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Theater Commentary: WOMEN, POWER, AND PROGRESS (Ragtime and Liberation on Broadway)
SISTERHOOD, INTERRUPTED Ragtime, Liberation, and the unfinished work of women’s equality Even when we know better, most of us seem to think that history proceeds in a linear manner. Life in the present, while far from perfect, is an improvement over life in the past, isn’t it? Women as a whole today enjoy expanded educational…
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Theater Review: BABY (Hollywood Fringe / The Elysian)
WHEN CLOWNING, THERAPY, AND TRAUMA COLLIDE Rachel Troy’s fierce, genre-breaking solo triumph is fully realized, ferociously smart, and genuinely exhilarating. I receive thousands of invitations every year to see one-person shows—solo works popping up everywhere from major U.S. cities to international Fringe festivals, where artists travel circuit to circuit chasing audiences, awards, and momentum. With…
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Opera Review: AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS (The Met and Lincoln Center Theater at Mitzi E. Newhouse)
A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE, UP CLOSE AND BREATH-BY-BREATH Opera this intimate feels less like a performance and more like a shared act of wonder This holiday season, multi-Grammy Award winner and Olivier Award–winning star Joyce DiDonato made opera feel truly intimate—an entirely new experience for me. She brought her formidable talent to a brand-new production of…
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Theater Review: WONDER (American Repertory Theater World Premiere in Cambridge)
WONDER OF WONDERS! A musical that refuses pity and earns its hope American Repertory Theater’s world premiere of the musical adaptation of R. J. Palacio’s best-selling Wonder and the eponymous 2017 film, is, indeed, filled with wonders. The children’s novel is not only the story of a boy with a facial difference, though that is…
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Theater Preview: SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET (La Mirada Theatre, Starring Will Swenson and Lesli Margherita)
REVENGE AS ENTERTAINMENT With Will Swenson and Lesli Margherita, La Mirada goes all in for this major revival Some shows you make time for. Others you plan around. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is one of those shows — if it’s done right. When the musical first arrived in 1979 (winning 8…
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Cabaret Review: SONGS FROM MY HOLIDAY CLOSET (Revolution Stage Company in Palm Springs)
Unpacking the Magic: LT Cousineau’s Songs from My Holiday Closet is a Seasonal Smash that has become a holiday tradition There’s a special magic that happens when a performer stops trying to please everyone and simply tells their own truth, which is what went down at Revolution Stage Company this past Monday, December 22, for…
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Theater Review: SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE (Shotgun Players in Berkeley)
DOTS, DEDICATION, AND THE ART OF BEGINNING AGAIN Shotgun Players takes on Sondheim and Lapine’s most painterly meditation with exquisite results Shotgun Players presents Sunday in the Park with George, James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim’s singular, sometimes daunting, often ravishing meditation on art, obsession, and the human cost of creation. Directed by Susannah Martin with…
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Off-Broadway Review: BASIL TWIST’S PUPPET PARTY (HERE Arts’ Dorothy B. Williams Theatre)
One of the great pleasures of New York City is that it’s a place where it feels perfectly normal to hear someone say, “I’m headed to SoHo to see an adult Christmas puppet show,” and mean it sincerely. Now in its 26th year, Basil Twist’s Puppet Parlor, playing at HERE Arts Center, has become exactly…
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Off-Broadway Review: ANNA CHRISTIE (St. Ann’s Warehouse)
ANNA CHRISTIE RIDES THE TIDE AGAIN An early O’Neill, boldly staged, will sweep you into a fog-shrouded world of fate, forgiveness, and hard-won grace. “A rich and salty play,” wrote one critic of Anna Christie when it premiered in New York in 1921. “Written with abundant imagination,” claimed another. Yet a third critic called the…
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Theater Review: BLACK NATIVITY (National Center of Afro-American Artists at Emerson Paramount)
GO TELL IT! There are many ways to celebrate the holiday season on Boston-area stages, ranging from dance interpretations of The Nutcracker to performances and revisions of Dickens, to the ever-new traditional Revels and shows that use the Christmas season as a backdrop for stories of joy and even hilarity. None get so deeply to…
