The Indomitable Life Force of “Becoming Dr. Ruth”

May 2, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Anne O’Sullivan as Dr. Ruth in New Rep’s ‘Becoming Dr. Ruth’)

By Michele Markarian

“Becoming Dr. Ruth”, by Mark St. Germain. Directed by Stephen Nachamie. Jeffrey Petersen, Scenic Designer; Aja Jackson, Lighting Designer. Presented by New Rep Theatre, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown through May 19.

“All my life I have loved to go to the theater. Tonight, the theater comes to me!” beams Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer (Anne O’ Sullivan), as she holds her arms out to us, the audience. This transparency allows Dr. Ruth to address the audience directly, and gives her a reason to tell her surprising, sometimes sad, and often fateful story.

Born Karola Ruth Siegel, an only child to a Jewish couple in Frankfurt, Ruth had a happy life. Her grandmother Siegel, who lived with them, told her early on, “Always smile and be cheerful. You are loved.” This advice the young Ruth took to heart. Throughout her travails, Ruth somehow managed to keep up her spirits and keep moving forward, under circumstances that would fell weaker, more melancholic personalities.

Finding Your Way Home in Company One’s ‘Vietgone’

May 2, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Quentin Nguyen-Duy and Rob Chen in Company One’s ‘Vietgone’ – Photo by Paul Fox)

By Deanna Dement Myers

“Vietgone” – Written by Qui Nguyen. Michelle Aguillon, Director; Kadahj Bennett, Music Director; Misha Shields, Choreographer; Jessie Baxter, Dramaturg; Jasmine Brooks, Assistant Director; Jessica Scout Malone; Assistant Dramaturg & Intimacy Coach; Izmir Ickbal, Scenic & Projections Designer; Debra Kim Sivigny, Costume Designer; Jennifer Fok, Lighting Designer; Aubrey Dube, Sound Designer; Kelly Smith, Properties Designer; Nate DeMare, Technical Director; Jadira Figueroa, Assistant Stage Manager. Presented by Company One at the BCA Black Box Theater, 539 Tremont St., Boston in partnership with Pao Art Center through May 25.

“I thought everything would be super nice here in America. That’s sorta what they advertise.”

In a play that is definitely not about his parents, playwright Qui Nguyen introduces us to two people who met at Fort Chaffee, a refugee resettlement camp in Arkansas, much like his parents did in 1975. Over the next raucous 90 minutes, the audience joins a wild ride across America in pursuit of love, acceptance, and home.

‘Waitress’ Charms at Hanover Theatre

May 1, 2019May 28, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Sugar, butter and flour are the ingredients needed by Jenna, the waitress who is the leading character in The American Repertory Theater’s “Waitress”, the musical which is part of the Broadway series at the historic Hanover Theatre in Worcester, MA. This big hit musical is an adaptation of Adrienne Shelley’s 2007 movie about a small town girl trapped in an unhappy marriage but able to bake absolutely scrumptious pies. Jenna’s unhappy marriage is just like her mother’s marriage to her thuglike father who constantly abused her. Jenna’s mother took solace in baking pies which in turn is what her daughter does, too. The premise is reminiscent of “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” movie as well as the TV version “Alice” with Mel’s Diner in it. Diane Paulus is the director while Lorin Latarro is the choreographer. Jessie Nelson wrote the libretto for this show while pop singer, Sara Bareilles wrote the musical numbers. Her songs include country flavor for the most part and some Broadway pop style numbers thrown into the mix, too. Musical director Robert Cookman and his six piece orchestra are onstage with their incredible musical accompaniment. Both the storyline and musical numbers charm and entrance the audience from start to finish with some of the most unique working class characters ever written for a Broadway show. Their struggles and hoping for a brighter future hit home with contemporary audiences yearning for the same things.

Million Dollar Quartet Scorches the Greater Boston Stage

April 30, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Hawver, Geerloff, Linsteadt, and Price in GBSC’s “Million Dollar Quartet”)

By Mike Hoban

‘Million Dollar Quartet’ – Book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux; Directed by Ilyse Robbins; Music Directed by James Scheider; Scenic Designer, Patrick Lynch; Lighting Designer, Jeff Adelberg; Costume Designer, Stephen Pasqual; Sound Designer, John Stone; Presented by the Greater Boston Stage Company, 395 Main Street, Stoneham through May 19

From the hammering opening riffs from Carl Perkins’ guitar until the rocking finale, Greater Boston Stage Company’s production Million Dollar Quartet is a scorcher of a show. A fictionalized account of an actual studio session featuring early rock n’ roll pioneers Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins, Quartet may be the first “jukebox musical” that doesn’t make the moniker sound like an insult. In fact, the term is both accurate and complimentary as the songs blasting out of this jukebox are given explosive new life.

Restlessness and Reclamation in “Caroline or Change”

April 26, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Pier Lamia Porter, Davron Monroe, and Yewande Odetoyinbo in Monnbox’ ‘Caroline or Change’)

By Michele Markarian

“Caroline or Change”. Book and lyrics by Tony Kushner; Score by Jeanine Tesori; Directed by Allison Olivia Choat; Presented by Moonbox Productions at Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, 527 Tremont Street, Boston through May 11.

