Moonbox’s ‘Crowns’ Raises the Roof

April 30, 2025April 8, 2026 Shelley SackettLeave a comment

Cast of Moonbox Productions’ “Crowns” at Arrow Street Arts. Photos: Chelcy Garrett

Moonbox Productions presents ‘Crowns’ by Regina Taylor, adapted from the book by Michael Cunningham and Craig Mayberry. Regine Vital, Director. David Coleman, Musical Director. Davron Monroe, Associate Director. Kurt Douglas, Choreographer. Isaak Olson, Lighting Designer. Baron E. Pugh, Scenic Designer. James Cannon, Sound Designer. Danielle Ibrahim, Props Designer. E Rosser, Costume Designer. Schanaya Barrows, Wig Designer. At Arrow Street Arts, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge, through May 4, 2025.

By Shelley A. Sackett

In Crowns, playwright Regina Taylor’s paean to the Black women who held their families, churches and communities together, gospel music, fanciful hats and swanky dresses take center stage. For 90 intermission-less minutes, this jukebox musical rocks the intimate Arrow St. Arts with two dozen songs and a narrative that traces the history of Blacks in America, from slavery to the Jim Crow south to the Civil Rights movement to present-day Black-on-Black violence in Brooklyn’s tougher neighborhoods.

In Sullivan Rep’s ‘Company’ “What Do You Get?”

April 30, 2025April 8, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Cast of Sullivan Rep’s ‘Company’ (Dan Sullivan center, Meghan Rose, Kevin Hanley, foreground)

Sullivan Rep presents ‘Company’ – Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Book by George Furth. Direction & Choreography by Dan Sullivan. Musical Direction by Andrew Wray. Hair & Makeup Design by Bridget Sullivan. Costume Design by Dan Sullivan. Lighting Design by Erik Fox. Properties Design by Rick Grenier. Sound Design by Andrew Mulholland. At the American Legion Nonantum Post 440, Newton. Run has ended.

By Linda Chin

Once again, Sullivan Rep has shown that they are the little company that could — do justice to the work of late, great musical theater giant Stephen Sondheim, that is. Last year’s production of A Little Night Music garnered Norton nominations for Outstanding Musical (in good company with established giants ART, SpeakEasy, Central Square & Front Porch) and Outstanding Musical Direction (Jenny Tsai). Sullivan Rep’s limited engagement (four-show run) of Company on Easter/Passover holiday weekend has ended – but could easily have been enjoyed by another hundred people – or two, three, or four hundred more – if an extension, or expanded audience capacity, had been possible.

Strong Performances Lift Mystic Evidence Productions’ ‘Skazki: A Spell of Ice and Snow’

April 21, 2025April 8, 2026 CJ WilliamsLeave a comment

‘Skazki: Spell of Ice and Snow.’ Written by J.X.M. Corriss. Words and Music by Jonathan Blackshire. Musical Direction by Sam McLoughlin. Directed by Sean Robinson. Choreography by Katie Formosi. Costume Design by Kitty Prue. Lighting Design by Nick Tavares. Stage Management by Max Cavanaugh, assisted by Mason West. Presented by Mystic Evidence Productions at the Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St, Boston, MA 02116

By C.J. Williams

“Culture is also a casualty of war.” So what’s culture? And is its loss akin to losing a limb – or a family member?

Skazki: A Spell of Ice and Snow recently wrapped up its run at the Boston Center of the Arts. The brand-new musical, written by a first-time playwright (but veteran poet and novelist, X.M. Corriss), is a whimsical musical with a cold as steel fairy tale edge, and where it may falter in pacing, it more than evens out in its cast and crew’s passionate performances. If culture is indeed a casualty of war, Skazki is perhaps the result of artists who know that all art is a kind of healing.

Moonbox Productions’ CROWNS is Studded with Multifaceted Jewels

April 17, 2025April 8, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

By Linda Chin

At Arrow Street Arts in Cambridge, American playwright Regina Taylor’s award-winning Crowns – the most performed musical in the country in 2006 – is getting the royal treatment from resident company Moonbox Productions. As are the audience members. Based on a series of ‘Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats’ whose images and personal narratives were captured by photographer Michael Cunningham and journalist Craig Mayberry in their book of the same name, Crowns takes us on a journey that teaches us about the significance of hats in Black culture, tantalizes us with glorious gospel, soul and hip hop sounds and treats us to the work of talented theater artists.

Broadway in Boston’s ‘Shucked’ Is Just What the Doctor Ordered

April 10, 2025April 8, 2026 Shelley SackettLeave a comment

Cast of Broadway in Boston’s ‘Shucked’ at Citizens Opera House
Photos by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

‘Shucked.’ Book by Robert Horn. Music and Lyrics by Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally. Directed by Jack O’Brien; Choreographed by Sarah O’Gleby; Music Supervision by Jason Howland. Presented by Broadway in Boston at Citizens Opera House, 539 Washington St., Boston through April 20.

By Shelley A. Sackett

If ever we were collectively in need of some levity, it’s now. Between the political roller coaster, serious Boston theater topics and frigid spring temperatures, we could all use a light, fun break. As if reading the tea leaves, Broadway in Boston has come to our rescue with its lighthearted, raucous production, Shucked.

