Tag: Review

Gamm Theatre’s “Twelfth Night” a Laugh Riot

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Jeff Church, Kelby Akin, and Nora Eschenheimer in Gamm Theatre’s “Twelfth Night”.
Photos: Cat Laine

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Welcome to Illyria, the setting of and the fourth show of Gamm Theatre’s 39th Season. The audience members are invited guests to a Shakespearean celebration. First, we come upon a shipwreck where twins Viola and Sebastian are separated and forced to survive on their own in a strange land. The first, Viola, falls in love with Count Orsino, who, in turn, falls in love with Olivia. However, Olivia falls for Viola, who is disguised as Cesario. Still, Olivia is also pursued by her pompous steward, Malvolio, who is viewed as such because he condemns drunken revelry by her uncle Toby Belch and Sir Andrew, another one of her suitors. Later on, Sebastian appears on the scene, throwing the situation into further disarray because he is the spitting image of his twin sister. Mistaken identities, gender-bending antics, revelries, and wild mayhem abound in this madcap Shakespearean tale written in 1601 or 1602. Directors Tony Estrella and Rachel Walshe take their talented performers and mold them into the characters of yesteryear, winning them the accolades they richly deserve.

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August Wilson’s ‘Fences’ Hits Home Run at Trinity Rep

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Kevin Roston Jr. and Jackie Davis in ‘Fences’ at Trinity Rep. Photos by Marisa Lenardson

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Trinity Rep’s 2nd show of 2024 continues the celebration of their 60th anniversary season with “Fences,” one of August Wilson’s most famous plays. This show won a Pulitzer Prize in 1987. In segregated Pittsburgh back in 1957, former Negro baseball player Troy Maxon is barely making ends meet as a sanitation worker. He was once a famous and prodigious ball player and was impressive in his community, but now only seems to control his wife and two sons. The show takes place in front of Troy’s house, which has an incomplete fence. Troy’s yearning to protect his family from outside oppression becomes warped with his stubbornness and pride. Wilson’s play shows the devastating results of Troy’s deteriorating relationship with his family members in an emotional roller coaster of emotions and feelings that captures the audience’s attention from start to finish. It examines the tensions between Troy and his wife, brother, and sons. The show’s title refers to the fence that Troy is building around his property and the barriers he puts up to protect himself from other people’s supposed offenses. It keeps others out but also keeps him shut inside. Director Christopher Windom casts this show wonderfully and elicits strong performances from all of them. The second act’s dramatic power and punch are outstanding. August Wilson’s character of Troy Maxon is reminiscent of Willy Loman, with his tragic flaws ruining his relationships with other people, including his family members.

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A Sure Thing at the Emerson Colonial: Pretty Woman the Musical

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Crossroads Live presents PRETTY WOMAN The Musical. Book by Garry Marshall & J.F. Lawton. Music and Lyrics by Bryan Adams & Jim Vallance. Based on the Touchtone Pictures motion picture written by J.F. Lawton. Original Broadway Production Directed and Choreographed by Jerry Mitchell. Choreography Recreated by Rusty Mowery. Direction Recreated by DB Bonds. Music Supervision, Arrangements, and Orchestrations by Will Van Dyke. At the Emerson Colonial Theatre, Boylston Street, Boston, through March 3, 2024.

By Linda Chin

Once upon a time in Hollywood, sometime in the 1980s, a handsome corporate raider named Edward Lewis, in town to close a business deal, meets a very pretty woman named Vivian Ward at her “office” on Hollywood Boulevard. Vivian and Edward (Ellie Baker and Chase Wolfe play the now iconic roles made famous by Julia Roberts and Richard Gere) are from very different walks of life. Edward’s upbringing included prep school, polo matches, classical music, and opera, and he is wealthy, a billionaire, in fact. She doesn’t have a steady job, can barely make ends meet, and never finished high school, but is street smart – more adept at driving a stick shift than Edward, who admits that his first car was a limousine – and making small talk with people in the 99% than Edward, who has much less exposure and EQ.

