Mickey Solis, Lindsay Crouse and Derek Speedy in THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT at Gloucester Stage
By Sheila Barth
BOX INFO: One-act,
90-minute play by Jeremy Kareken and David Murrell, and Gordon Farrell, based
on the book/essay by John D’Agata and Jim Fingal, starring superstar Lindsay
Crouse, through September 22, at Gloucester Stage Company, 267 East Main
St., Gloucester. Showtimes: Wednesday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m; matinees, Saturday,
Sunday, 2 p.m.. $15-$48; discounts for military families, senior citizens,
college students, 18-year-olds-under, and Cape Ann residents. 978-281-4433, gloucesterstage.com.
When is a fact a fact?
When is it necessary to
tell the truth factually, not creatively?
When do details overshadow
a creative effort to gather and write a compelling essay?
What is the difference
between a journalist and a writer?
BOX INFO: World premiere of Greater Boston Stage Company Producing Artistic Director Weylin Symes’ one-act, 90-minute comedy, appearing through September 29:, 395 Main St., Stoneham. $47-$57; seniors, $42-$55; students with valid ID, $20; Wednesday, Sept. 18,25, at 2 p.m.; Thursday, 7:30 p.m.; Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 3,8 p.m., Sept. 21, 8 p.m. only; Sunday, 2 p.m.781-279-2200, greaterbostonstage.org.
One day, Greater Boston Stage Company Producing Artistic Director Weylin Symes got an exciting idea. Wouldn’t it be cool to produce a play featuring bowling on stage. That’s right – bowling. Why not? He answered himself, as he settled down and wrote his one-act , 90-minute comedy, “Last Night at Bowl-Mor Lanes”.
Symes also had an underlying reason. In the mid-20th century, in the former movie theater basement, where Greater Boston Stage Company’s current rehearsal and offices are, formerly existed a bowling alley, where Symes’ dad set up bowling pins when he was a teen-ager. In a sense, this play is Symes’ way of honoring the building and “a generation of women who don’t always get to see themselves on stage,” he said. I’ll spare you some details and strike out with a few reasons you don’t want to miss seeing this – namely, because for the first time, two multi-award winning, versatile Boston area-super stars co-star, illuminating this world premiere production.
Nancy E. Carroll, who lives in Rockport, and Lynn native Paula Plum, are fantastic, portraying longtime friends-foils, Ruth and Maude. While Ruth is more reticent yet snjppy, Maude is upbeat, hyper, and adventurous. The sole trait they share is their competitiveness. They’ve broken into the closed local bowling establishment to settle a 49-year score, once and for all. Their record is tied, and they want to break it by playing one last game to determine the winner. Problem is, the bowling establishment has been closed for awhile, has been sold, and will be handed over to the new owner the following day.
Wielding a flashlight, Carroll and Plum break into and wriggle through a small window space in the dark. As the first ladies of Boston-area theater stand on stage, side by side, and remove their ski masks, the audience greeted them with admirable applause. I know why we’re really here, quips Ruth. “After 49 years, I beat you, and it’s killing you.” The ladies’ rivalry is shattered when owner Ed arrives, wielding a baseball bat, to catch the trespassers on his closed-up property. Thinking it’s teenagers who crashed his place, Ed’s surprised and amazed to discover Ruth and Maude. Ed says he came to the bowling alley to pick up some papers, but discovered the two sprightly ladies instead.
Another surprise erupts. Ruth’s daughter Charlene also arrives, creating an awkward moment. Why is she there? Other surprises, one after another, unfold, shocking all of them – and us. We also discover Maude has a more serious reason for breaking into the bowling alley, which she reveals later. Bryn Boice has an easy task directing this superb Equity cast that also includes Arthur Gomez portraying married, bowling alley owner, Ed; Greater Boston favorite Ceit Zweil as Ruth’s daughter, Charlene; and Winchester High School sophomore/YoungTheater Company actress Isabella Tedesco, who makes a brief, likable appearance in her MainStage debut, portraying Ruth’s granddaughter Teddy.
Designer James Fenton has
recreated a vintage heyday bowling alley, with a bowling lane, benches,
blinking light-neon sign, juke box, shelves of bowling balls, and more; David
Wilson captures the sounds of rolling balls in the alley, strikes, spares, and
their return; and Jeff Adelberg’s lighting switches off and on at poignant
moments, including plot surprises.
