Moonbox Productions’ ‘Sweeney Todd’ Sets The City On Fire

October 19, 2023October 19, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Joy Clark and Davron Monroe in Moonbox Productions ‘Sweeney Todd’

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Book by Hugh Wheeler. Ryan Mardesich, Director/Co-Producer. Dan Ryan, Music Director/Conductor. Joy Clark, Choreographer. Cameron McEachern, Set Design. Kat C. Zhou, Lighting Design. Rebecca Glick, Costume Design. James Cannon, Sound Design. Lauren Corcuera, Properties Design. Margaret Clark, Fight Choreography. At Arrow Street Arts, Cambridge, through November 5.

by Linda Chin

With their intensely powerful Sweeney Todd christening the new black-box theatre at Arrow Street Arts in Cambridge, Moonbox Productions is “setting the city on fire.” Mercifully, not because all hell has broken loose in Harvard Square, with ‘rats in the grass!…or lunatics yelling!…or great black crows screeching!’ like in Sondheim’s London, 1846. But rather because, like when used in rap music or modern slang in 2023, the term ‘set the city on fire’ means a large number of people are excited and interested in what’s happening.

A Playfully Potent “White Rabbit Red Rabbit” at Umbrella Stage

October 15, 2023October 15, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

“White Rabbit Red Rabbit”. By Nassim Soleimanpour. Presented by The Umbrella Stage Company, 40 Stow Street, Concord, through November 11.

By Michele Markarian

Born at the tail end of 1981 in the Islamic Republic of Iran, playwright Nassim Soleimanpour refused to participate in mandatory military service that, upon completion, would allow him to travel outside of Iran. In his isolation, he wrote “White Rabbit Red Rabbit,” a play that has been translated into more than thirty languages and performed all over the world. Part theater, part thought experiment (think Schrodinger’s cat), “White Rabbit Red Rabbit” is a lighthearted but pointed entry into a country the playwright cannot leave.

‘HANGMEN’ at the GAMM

October 15, 2023December 26, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

The cast of Gamm Theatre’s production of “The Hangmen.” Photo by Cat Laine

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

The second show of Gamm Theatre’s 39th season is the New England Premiere of “Hangmen” by Martin McDonagh. This show is a fictional story set in 1965 when the death penalty had just been abolished in the UK. In a small town in Northern England, everyone wants to know what the second-best hangman in the country, Harry Wade, whose profession has just been made illegal, has to say about it. When the news breaks, Harry’s pub is overrun with a gang of misfits and a cub reporter eager to garner a quote from Harry himself. Harry’s guilt-ridden former assistant, Syd, is also in attendance. However, when a constantly smiling, inscrutable visitor, Mooney, appears, everyone becomes inquisitive about this stranger’s mysterious motives. Even though serious topics are discussed, McDonagh keeps the comedy flowing even in the most dire circumstances. Director Tony Estrella casts these 11 roles wonderfully and elicits both comic and dramatic performances from one and all. He is aided in his task by Jessica Hill Kidd, who designed a prison area on the top of a lovely British bar that looks so realistic you’d go up there and order a pint for yourself. The terrific fight choreography is by Normand Beauregard with lighting design by James Horban, terrific sound design by Hunter Spoede with realistic thunder and rain, and the 1960s costumes by Katie Hand. Stage manager Robin Grady keeps things running smoothly all night long.

True Crime Meets Rock n’ Roll in Umbrella’s ‘Lizzie’

October 4, 2023October 5, 2023 michaelhoban1 Comment

Cast of ‘*Lizzie: The Musical’* at the Umbrella Stage Company. Photos by Jim Sabitus

‘Lizzie: The Musical’ – Music by Steven Cheslik-deMeyer and Alan Stevens Hewitt; Lyrics by Steven Cheslik-deMeyer and Tim Maner; Book by Tim Maner; Additional Music by Tim Maner; Additional Lyrics by Alan Stevens Hewitt; Based on an original concept by Alan Stevens Hewitt; Orchestrations by Alan Stevens Hewitt. Produced by Brian Boruta; Directed and Choreographed by Ilyse Robbins; Music Director Lianne Bunting; Lighting Designer SeifAllah Salotto Cristobal; Sound Designer James Cannon; Scenic Designer Erik D. Diaz; Costume Designer Bethany Mullins. Presented by The Umbrella Stage Company at 40 Stow St., Concord, MA, through November 5^th.

by Mike Hoban

“Lizzie Borden took an axe,

And gave her mother forty whacks,

When she saw what she had done,

She gave her father forty-one.”

