A.R.T’s ‘Wife of Willesden’ is a Pleasure with a Capital P

March 7, 2023March 7, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Clare Perkins in ‘*The Wife of Willesden’* at the A.R.T. Photo Credits: Marc Brenner

‘The Wife of Willesden’ – Adapted by Zadie Smith from Chaucer’s ‘The Wife of Bath’ from The Canterbury Tales; Directed by Kiln Theatre Artistic Director Indhu Rubasingham; Design by Robert Jones, Lighting Design by Guy Hoare; Composition and Sound Design by Drama Desk Ben and Max Ringham. The Wife of Willesden is a Kiln Theatre Production and is presented in association with BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge, MA through March 17

by Shelley A. Sackett

Whether by design or chance, the slightly tardy start to “The Wife of Willesden” gifted the audience with a few bonus minutes to soak in the vibe of Robert Jones’s magnificent set while seat dancing to disco party tunes. The stage, meant to represent a pub in Willesden (a multi-racial part of North London’s Brent) feels more like a holy shrine to drink and camaraderie. Six triple-case bays are filled floor to ceiling with glimmering bottles. A disco ball sparkles from above. A barmaid cuts fruit while local revelers mill about. Members of the audience sit at small tables on the stage, further breaking down the fourth wall. The effect is, well, intoxicating.

And then boom! The play starts.

Perkins is a Dynamo in A.R.T.’s ‘Wife of Willesden’

March 6, 2023March 6, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Marcus Adolphy, Clare Perkins, George Eggay, Andrew Frame, and the company of ***The Wife of Willesden*** at the A.R.T. Photo Credits: Marc Brenner

by Mike Hoban

What do women want?

Clearly, it depends on whom you ask (please shut up, men), but if you ask Alvita, the central character in The Wife of Willesden, the British import production now playing a limited engagement at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, a heaping helping of sex is a good start. As she rhetorically tells her five husbands as she spins her tale, “I demand pleasure. That is your debt to me…You’ll agree to owe me love, and good sex, and that when we marry, your body and soul will be mine as long as we’re a thing. From that time till we’re done, your body is my playground, (and) it’s for me, not for you.”

Don’t Throw Away Your Shot, See Lyric’s ‘The Great Leap’

March 3, 2023March 5, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Barlow Adamson, Tyler Simahk, 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 Linda Chin

Boston Lyric Stage’s current production of The Great Leap by award-winning playwright Lauren Yee – now making its Boston premiere – elegantly explores and brilliantly blends the complicated worlds of basketball and US-China politics.

‘The Inferior Sex’ Sets Record Straight at Trinity Rep

March 1, 2023March 24, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Cast of ‘The Inferior Sex’ at Trinity Rep. Photo by Mark Turek

by Tony Annicone

Trinity Rep’s season continues with the new production of “The Inferior Sex” by Jaqueline E. Lawton. The play takes place back in the summer of 1972 and is centered on congresswoman Shirley Chisholm and her decision to run for president. The Equal Rights Amendment is front and center as the fervor to pass it builds throughout the country. A group of women in midtown who support this amendment have created a magazine for feminists who love fashion. Meanwhile, the war in Vietnam rages on and the scandal of Watergate bursts President Nixon’s ruling of the country without consequences from either side of the aisle. The women involved with this magazine have differing opinions about the social and political dealings of the day, and it challenges their friendships and the very unsure future of their beloved magazine. Lawton creates comic and poignant moments with her brand-new play and makes the audience aware of the struggles to attain Equal Rights in a very real and up-close look at the past. Director Tatyana-Marie Carlo casts some powerful actresses to portray these roles as she brings the audience back to 1972. There’s an amazing set by Sara Brown and authentic and breathtaking 1970’s vintage costumes by Amanda Downing Carney. The costumes worn by the character of Shirley Chisholm were handmade by Amanda after looking at the outfits the real congresswoman wore back then. Tatyana and her talented nine-member cast’s reward is the spontaneous standing ovation they receive at the curtain call.

The Precarious World of “Alma” at Central Square

February 28, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Karina Beleno Carney and Luz Lopez in ‘Alma’ at Central Square Theater

“Alma” – By Benjamin Benne. Directed by Elena Velasco. Presented by Central Square Theater, 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, through March 26.

by Michele Markarian

It is 2016, and Trump has won the election. Alma (Karina Beleno Carney) is the mother of Angel (Luz Lopez), a teenager preparing for college. Alma is excited; tomorrow is the day that Angel is going to take the SATS and ace them so that she can fulfill their shared dream of Angel going to UC Davis and becoming a veterinarian. Angel, however, has other plans, which Alma sees as a slap in the face for all of the sacrifice and money she’s put into this dream for her daughter.

Manual Cinema Marries Biography to Classic Novel with Wildly Imaginative ‘Frankenstein’

February 25, 2023March 17, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Manual Cinema Co-Artistic Director Sarah Forance as Dr. Frankenstein

Manual Cinema’s ‘Frankenstein’ – Adapted from the novel by Mary Shelley; Concept and Storyboards by Drew Dir; Devised by Drew Dir, Sarah Fornace, and Julia Miller; Original Music and Sound Design by Ben Kauffman and Kyle Vegter. Presented by Arts Emerson, Emerson Paramount Center, 559 Washington Street, Boston, through February 26.

by Mike Hoban

Watching a Manual Cinema production is a lot like eating at the old Benihana in Cambridge – not only do you get to enjoy what you came for; you get to see how it’s made right in front of your eyes. But instead of chefs artfully chopping and slicing food over a flaming hibachi grill, the Chicago-based troupe uses puppets, shadow silhouette cutouts beamed via overhead projectors (yes, the ones from a 1970s high school biology class) to a giant screen, and a live band playing a veritable “mad scientist laboratory of instruments” to deliver a brilliant and original retelling of Frankenstein.

