tragic novel in verse, “Eugene Onegin”. For anyone, and that means everyone, who’s ever loved and lost, this show is a must-see.

THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK (Arctic Playhouse)

March 15, 2019April 5, 2019 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

by Tony Annicone

The latest show at Arctic Playhouse is the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play, “The Diary of Anne Frank.” The audience is transported back to the 1940’s where they learn about the diaries of 13 year old Anne Frank. This play tells the story of a Jewish family forced into hiding in an effort to avoid Nazi persecution during World War II where they were isolated from the outside world. Anne, her family and four others lived in constant fear of being discovered. Anne makes the transition from a smart, mischievous youngster to a passionate young woman. She wrote of her daily life, her budding teenage conflicts with her mother, her strong, loving bond with her father and of her first crush and love for Peter. She also expressed her hopes and dreams for the future and her continuing belief that people are really good at heart. They remained hidden for two years, until their betrayal, which resulted in their deportation to Nazi concentration camps. After the war, the pages of Anne’s diary were discovered on the floor of the annex where the family had been hiding. This young girl’s diary, written 74 years ago, still touches the heart and soul of every audience member by making them empathize with her tragic situation. Also hopefully with the current situation this world is in maybe we can learn from the past not to make the same mistakes in these trying times. Director Rachel Hanauer takes us back to the cramped quarters where Anne spent the last years of her life and with her ten member cast, she creates a stunning dramatic production, making it a must see show of this spring season.

Huntington Brings Comically-Infused ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Into the 21st Century

March 13, 2019March 17, 2019 Theater Mirror1 Comment

George Hampe and Lily Santiago in Huntington’s ‘Romeo & Juliet

By Mike Hoban

Written by William Shakespeare, Directed by Peter DuBois; Scenic Design, Wilson Chin; Costume Design, Ilona Somogyi; Lighting Design, Russell H. Champa; Original Music & Sound Design, Obadiah Eaves; Choreographer, Daniel Pelzig; Fight Direction, Rick Sordelet & Christian Kelly-Sordelet. Presented by the Huntington Theatre Company at 264 Huntington Ave., Boston through March 31

Over the years there have been a multitude of theatrical updates of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare’s tragic tale of doomed teen lovers, with the best of those inarguably being the Bernstein/Laurents/Sondheim masterpiece, West Side Story. The latest take comes from the Huntington Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Peter Dubois, who – with the help of a plethora of Boston’s local stage luminaries – transports the story into the 21^st century while leaving the original text intact. It’s a surprisingly comic and wildly entertaining version of the classic, but it also does an admirable job of driving home the idea that the toxic “blind tribalism” that is threatening to destroy democracy in America today is hardly a new development.

Deep Questions in Hovey’s ‘Jesus Hopped the A Train’

March 13, 2019March 13, 2019 Theater Mirror3 Comments

Arthur Williams III as Lucius Jenkins and Bill Stambaugh as Valdez in Hovey’s ‘Jesus Hopped the A Train)

By Deanna Dement Myers

Jesus Hopped the A Train – Written by Stephen Adly Guirgis. Directed by Haris Lefteri. Co-producers: Mark Stickler and Kristen Dattoli; Monica Bruno, Stage Manager; Michelle Aguillon, Stage Design; Douglas Gordon, Lighting Design; Jason Dawson, Sound Design; Anna Silva, Costume Design. Presented by the Hovey Players March 1-16. Tickets available at hoveyplayers.com

“How many Sons of God you know drive a Lexus?”

Kneeling on stage, a young man attempts to recite the Lord’s Prayer from memory. In a holding cell for twenty-three hours a day, Angel Cruz (Dominic Carter) is awaiting trial for the shooting of the Reverend Kim. The shooting was part of a botched plan to rescue his childhood friend who had been brainwashed and captured by Kim’s cult. Angel is frightened and angered by his incarceration, as this is basically his first criminal offense.

Entropy Theatre Introduces Itself with ‘a grimm thing’

March 13, 2019March 13, 2019 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Review by James Wilkinson

A Grimm Thing – Directed by Joe Juknievich. Lighting Design: Abigail Wang. The ensemble includes: Isabelle Beagen, Dylan Goodman, Ryan Lemay, adian Madhurt Jo Michael Rezes and Kayleigh Kane. Produced by Entropy Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts March 8-10, 2019.

