Speakeasy’s ‘Cost of Living’ Teaches the Value of Connection

March 13, 2024April 11, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Gina Fonseca, Sean Leviashvill in Speakeasy’s ‘Cost of Living’

Cost of Living – Written by Martyna Majok; Directed By Alex Lonati; Scenic Design by Janie E. Howland; Costume Design by Chelsea Kerl; Lighting Design by Amanda E. Fallon; Sound Design by Anna Drummond. Presented by Speakeasy Stage Company at 527 Tremont St, Boston through March 30th, 2024,

By Helen Ganley

White-washed windows frame silhouetted figures diffused by foggy panes of light-filled glass. Behind these panes are flocks of New Jerseyans – each with their routines, stories, and connections. In Cost of Living, Speakeasy Stage Company delves into the narratives behind these casements and the forces that draw their residents together.

Short Take: Starboard, Overboard, Never Bored in GBSC’s ‘Titanish’

March 13, 2024April 11, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

‘Titanish’ – Written by Jeff Shell & Ryan Dobosh. Music by Mark Siano. Directed by Tyler Rosati. Music Direction by Avery Bargar. Scenic Design by Rachel Rose Burke. Lighting Design by John Holmes. Costume Design by Bethany Mullins. Sound Design by Andrew Duncan Will. Properties Design by Emily Allinson. At Greater Boston Stage Company, 395 Main Street, Stoneham, MA, through March 17, 2024

by Linda Chin

Making its East Coast premiere at Greater Boston Stage Company, the play Titanish, by Jeff Shell and Ryan Dobos, is a parody – not of the tragic event of 1912 that killed nearly 1500 people, nor the Broadway production of 1977 that won five Tony Awards, including “Best Musical,” but of the Oscar-winning “Best Picture” of 1998 that was the first to gross $1 billion worldwide. I don’t associate the movie ‘Titanic’ – nor its characters Jack and Rose (the roles that thrust Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet into stardom overnight) with comedy. In fact, the only time I recall laughing with the Titanic as the subject matter is the old joke with the punchline, “Iceberg, Goldberg, what’s the difference?”

Short Take: ‘Dishwasher Dreams’ at Merrimack Rep is a Home Run

March 9, 2024April 11, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Alaudin Ullah in *Dishwasher Dreams* at MRT

By Linda Chin

The spectacular autobiographical solo performance piece Dishwasher Dreams, now running at Merrimack Rep through March 24, blends its writer and star Alaudin Ullah’s Bangladeshi, Muslim, and comedic roots. For years, the one-time stand-up comic, popular on the NYC and LA comedy circuits in the ‘90s (and who appeared nationally on Comedy Central, HBO, and MTV), used the name Aladdin, changing his name by one letter (‘u’ to ‘d’) to make it “easier for show business and white people.” In reclaiming his birthname, reportedly after a return visit to Bangladesh after his mother’s death, Ullah demonstrates that he is proud to be his father’s – a dishwasher’s son, appreciates and accepts his mother’s advice that success is “not about money…[but] having the courage to do something most would not…just never forget where you are from” and, is “over the Disney sh*t.”

Umbrella’s ‘The Minutes’ Is Sheer Perfection

March 7, 2024April 11, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Cast of ‘The Minutes’ at Umbrella Stage Company

The Umbrella Stage Company presents ‘The Minutes’ by Tracy Letts. Directed by Scott Edmiston. Produced by Brian Boruta. Sound Design by James Cannon. Lighting Design by SeifAllah Salotto-Cristobal. Scenic Design by Janie E. Howland. Costume Design by Bethany Mullins. Through March 24 at Umbrella Arts Center, Concord.

By Linda Chin

Part dark comedy, part political satire, part Hitchcockian mystery, every minute of Tracy Letts’ well-crafted ninety-minute play The Minutes is chock-full of intrigue, clever banter, and, until the final few minutes of the final scene – laugh-out-loud humor. Set in the small town of Big Cherry, USA, in the present day, audience members are flies on the walls of the architecturally majestic council chamber room lined with portraits of great white male mayors (scenic design by Janie E. Howland).

Boston Theater Company’s Joey Frangieh on the first annual QUEER VOICES FESTIVAL

March 7, 2024April 11, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

This weekend, the Boston Theater Company will launch its first annual QUEER VOICES FESTIVAL, with performances from March 8-10, 2024, at the Plaza Theatre of the Boston Center for the Arts. The submission-based showcase, produced by Joey Frangieh and Lisa Rafferty, will showcase seven diverse ten-minute plays written by LGBTQ+ playwrights.

By Mike Hoban

Theater Mirror: Can you give us a little history ofthe Boston Theater Company?

Gamm Theatre’s “Twelfth Night” a Laugh Riot

March 1, 2024April 11, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

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.

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

March 1, 2024April 11, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

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.

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

February 29, 2024April 11, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

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.

Hunger for Love, Laughter, and Life in Lyric Stage’s ‘THIRST’

February 28, 2024April 11, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Michael Kaye and Aimee Doherty in ‘Thirst’ at The Lyric. Photos by Mark S. Howard

Lyric Stage of Boston presents THIRST by Ronán Noone. Directed by Courtney O’Connor. Scenic Design by Janie E. Howland. Lighting Design by Karen Perlow. Costume Design by Mikayla Reid. Sound Design by David Remedios. Lyric Stage of Boston, Clarendon Street, Boston, through March 17, 2024.

By Linda Chin

Unlike Eugene O’Neill’s play Thirst (1914), about three people who are on a raft after a shipwreck – the Titanic – and dying of thirst, the three characters in Ronán Noone’s new play with the same title are inside a well-appointed kitchen in the seaside Connecticut home of the Tyrones (the well-to-do Irish family of O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into the Night) – and have plenty to drink. In Noone’s Thirst, the three featured characters are not the Tyrones themselves but three servants in their employ.

A Stunning ‘Steel Pier’ Marks Sullivan Rep’s Dazzling Debut

February 21, 2024April 11, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Sullivan Rep presents ‘Steel Pier’ – Book by David Thompson. Music & Lyrics by John Kander and Frank Ebb. Conceived by Scott Ellis, Susan Stroman, and David Thompson. Direction & Choreography by Daniel Sullivan. Musical Direction by J. Kathleen Castellanos. Lighting Design by Erik Fox. Props Design by Rick Grenier. Costume Design by DW. Hair/Makeup Design by Cara Guappone. Projection Design by Jacob Sherburne. Sound Design by Paul Roach.

By Linda Chin

Less known – and less produced – than Cabaret, Chicago, and other Kander & Ebb Broadway classics, Steel Pier proves to be the perfect choice for Sullivan Rep’s dazzling debut in the Greater Boston theater ecosystem. The new Newton-based company has also selected a perfect location – the American Legion Nonantum Post 440 – host to countless family celebrations and community events since receiving its charter in 1952 – for staging this show-within-a-show about the dance marathon craze that swept the nation post-WWI. Part staged performance and part genuine endurance contest, couples would dance/walk for 45 minutes of each hour, take a 15-minute break to eat/nap, and rinse and repeat for as many hours, days, and weeks as it took until there was one couple left standing to claim the cash prize. These events were held across the country, peaking during the Depression era in the ‘30s. Sullivan Rep’s founder and artistic director, Daniel Sullivan (also in his 30s and a talented actor, singer, and dancer himself), directs and choreographs a cast of nearly 30 other triple threats from the Greater Boston area.