In The Huntington’s ‘The Triumph of Love,’ All’s Fair in the War Between Reason and Romance

March 26, 2025April 8, 2026 Shelley SackettLeave a comment

Marianna Bassham, Nael Nacer in Huntington’s ‘The Triumph of Love’. Photos by Liza Voll

‘The Triumph of Love.’ Written by Pierre Carlet de Marivaux. Adapted by Stephen Wadsworth. Directed by Loretta Greco. Scenic and Costume Design by Junghyun Georgia Lee. Hair, Wig, and Makeup Design by Tom Watson. Lighting Design by Christopher Akerlind. Composer and Sound Design by Fan Zhang. Presented by The Huntington Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave., Boston through April 6, 2025.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Pierre Carlet de Marivaux’s “The Triumph of Love,” which premiered in 1732 and is at The Huntington through April 6, is like a trifle dessert, with light spongey layers of raucously funny deceptions, disguises and mistaken identities soaked in a sherry-spiked pastoral period set design. Instead of the traditional alternating tiers of sweet jams and custard, however, Marivaux has substituted a bitter concoction of calculated cruelty and manipulation. The end result is a sugar-coated confection that leaves a very bitter taste in the mouth.

Swinging Between Thinking and Feeling in Huntington’s ‘Triumph of Love’

March 16, 2025April 8, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Vincent Randazzo, Avanthika Srinivasan in Huntington’s ‘The Triumph of Love’. Photos by Liza Voll

The Huntington Theatre presents ‘The Triumph of Love. Written by Pierre de Marivaux. Adapted by Stephen Wadsworth. Directed by Loretta Greco. Scenic and Costume Design by Junghyun Georgia Lee. Hair, Wig, and Makeup Design by Tom Watson. Lighting Design by Christopher Akerlind. Composer and Sound Design by Fan Zhang. At The Huntington Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave., Boston through April 6, 2025.

By Linda Chin

Much like its 2016 production of Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George, based on post-impressionist painter George Seurat’s ‘La Grande Jatte’ (1884), the action in playwright Pierre de Marivaux’s 1732 stylized French comedy The Triumph of Love takes place in a natural setting – and gives a nod to another French artist. In bringing Triumph to life, director (and artistic director) Loretta Greco, scenic and costume designer Junghyun Georgia Lee, and lighting designer Christopher Akerlind have created a visual feast that draws inspiration from Rococo painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s renowned ‘The Swing’ (1767), transforming the Huntington stage into “the gardens of Hermocrate’s country retreat,” replete with vines of ivy climbing the walls, lemon trees, rhododendrons, roses in bloom, and a luminous backdrop of a kaleidoscopic, cloud-swept sky. Completing the landscape, a stone bench with some ornamentation and a simple swing made of wood and ropes.

A.R.T.’s ‘The Odyssey’ Catapults Homer’s Ancient Epic Poem into the 21st Century

February 20, 2025April 8, 2026 Shelley SackettLeave a comment

Members of the cast in A.R.T.’s world-premiere production of *The Odyssey*.
Photo Credits: Nile Scott Studios and Maggie Hall.

‘The Odyssey’ – Written by Kate Hamill. Based on the epic poem by Homer. Scenic Design by Sibyl Wickersheimer; Costume Design by An-Lin Dauber; Lighting Design and Projection Design by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew; Sound Design and Music Composition by Paul James Prendergast. Presented by American Repertory Theater at Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge, MA, through March 16.

By Shelley A. Sackett

“If you’ve gone through something traumatic, can you ever go back to who you were? Can you ever go back home?” is the essential question American Repertory Theater’s Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director Diane Paulus asks audience members to consider as they experience the world premiere of Kate Hamill’s A.R.T.-commissioned newest work, ‘The Odyssey.’ This spectacularly produced reimagination of Homer’s 8^th/7^th century B.C. epic poem is the latest retelling of a classic tale by Hamill, who, once again, displays her special talent for penning plays that magically remain true to the original while interweaving parallel contemporary issues, culture and language.