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Theater Preview: URBAN DEATH XMAS: SHOW SPOOKTACULAR & MAZE! (Zombie Joe’s in NoHo)
A DELICIOUSLY VERY WRONG WAY TO CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS Santa’s dead, the carols are cursed, and Zombie Joe wants your soul for Christmas If you survived Urban Death: Tour of Terror in October—and lived to tell the tale—Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre Group is inviting you back for a holiday encore that swaps pumpkin guts for…
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Off-Broadway Review: TARTUFFE (New York Theatre Workshop)
MORAL ROT MASQUERADING AS VIRTUE Broderick underplays the zealot Tartuffe in Lucas Hnath’s contemporary take, but the cast keeps the comedy crackling The art of looking virtuous while being utterly fake is a talent as old as theater itself, and Molière’s Tartuffe remains the most iconic theatrical example. Having seen André De Shields’s sly, invigorating version…
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Theater Review: SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CHRISTMAS CLOWNS (City Lit Theater)
A HOLIDAY MYSTERY WITH VICTORIAN MISCHIEF ON ITS MIND Chesterton by way of Conan Doyle, wrapped in Wodehouse-style tomfoolery Arthur Conan Doyle wrote only one Christmas-themed Sherlock Holmes mystery, The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle — coincidentally, the first Holmes story I ever read — which was adapted into a charming play by Michael Menendian…
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Theater Review: GUYS AND DOLLS (Shakespeare Theatre Company)
A MUSICAL FABLE FOR THEN — AND NOW A cornerstone of the American musical theater canon. Corny and sexist? Undeniably. But it’s still thrilling, still brassy, still Broadway. Guys and Dolls bills itself as “a musical fable of Broadway,” and that framing matters. Based on the stories of Damon Runyon, the 1950 show doesn’t aim…
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Theater Review: IS THIS A ROOM (Apollinaire Theatre Company)
AN OMINOUS AND DISORIENTING THRILLER A meticulously staged interrogation that tightens its grip minute by minute In theater and in life, some risks are worth taking. Others may not be worth the cost. Reality Winner, a U.S. Air Force veteran and a contractor for the National Security Agency, took a risk in May of 2017…
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Theater Review: CYGNET’S A MAGICAL HOLIDAY (Cygnet Theatre)
A VINTAGE-STYLE HOLIDAY CONCERT A warmly nostalgic night of classic music, crooning, and dance Imagine that it’s 1962. You and your spouse decide to get a sitter and go down to the “club” because they’re featuring an upbeat Christmas music show with dancers and a small live band. If the club did the show really…
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Theater Review: MIDWINTER REVELS: A SCANDANAVIAN STORY FOR CHRISTMAS (Sanders Theater at Harvard University)
WELCOME YULE! In keeping with its Scandinavian theme, this year’s Midwinter Revels presents a smorgasbord of stories, songs, and dances in Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre. The very foundation of the Revels experience is something of a smorgasbord, in fact. Revels has evolved from the Christmas Revels to the Midwinter Revels since its founding in 1971….
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Theater Review: PLAID TIDINGS (Revolution Stage Company in Palm Springs)
PLAIDS, CAROLS & COMIC CHAOS A tuneful Yule celebration filled with charm, harmony, and holiday silliness If you’re craving holiday nostalgia served with tight four-part harmonies and a side of goofy, good-hearted comedy, Plaid Tidings at Revolution Stage Company should be on your December shortlist. Stuart Ross’s follow-up to his wildly popular 1989 revue Forever…
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Theater Review: BIPOLAR & THE ENGLISH CHANNEL (Julie Ridge at Theatre Row)
ENDURANCE, MANIA, AND THE WILL TO SURVIVE A raw solo performance that turns lived experience into hard-earned clarity Bipolar disorder, marked by its vertiginous highs and devastating lows, is an incurable condition that exacts a profound toll on those who live with it. Yet within this relentless struggle, many who are afflicted demonstrate a remarkable…
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Theater Review: CABARET (Oakland Theater Project)
ESCAPISM AT THE EDGE OF COLLAPSE A Kit Kat Club that feels uncomfortably close to home Since its founding in 2012, Oakland Theater Project has set out to create theater experiences that inspire compassion, embracing radical inclusivity and diversity while reflecting the dynamic communities of Oakland. Sally Bowles (Sharon Shao) Since its Broadway debut in…
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