Liars and Believers Moves the Heart, Challenges the Mind and Feasts the Senses
with ‘A Story Beyond’

February 25, 2023February 25, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Cast of Liars & Believers ‘A Story Beyond’ at The Foundry

‘A Story Beyond’ – Conceived & Directed by Jason Slavick; Music & Lyrics – Nathan Leigh; Puppetry Design & Direction – Faye Dupras; Costume Design – Kendra Bell
Lighting Design – PJ Strachman; Scenic Design & Props Master – Rebecca Lehrhoff; Mask Design – Becca Jewett; Technical Direction & Assistant Scenic Design – Ben Lieberson; Music Director & Lead Vocalist – Jay Mobley. Presented by Liars and Believers Theatre Company at the Foundry, 101 Rogers Street through February 25.

By Jim Phelan

What’s better than a nice cup of hot cider on a cold February day? How about a nice cup of hot cider at The Foundry in Cambridge, served by a costumed cast member of Liars and Believers, as you wait to see their latest performance of A Story Beyond? Part of a week-long family-friendly school vacation week dedicated to the theme of storytelling, A Story Beyond is a crowd-pleasing gem. Music, masks, hand-held puppets, shadow puppetry, lights, and colors abound throughout the story-filled hour-long show.

A Fair Warning: Speakeasy’s ‘Fairview’ is an Experience Not to Be Missed

February 24, 2023December 3, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Cast of Speakeasy’s ‘Fairview’. Lyndsay Allyn Cox, Dom Carter, Yewande Odetoyinbo, Victoria Omoregie. Photos: Nile Scott Studios

‘Fairview’ –Written by Jackie Sibblies Drury. Directed by Pascale Florestal. Scenic Design by Erik D. Diaz. Costume Design by Becca Jewett. Lighting Design by Aja M. Jackson. Sound Design by James Cannon. Fight and Intimacy Choreography by Amanda O’Donnell. At the Roberts Studio Theater, Boston, through March 11, 2023.

by Linda Chin

SpeakEasy’s highly-anticipated Boston premiere of Jackie Sibblies Drury’s 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning Fairview is billed as a bold and disarmingly funny play. Set in the tastefully appointed home of the Frasiers, a seemingly typical, middle-class Black American family, in contemporary times (a portrait of the Obamas adorns the living room wall), the play opens with the household abuzz with preparations for Grandma’s birthday celebration. But lest audience members expect to sit back, relax, and laugh for the duration of this 100-minute, intermission-less play, be “fair warned” that only the first of the three acts is a comedy (and includes a fair share of family drama that I found both familiar and funny). Its sitcom style is reminiscent of popular shows of earlier decades, like The Cosby Show, The Jeffersons, and Family Matters.

A Rousing Production of ‘Man of La Mancha’ at Seacoast Rep

February 22, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Cast of ‘Man of La Mancha’ at Seacoast Rep

Written by Dale Wasserman. Music by Mitch Leigh. Lyrics by Joe Darion. Directed by Ben Hart and Brandon James. Music Direction by Walter “Bobby” McCoy. Choreography by Jason Faria and Alyssa Dumas. Lighting Design by Kelly Gibson. Sound Design by Andrew Cameron. Properties Design by Gretchen Gray and Elise Marshall. Costume Design by DW. Set Design by Ben Hart and Brandon James. Presented by Seacoast Repertory Theatre, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, through March 5.

By Linda Chin

For Seacoast Repertory Theatre’s 2023 Season, “The Impossible Dream!”, the Artistic Direction Team (Ben Hart, Brandon James, Alyssa Dumas) have curated an octet of titles thematically bound by their protagonists’ quests for love and acceptance, freedom, and justice. The Rep’s season opener Man of La Mancha is a musical telling of the quest of Don Quixote, one of the most iconic dreamers known to humankind. Although Cervantes’ 17^th-century novel (which has been translated into over 50 languages) has broad appeal, the original 1965 production won 5 Tonys (including Best Musical) and enjoyed a successful Broadway revival in 2002, and “The Impossible Dream” (also widely translated) is an iconic number in the musical theater canon, it is not oft-produced by NE theater companies. Some consider the show dated, and difficult to stage, and there are flaws and inconsistencies in the score and book. Seacoast Rep’s rousing rendition overcomes these challenges and demonstrates that this musical is timeless, accessible, and universal.

‘Seven Guitars’ Is August Wilson – And Boston Theater – at Its Finest

February 20, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Cast of Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s ‘Seven Guitars’. Photo by Ken Yotsukura Photography.

‘Seven Guitars’ by August Wilson. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Scenic Design by Jon Savage; Sound Design by Abe Joyner-Meyers; Original Music Composition by Dewey Dellay; Lighting Design by Amanda E. Fallon Presented by Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Hiberian Hall,182 Dudley St., Roxbury through March 5. Photo by Ken Yotsukura Photography.

by Shelley A. Sackett

It’s hard to know where to begin praising Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s production of August Wilson’s ‘Seven Guitars.’ Jon Savage’s urban backyard set, with its backlit city side panels, gardens, make-do furniture, and hints of multiple interior spaces, combines simplicity with depth. Amanda E. Fallon’s lighting, Dewey Dellay’s pitch-perfect musical compositions, and Abe Joyner-Meyer’s toe-tapping sound design complete the immersive capsule. We are indeed time travelers to a 1948 rooming house in Pittsburgh’s Hill District.