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‘Pretty Woman the Musical’ Will Make You Forget There Ever Was a Movie Version

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Cast of ‘Pretty Woman’ at Emerson Colonial

“Pretty Woman the Musical” — Written by Garry Marshall and J.F. Lawton. Music and Lyrics by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance. Based on the Touchstone picture written by J.F. Lawton. Direction and choreography by Jerry Mitchell, recreated by DB Bonds and Rusty Mowery; Music Supervision, Arrangements and Orchestration by Will Van Dyke; Scenic Design by Christine Peters; Costume Design by Gregg Barnes; Lighting Design by Kenneth Posner and Philip S. Rosenberg; Sound Design by John Shivers. Presented by Crossroads Live at the Emerson Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston St., Boston, through March 3.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Pretty Woman the Musical is much more than a theatrical remake of the 1990 rom-com film that launched the career of then-21-year-old Julia Roberts and her trademark mile-wide smile. The big-budget Broadway show stands on its own as a supremely enjoyable night of big pageantry, from the live orchestra, fabulous set, choreography, and humor to the terrific cast, who sing and dance their hearts out for two and a half hours (one intermission).

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P. Carl Invites the Audience on His Gender Transition Journey in the A.R.T.’s ‘Becoming a Man’

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Stacey Raymond, Petey Gibson in A.R.T.’s ‘Becoming a Man’
Photos by Nile Scott Studios and Maggie Hall

‘Becoming A Man’ — Written by P. Carl. Co-directed by Dianne Paulus and P. Carl. Scenic Design by Emmie Finckel; Costume Design by Qween Jean; Lighting Design by Cha See; Music and Sound Design by Paul James Prendergast; Video Design by Brittany Bland. Presented by the A.R.T. at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., through March 10.

By Shelley A. Sackett

P. Carl, an acclaimed educator, dramaturg, and writer, lived for 49 years as Polly, a woman who believed she had been born into the wrong body. The last 20 years were spent as a lesbian in a queer marriage to Lynette D’Amico, a writer and editor. Lynette had no idea the queer woman who was her wife suffered gender dysphoria, a condition that can — and in Polly’s case, did — lead to depression and anxiety and have a harmful impact on daily life.

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The Huntington’s Must-See ‘John Proctor Is the Villain’ Conjures Pure Theatrical Magic

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Isabel Van Natta, Jules Talbot, Victoria Omoregie, Haley Wong in ‘John Proctor is the Villain’ at The Huntington. Photo Credit: T Charles Erickson

‘John Proctor Is the Villain’ — Written by Kimberly Belflower. Directed by Margot Bordelon. Scenic Design by Kristen Robinson; Costume Design by Zöe Sundra; Lighting Design by Aja M. Jackson; Sound Design by Sinan Reflik Zafar. Presented by The Huntington at Performing at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, through March 10, 2024.

By Shelley A. Sackett

In 1692, a witchcraft panic in Salem, Massachusetts, led to the conviction and execution of 19 innocent people (14 women and five men) for a crime that not only was never committed but that never happened in the first place.

A mixture of irrational fear, unchecked religious and patriarchal power, and a persecuting mentality led to the emergence of witch hunts and subsequent witch trials.

Arthur Miller fictionalized and immortalized this historical event in 1953 with The Crucible, a mainstay of most high school English Literature curricula. He intended it as an allegory for and indictment of the rabid McCarthyism of the 1950s, when the U. S. government blithely persecuted citizens accused of being communists based, often, on nothing more than innuendo and hearsay.

