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“Strange Loop” Dazzlingly Bucks and Challenges Norms

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Kai Clifton (center) and cast of ‘A Strange Loop’ in Speakeasy/Front Porch production

‘A Strange Loop’ — Book, Music and Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Music Direction by David Freeman Coleman. Choreographed by Taavon Gamble. Co-produced by SpeakEasy Stage and Front Porch Arts Collective at the Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont Street, through May 25.

By Helen Ganley

Some days, escaping from your inner monologue feels impossible: apprehensions about upcoming appointments, embarrassment about a middle school memory, and tension about why a friend suddenly stopped speaking to you. Suddenly, it’s 3 AM, and you haven’t gotten a wink of sleep. The collaboration between Speakeasy Stage and Front Porch Arts Collective on A Strange Loop epitomizes this cognitive dissonance and the paths one must take to escape the labyrinths of one’s mind.

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Moonbox’ “The Mermaid Hour” is an Emotional Roller Coaster

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Monica Risi, Phil Tayler, Brenny O’Brien in Moonbox Productions’ ‘Mermaid Hour’
Photo Credits: Molly Shoemaker

By Michele Markarian

“The Mermaid Hour” by David Valdes. Directed by Bridget Kathleen O’Leary. Presented by Moonbox Productions, One Arrow Street, Cambridge, through May 19.

There’s a lot to unpack in David Valdes’s The Mermaid Hour, which deals with a trans child, her parents, her peers, and their parents, as well as marriage, the internet, and childrearing in general.  If you happen to be a parent witnessing this production, it’s a pretty rocky ride indeed.

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The Wheels Go ‘Round and ‘Round and ‘Round in SpeakEasy Stage/Front Porch’s ‘A Strange Loop.’

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Kai Clifton (center) and the company of A STRANGE LOOP at Speakeasy Stage. From left: De’Lon Grant, Davron S. Monroe, Jonathan Melo, Aaron Michael Ray (background), Grant Evan, and Zion Middleton (kneeling). photos by Maggie Hall Photography.

‘A Strange Loop’ — Book, Music and Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Music Direction by David Freeman Coleman. Choreographed by Taavon Gamble. Co-produced by SpeakEasy Stage and Front Porch Arts Collective at the Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont Street, through May 25.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Playwright Michael R. Jackson, a heavy-set Black queer man, has brought the concept of sharing to a new level in his Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical, “A Strange Loop.” The compulsively introspective show, which runs at 100 intermission-less minutes, spelunks into the deepest crevices of the anguished mind of its hero, Usher, a fat, Black, queer man writing a musical called “A Strange Loop” about a fat, Black queer man who’s writing a musical about a fat Black queer man.

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Myth meets Modernity in the Boston Return of ‘Hadestown’

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Matthew Patrick Quinn and Amaya Braganza in ‘Hadestown’ atthe Boch Wang Center.
Photo by T. Charles Erickson

‘Hadestown’ – Music, Lyrics & Book by Anaïs Mitchell. Developed with & Directed by Rachel Chavkin. Music Supervisor & Vocal Arrangements by Liam Robinson. Choreographed by David Neumann. At the Boch Wang Center through April 28

By Helen Ganley

The train releases belts of smoke, picking up passengers as it flies down the track toward Hadestown. Members of the Greek pantheon stand statuesque, chiseled into the set as the audience is warned: “It’s a sad tale. It’s a tragedy.” The tour of “Hadestown” at the Boch Center Wang Theatre weaves this epic saga with threads of hope and harmony.

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Haunting, Harmonious and Hopeful, ‘Hadestown’ is Back in Boston

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Matthew Patrick Quinn and Amaya Braganza in ‘Hadestown’ atthe Boch Wang Center.
Photo by T. Charles Erickson

‘Hadestown’ – Music, Lyrics & Book by Anaïs Mitchell. Developed with & Directed by Rachel Chavkin. Music Supervisor & Vocal Arrangements by Liam Robinson. Choreographed by David Neumann. At the Boch Wang Center through April 28

By Linda Chin

The intoxicating, eight-time Tony Award-winning Hadestown is back in Boston for a limited run, giving fans the opportunity to experience its otherworldly magic for the first, second, or eighth time. Haunting but harmonious and hopeful, Hadestown is a musical retelling of the distinct but interwoven love stories of two couples – Orpheus and Eurydice and Hades and Persephone, rooted in Greek mythology. The overarching themes of climate change and capitalism, the ruthless dictator Hades, who sings about building walls, and the blend of musical traditions bring these centuries-old tales to contemporary times.

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Goodspeed’s ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’ a Very Novel Musical

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Cast of Goodspeed’s ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’. Photos by Diane Sobolewski
 

Goodspeed Musicals presents THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD. Book, music, lyrics, and orchestrations by Rupert Holmes. Directed by Rob Ruggiero. Choreographed by James Gray. Music Direction by Adam Souza. Scenic Design by Ann Beyersdorfer. Costume Design by Hunter Kaczorowski. Lighting Design by Rob Denton. Sound Design by Jay Hilton. Hair & Wig Design by Tommy Kurzman. At Goodspeed Opera House, East Haddam, CT, through June 2nd.