Newton Theatre Company’s ‘Dracula’ Entices, Entertains

January 11, 2025April 9, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Cast of Newton Theatre Company’s ‘Dracula’

‘Dracula’ – Based on the novel by Bram Stroker. Adapted by Steven Dietz. Directed by Melissa Bernstein. Presented by Newton Theatre Company at Saint John’s Episcopal Church, 96 Otis Street, Newton, MA, through February 8

Review by Shayne F. Gilbert

The Newton Theater Company’s latest offering is the classic gothic story Dracula, featuring a gender-bending twist: Dracula is portrayed by female actor Linda Goetz, who masterfully handles the role in this first-rate interpretation of the Gothic classic.

WFT’s ‘A Year with Frog and Toad’ Leaps with Laughter

December 2, 2024April 9, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Cast of Wheelock Family Theatre’s ‘A Year with Frog and Toad’.
Photos by Nile Scott Studios.

‘A Year with Frog and Toad’ — Music by Robert Reale. Book and Lyrics by Willie Reale. Based on the books by Arnold Lobel. Directed by Leigh Barrett. Music Directed by David Freeman Coleman. Choreographed by Brad Reinking. Scenic Design by Jenna McFarland Lord; Costume Design by Chelsea Kerl; Lighting Design by Deb Sullivan; Sound Design by Alex Berg. Presented by Wheelock Family Theatre, 180 Riverway, Boston, through December 15^th.

By Helen Ganley

A towering tree weeps oversized fronds into a secluded glen on the forest floor. In a neighborhood teeming with wildlife, two cozy houses sit across from one another, each home to a pair of best friends: Frog and Toad. Wheelock Family Theatre’s A Year with Frog and Toad invites you into their world, following these beloved characters through the changing seasons as they embark on adventures big and small.

ASP’s ‘Emma’ Is Deliciously Incisive, Ingenious and Impudent

November 26, 2024April 9, 2026 Shelley SackettLeave a comment

Lorraine Victoria Kanyike, Fady Demian, Josephine Elwood, and Liza Giangrande in Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s production of ‘Emma’. Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

‘Emma’ — Written by Kate Hamill. Based on the novel by Jane Austen. Directed by Regine Vital. Scenic Design by Saskia Martinez; Costume Design by Nia Safarr Banks; Lighting Design by Deb Sullivan; Sound Design by Anna Drummond. Presented by Actors’ Shakespeare Project at Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second St., East Cambridge through December 15^th.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Jane Austen’s 1815 novel “Emma,” like all her other novels, explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in Georgian–Regency England. Her Emma Woodhouse is a bright, wealthy, and confident young woman who basically has it all — education, intelligence, beauty, and money. She also has a surplus of self-confidence, pride and time. She is as spoiled, meddlesome, and self-deluded as she is witty, charming, and pithy.

Central Square Theater‘s ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ Starts Off the Season with a Bang!

September 19, 2024April 9, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Sarah Morin, Jenny S. Lee and Aimee Doherty in CST‘s ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’

Central Square Theater presents THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES. Adapted from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic tale. Written by Steven Canny and John Nicholson. Directed by Lee Mikeska Gardner. Scenic & Properties Design by Julia Wonkka. Costume Design by Leslie Held. Lighting Design by John R. Malinowski. Sound Design by David Bryan Jackson. At Central Square Theater, 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, through October 6, 2024.

Starting and ending at Baker Street, London, and largely set in Devonshire, England circa 1889, this spoof of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic The Hound of the Baskervilles tells the following tale: Super-sleuth Sherlock Holmes and trusty sidekick Dr. James Watson are summoned to investigate the unusual and unnatural death of Sir Charles Baskerville, whose corpse was discovered on the ground surrounded by giant paw prints. The actors and audience members journey together to the mansion and moors to answer the following three questions and unlock the mystery: What frightened Sir Charles Baskerville to death? Is the family the target of a robbery or an ancient curse? Is Charles’ young heir Henry being stalked by a human murderer or a supernatural hound?

