Apollinaire Theatre Company’s ‘Hir’ Throws It All Out There

March 3, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Cast of Apollinaire Theatre Company’s ‘Hir’

Review by James Wilkinson

Hir – Written by Taylor Mac. Directed by Brooks Reeves. Scenic and Properties Design: Ilona Overweg & Kevin McGrath. Costume Design: Elizabeth Rocha. Lighting & Sound Design: Christopher Bocchiaro & Robin Donovan Bocchiaro. Produced by Apollinaire Theater Company at Chelsea Theater Works, February 14-March 8, 2020.

Apollinaire Theatre Company’s production of Taylor Mac’s Hir is a disorienting piece of work, (I think this is mostly by design, so stick with me). From the moment the stage lights come up, the world feels off kilter and I think that the audience can smell it. It pushes them onto unsteady ground. When we go to a narrative drama, we’re often looking at how and why characters change over a period of time. With Hir, the change has already happened, leaving the rest of us to get up to speed with them. It’s as though we’ve caught these characters with their hands already half-way into the cookie jar and as they proceed to empty it out in front of us they keep assuring us, “don’t worry about it…this is fine…just don’t worry about it.” Is it though? I guess that’s up to us.

Lyric’s ‘The Treasurer’ a Layered Family Dramedy

February 25, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Cheryl McMahon and Ken Cheeseman in Lyric Stage’s “The Treasurer”. Photo Credit: Mark S. Howard)

By Michele Markarian

‘The Treasurer’ – Written by Max Posner. Directed by Rebecca Bradshaw. Scenic Design by Kristin Loeffler; Costume Design by Chelsea Kerl; Lighting Design by Chris Hudacs; Sound Design by Elizabeth Cahill. Presented by The Lyric Stage Company of Boston, 140 Clarendon Street, Boston through March 22.

At some point in life, whether you want to or not, you may find yourself in the unenviable position of having to care for an aging parent. I say unenviable because not everyone’s parent ages poorly; my parents’ parents, for example, died with their boots on in their nineties. Even as the poorly aging parent becomes financially helpless and less mentally with it, they often don’t wish to relinquish control or their former lifestyle. Such is the case with Ida Armstrong (Cheryl McMahon) in Max Posner’s complicated family dramedy, The Treasurer.

Huntington Brings Second City’s Hilarious ‘She the People’ to BCA

February 21, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

‘She the People’ – Written by Carisa Barreca, Alex Bellisle, Marla Caceres, Katie Caussin, Carly Heffernan, Maria Randazzo, Rashawn Nadine Scott, Tien Tran, Kimberly Michelle Vaughn, and Lauren Walker. Resident Director/Choreographer; Carisa Barreca, Original Director/Head Writer; Carley Hefferman, Music by Mary Mahoney; Music Director & Sound Design; Jacob Shuda. Presented by Huntington Theatre Company, Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, 527 Tremont Street, Boston through March 8

by Leslie Rosenberg

In the immortal words of Cyndi Lauper, “Girls just want to have fun.” And that’s precisely what the touring company of the Second City delivers with their production, She the People: Girlfriends’ Guide to Sisters Doing It for Themselves, now playing at the BCA through March 8^th. It’s a show I found alternately overwhelming, hysterical, infuriating, and at times, just plain silly. Warnings are given, realities are faced – but the lessons are made easier through the imaginative comedy, song and dance.

GBSC Jazzes up Tchaikovsky with Spirited ‘Swan Lake in Blue’

February 21, 2020March 9, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

*Sarah Coombs in* *‘Swan Lake in Blue’* at *Greater Boston Stage Company* – *Maggie Hall Photography*

by Mike Hoban

‘Swan Lake in Blue’ – Created and composed by Steve Bass. Staged and choreographed by Ilyse Robbins. Set Design by Tori Oakes; Lighting Design by Chris Fournier; Costumes by Kevin Hutchins. Presented by Greater Boston Stage Company, 395 Main St, Stoneham through March 1^st.