To begin at the beginning. The poster for Entropy Theatre’s premiere production, A Grimm Thing, depicts a young girl crouched on a path, presumably lost somewhere in the woods. The trees around her scale impossibly high, offering no real shade or comfort. If you look a little further down the lane is a squat wooden cabin, beyond that the mist and fog obscure any real indication of where the path we’re following will lead. Fear and dread hang in the air. We’ve entered the world of the Brothers Grimm. If your encounters with the brothers’ tales are limited to the versions produced by the Disney, you’re going to have to reorient yourself. Many of the original stories take a much darker view of the world than the one pushed by Uncle Walt. Here, blood is spilt, danger lurks around every corner and a ‘happily ever after’ is far from guaranteed.

Boston Theater Company’s ‘Move Your Face’ Paints With Broad Strokes

March 12, 2019March 12, 2019 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

by Nicholas Whittaker

‘Move Your Face’ directed by Joey Frangieh, Assistant Direction by Amie Lytle. Set Design: Maggie Kiernan. Stage Manager: Audrey Seraphin. Lighting Design: Emily Bearce. Music: Nate Shaffer. Presented by the Boston Theater Company at the Boston Playwright’s Theater, 949 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215.

Move Your Face is an exercise in caricature. It has to be; the play’s motivating conceit demands it. Move Your Face is a “wordless play”. After being fully scripted, each line was removed from the performance. In addition (an apparent paradox with the play’s name), each actor spends the entirety of the play (with one notable exception) wearing a brightly-colored mask. With two of the most important tools in an actor’s toolbox – facial expression or vocal inflection – stripped away, Move Your Face’s cast and creative team has to rely on movement, action, and visual spectacle to make its point. Unfortunately, the end result is a story mostly stripped of nuance and emotional specificity, relying on overly-broad strokes to make its point.

A.R.T. Gives Oxygen to Celine Song’s ‘ENDLINGS’

March 9, 2019 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

By Linda Chin

Endlings – Written by Celine Song; Directed by Sammi Cannold; Scenic Design by Jason Sherwood; Costume Design by Linda Cho; Bradley King, Lighting Designer; Sound Design by Elisheba Ittoop. Presented by American Repertory Theater. At Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St. Cambridge through March 17.

Like the Manhattan millennial Ha Young muses in the second act of Endlings, I love theater. After seeing Endlings, by playwright Celine Song, I love theater even more. And as a lifetime theatergoer and arts advocate who is Asian American, I admire the American Repertory Theater (where Endlings runs through March 17) even more than ever. Song wrote an “Asian play” she considered “unproducible” – with extensive technical and casting demands (beach and underwater scenes, talking clams, three elderly Asian actresses who could swim – and spoiler alert – could rap), and an inscrutable title (what exactly are endlings, anyway?). Not only did ART give Endlings its world premiere less than a year after its development during the 2018 Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference, it was produced with all creative hands on deck. If the response of the audience on opening night (diverse in age, ethnicity, as well as students and long-term subscribers) was any indication, I was not alone in being moved by this work – at times funny, at times painfully poignant, and clever throughout.

In SpeakEasy’s ‘Once’, Impossible Dreams Seem Possible

March 8, 2019March 8, 2019 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

(Mackenzie Lesser-Roy as ‘Girl’ and Nile Scott Hawver as ‘Guy’ in SpeakEasy Stage’s ‘Once’ – Photos by Maggie Hall Photography)

By Linda Chin

‘Once’ – Book by Enda Walsh; Music and Lyrics by Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová. Based on the Motion Picture Written and Directed by John Carney. Directed by Paul Melone; Music Direction by Steven Ladd Jones; Choreography by Ilyse Robbins; Scenic Design by Rachel Padula-Shufelt; Lighting Design by Karen Perlow; Sound Design by Andrew Duncan Will. Presented by Speakeasy Stage at the Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St., Boston through April 7

Artists and audiences benefit when theater companies embrace authenticity and relatability as critical components of their mission and values, and plan their seasons accordingly. Bravo to those producers, creative teams and casting directors with bold visions and broad reach and the perseverance to find the best actors for the roles, especially challenging with the specific requirements in musical theater works. Bravo to musicals of this season that were impeccably cast: Miss You Like Hell (Company One & ART), Breath and Imagination (Lyric Stage & Front Porch Arts Collective) and Billy Elliot (Seacoast Rep). To this list we can add SpeakEasy’s Fun Home, which with Scottsboro Boys and Allegiance in previous seasons represent a sweep of standouts with multi-talented (& multicultural & multigenerational) ensembles of actors who speak (and sing and dance) their truth. In Once, the actors are also the musicians for the musical (a first in SpeakEasy’s 27-year history), making impossible dreams – of artists, immigrants, people young and old – seem possible.