Don’t Throw Away Your Shot to See Broadway in Boston’s Spectacular ‘Hamilton’

October 9, 2025April 8, 2026 Shelley Sackett1 Comment

Cast of Broadway in Boston’s ‘Hamilton’. Photos: Joan Marcus

‘Hamilton’ — Book, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Inspired by Ron Chernow’s “Alexander Hamilton.” Directed by Thomas Kail. Choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler; Music Supervision and Orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire. Presented by Broadway in Boston at Citizens Opera House, Boston through Nov. 2.

By Shelley A. Sackett

How lucky are we that Lin-Manuel Miranda decided to pack Ron Chernow’s biography, “Alexander Hamilton,” when preparing his bag to take on his first vacation in seven years after the Broadway run of his smash hit, In the Heights. He plowed through the 800+ page book and was mesmerized by Hamilton, particularly his story as a poor immigrant rising to power.

“The moment my brain got a moment’s rest, Hamilton walked into it,” he told Ariana Huffington in an interview.

With Top-Notch Performances, Front Porch Arts Collective’s ‘The Mountaintop’ Soars

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

Dominic Carter as MLK in Front Porch Arts Collective‘s ‘The Mountaintop’

‘The Mountaintop’ – Written by Katori Hall. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Scenic Design by Ben Lieberman. Lighting Design by Brian Lilienthal. Sound Design by Joshua Jackson. Presented by the Front Porch Arts Collective at the Suffolk University Modern Theatre, 525 Tremont Street, Boston, through October 12, 2025

A powerful production of the play The Mountaintop is running at Suffolk’s Modern Theatre – a short Green Line ride away from the university (BU) where MLK earned a PhD in systematic theology in 1955, on the same campus where he delivered a speech entitled “The Future of Desegregation” at the Ford Hall Forum in 1963, and blocks away from the Boston Common, where he delivered a speech in 1965 and where a permanent monument honoring the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King was unveiled in 2023.

‘The Mountaintop’ Is A Gripping Rendering of MLK’s Last Night

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

The Mountaintop – Written by Katori Hall. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Presented by The Front Porch Arts Collective in collaboration with Suffolk University at Modern Theatre, 525 Washington St., Boston, through October 12.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Playwright Katori Hall couldn’t have asked for a better production of his Olivier Award-winning play, The Mountaintop, than the one it is receiving at the Modern Theater at Suffolk University. Under Maurice Emmanuel Parent’s pitch-perfect direction, its two stars, Dominic Carter and Kiera Prusmack, deliver impeccable performances as civil rights and social justice leader, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Camae, a motel employee. Ben Lieberson’s set is straightforward and literal, a classic 1960s era, no frills, wood-paneled motel room.

‘The Ceremony’ Revisits and Rewrites the Ufot Legacy

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

Lumanti Shrestha, Khadaj Bennett in CHUANG Stage’s ‘The Ceremony’
Photos by Ken Yotsukura

‘The Ceremony’ — Written by Mfoniso Udofia. Directed by Kevin R. Free. Presented by CHUANG Stage at Boston University’s Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre, 820 Commonwealth Ave., Boston through October 5.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Playwright Mfoniso Udofia’s nine-play Ufot Family Cycle follows the various members of the Nigerian Ufot family across three generations, starting with the brutal Nigerian Civil War (also known as the Biafran War) of 1967-1970. With the world premiere of The Ceremony, the sixth in the series, Udofia brings the family firmly into the present (2023) with all its contemporary social mores and cultural pressures.

Kilian Melloy Talks with Chris Grace About His Upcoming Solo Show, “Sardines” at the Huntington

September 26, 2025April 9, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Chris Grace in ‘Sardines’ at The Huntington. Photos by Eric Michaud

You might know comedian Chris Grace from his role on Superstore or his appearances on Broad City, Pen15, and other TV shows. But beyond the screen, he’s a busy standup comedian with such a packed itinerary that, he tells Theater Mirror, he hasn’t been home since July… and he won’t be back until just before Thanksgiving.

One of Grace’s most recent stops was the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where he created new material nonstop — a show every day, he says, for each day he was there. Now he’s getting ready to come to Boston, bringing his solo show Sardines (a comedy about death) to the Huntington Theatre for a six-week run, Sept. 30 – Nov. 16. (Find out more at https://www.huntingtontheatre.org/whats-on/sardines/ .)

Actor David Payne On His Solo Show, “Churchill”

September 24, 2025April 9, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

David Payne as “Churchill, coming to the BCA October 7-12

David Payne’s acting career began almost as a lark. An audition for a small part in a play led to his being cast in a much more major role. Later on, he wrote a play of his own — a solo show about the life of C.S. Lewis, the famously faithful author of the “Narnia” fantasy books. The success of that show almost sounds like a fantasy in itself: Payne has made a career of portraying Lewis for two decades.