That gruesome child’s rhyme from the late 19^th century is both the inspiration and the opening lines from Lizzie: The Musical, Umbrella Stage Company’s early Halloween present to rock musical fans. This punk rock-flavored headbanger of a show shakes up the genre much the way the 1973 musical stage production of The Rocky Horror Show did 50 years earlier. Only instead of being fueled by dark humor and (then) norm-pushing sexcapades, it’s a far more serious feminist revenge story – and just as entertaining.

Huntington’s “Fat Ham” Is A Raucous and Resonant Reinvention of Shakespeare’s Masterpiece, “Hamlet”

October 3, 2023October 12, 2023 michaelhoban2 Comments

Cast of ‘Fat Ham’ The Huntington Theatre. Photos by T Charles Erickson

‘Fat Ham’ — Written by James Ijames. Directed by Stevie Walker-Webb, Scenic Design by Luciana Stecconni, Costume Design by Celeste Jennings, Sound Design by Aubrey Dube, Lighting Design by Xiangfu Xiao. Presented by The Huntington Theatre in association with Alliance Theatre and Front Porch Arts Collective at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, 527 Tremont St., through Sunday, October 29, 2023.

By Shelley A. Sackett

“Fat Ham,” winner of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize Award for best drama, is much more than a modern-day riff on “Hamlet,” one of Shakepeare’s most quoted, performed and adapted plays. Using the bones of the Bard’s tragedy as a structural anchor, the exceptionally talented playwright, James Ijames, has fleshed it out with analogous characters whose feet are firmly planted in the here and now and whose modern-day nightmares and dreams reflect both the mundane and the existential.

A Sweet Treat at Ogunquit: ‘Tootsie’ Rolls with Laughter

October 2, 2023October 2, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Music & Lyrics by David Yazbeck. Book by Robert Horn. Directed by Larry Raben. Choreography by Jennifer Rias. Music Direction by Andrew David Sotomayor. Scenic Design by Christine Peters. Lighting Design by Richard Latta. Costume Design by William Ivery Long. Sound Design by Kevin Heard. Wig Design by Roxanne De Luna. At Ogunquit Playhouse, 10 Main Street, Ogunquit, ME through October 29, 2023.

by Linda Chin

The Tony Award-winning musical comedy Tootsie, now enjoying its regional premiere at the Ogunquit Playhouse, is an adaptation of the now 40-year-old movie starring Dustin Hoffman in a red wig, glasses, and the now iconic gown with red sequins. Tootsie is Michael Dorsey, a talented 40-year-old actor who’s talented and deeply committed to his craft but whose arrogance and know-it-all attitude have alienated producers, directors, and colleagues alike. Desperate to work, Dorsey disguises himself as a woman, adopts a female persona, names himself Dorothy Michaels, and lands a role in a soap opera. The star-studded cast of characters – including Dorsey’s agent George (Sydney Pollack), friend/ex-girlfriend Sandy (Teri Garr), and television co-star Julie Nichols (Jessica Lange) – are not made aware of this charade; the only person he confides in is his deadpanning roommate, Jeff Slater, played in the movie by Bill Murray.

At North Shore Music Theatre, A Rousing Production of ‘The Full Monty’

September 30, 2023September 30, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Cast of “The Full Monty” at North Shore Music Theatre. Photo © Paul Lyden

Book by Terrence McNally. Music and Lyrics by David Yazbek. Gerry McIntyre, Director and Choreography, Milton Granger, Music Director. Kyle Dixon, Scenic Design. Kelly Baker, Costume Coordination. Travis McHale, Lighting Design. Alex Berg, Sound Design. Rachel Padula-Shufelt, Wig & Hair Design. At NSMT, Beverly, MA through October 8, 2023.

