Lyric, Barrett Open Season With Winning “Gypsy”

September 13, 2017September 17, 2017 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Mike Hoban

‘Gypsy’ – Music by Jules Styne, Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Book by Arthur Laurents. Directed and Choreographed by Rachel Bertone; Music Direction by Dan Rodriguez; Scenic Design by Janie E. Howland; Costume Design by Rafael Jaen; Lighting Design by Franklin Meissner, Jr. ; Sound Design by Andrew Duncan Will. Presented by Lyric Stage Company at 140 Clarendon St. through October 8.

The Lyric Stage opens its 2017-2018 season with a bang, tackling the (stage) mother of all musicals, Gypsy – widely regarded as one of musical theater’s greatest works – and delivering one of the year’s best musical productions. Fueled by a powerhouse performance by Boston favorite Leigh Barrett, Gypsy paints the seriocomic portrait of Rose Hovick, the fame-seeking mother of renowned Depression-era exotic dancer Gypsy Rose Lee, who wisecracked (and stripped) her way into the hearts of adoring burlesque house audiences across the nation.

“DAMES AT SEA” at Greater Boston Stage

September 9, 2017September 10, 2017 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Greater Boston Stage Company, formerly Stoneham Theatre, newest show is “Dames At Sea”, a musical spoof of “42nd Street”, “Anything Goes” and “Singing in the Rain.” It is a musical with books and lyrics by George Haimshon and Robin Miller with music by Jim Wise. It’s a parody of 1930’s Busby Berkeley-style movie musicals in which a chorus girl gets off a bus from Utah to NYC, steps into a role on Broadway and becomes a star.

“GYPSY” at Lyric Stage

September 4, 2017 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Tony Annicone

Lyric Stage Company’s opening show of their season is the hit 1959 musical “Gypsy” with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Arthur Laurents. This musical is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of famous striptease artist, Gypsy Rose Lee. It is the biography of Gypsy and her mother, Rose and is the classic musical fable of the definitive stage mother, Momma Rose. It follows the daughter’s life from her early days in vaudeville with her younger sister, June Havoc, to her successful career in burlesque.

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NSMT’s ‘YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN’ a Monstrously Riotous Musical Comedy

August 22, 2017 michaelhobanLeave a comment

By Sheila Barth

BOX INFO: Two act musical comedy by Mel Brooks, appearing through August 27, at Bill Hanney’s North Shore Music Theatre, 62 Dunham Road, Beverly: Tuesday-Thursday, 7:30 p.m.; Friday, Saturday, 8 p.m.; Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday, 2 p.m. $57-$82. Kids ages 18-under, 50 percent off at all performances. 978-232-7200, nsmt.org.

A four-sided scrim bearing a large, foreboding, black and white image of a horror film-style castle on the hill greets theatergoers as they face North Shore Music Theater’s stage. Eerie sounds echo in surround-sound, while gusts of stage fog spurt around them, temporarily obfuscating their view. Chains rattle. An ominous buzz saw whirrs. Voices groan, moan, howl, in the distance, while ancient-style lanterns set intaglio in archways adorn the background of the theater-in-the-round. Cacophony abounds. Like an olden-style, black-and-white horror movie, the scrim beams a movie company logo, and announces the film, its stars, producers, directors, etc., then transforms live, in color, to a European village.

“THE PRODUCERS” Theatre by the Sea, Matunuck, RI

August 20, 2017 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

The closing show of the 84th season of Theatre by the Sea is the Broadway sensation “The Producers” which is based on the Mel Brooks Academy Award winning 1968 film. This bawdy musical is the story of down on his luck theatrical producer, Max Bialystock and a mousy accountant, Leo Bloom. Their “sure fire” theatrical fiasco is none other than the musical “Springtime for Hitler” written by neo-Nazi, Franz Liebkind, an ex-Nazi storm trooper which tells of the rise of Hitler to power in song and dance.

“YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN”

August 17, 2017 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Welcome to the wild and crazy world of Mel Brooks at the North Shore Music Theatre. Their summer blockbuster hit musical is “Young Frankenstein” with no expense spared by owner and producer Bill Hanney to bring it to this 62 year old gem of a theatre. This hysterically funny musical is an inspired retelling of the Frankenstein legend based on Mel Brooks’s 1974 classic comedy movie masterpiece.

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Ogunquit’s Dark and Powerful ‘Ragtime’ Couldn’t Be More Well-Timed

August 15, 2017 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Mike Hoban

‘Ragtime’ – Based on a novel written by E. L. Doctorow. Book by Terrence McNally, Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and Music by Stephen Flaherty. Directed by Seth Sklar-Heyn; Scenic Design by Tim Mackabee; Lighting Design by Richard Latta; Sound Design by Kevin Heard. Costumes based on original designs by Santo Loquasto and Coordinated by Molly Walz. Music Direction by Jeffrey Campos; Choreography by Jesse Robb. Presented by the Ogunquit Playhouse, 102 Main St (Rte 1), Ogunquit, ME through August 26.

Towards the end of the second act of “Ragtime”, now being given an artistically brilliant and emotionally unsettling staging at the Ogunquit Playhouse, Kirsten Scott (as Mother) delivers a breathtaking version of one of the Tony Award-winning musical’s standout numbers, “Back to Before”. The final line, “We can never go back to before,” refers not only to her transformation from subservient wife to self-actualized woman, but also to the larger issues that were changing (for the better) at the turn of the 20^th century, such as the strengthening labor and woman suffrage movements, as well as the notion that “negroes” and immigrants might actually be people too.

“A CHORUS LINE” at the Ivoryton Playhouse

August 12, 2017August 12, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Ivoryton Playhouse’s latest musical is “A Chorus Line”, the 1976 winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical, Best Book and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It is a musical based on the lives and experiences of Broadway dancers. Original director/choreographer Michael Bennett wanted to do a show with the spotlight on the class of performers known as gypsies. The action takes place in an empty theatre, on a bare stage, where the casting for a new Broadway musical is almost complete. For 17 dancers, it is a chance of a lifetime. It’s the one opportunity to do what they always dreamed of, not only to be a star but to get a job, the chance to dance. Through a series of interviews from funny to heartbreaking, it ushers the audience into the lives of these dancers until the final 8 are chosen. The original show opened on April 15, 1975 and ran 6,137 performances, closing on April 28, 1990. Director/choreographer Todd Underwood directs and choreographs this show. Todd creates a topnotch version of this show with his talented cast and the fabulous musical direction of Michael Morris is the crowning touch to this show as they create a Broadway caliber musical in Ivoryton, CT.

‘TARZAN” Stadium Theatre, Woonsocket, RI

August 12, 2017August 12, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Stadium Theatre’s current musical is “Tarzan” which is based on the 1999 Disney film and the classic story by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It features music and lyrics by Phil Collins and book by David Henry Hwang. The classic tale unfolds in the early 1900’s as a shipwreck leaves an infant orphaned on the West African shore. The helpless baby is taken under the protection of a Gorilla tribe and becomes part of their family. The helpless baby is adopted by the mate of the leader of this tribe who is mourning the loss of her own baby gorilla. As he grows and matures, the boy yearns for acceptance from his ape father and the reason for his uniqueness. When he eventually encounters his first human, Jane Porter, their worlds collide and transform forever. Director Rebecca Donald casts topnotch performers for these roles while music director Alex Tirrell taught the cast Phil Collins’ music and choreographer Jennifer Webb creates some athletic choreography. This heart warming musical also teaches us to accept others even thought their appearance is different from us. This high energy musical receives a well deserved resounding and thunderous standing ovation from the appreciative audience.

“42ND STREET”

August 7, 2017 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Reagle Music Theatre’s third show of their 49th summer season is the Tony Award winning musical “42nd Street.” It is loosely based on the movie with the same name. The stage musical version opened on Broadway on August 25, 1980 and ran until January 8, 1989 and starred Jerry Orbach as Julian Marsh and Tammy Grimes as Dorothy Brock.