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Feminists Get the Green Light in The Huntington’s ‘John Proctor is the Villain’

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Cast of ‘John Proctor is the Villain’ at The Huntington. Photo Credit: T Charles Erickson

The Huntington presents ‘John Proctor is the Villain.’ Written by Kimberly Belflower. Directed by Margot Bordelon. Scenic Design by Kristen Robinson. Costume Design by Zoë Sundra. Lighting Design by Aja M. Jackson. Sound Design by Sinan Refik Zafar. At the BCA’s Calderwood Pavilion through March 10, 2024.

by Linda Chin

The Huntington’s provocative John Proctor is the Villain, by playwright Kimberly Belflower, is set in the present day, in a small – and small-minded – town in Appalachian Georgia. Four female students of diverse backgrounds, frustrated/inspired by discussions in their co-ed 11th grade Honors English/Sex-Education class centered on male heroes in The Crucible and scientific descriptions of sex, are eager to start a new ‘Feminism Club.’ Not surprisingly, the teenagers have different definitions of what “feminism” means and “feminists” are, different (and evolving) understandings of why it matters, and what the club’s purpose would be. The four young feminists are all on board to be the club’s founders, but will the School Board of the one-stoplight town give them the green light?

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A Dually Death-Defying and Life-Affirming ‘Duel Reality’ at ArtsEmerson

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ArtsEmerson presents Duel Reality, by 7 Fingers. At the Cutler Majestic Theater, Tremont Street, Boston, through February 18th.

By Linda Chin

7 Fingers, the Montreal-based, globally-beloved troupe of theater artist-acrobats, is back in Boston with the US premiere of Duel Reality – their 7th show at ArtsEmerson. A love story that echoes Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story, Duel Reality includes music, song, dance, fight choreography, a string of spectacular stunts and circus acts, and uplifting and heartbreaking moments. During this fast-paced one-hour production (with no intermission), I was both immersed in the storytelling and in awe of the storytellers’ physical process.

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‘Lost Cellphone Weekend’ Delivers Message – and Laughs

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The cast of Image Theater’s ‘Lost Cellphone Weekend’

‘Lost Cellphone Weekend’ – Book, Music, and Lyrics by Stephen Gilbane. Directed by Image Theater Artistic Director Jerry Bisantz. Lighting Design by John MacKenzie. Sound Design by Stephen Gilbane. Presented by Image Theater at the Richard and Nancy Donahue Family Academic Arts Center, 240 Central Street, Lowell, MA, through February 10.

By Mike Hoban

Don Birnham is a guy with a monkey on his back. But it’s not booze or pills or the needle. It’s social media, and it’s not only killing him, it’s destroying society as a whole. That’s the message of Lost Cellphone Weekend, a new musical comedy receiving its world premiere at the Richard and Nancy Donahue Family Academic Arts Center in Lowell. And while one could certainly make a persuasive argument for the ills that smartphones are inflicting on society (ask any educator who’s trying to teach a classroom full of cellphone-addicted kids), we’re not likely to do it in as entertaining a fashion as Lost Cellphone Weekend.

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Central Square’s “Machine Learning” Weaves Humanity and AI

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Xavier Rosario, Jorge Alberto Rubio in Central Square’s “Machine Learning” 
Photos by Nile Scott Studios

“Machine Learning”, by Francisco Mendoza. Directed by Gabriel Vega Weissman. Presented by Central Square Theater in partnership with Teatro Chelsea, 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, through February 25. 

by Michele Markarian 

Arnold is a nursing application created by a young brainiac, Jorge (Armando Rivera), to keep an eye on his alcoholic and cancer-ridden father, Gabriel (the excellent Jorge Alberto Rubio). Named for Arnold Schwarzenegger, whom Jorge had seen as a young boy in “The Terminator,” Arnold’s job is to care for, with the cure being the end goal, Gabriel. But Gabriel is a bit of a problem, as he likes alcohol and doesn’t seem to fear death. For Jorge, whose relationship with Gabriel is fraught with tension, keeping Gabriel alive is key to resolving the issues that rumble between them. Through a series of flashbacks between Gabriel and young Jorge (Xavier Rosario), we learn about Gabriel’s macho expectations for his son, his cruelty, his irresponsibility, and his fondness for alcohol, with the occasional moments of protectiveness thrown in.   

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