‘Hadestown’ Brings the Heat to Worcester’s Hanover Theatre

March 30, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

‘Hadestown’ – Written by Anaïs Mitchell. Developed by director Rachel Chavkin. Presented by the Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts, 2 Southbridge St., Worcester through April 2.

by Mike Hoban

Worcester – Anyone who’s been to New Orleans in the spring and summer can tell you that it can be brutally hot and sweaty, but who knew that it would be such a great stand-in for Hell? Hadestown, the mythical underworld industrial “community” that serves as the setting and title of the Broadway hit, is unmistakably N’awlins, from Rachel Hauck’s set to the smokin’ hot band playing the blues and gospel-influenced score. The national touring company of Hadestown, winner of eight 2019 Tony Awards (including Best Musical) and the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, came marching into Worcester (through April 2^nd) and it’s every bit as good as advertised.

Comically Charged ‘Into the Woods’ Brings the Magic to Emerson Colonial

March 24, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Cast of ‘Into the Woods’ at Emerson Colonial. PhotoCredits: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade

Into the Woods – Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim; Book by James Lapine; Directed by Lear deBessonet. At Emerson Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston St. Boston through April 2.

by Mike Hoban

For musical theater fans, there’s nothing quite like seeing the classics, especially when they’re done so wonderfully by an uber-talented cast. That is certainly the case with the national touring production of Into the Woods, now playing at the Emerson Colonial Theatre through April 2nd. Presented as a concert version of the Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine fan favorite, the audience roared its approval – not just after each completed song, but before the cast had even sung a note. But given the level of joy this production provided to the sold-out opening night crowd, it turned out to be more prescient than fanboy/girl worship.

BLO’s ‘Bluebeard’s Castle/Four Songs’ Is A Knockout!

March 23, 2023March 24, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Ryan McKinny, Naomi Louisa O’Connell in BLOs *‘Bluebeard’s Castle/Four Songs’*

‘Bluebeard’s Castle/Four Songs’ – Music by Béla Bartók, Libretto by Béla Balázs, Arranged by Eberhard Kloke/Music by Alma Mahler, Arranged by Julian Reynolds. Music Director – David Angus, Stage Director – Anne Bogart; Set Designer – Sara Brown; Costume Designer – Trevor Bowen; Lighting Designer – Brian H. Scott. Presented by Boston Lyric Opera at The Terminal @ Flynn Cruiseport, 1 Black Falcon Ave., Boston through March 26.

By Shelley A. Sackett

There needs to be a new term coined for BLO’s current production (and all too brief run) of ‘Bluebeard’s Castle/Four Songs.’ “Opera” just doesn’t begin to describe the multi-sensorial experience provided by this inventive, exciting and unique installation event.

For starters, the venue itself is a star. Through sheer brilliance, the Flynn Cruiseport terminal is transformed into pre-show performance spaces that reflect stage and set designers Anne Bogart and Sara Brown’s desire to explore “how spaces can be gendered.” In the “feminine salon,” costumed and bejewel-masked actresses mingle with early arrivals while Yukiko Oba plays an elegant Liberace-worthy piano. In the “masculine” VIP lounge, VIPs enjoy their cocktails in a traditional gentleman’s club.

Speakeasy’s ‘Wild Goose Dreams’ Is A Surreal Romp Between Two Realities

March 22, 2023March 22, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Ciaran D’Hondt, Fady Demian, Elaine Hom, Ryan Mardesich, Amanda Centeno, and
John D. Haggerty in Speakeasy’s ‘Wild Goose Dreams’ Photos by Nile Scott Studios

‘Wild Goose Dreams’ – Written by Hansol Jung. Directed by Seonjae Kim; Scenic Design by Crystal Tiala; Costume Design by Machel Ross; Lighting Design by Kathleen Zhou; Sound Design by George Cooke. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage at The Calderwood Pavillion, Boston through April 8.

By Shelley Sackett

On its surface, ‘Wild Goose Dreams,’ lays out parallel tales of migration, sacrifice, and dreams. To fully appreciate Hansol Jung’s brilliant script and Seonjae Kim’s spot-on direction, a little background is helpful. Geese migrate with the seasons, traveling great distances and enduring physical hardships to secure food and shelter for their families. Their survival hinges on uprooting themselves and flying to an unknown place that they hope will provide what they need.

A Tree Grows in Boston and Bears Fruit: K-I-S-S-I-N-G at the Huntington

March 19, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Ivan Cecil Walks, Sharmarke Yusuf, and Regan Sims in The Huntington’s production
of K-I-S-S-I-N-G. Photos by T Charles Erickson

‘K-I-S-S-I-N-G’ – Written by Lenelle Moïse. Directed by Dawn M. Simmons. Scenic Design by Jason Ardizzone-West. Costume Design by Dominique Fawn Hill. Lighting Design by Jorge Arroyo. Sound Design by Anna Drummond. Projections Design by Yee Eun Nam and Hannah Tran. Co-produced by the Front Porch Arts Collective and the Huntington Theatre Company at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, Boston through April 2, 2023.

by Linda Chin

The coming-of-age play now making its world premiere at Boston’s Calderwood Pavilion did not come into being from a hurried hook-up, nor inexperienced young people sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. A decade in the making, Lenelle Moïse wrote early drafts during her 2012-2014 Huntington Playwrighting Fellowship, and its development history went something like the titular schoolyard rhyme: First came love – in the form of a commission by Clark University, staged readings at the New Rep and Huntington in 2015 and 2016, and an educational production at Ithaca College (2018). Then came ‘marriage’ – a three-year strategic partnership between Front Porch Arts Collective and the Huntington that started in the fall of 2021, connected Moïse and Porch’s Co-Producing Artistic Directors Maurice Emmanuel Parent and Dawn M. Simmons and catalyzed the companies’ first co-production. A tree growing in Boston has blossomed and borne the loveliest, sweetest fruit. Welcome to the world, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

Missed Opportunities Abound in “This God Damn House”

March 18, 2023March 24, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Sachi Parker, Kirk Gostkowski, Gabriel Rysdahl in “This God Damned House” at the Chain Theatre in New York. Photos by David Zayas Jr.