Elliot Purcell and David Anderson in Acropolis Stage Company ‘s “Cherry Docs”
Review by James
Wilkinson
‘Cherry Docs’ – Written by David
Gow. Directed by Evan Turissini. Scenic Design by Eliott Purcell and Evan
Turissini. Costume Design by Olivia Dumaine. Lighting/Sound Design by Jeff
Bousquet. Props Design by David Anderson. Law Practice Consultation by Will
Korman. Judaism and Culture Consultation by Becky Price. Presented by Acropolis
Stage Company at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St, Somerville through September 1st
When we first see Mike Downey, he sits like the Buddha, cross-legged, on a metal table. He appears, bathed in blue light and in his first few lines he’ll refer to Reflexology, the belief that the foot is an entry point that connects to the rest of the body. It’s an image of tranquility, but not a lasting one. We’ll soon be exposed to the reserves of rage and hate bubbling somewhere beneath that calm surface. Mike, you see, is an unabashed white supremacist currently awaiting trial for the murder of a Pakistani man. The character is one half of playwright David Gow’s two-hander, Cherry Docs, now being presented by the newly-formed Acropolis Stage Company. The other half is Danny Dunkelman, the Jewish lawyer who has been charged with defending Mike in court.
Eliot Purcell and David Anderson in Acropolis Stage Company’s ‘Cherry Docs’ Photo: Tenneh Sillah
by Kobi Kassal
Everything old is new again…that saying rings truer than ever
in Cherry Docs now playing at The Rockwell. There is nothing more
thrilling than when a new theatre company is created, and Acropolis Stage
Company is starting off strong.
David Gow’s 1998 play turns 21 this year yet could have been written in the past six months with the way the world is right now. Last performed to critical acclaim here in Boston at New Repertory Theatre in 2010, Cherry Docs tells the story of Mike Downey, a neo-Nazi skinhead accused of a horrific murder of an immigrant. When Danny Dunkelman, a liberal Jewish lawyer is assigned to represent him, they both must learn to rethink how they understand each other – and themselves.
Catherine of Aragon (Adrianna Hicks, at center) performs “No Way” in SIX, written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss and directed by Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage Photo: Liz Lauren
By Mike Hoban
Six – By Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss; Directed by Lucy Moss & Jamie Armitage; Choreography by Carrie-Anne Ingrouille; Music Supervision by Joe Beighton; Music Direction Roberta Duchak; Orchestrations by Tim Curran; Scenic Design by Emma Bailey; Costume Design by Gabriella Slade; Lighting Design by Tim Deiling; Sound Design Paul Gatehouse. Presented by the American Repertory Theatre in arrangement with Kenny Wax, Wendy & Andy Barnes, George Stiles and Kevin McCollum in association with Chicago Shakespeare Theater at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge through September 29.
The A.R.T. is getting the early jump on the 2019-2020 season with Broadway-bound British import SIX, and like last year’s brilliant new work and season opener, The Black Clown, it’s got an appeal that extends far beyond the typical theater base (read white and older – two constituencies of which I am a member). But that’s where the similarities between the two pieces end. While Black Clown was an often heart-wrenching artistic masterpiece chronicling the American black experience from slavery through the 1930’s, SIX is an unadulterated blast of fun – despite the extreme misogynistic abuse suffered by our protagonists at the hands of husband Henry the VIII. SIX refers to the number of “Ex-Wives” (the title of the opening number) who were “divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived” at the hands of Henry – as the children’s rhyme from the UK television and book series Horrible Histories so succinctly summed up.
(Susan Wands, Robert Petkoff, Robbie Simpson in Cape Playhouse’s ‘Deathtrap’ Photo: Emma Quinn)
by Kobi Kassal
The Cape Playhouse closes their 93rd season with one
of Broadway’s most successful comedic thrillers of all time. Ira Levin’s Deathtrap
is brought to life, or should I say death, in a new production mounted by
Tony-nominated director, Marcia Milgrom Dodge. Don’t worry – this review is
spoiler free.
The play originally premiered right in our own backyard here at the historic Wilbur Theatre in Downtown Boston before moving on to play almost 1,800 performances on Broadway. Deathtrap also found success in the 1982 film adaptation starring Christopher Reeve and Michael Caine. Set in a stylish converted stable turned house in Westport, CT, the play opens with a down-on-his-luck playwright, Sidney Bruhl, who cannot seem to write a new play to save his life. He and his wife Myra have been living off her family money and are quickly running out of options until up-and-coming playwright Clifford Anderson writes a new hit that lands on Sidney’s desk. They joke about murdering Clifford and taking the play for themselves…and I won’t go into any more detail. Along the way we also meet Sidney’s lawyer, Mr. Poter Milgrim as well as a kooky European named Helga with mystic ESP powers who can predict the future.