Huntington’s ‘Common Ground, Revisited’ Asks Us to Look Back In Order to Move Forward

June 13, 2022April 8, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

The cast of *Common Ground Revisited* at The Huntington. Photos: T Charles Erickson

by Julie-Anne Whitney

Common Ground, Revisited – Co-conceived and adapted by Kirsten Greenidge; co-conceived and directed by Melia Bensussen; set design by Sara Brown; costume design by An-lin Dauber; lighting design by Brian J. Lilienthal; sound design by Pornchanok Kanchanabanca; projection design by Rasean Davonté Johnson; wig/hair and makeup design by J. Jared Janas; dramaturgy by Neema Avashia; stage-managed by Emily F. McMullen. Co-produced by The Huntington Theatre and ArtsEmerson at the Calderwood Pavilion/BCA through July 3, 2022.

Kirsten Greenidge’s new play, Common Ground, Revisited is inspired by and based in part on J. Anthony Lukas’1986 Pulitzer Prize-winning non-fiction book, Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families. The primary focus of both texts is on class and racial tensions in Boston during the 1974 busing crisis when U.S. District Judge Arthur Garrity Jr. ordered nearly 20,000 Black and white students to be bused to/from the city’s geographically segregated public schools. The mandate led to years of violent protesting, significant demographic changes in the city and surrounding suburbs, and a dramatic decrease in enrollment in area schools that continues to this day. Fifty years after the 1972 Morgan v Hennigan case that led to Garrity’s ruling, Boston’s public schools are even more divided than they were back then with “two-thirds of BPS students attend[ing] intensely segregated schools where students of color make up 90% or more of the total enrollment.”

It’s a Mad, Mad (Victorian) World in Central Square’s ‘Vanity Fair’

February 5, 2020April 8, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

Cast of Nora Theatre’s ‘Vanity Fair; at Central Square Theatre

By Julie-Anne Whitney

Vanity Fair (an im-morality play) – Written by Kate Hamill, adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel; direction and scenic design by David R. Gammons; lighting design by Jeff Adelberg; sound design by David Wilson; costume design by Leslie Held; properties coordinated by Ciara McAloon; dramaturgy by Hilary Rappaport; stage managed by Elizabeth Yyvette Ramirez. Produced by Underground Railway Theater through February 23, 2020 at Central Square Theater in Cambridge, MA.

William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fairwas first published in 1847 as a 19-volume serial novel released in monthly installments for Punch, a British magazine known for its satirical content. The 800-page work was published in a single volume in 1848 with the subtitle A Novel Without A Hero. Arguably Thackeray’s most successful and enduring work, Vanity Fair has been adapted into radio broadcasts, silent and sound films, television series, and plays.

BLO’s ‘Fellow Travelers – An Opera For Today

November 15, 2019April 8, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

Timothy Laughlin (played by Jesse Darden) and Hawkins Fuller (Jesse Blumberg) in Boston Lyric Opera’s production of “Fellow Travelers,” playing Nov. 13-17 at the Emerson Paramount Center

By Julie-Anne Whitney

‘Fellow Travellers’ – Opera by Gregory Spears; Libretto by Greg Pierce; Based on the 2007 novel “Fellow Travelers” by Thomas Mallon; Conducted by Emily Senturia; Directed by Peter Rothstein; Set Design by Sara Brown; Costume Design by Trevor Bowen; Lighting Design by Mary Shabatura; Surtitles by Greg Pierce; Sung in English with English surtitles; Produced by Boston Lyric Opera at the Emerson Paramount Center Robert J. Orchard Stage through November 17, 2019.

Gregory Spears’ opera Fellow Travelers chronicles the doomed love affair between two men, State Department employee Hawkins Fuller and writer/reporter Timothy Laughlin, set during the height of McCarthyism in 1953 Washington D.C. The story sheds light on Senator McCarthy’s ruthless hunt for “sexual deviants” working for the federal government, otherwise known as The Lavender Scare.