“This God Damned House” by Matthew MacLachlan. Directed by Ella Jane New. Set Design: David Henderson; Lighting Design: Michael Abrams; Sound Design: Greg Russ; Costume Design: Rica de Ocampo Presented by Chain Theatre, 312 W. 36^th Street, 3^rd floor, New York, New York through April 8.

by Nicole Jesson

This God Damn House is a play about missed opportunities. It begins with a successful playwright making an emergency unscheduled return to his family and childhood home in Florida because of a family crisis. His mother, a hoarder, is losing her home within the next 24 hours, and he and his brother need to pack up the mess, both literally and figuratively. Without giving away too much, the characters spend the night missing opportunities to right the wrongs in their relationships. Unfortunately, the production spends 100 minutes missing its own opportunities in this world premiere of Matthew McLachlan’s dramatically tense play.

‘The Great Leap’ Tackles Bigger Issues Than Basketball

March 17, 2023March 17, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Tyler Simahk, Barlow Adamson, and Gary Thomas Ng in *The Great Leap* at Lyric Stage

The Great Leap – Written by Lauren Yee. Directed by Michael Hisamoto. Scenic Design by Baron E. Pugh. Costume Design by Seth Bodie. Lighting Design by Michael Clark Wonson. Sound Design by Elizabeth Cahill. Presented by Lyric Stage Company of Boston through March 19, 2023.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Award-winning playwright Lauren Yee has skin in the game with her play, ‘The Great Leap,’ now making its Boston premiere at Lyric Stage Company. Her father, a rare 6’1” Asian-American basketball player, was part of the 1981 team the US sent to China for a “friendship game” between Beijing University and the University of San Francisco. The Americans were demolished during the exhibition games.

Yee suspects the team, composed of non-NBA, non-college players, was hand-picked by the Chinese so the Americans would lose. Her father, who recounted his experiences to her as she wrote her play, was very helpful. “On stage, you’ll see a version of my father; it’s not pretending to be him,” Yee says in the program notes.

‘Boulevard of Bold Dreams’ Shines a Light on Hattie McDaniel and Her 1940 Oscar

March 14, 2023March 14, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Samantha Jane Williams, Michelle Fenelon, and Stewart Evan Smith in *‘Boulevard of Bold Dreams’* at GBSC. Photos by Nile Scott Studios

‘Boulevard of Bold Dreams’ — Written by LaDarrion Williams; Directed by Taavon Gamble; Scenic Design by Rachel Rose Burke; Lighting Design by Corey Whittemore; Costume Design by Klara Escalera; Sound Design by James Cannon; Property Design by Emily Allinson. Presented by the Greater Boston Stage Company at 395 Main St., Stoneham, MA through March 19.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Playwright LaDarrion Williams has cherry-picked a dramatic moment in history to explore in his well-crafted ‘Boulevard of Bold Dreams.’ The date is February 29, 1940, the night of the Academy Awards. The setting is Los Angeles’ Ambassador Hotel bar, outside the grand ballroom where the awards will be presented.

Before the ceremony even starts, this year’s Oscars have made history. Hattie McDaniel is the first Black actor to be nominated for an award. She is up for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as Scarlett O’Hara’s ‘mammy’ in the Civil War era blockbuster, “Gone With the Wind.”

Broadway Icon Brings ‘An Evening with Laura Benanti’ to Concord

March 8, 2023March 8, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

This weekend, the “glamorously witty” Tony Award winner, TV and film actor Laura Benanti will perform her one-woman show (which includes longtime musical director and collaborator Todd Almond) at the Umbrella Arts Center in Concord, MA. Theater Mirror’s Mike Hoban spoke with Laura to learn more about her and what audiences can expect at ‘An Evening with Laura Benanti’. The show spans two nights and limited tickets were still available at press time. For tickets and information, go to: https://theumbrellaarts.org/performing-arts/concerts

Don’t Let the Play’s Title Keep You From Seeing Gamm’s Compelling ‘Bad Jews’

March 8, 2023March 9, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

The cast of ‘Bad Jews’ now playing at the Gamm Theatre. Photos by Cat Laine

‘Bad Jews’ – Written by Josh Harmon; Directed by Tony Estrella; Set Design by Patrick Lynch; Costume Design by Jessie Darrell Jarbadan; Lighting Design byDavid Roy; Sound Design by Peter Sasha Hurowitz, Presented by The Gamm Theatre at 1245 Jefferson Blvd., Warwick, RI through March 26.

by Mike Hoban

At a time when anti-Semitism and violence against Jews are disturbingly on the rise, attending a play with the name Bad Jews may not seem like such a great way to spend an evening. A dozen or so protesters connected with the RI Coalition for Israel thought so, picketing the show outside the theater on the day of the press performance – not based on the content of the play (which one imagines they have not seen), but the title. Once inside, Gamm artistic director Tony Estrella assured the audience that the company respects the right to free speech, “both on the sidewalk and in the theater.” Having seen the play, let me assure you that the title is in no way a condemnation of the Jewish religion or culture. Instead, it’s a self-reference by one of the play’s Jewish characters on how poorly he practices his faith, much like Catholics who only show up for church on Christmas and Easter would describe themselves as a “bad Catholics.”