Boston

A TRASH-TALKING ODD COUPLE The Garbologists opens with a few seconds of complete darkness and the clang and grind of machinery before two bright headlights move straight toward the audience. Then the lights come up on what was previously an empty street to reveal two New York City Sanitation Department workers in the cab of…

ANOTHER FAMOUS BALCONY SCENE Romeo and Juliet isn’t the only play with a famous balcony scene. The London revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Evita has attracted attention for the decision to stage the signature song “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” on a balcony outside the London Palladium, disappointing many in the ticket-buying…

BULLISH ON WOMEN’S EDUCATION With sharp, witty, and informative dialogue, Bryna Turner’s Bull in a China Shop offers a fascinating glimpse into the life and accomplishments of Mary Wooley (Linnea Lyerly), the little-known and yet highly influential president of Mount Holyoke College from 1900 to 1937. Wooley transformed a women’s seminary with an emphasis on…

A BEAUTIFUL TAPESTRY OF SONGS AND STORY Reagle Music Theatre kicks off the summer with a vibrant, lovingly crafted staging of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, directed with finesse and flair by Deanna Dys. Her production fluidly moves from cramped domestic scenes in Brooklyn to the adolescent alchemy of late-50s and early-60s pop in the…

REVENUE AND RESPECTABILITY George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) knew about cancel culture long before the term came into vogue. The first New York production (1905) of Mrs. Warren’s Profession was shut down by police due to charges of obscenity, and while we aren’t seeing police shut down theaters today, funding cuts may have a similar effect….

A CAKEWALK THROUGH NEW YORK The delightfully poignant and gorgeously hilarious West End hit Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) by Jim Barne and Kit Buchan made its North American premiere tonight at American Repertory Theater—and it’s not to be missed. Directed and choreographed by Tim Jackson from the original London production, this full-length two-hander…

A HELLO, DOLLY! FOR OUR TIMES If you’d like to know how it’s possible to take a decidedly dated musical written in 1964 (set in 1890) and make it come freshly and fully alive today, go see the Lyric Stage Company of Boston’s vibrant production of Hello, Dolly!, playing until June 22. Director Maurice Emmanuel…

LEARNING HOW TO BE IN COMMUNITY Few productions manage to collapse the space between art and community like Learning How to Read by Moonlight. In this world premiere from Gaven D. Trinidad, directed by Natsu Onoda Power, theater becomes a living, breathing act of solidarity. Between May 16 and June 8, Learning How to Read…

“You can almost hear what everyone’s feeling”—an aside delivered to the audience midway through the show—neatly sums up what is most striking about The Light in the Piazza, playing at the Huntington Theatre. The idea that emotions can transcend language is at the heart of this beautiful, heartbreaking, and heartwarming musical. As characters alternate between…

HOW SWEET IT IS! From the opening scene of As Bees in Honey Drown, we know that young Evan Wyler (Michael Mazzone) is doomed, but we also know that we are going to be happily amused as he tumbles toward his downfall. A debut novelist on the verge of fame, he reluctantly acquiesces to the…

SOME DARE CALL IT TREASON Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold can hardly be called founders of the United States. In fact, while both acted as military leaders in the American War for Independence, they also played an antagonistic role in the Revolution. Benedict Arnold’s name has become synonymous with being a traitor; Allen is romanticized…

BRAIDED LIVES Director Summer L. Williams brings a uplifting and inspiring production of up-and-coming playwright Jocelyn Bioh’s Tony-nominated Jaja’s African Hair Braiding to the SpeakEasy Stage. An ensemble cast of ten portrays seventeen roles, with the five women who work in the hair braiding salon at the center of the action. Dru Sky Berrian, MarHadoo…

THREE MEN IN A BOAT Playwrights Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon provide a gratifying change from the too-frequent, obviously profit-driven movie-to-musical adaptations that litter so many stages today with this clever portrayal of the behind-the-scenes experiences of the three principals in Jaws, one of the biggest commercial successes in film-making history and a source of…

SOMETHING TASTY AT UMBRELLA STAGE Leo Tolstoy said there were only two stories in the world—either someone goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town. The Umbrella Stage Company’s musical Spitfire Grill, a celebration of community, redemption, and Americana by James Valcq and Fred Alley, is very much the latter. It’s a production…