But he also plays another significant historical figure: Namely, Winston Churchill, the stout, determined, and yet also flawed statesman who saw the danger presented by Adolf Hitler when other British politicians were apt to gloss over the dangers that Nazi Germany presented. He had a long military history, which included serving during the Boer War. He achieved fame as a war correspondent and author and received the Nobel Prize for his writings in 1953.

CST’s ‘Silent Sky’ Aims for The Stars But Falls Short

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

Lee Mikeska Gardner, Jenny S. Lee, Erica Cruz Hernández in Central Square’s ‘Silent Sky’
Photos by Nile Scott Studios

‘Silent Sky.’ Written by Lauren Gunderson. Directed by Sarah Shin. Scenic Design by Qingan Zhang; Costume Design by Leslie Held; Lighting Design by Eduardo M. Ramirez; Sound Design and Composition by Kai Bohlman. A Catalyst Collaborative@MIT Production. Presented by Central Square Theater, 450 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge through October 5.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Lauren Gunderson’s career as a playwright (she is also a screenwriter and short story author) has largely focused on stories about iconoclastic women in history, science and literature. She is one of the top 20 most produced playwrights in the country, with over twenty plays produced. (Lyric Stage Boston’s 2022 production of her The Book of Will was a knockout).

With Silent Sky, a Catalyst Collaborative@MIT Production presented by Central Square Theater through October 5, she turns her attention to the story of Henrietta Swan Leavitt, a young astronomer whose scientific brilliance and curiosity led to her discovery of the relationship between luminosity and the period of Cepheid variables (a star that pulsates).

At The Cape Playhouse, A Warm & Welcoming ‘Come From Away’

August 10, 2025April 8, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Cast of ‘Come From Away’ at the Cape Playhouse

The Cape Playhouse presents Come From Away. Book, music and lyrics by Irene Sankoff and David Hein. Directed and Choreographed by Kelly Devine. Music Direction by Lena Gabrielle. Set Design by Alexander Woodward. Lighting Design by Kirk Bookman. Costume Design by Gail Baldoni. Sound Design by Walter Trarbach. Wig Design by Bobbie Zlotnik. At the Cape Playhouse, 820 Main Street, Route 6A, Dennis MA, through August 30, 2025.

By Linda Chin

When skies over the United States shut down after the September 11th attacks, 38 international flights were diverted to a once-bustling airport on the island of Newfoundland, on the northeast tip of North America, next to which was the tiny town of Gander. The influx of 7000 stranded passengers and crew who needed meals, clothing, accommodations, showers, and access to phones swelled Gander’s population to twice its usual size, practically overnight.

‘Beautiful’ at Reagle – Still Queen of the Jukebox Musicals

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

Cast of ‘Beautiful: The Carole King Musical’ at Reagle Music Theatre

‘Beautiful: The Carole King Musical’ – Book by Douglas McGrath. Words and Music by Gerry Goffin, Carole King, Barry Mann, and Cynthia Weil. Directed and Choreographed by Deanna Dys; Music Director and Conductor Mindy Cimini; Scenic Design by Derek McLane; Costume Design by Alejo Vietti; Lighting Design by Franklin Meissner, Jr.; Sound Design by Sebastian Nixon; Costume Coordinator by Ellie De Lucia. Presented by Reagle Music Theatre at 617 Lexington St., Waltham through June 22^nd.

By Mike Hoban

There’s a reason that Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is such a popular choice for regional theaters: With a score that ranks with any Gershwin or Cole Porter collection of songs within a Broadway show, it’s nearly impossible to top musically. King launched her career as a singer in 1971 with her breakthrough album, Tapestry (with hits “So Far Away,” “It’s Too Late”, “I Feel the Earth Move,” and a ton more), which is impressive enough, but Beautiful begins with her career as a teenaged songwriter, and the hits she penned with then-husband Gerry Goffin could easily fill a 1960’s jukebox by themselves. But it’s not just the music. What elevates Beautiful above most “jukebox” musicals is that the book has actual depth, even if some of the story elements are fictionalized.

Ogunquit Playhouse’s Exuberant ‘Come From Away’ Epitomizes the Phrase “It Takes a Village”

May 21, 2025April 8, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Cast of ‘Come From Away’ at Ogunquit Playhouse

Come From Away. Book, music, and lyrics by Irene Sankoff and David Hein. Directed and choreographed by Richard J. Hinds. Music Direction by Sam Groisser. Scenic Design by Nate Bertone. Lighting Design by Richard Latta. Costume Design by Michelle J. Li. Sound Design by Kevin Heard. Wig/Hair & Make-Up Design by Emilia Martin. Presented by Ogunquit Playhouse, Maine, through June 14, 2025.

By Linda Chin

The award-winning musical Come From Away tells the remarkable true story of the tiny town of Gander (population 9,000) in Newfoundland, Canada – approximately 1,500 miles from NYC – that garnered global attention nearly 25 years ago. In 2001, the isolated community played host to nearly 7000 ‘come from aways’ (what Newfoundlanders called non-locals) on 38 international flights that were diverted there when the skies over the United States were shut down on September 11.