If you’re looking for a little risk taking in your theatrical experience, suburban Boston is not typically where you’re headed to find it. Many of the venues rely on a steady diet of classic musicals and New York-tested comic and dramatic offerings to appeal to their subscriber base, and with the exception of the seemingly obligatory dose of gender-bending of late, there’s generally not a lot in terms of innovation going on outside of the city. Which is what makes Swan Lake in Blue, an adrenaline rush of a new work receiving its world premiere at the Greater Boston Stage Company, such a thrill.

Boston Playwrights’ Theatre’s ‘Deal Me Out’ Plays to Win

February 20, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

*Cast of Boston Playwrights’ Theatre’s ‘Deal Me Out’. Photo Credit: Stratton McCrady*

Review by James Wilkinson

‘Deal Me Out’ – Written by MJ Halberstadt. Directed by Shana Gozansky. Scenic Design: Jillian Tone. Lighting Design: Qian Chengyuan. Sound Design: David Wilson. Costume Design: Talia Adler. Properties Design: Sally Tomasetti. Produced by and at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, 949 Commonwealth Ave., Boston through March 1, 2020.

To understand this review, you have to understand the mentality of a critic. I’ve seen, (and read), a number of spiritual siblings to Deal Me Out, the new play at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre. Plays that look to directly speak about the moment we’re living in (however you may define ‘the moment’. Pick your poison.). A collection of characters is assembled, meant to stand-in for the surrounding society, and then they have at it. Trapped in the playing space of a stage, the characters bash into each other, releasing the tensions that the playwright tells the audience are all around us, (usually while they wag a finger at us). Grievances are read, vendettas have out and we’re all expected to go home moaning, “Oh, what a world! What a wretched world we live in!” Granted, the description of “two characters walk into a room and have an interaction” applies to pretty much every play, but I think that there’s something particularly insidious when the playwright tries to say us, “this is us, today.” Telling us what’s what without the aid of hindsight and perspective tends to lead to something we slog through rather than are exhilarated by. In pursuit of the present, playwrights oversimplify, they condescend and I end the evening going, “Yeah, I’m not buying this.”

GBSC’s ‘Swan Lake’ a Musical, Dance Extravaganza

February 16, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Andy McLeavey, Sara Coombs in GSBC’s ‘Swan Lake in Blue’

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Greater Boston Stage Company travels back in time for their latest production, a world premiere of “Swan Lake in Blue.” Swan Lake originally premiered in 1877 and was written by Tchaikovsky. Its incredible choreography, beautiful music and compelling tale brings audiences back to see it year after year. Each production of Swan Lake reinvents itself from the classic take ala the Bolshoi Ballet. However, Greater Boston Stage Company takes us into a new “jazzed up” version with their production of “Swan Lake in Blue: A Jazz Ballet.” The work was created by Steve Bass, a Boston based composer and musician, and choreographed by GBSC’s Associate Artistic Director and multiple IRNE and Elliot Norton Award winner, Ilyse Robbins. The music for the show is all original by Bass. This version is set in 1940’s New York City with the main characters tied up with the mob. Odette is a burlesque dancer who dances nightly at the Swan Club where Broadway Producer Siegfried falls in love with her and tries to help her escape the clutches of Von Rothbart, a corrupt mob boss. Will the lovers escape the evil boss or will their love be unrequited? There is absolutely no dialogue in this show, so the dancing conveys what all the characters are feeling and doing with each other. It is nearly two hours of a 16 piece jazz big band with intricately choreographed tap, jazz and lyrical dancing by a group of 13 dancers that captivate you from start to finish.

Imaginary Beasts Offers Fanciful Family Fun with Hansel & Gretel Panto

February 12, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

By Julie-Anne Whitney

Hansel & Gretel (Winter 2020 Panto) – Written and directed by Matthew Woods; costume design by Cotton Talbot-Minkin; set design by Lillian P.H. Kology; lighting design by Michaela Carmela Bocchino; puppet design by Elizabeth Owens and Jill Rogati; stage and production management by Sophia Giordano. Produced by Imaginary Beasts at the Charlestown Working Theater through March 1, 2020.