By Linda Chin

Having read Dickens’ final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, decades ago and having seen the musical at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park in 1985 – but not the original Broadway show nor the 2012 revival (yes, I am still heartbroken that I missed Chita Rivera’s portrayal of Princess Puffer) – I was eager to see Drood again. Set in London in 1895, Drood is a musical about actors in an offbeat Victorian troupe called the Music Hall Royale who are putting on a musical. With Goodspeed Opera House’s soaring ceilings and ornate architectural details c. 1877 – and a little theater magic to the ornamentation on the balcony and the stage set by scenic designer Ann Beyersdorfer – there couldn’t be a more perfect setting for a whodunit murder mystery musical in Dickensian times.  

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Arts Emerson’s ‘Book of Mountains and Seas’ Brings Chinese Creation Myths to Life

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“Book of Mountains and Seas” at ArtsEmerson

“Book of Mountains and Seas” — Composer and Librettist –Ruo Huang. Director and Production Designer – Basil Twist. Presented by Arts Emerson at the Emerson Paramount Center, 559 Washington St., Boston, through April 21.

By Shelley A. Sackett

“Book of Mountains and Seas” is an artistically adventurous new work by award-winning composer Ruo Huang and MacArthur Fellow puppeteer/artist Basil Twist. Their collaboration is an inventive twist on ancient Chinese myths about creation and destruction that, in this perilous era of climate change, are especially relevant 2,500 years later.

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Amaya Braganza, ‘Hadestown’s Eurydice, Talks with Theater Mirror before Boston Stop of National Tour

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J.Antonio-Rodriguez and Amaya Braganza in ‘Hadestown’
Photos by T Charles Erickson

Next week, 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, rolls into Boston for a limited run at the Boch Center Wang Theater, April 23-28. Theater Mirror’s Mike Hoban caught up with Amaya Braganza, ‘Hadestown’s’ Eurydice to talk about her transition from child performer to Broadway lead.

By Mike Hoban

Theater Mirror: I know that you did Annie on Broadway when you were 10, and obviously, they didn’t just pick you out of a crowd, so how did your career start?

Amaya: I grew up in California and started doing musical theater in community shows when I was about five. My first show was Annie, as one of the orphans – and I still have a picture from that show. When I was eight, I was part of a musical theater program where we took dance classes and did competitions and shows. That’s where I met my best childhood friend, Mia. She told me about this open call in New York for Annie on Broadway and we decided to go. Her mom had airplane and hotel points, and they took me to New York. It was an open call, and I think there were almost 1000 people there, with a bunch of kids lined up outside of a New York high school. I did the open call, and then I kept getting callbacks throughout the week, and then I ended up booking the show and found I had a real love for theater.

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Praxis Stage’s Absurdist ‘Birthday Party’ is an Actor’s Showcase

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Daniel Boudreau, Sharon Mason and Keving Paquette in Praxis Stage’s ‘Birthday Party’
Photos by Alex Aroyan

The Birthday Party – Written by Harold Pinter; Directed by James Wilkinson; Costumes by E. Rosser; Lighting by Michaela P. Purvis. Presented by Praxis Stage at the Chelsea Theatre Works, 189 Winnisimmet Street, Chelsea, through April 28th 

by Mike Hoban

As the lights dimmed for intermission at the opening of Praxis Stage’s superbly acted, well-directed The Birthday Party, the patron in front of me not-so-quietly whispered to his companion, “What the F*#k was that?”

It’s a question that won’t get answered by the end of the play, but for some, the joy may be in the journey. The Birthday Party was Harold Pinter’s first full length play. It opened in London in 1958 and closed after only eight performances due to disastrous reviews before being successfully revived in later years. The play is a prime example of the Theatre of the Absurd, a movement popularized from 1940 to 1960 by playwrights like Pinter, Samuel Beckett, and Ionesco which advanced the notion that life is illogical, without purpose and devoid of meaning.

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“The Drowsy Chaperone” is Fabulous Fun

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Joy Clark and the cast of “The Drowsy Chaperone” at Lyric Stage

“The Drowsy Chaperone” – Music and Lyrics by Lisa Lampert and Greg Morrison. Book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar. Directed and Choreographed by Larry Sousa. Musical Direction by Matthew Stern. Presented by The Lyric Stage Company of Boston, 140 Clarendon Street, Boston, through May 12.

By Michele Markarian

From the moment the Man in Chair (an engaging Paul Melendy) puts on a record of his favorite musical from the 1920s to shake himself out of a gloomy mood, we know we are in for a fun ride. Melendy’s sincerity, wry delivery, and easy charm set the tone for the rest of the show, where the acting is impeccable, the vocals are terrific, the songs are catchy, and the script is funny.

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