(Lieutenant Kelly (Doug Bowen-Flynn), Shepard Mallory (Shane Taylor), and Major General Benjamin Butler (Ames Adamson) in Gloucester Stage’s production of ‘Ben Butler’. Photos by Jason Grow)
By Shelley A. Sackett
‘Ben Butler’ –Written
by Richard Strand; Directed by Joseph Discher; Scenic Design by Greg Trochlil;
Lighting Design by Russ Swift; Costume Design by Chelsea Kerl; Props Design by
Lauren Corcuera; Sound Design by Joseph Discher. Presented by Gloucester Stage
Company, 267 E Main St., Gloucester, through August 25.
On May 23, 1861, smack in the middle of the Civil War, the citizens of Virginia voted overwhelmingly to secede from the United States. The next day, General Benjamin Butler, commander of Union-held Fort Monroe, VA, finds himself in an unusual moral and legal pickle. Three escaped slaves have showed up at the fort’s doorstep seeking sanctuary. Under the Fugitive Slave Act, settled federal law since its 1850 enactment, General Butler is required to return them to their owner.
(Luke Hamilton (Bob Gaudio) and Jonathan Mousset Alonso in JERSEY BOYS, playing at North Shore Music Theatre thru September 1. Photo by Paul Lyden)
Reviewed by
Tony Annicone
The latest blockbuster musical at Bill Hanney’s NSMT is the 2006 Tony Award winning musical “Jersey Boys”, about the lives and career of the pop group, The Four Seasons. The Broadway show opened on November 6, 2005 and ran until January 15, 2017 after 4,642 performances. The show is set in the 1950’s to a dozen classic rock tunes by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe. Authors Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice wrote a book from the real life stories of the original Four Seasons, Frankie Valli (Castelluchio), Tommy DeVito, Nick Massi and Bob Gaudio. They started out as four thugs, but could also sing fabulously. They seemed to get along for many years but then hidden secrets emerge including gambling debts to loan sharks that had to be paid off or else. It became a totally different story because through all the adversities they became one of the greatest successes in pop music history.
(James Darrah as Zaza with Les Cagelles in Reagle’s ‘La Cage Aux Folles’ – Photos by Herb Philpott)
By Mike Hoban
‘La Cage Aux Folles’ – Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman. Book by Harvey Fierstein. Based the play “La Cage Aux Folles” by Jean Poiret. Directed and Choreographed by Susan M. Chebookjian. Music Direction by Dan Rodriguez. Scenic Design by David Allen Jeffrey; Original Costume Design by Matthew Wright; Lighting Design by David Wilson; Sound Design by Robby Davis and Robert Luke Pelletier. Presented by Reagle Music Theatre, 617 Lexington Street, Waltham through August 18th
Reagle Music Theatre is closing out its 51st season with La Cage Aux Folles, the Jerry Herman/Harvey Fierstein musical which copped a multitude of Tony Awards in its 1983 debut and in subsequent Broadway revivals in 2004 and 2010. The show caps a solid summer season for the Waltham theater, and like the previous offerings (Mame and Sound of Music), La Cage is powered by strong performances by the leads and outstanding work by the supporting cast – in particular the eight “Les Cagelles”, the drag queen dancers that support headliner Zaza with some electrifying routines.
Cast of ‘Noises Off’ at Cape Playhouse (Photos: Emma Quinn)
by Kobi Kassal
Curtain up for Noises Off, now playing at the Cape
Playhouse until August 17th. The 93-year-old theater has once again produced an
exhilarating production that proves to be a masterclass in comedy on Cape Cod.
Esteemed playwright Michael Frayn wrote his farce-within-a-farce in 1982 and New York Times critic Frank Rich once declared it, “the funniest play written in my lifetime”. No wonder this show has been produced three times on Broadway in its 37 year history; not to mention numerous productions around the world. Frayn’s intricate story tells the tale of the play “Nothing On” that the audience witnesses three different productions of during the course of the show. Act I shows the final dress rehearsal of the show; Act II flips the set showing the audience the show from backstage; and Act III features the final performance of their touring production. Directing this behemoth of a play is no easy feat, not to mention doing it in 2 weeks, so kudos to Jeffrey Denman for doing a first-rate job.
