Boston

AN IRISH MOMMIE DEAREST A darkly comic exploration of the links between intimacy and violence What does it mean to take care of someone? That might be one of the questions raised in Theater UnCorked’s production of The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Martin McDonagh’s Tony Award-winning study of a fraught mother-daughter relationship. Directed by Sheriden…

WASHING OUT INEQUALITY In a stirring account of the 1881 Atlanta Washerwomen’s Strike, collective action becomes a powerful force for change It is the hot summer of 1881, and Atlanta, Georgia, is preparing to host the International Cotton Exposition. A major business convention on the scale of the World’s Fair, the cotton expo is meant…

SISTERS DO IT FOR THEMSELVES In 1881, as today, Black women of Georgia were changing history There were no automatic washing machines in 1881, yet people had more clothes than ever before, thanks to industrialization of the textile industry. While people in the more industrialized North could have their clothes and linens washed in commercial…

I AND YOU CONTAINS MULTITUDES —AND A PLOT TWIST Two classmates discover the unexpected connections between their lives in Lauren Gunderson’s intimate drama “For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.” — Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself“ Pronouns take on new meaning when viewed through the lens of Walt Whitman. Under Michelle…

FOUR HYDES ARE BETTER THAN ONE A clever adaptation explores the many faces of evil and the desires that bring them to life Adapted in 2008 from Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 gothic horror novella Jeffrey Hatcher‘s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is an exploration of a well-known tale about how humanity, desire, and temptation interact….

WHO COULD EVER HAVE DREAMED UP YOU? Yeston and Kopit’s alternative to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical gives familiar characters new depth and humanity Growing up singing along to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, it wasn’t until recently that I learned there was a second musical adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s story: Maury Yeston…

HER SIDE OF A VERY OLD STORY A woman’s perspective on an ancient classic of Indian literature The Sitayana (or, “How to Make an Exit”), written by the late, beloved, and influential Chicago playwright Lavina Jadhwani, reimagines the events of the classic Ramayana as they might have been experienced by Sita, the wife of Prince…

THE COURT OF PUBLIC PREJUDICE Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation benefits from thoughtful acting and restrained staging More than six decades after Harper Lee published To Kill a Mockingbird, its questions about racial injustice, moral responsibility, and respect remain painfully relevant. In Aaron Sorkin’s stage adaptation, director Loretta Greco brings those questions into sharp focus at The…

A BLOODY HILARIOUS DRACULA A stellar cast vamps it up and camps it up to breathe life into a horror classic about the undead Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors, by Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen, is a lovingly constructed farce that, per the script, is “very loosely based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.”…

WHAT’S BIGGER THAN THE FAMILY? Lyric Stage’s intimate production of Arthur Miller’s classic asks how far our responsibility extends beyond those we call our own Arthur Miller’s All My Sons is a haunting psychological American drama that takes place in 1947, capturing the postwar tension. The play is, first and foremost, a study of human…

BATTY AS HELL Excellent performances struggle against muddled storytelling and sound problems in this production of the cult musical The entire time I watched Bat Boy: The Musical at Umbrella Stage in Concord, I was trying to place it within what I know of the theatrical tradition. It’s like Pygmalion, I thought, as mom Meredith…

THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS Strong performances and eerie stage effects cannot entirely clarify a mystery that depends on carefully controlled deception A terrific performance by Crystin Gilmore as the stern, Bible-thumping, yet guilt-ridden Mama, along with evocative special effects, makes Covenant, a Southern Gothic about the battle between good and evil, a riveting…

THE POLITICAL IS PERSONAL Purpose is an exciting and morally complex opening to the Huntington’s 2026-2027 season Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins‘ Purpose is an intriguing family drama that gives us a narrator with unconventional sexuality and social needs in the context of a prominent and deeply troubled family of origin. Omari K. Chancellor shines as Nazareth…

WHEN YOU’RE HOPING FOR A HARBOR A stirring in-the-round production finds hope, humor, and humanity in the strangers who became a community Director Kevin P. Hill’s production of Come From Away lands at North Shore Music Theatre as a timely reminder of human grace and community in the face of adversity. Irene Sankoff and David…