By Linda Chin

Hats off – literally – to North Shore Music Theatre, for putting on a rousing, crowd-pleasing production of The Full Monty and the sizzling ‘Hot Metal’ steel-workers-turned-strippers and for pulling off the fabulous final scene with total finesse. Donning full police uniforms over sparkly red thongs, the sextet executed energetic choreography (inspired by Michael Jordan’s smooth basketball moves) and did a full Monty, stripping naked from head to toe, their officer caps covering their cajónes. David Yazbek’s (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) rock-pop score bursts with sass and sentimentality, and his lyrics are expository and clever – deserving of extra credit for a rhyming bonus with cajónes. Terrence McNally’s (Ragtime) fleshed-out book and strong character development also make The Full Monty an atypical musical.

SpeakEasy’s “POTUS” Soothes Our Distressed Political Souls With the Balm of Humor

September 30, 2023September 30, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Cast of SpeakEasy Stage’s production of “POTUS” (Courtesy Nile Scott Studios)

“POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive” by Selina Fillinger. Directed by Paula Plum. Scenic Design by Jenna McFarland Lord. Sound Design by Aubrey Dube. Lighting Design by Karen Perlow. Costume Design by Rebecca Glick. Fight Choreography by Angie Jepson. Presented by Speakeasy Stage at the Calderwood Pavilion, Boston, through October 15.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Hands down, “POTUS” takes the prize for the most winning opening scene currently on stage in Boston. It is shriek-out-loud funny, clever, pithy, lightning-paced, and uncompromisingly no-nonsense.

The setting is The White House, not exactly the Trump administration, but also not exactly not the Trump administration. Two pantsuit-clad women are in mid-conversation when the audience joins them.

Chief of Staff Harriet (Lisa Yuen) is filling in Press Secretary Jean (Laura Latreille) on the morning’s diplomatic meeting and on what POTUS did that she, as press liaison, will have to spin at the press briefing that is about to start.

Part II of “Angels in America” Makes Eagerly Awaited Return to Central Square

September 25, 2023September 25, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Eddie Shields and Helen Hy-Yuen Swanson in “Angels in America: Perestroika” at the Central Square Theater. Photo: Nile Scott Studios.

“Angels in America: Perestroika” by Tony Kushner. Directed by Eric Tucker. Presented by Central Square Theater and Bedlam at 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, through October 8.

by Michele Markarian

“Perestroika,” now playing at the Central Square Theater, picks up where “Angels in America; Part One” leaves off. It’s 1985, and the world’s oldest Bolshevik (Debra Wise) is addressing a crowd in Moscow. “Show me the words that will reorder the future, or else keep silent,” he intones, as the future of the Soviet Union and Communism are on the wane. This sets the tone for the rest of the four-hour play, which wrestles with prophesies, change, and a reordering of a wrecked present that the Angel (Helen Hy-Yuen Swanson) insists should remain static, as it is the motion and mingling of human beings that have turned God away from the Angels.

Speakeasy’s POTUS: A Farce to Be Reckoned With

September 23, 2023September 23, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Catia, Marianna Bassham, and Johanna Carlisle-Zepeda SpeakEasy Stage’s production of “POTUS” (Courtesy Nile Scott Studios)

By Linda Chin

U.S. presidents are the central figures of two productions running concurrently in Boston theatres this fall – Lyric’s Assassins, a musical about seven men and two women trying to kill the president by the legendary Stephen Sondheim, and Speakeasy’s POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, an uproariously funny ‘straight’ play that marked playwright Selina Fillinger’s recent Broadway debut. Fillinger’s commander-in-chief is not named or seen on stage; the play puts seven women who are typically behind the scenes front and center. Individually, the chief of staff, first lady, lover, press secretary, secretary, sister, and a White House reporter are forces of nature; banded together, they make POTUS a farce to be reckoned with.