Boston

TO BAN OR NOT TO BAN Who decides what children are allowed to read? Playwrights are among the many who are struggling to reconcile the escalating conflicts among different factions of our society. Huntington Theatre’s Eureka Day portrays the executive board of a progressive private school at odds with itself when a mumps outbreak pits…

HIGH ENERGY AND HIGH HOPES Rhythm, resilience, and a lot of heart On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio & Gloria Estefan is far from groundbreaking theater, but it is certainly uplifting. Let’s face it: a jukebox musical about a successful female performer whose male partner is neither abusive, manipulative, nor adulterous is something worthy…

HOME IS WHERE THE PHO IS Looking for a real life amidst the demands of AI Directed by cara hinh and written by Minna Lee, this East Coast premiere is alternately hilarious and joyous and, at other times, a sobering and touching look at the effects of gentrification, the threats of AI, and the ongoing…

Oedipus El Rey, playwright Luis Alfaro’s reimagining of the Greek myth, transforms the familiar tale of fate and tragedy into an urban contemporary story about incarceration, identity, and the possibility of starting over. The premise remains the same—a child fated to kill his father and marry his mother—but Alfaro uses the myth to explore modern…

GREAT EXPECTATIONS, OR GREAT DECEPTIONS? Miranda Jonte and playwright John Minigan turn Dickens into the subject of a witty and compelling literary cold case Despite the broken air-conditioning on a hot and sticky night, Miranda Jonte kept me engaged and curious with her spirited portrayal of both a literary sleuth and one of literature’s iconic…

ADRIFT, AND MORALLY AT SEA A haunting, musically rich survival tale that probes faith, labor, and the cost of living on Directed by Jeremy Johnson and driven by the highly listenable roots-inflected songs from The Avett Brothers (music director Paul S. Katz), this engrossing SpeakEasy Stage production of Swept Away, a New England premiere, tells a…

HERE’S SOMETHING DECIDEDLY NOT ROTTEN A lively, joy-filled production wins over even the most reluctant musicalgoer I was not looking forward to Something Rotten. I’m not big into Shakespeare (gasp, sorry), and my taste in musicals is more Sondheim than shtick. A cousin who is half my age and au courant with new musicals (this…

TOO MANY HANDS ON DECK An inventive but overstuffed adaptation floods the narrative The world premiere of DNAWorks‘ adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s “The Secret Sharer,” directed by Daniel Banks at Emerson Paramount Center offers a lot of intriguing approaches to this classic tale of two men who strongly resemble one another.  Regarded as a novella…

A GREAT DEBATE A play that asks the audience to think about what the Constitution means to them When she was 15, Heidi Schreck went on tour to compete for college scholarships by delivering a talk called What the Constitution Means to Me to American Legion posts. Her talk was successful enough to pay her…

TURNING A THEATRICAL LEMON INTO FIZZY LEMONADE Matthew Lombardo spins a true-life theatrical disaster into a relentlessly funny backstage comedy According to Nora Ephron, who turned her husband’s infidelity into a best-seller and screenplay for the novel and the movie Heartburn, “Everything is material.” But she didn’t say it should be hilarious material. If she…

TERRIFIC, RADIANT, AND HUMBLE An age-appropriate exploration of death and the life-saving power of words Based on E. B. White’s beloved children’s book of the same title and adapted by Joseph Robinette, the staged version of Charlotte’s Web offers many points of entry for children. Themes of friendship, death, persistence, problem-solving, and diversity all play…

NO ECSTASY TO BE FOUND An effort to portray religious transcendence lacks focus and context Treehouse Collective describes itself as an ensemble-based theater company “dedicated to producing rarely performed works.” In the case of Mariette in Ecstasy, I suspect there is a reason the work is rarely performed. The play takes place in a convent,…

DARK VICTORY  Disability transformed in a gripping and tension-filled noir Director Weylin Symes provides unerring direction of the classic thriller Wait Until Dark at the Greater Boston Stage Company in Stoneham, Massachusetts. This modern adaptation of the 1966 Broadway play by Frederick Knott enjoys superb sound (Caroline Eng) and lighting design (Jeff Adelberg) to transform…

WE WON’T KNOW WHAT WE’VE GOT ‘TIL IT’S GONE An exploration of what it means to be human through the consciousness of the machines we created SpeakEasy Stage presents the New England premier of Jordan Harrison’s The Antiquities in a groundbreaking, thought-provoking, and poignant production directed by Alex Lonati. Nine actors take on more than…