The British Panto has been a popular holiday tradition in the U.K. since the early 1700s. For those who don’t know, a panto is a rowdy, interactive Vaudevillian style of musical theater which starts with a simple children’s story (such as Cinderella, Snow White, or Jack and the Beanstalk, etc.) and is then transformed into an over-the-top slapstick comedy piece with contemporary references, a bit of improvisation, an educational element, and enough creative humor to please both the children and the grownups.

New Rep’s ‘Hair’ Takes Us on an Electric Musical Trip

February 11, 2020March 2, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

By Mike Hoban

Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical – Book & Lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado; Music by Galt MacDermot. Rachel Bertone, Director/Choreographer; Dan Rodriguez, Music Director; Janie E. Howland, Scenic Designer; Marian Bertone Costume Designer; Franklin Meissner, Jr., Lighting Designer; Kevin Alexander, Sound Designer. Presented by New Repertory Theatre, Mosesian Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown through February 23

When the original production of Hair first hit the Broadway stage in April of 1968, it was a mind-blowing experience in every sense of the phrase. The profanity, overtly political anti-war stance, perceived lack of respect for the flag, interracial coupling (yes kids, that was actually controversial in 1968), and shattering of sexual boundaries – including a cross-dressing Margaret Mead, polyamorous characters and (gasp) full frontal nudity – shocked the establishment. And while none of those things would likely to raise an eyebrow for most theatergoers today, the production was truly groundbreaking in its time. It ran for four years and 1,750 performances and made the leap from theater to popular culture, with cover versions from its rock score producing multiple top 40 hits, including four Top 5 songs – the Cowsills’ version of “Hair”, Oliver’s “Good Morning Starshine,” Three Dog Night’s “Easy to Be Hard” and the 5th Dimension’s medley of “Aquarius” and “Let the Sunshine In” – which hit #1 for five weeks.

Epic Theatre’s ‘Agnes of God’

February 10, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Epic Theatre tackles the 1979 drama Agnes of God by John Pielmeier and comes up victorious. The title is a pun from the Latin word Agnes Dei which means Lamb of God. Pilmeier received the inspiration for writing this show after reading an article about a nun having a baby in a convent in Brighton, New York in 1977. A young novice nun is accused of murdering the infant she gave birth to in a cloistered convent in Canada. Agnes is suspected of the crime and claims not to remember anything about it. A psychiatrist is sent to evaluate her, only to face off with a steely and strict Mother Superior who is trying to protect the girl. During the course of this show secrets are exposed and faith is challenged, leaving you to question who you believe and why? It examines miracles, child abuse, sin and other topics, too. Director Lynne Collinson casts these roles perfectly and obtains strong and stunning performances from all of them.

Wheelock’s ‘Little Women’ Puts Family at the Center

February 8, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Cast of Wheelock Family Theatre’s ‘Little Women the Musical’ – Photos by Cydney Scott)

by Linda Chin

‘Little Women, the Musical’ – Book by Allan Knee; Music by Jason Howland, Lyrics by Mindi Dickstein; Based on the classic novel by Massachusetts author Louisa May Alcott. Directed by Nick Vargas; Music Directed by Jon Goldberg; Choreographed by Laurel Conrad. Presented by Wheelock Family Theatre through Feb. 24

In our disposable, highly stratified, screen obsessed culture it’s challenging to find live entertainment with enduring multigenerational appeal. Bringing an eclectic group of friends and neighbors (an eight year-old girl, her grandmother, college students, middle-aged men) to a Saturday night performance of Little Women, the Musical might have engendered complaint, but the show did not disappoint. In the capable hands of director Nick Vargas, musical director Jon Goldberg, choreographer Laurel Conrad and a talented cast of ten professional adult and young adult actors, Wheelock Family Theatre’s production was delightful, engaging and full of heart.