“39 and still a maid,” sings Caroline (Yewande Odetoyinbo), who, in 1963’s Lake Charles, Louisiana, is a single mother of four children, one of whom is serving in Vietnam. She works for a Jewish family, the Gellmans, who have just suffered a crisis of their own – Betty, the mother, has died of cancer. Widow Stuart (Robert Orzalli) has decided to marry his deceased wife’s best friend, Rose (Sarah Kornfeld). His eight-year old son, Noah (Ben Choi-Harris) does not like his stepmother, much to her sad consternation. He is attached to Caroline, who lets him light her cigarettes. She also delivers some pithy advice: “When cancer eat people Noah, it God eating them. God sometimes eat people like a hungry wolf. He make this whole world as a test. Cancer was your momma’s test, and her death is your test.” Sounds harsh, but ultimately more comforting than what the emotionally detached Stuart has to offer his son with “There Is No God, Noah”.

Something Lurks in Boston Playwrights’ Dead House

April 23, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by James Wilkinson

‘Dead House’ – Written by Beirut Balutis. Directed by Adam Kassim; Scenic Design by Steven Doucette; Lighting Design by Hannah Solomon; Sound Design by J Jumbelic; Costume Design by Ruth King; Fight Choreography by Jessica Scout Malone. Presented by Boston Playwrights’ Theatre at 949 Commonwealth Ave. through April 28, 2019

***Author’s note: Due to the holiday weekend, I was unable to attend the press performance of Dead House and instead saw one of the previews. Therefore, please know that the show may have changed between that performance and the official opening night. The following is based on the performance that I saw.

As we grow up, we absorb so much information via osmosis about what high school is like. I’m inclined to call bullshit on a lot of it. Pop culture feeds us stories about the prevalence of social groups and the strict hierarchies that they exist in, however at the time of my own high school experience, I never found much of that information particularly useful or accurate. Yes, absolutely, everyone had their own circle of friends, but the cliques people belonged to were more guidelines than scripture and there were always individuals that broke through the stereotypes. Cheerleaders could be seen hanging out with the goths. The art students would date the athletes. The captain of the football team was also one best students in school. Involvement with the marching band was a point of pride, not shame. I never really experienced that “stick to your lane” mentality that we’re told to expect.

Israeli Stage Company Founder Promises a Bold Return

April 22, 2019April 22, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Linda Chin

Guy Ben-Aharon and his family left their home country of Israel and moved to Boston when he was nine. After a gap year in Spain before college, he returned to study at Emerson, and while there, founded the Israeli Stage Company. The Return by Hanna Eady and Edward Mast, a human story of the desires of a Palestinian citizen of Israel and a Jewish Israeli, marks the last play of the company’s final season. With two of Boston’s best actors – Nael Nacer and Philana Mia – in the lead roles and Ben-Aharon directing, The Return promises to be another groundbreaking and thought provoking production. Family, friends, and fans may be reassured to know that Ben-Aharon is not leaving Boston, nor his life as a theater artist behind, but is creating a new venture that promises a bold return.

Few Bones to Pick with Theatre UnCorked’s ‘Sylvia’

April 20, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Mayo, McLure and Dirik in Theatre Uncorked’s ‘Sylvia)

By Linda Chin

‘Sylvia’ – Written by A.R. Gurney; Directed by Michelle M. Aguillon; Presented by Theatre UnCorked at the Deanne Hall, Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont Street, Boston through April 21

Sylvia, the 1995 comedy about a Manhattan romantic triangle – Gregg, Kate and their new dog Sylvia – is a love letter to man’s best friend but mostly to the whimsical, wonderful writing of A.R. Gurney.
Great American playwright A.R. Gurney died in 2017 at the age of 87, and left us with a body of work that should be staged more frequently for audiences to appreciate. Gurney is most known for Love Letters, but Sylvia, Sylvia, wherefore art thou Sylvia? With its universal themes, of love, loyalty, and marriage, who can’t relate? In 2019 who doesn’t need to laugh (non-stop) for 2 hours (including intermission). It seems relatively easy to do on a limited budget, set mostly in a Manhattan apartment, a bench in the park, a therapist’s office and the 2W, 2M (flexible casting) are all meaty roles with delicious dialogue.

Theater Mirror’s Linda Chin Previews Company One’s ‘Vietgone’

April 20, 2019April 20, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Christina Mei Chen, Quentin Nguyen-duy and Rob Chen will be in “Vietgone” at Company One, from April 26 to May 26. (Image courtesy of Andrew James Wang.)

by Linda Chin

Greater Boston theater audiences – time to buckle your seat belts and get ready for a rollicking ride across 1970s America. In collaboration with the Pao Arts Center, Company One Theatre’s Vietgone by Marvel Studios writer Qui Nguyen opens April 26, and knowing the team of authentic artists involved, they will tell their truths and touch our hearts. Set in and around the fall of Saigon in 1975 the subject matter is serious, but with the playwright’s irrepressible and irreverent style promises to be a hilarious road trip.

Trinity Rep’s Little Shop of Horrors Makes Being Green Look Easy

April 19, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

*(Rebecca Gibel, Jude Sandy and Stephen Berenson in Trinity Rep’s ‘Little Shop of Horrors’)*

By Linda Chin

Little Shop of Horrors – Book and Lyrics by Howard Ashman; Music by Alan Menken; Directed by Tyler Dobrowsky. At Trinity Repertory Theater, 201 Washington Street, Providence, RI through May 12

Like the beloved Elphaba, Shrek and Kermit the Frog can attest, it’s not easy being green. This lament also holds true for the trio of characters – Audrey, Seymour, and Audrey II – trapped in a flower shop on the skids. Trinity Rep’s Little Shop of Horrors makes being green look easy, and simply delightful. Director Tyler Dobrowsky sets the production in Providence, spelled out in a giant mural next to the fabulous on-stage (!) band directed by Esther Zabinsky.