Don’t Let The Bleak Premise Of The First Rate Musical “Parade” Scare You Away

March 22, 2025April 8, 2026 Shelley SackettLeave a comment

Cast of the National Tour of ‘Parade’ at the Emerson Colonial Theatre. Photos by Joan Marcus

‘Parade’ – Book by Alfred Uhry; Music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown; Co-conceived by Harold Prince; Directed by Michael Arden; Choreography by Lauren Yalango-Grant & Christopher Cree Grant; Music direction by Charlie Alterman. At the Emerson Colonial Theatre, Boston, through March 23^rd.

By Shelley A. Sackett

It was with trepidation that I attended opening night of “Parade,” now at the Emerson Colonial Theatre through March 23. After all, the premise of the 2023 multiple Tony Award-winning musical revival is hardly uplifting. The book by Alfred Uhry (author of “Driving Miss Daisy”) is set in 1913 Atlanta and tells the true story of Leo Frank, a transplanted Brooklyn Jew and pencil factory supervisor who is married to his Jewish boss’s daughter, Lucille. As the newlyweds struggle to carve out their lives in the red hills of Georgia, Leo is falsely scapegoated for the murder of a 13-year-old white girl in his employ. The rest of the play dramatizes his trial, imprisonment, and 1915 mob lynching.

‘Parade’ at Emerson Colonial a Stark Reminder that Past is Prologue

March 15, 2025April 8, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Parade – Book by Alfred Uhry; Music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown; Co-conceived by Harold Prince; Directed by Michael Arden; Choreography by Lauren Yalango-Grant & Christopher Cree Grant; Music direction by Charlie Alterman. At the Emerson Colonial Theatre, Boston, through March 23^rd.

by Mike Hoban

Theatergoers should prepare for a profoundly conflicted experience with the Broadway revival of Parade, now at the Emerson Colonial on its North American tour. The brilliant artistry of this production is undeniable, with its superb cast and creative staging, but the content is a painful reminder that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Although it’s set in the Deep South in 1913, the mob rule and the institutionalized demonization of the “other” look a lot like America in 2025.

SpeakEasy’s ‘A Man of No Importance’ Is Must-See, Feel-Good Theater at Its Absolute Finest

March 2, 2025April 8, 2026 Shelley SackettLeave a comment

Eddie Shields and Will McGarrahan in Speakeasy’s ‘A Man of No Importance’
Photos by Nile Scott Studios

‘A Man of No Importance’ – Based on the film, ‘A Man of No Importance.’ Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens; Music by Stephen Flaherty; Book by Terrence McNally; Directed by Paul Daigneault. Choreographed by Ilyse Robbins. Music Direction by Paul S. Katz. Scenic Design by Jenna McFarland Lord. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company. At the Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, through March 22.

By Shelley A. Sackett

There is so much to praise about SpeakEasy Stage Company’s ‘A Man of No Importance,’ director Paul Daigneault’s swansong production after leading the company he founded for 33 years, it’s hard to know where to begin.

Daigneault Closes the Door on SpeakEasy Stewardship with Poignant and Timely ‘A Man of No Importance’

February 26, 2025April 8, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Cast of Speakeasy’s ‘A Man of No Importance’. Photos by Nile Scott Studios

‘A Man of No Importance’ – Based on the film, ‘A Man of No Importance’. Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens; Music by Stephen Flaherty; Book by Terrence McNally; Directed by Paul Daigneault. Choreographed by Ilyse Robbins. Music direction by Paul S. Katz. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company. At the Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, through March 22.

By Mike Hoban

For the final show of a thirty-plus year career as the founder & artistic director of Boston’s SpeakEasy Stage Company, it’s interesting to note that Paul Daigneault chose the small but quietly beautiful A Man of No Importance for his final production. Producer and/or director of over 160 productions and winner of multiple Eliot Norton and IRNE Awards, Daigneault is equally adept at drama and musicals, including the mind-blowing two-part The Inheritance in 2022 and a slew of terrific musicals, the most recent being the Eliot Norton Award-winning The Band’s Visit. So it should probably come as no surprise that his final selection straddles the two genres.

Sullivan Rep’s Big-Hearted ‘Hairspray’ Opens Season Two Without Missing A Beat

February 21, 2025April 8, 2026 Theater Mirror1 Comment

‘Hairspray’ – Music by Marc Shaiman. Lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. Book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan, based on John Waters’ 1988 film of the same name. Direction and Choreography by Dan Sullivan. Musical Direction by Jenny Tsai. Costume Design by DW. Hair and Makeup Design by Bridget Sullivan. Lighting Design by Erik Fox. Sound Design by Bridget Donovan, Properties Design by Rick Grenier. At The American Legion Nonantum Post 440, 295 California Street, Newton, MA, through March 1, 2025.

By Linda Chin

Even though the weather outside was frightful and they closed their last show, Annie, just eight weeks before, Sullivan Rep successfully opened Season Two with Hairspray – another ambitious audience favorite with a large cast, elaborate costumes, multiple scene changes, and intricate choreography – without missing a beat. Adding to already complicated production logistics (and my awe and admiration), the still new Newton-based company’s “tradition” is to present each of its season offerings at a “non-traditional” venue in one of the city’s diverse villages. In 2024, Sullivan Rep “popped up” full-scale productions of A Little Night Music at the distinguished City Hall, Blithe Spirit at the cozy Women’s Club of Newton Highlands, and Annie at the family-friendly Windsor Club in Waban.