Looking back, 2018 was a pretty eclectic year for Boston-area theater, with something for everybody – whether it be “serious” theatergoers or newcomers checking out the latest jukebox musical. So Theater Mirror Co-Editors Michele Markarian and Mike Hoban reflected on some of the more noteworthy theatrical events of 2018 and created their year-end lists. There are four overlaps – which says a lot about the strength of the productions in a year full of quality offerings – but there were also a lot of shows that could have made the lists that we just didn’t have room for.
‘Two Mile Hollow’ –
Written by Leah Nanako Winkler. Directed
by Danielle Fauteux Jacques. Stage Manager/Choreographer Robin Mackey. Scenic
Design: Nathan K. Lee. Costume Design: Susan Paino. Sound Design: David
Reiffel. Presented by Apollinaire Theatre Company at Chelsea Theatre Works
December 21, 2018-January 20, 2019.
The family patriarch is dead. In life, we’re told, he was a
great man, but now he’s gone. The only physical likeness that we’ll get of him
are the photographs that hang on the walls of the family homestead. His
descendants and widow have descended upon the home to divide his possessions
between them. In the process of gathering these family members together,
secrets are revealed, passions erupt and long-held grudges bubble to the
surface. If this sounds familiar, it should. American playwrights from Eugene
O’Neil, Tennessee Williams, Horton Foote, Sam Shepard, Tracy Letts and others
have all been riffing on this general scenario in one form or another since the
dawn of twentieth-century theatre. The gathering of disparate family members
has become one of those boilerplate situations playwrights keep offering their
own take on. It’s done partly because the scenario is perfectly designed for
generating conflict, but it makes you wonder, what do audiences get out of it? Perhaps
watching the explosions on stage confirm for us a sense of dread that’s felt if
you get enough of your family members gathered in the same room, the feeling
that this whole thing could go to hell at any moment.
That Prince Charming (a.k.a. Topher) isn’t really charming, but a dragonslayer with a paucity of social skills, self-confidence, and awareness of the kingdom’s usurping of farmers’ lands, inciting his subjects’ increasing growling against the empty throne? That lovely Ella (Kaitlyn Mayse), who sits “in her own little corner,” among the cinders, doing household chores and obeying her cruel stepmother’s orders, is also an activist, touting kindness, forgiveness and rights for the downtrodden?
‘Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella’ – Music by Richard Rodgers; Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II; New Book by Douglas Carter Beane; Original book by Oscar Hammerstein II; Directed by Gina Rattan; Choreography by Lee Wilkins; Scenic Design by Anna Louizos; Costume Design by William Ivey Long; Lighting Design by Kenneth Posner; Sound Design by Nevin Steinberg. Presented by Ambassador Theatre Group at Emerson Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston St., Boston, through Dec. 30.
If you’re thinking of not taking your kids to see Cinderella because it sends the wrong message to girls (and boys) – think again. You obviously haven’t seen the new and improved Broadway touring version now playing at the Emerson Colonial Theatre, which takes the story and turns it on its head while still delivering the wonderful songs in their original form. Disney – and productions of fairy tales in general – have rightfully been taken to task in recent years for reinforcing the “princess culture” that disempowers girls by creating role models that reinforce the wrong-headed notion that girls are less capable than boys in a range of skill sets – especially leadership.
‘The Christmas Revels:A Nordic Celebration of the Winter Solstice’ – Directed by Patrick Swanson; Musical Direction by Megan Henderson; Set Design by Jeremy Barnett; Sound Design by Bill Winn; Lighting Design by Jeff Adelberg; Costume Design by Heidi A. Hermiller; Presented by Revels, Inc. at The Sanders Theater at Harvard University, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge, through December 29th.
The Yuletide season is upon us once again, and for many theatergoers that means the annual viewing of holiday staples like It’s A Wonderful Life or A Christmas Carol. To others, it means a trip to Sanders Theater in Cambridge to see what land The Christmas Revels will transport them to. Each year Revels presents the stories, music, and dance of different cultures, centered loosely on the Winter Solstice/Christmas season. This year it’s A Nordic Celebration of the Winter Solstice, which takes us to the Northlands – Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden – for a taste of folk traditions of the other “Great White North,” along with the Revels’ perennial favorites. And this production shines as brightly as the Northern Lights on a dark winter night.
The Hanover Theatre’s holiday presentation this year is the eleventh annual production of “A Christmas Carol” adapted and directed by Troy Siebels. The historic Hanover Theatre is a jewel of a theatre hidden away in Worcester and is breathtakingly gorgeous and splendiferous. It first opened in 1904 as a burlesque theatre, in 1926 as a movie theatre and in 2008 as a gorgeous show place that needs to be discovered by one and by all. The Theatre seats 2300 people and 19,000 patrons discovered this musical version of the show last year. Troy once again has a huge cast of 30. The underlying themes of charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence found in “A Christmas Carol” are universal and are relevant to people of all religions and backgrounds.
A Christmas Carol – Directed by Debra Wise; Scenic Design by David Fichter; Costume Design by Leslie Held & Elizabeth Rocha; Lighting Design by John R. Malinowski; Sound Design by Mark Bruckner. Presented by The Nora Theatre Company and Underground Railway Theater at the Central Square Theater at 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge through December 30
Central Square Theater’s inspired production of A Christmas Carol is proof positive that, in the right hands, you really can take an iconic story, deviate a bit from conventional characterizations and staging, and still present a work that will enthrall even staunchest of traditionalists. This version of A Christmas Carol keeps its roots firmly planted in Dickens’ Victorian England, while offering a bit of inclusive multiculturalism, featuring depictions of the characters that you’re not likely to see in the old black-and-white movie versions of the holiday favorite. But Central Square seems less interested in scoring political or sociocultural points than re-imagining this classic in a way that more closely reflects today’s audiences, and the changes actually enliven the story.
‘Winter People’ – Written by Laura Neill. Directed by Avital Shira. Scenic Design: Kayla Williams. Lighting Design: Mark Fortunato. Sound Design: Aubrey Dube. Costume Design: Chloe Chafetz. Fight Choreographer: Jessica Scout Malone. Dramaturg: Cayenne Douglass. Presented by Boston Playwrights’ Theatre at Boston Playwrights Theatre, 949 Commonwealth Ave. Boston through December 16
Boston Playwrights’ Theatre’s new production, Winter People by Laura Neill, creates a community by showing one in disintegration. It builds its narrative by pulling us, scene by scene, through the stories of five different families that make their home in the Hamptons. They’re not the upper of the upper class we usually associate with the Hamptons, the ones who summer in the McMansions. Rather, they’re the middle and lower-middle class Americans that make the area their home year-round, the ones who stay through the winter. A wide cast of characters from this community is allowed to interact in a way that might put you in mind of a Robert Altman film. Neil’s play has that kind of laid back approach to its storytelling. The play begins with a mystery, but that soon fades into the background. She’s more interested in showing how these five families intersect with each other until they form a much larger web and how their fates play into each other. That first mystery (and what it builds on) pulls you in and thanks to the skills of the actors, the play has a handful of arresting moments. But you might leave the theater (as I did) feeling as though the premise has been skimmed rather than dived into.
‘Barber Shop Chronicles’ – Written by Inua Ellams; Directed by Bijan Sheibani; Set Design by Rae Smith; Lighting Design by Jack Knowles; Sound Design by Gareth Fry; Music Direction by Michael Henry; Movement Direction by Aline David. Co-produced by Fuel, National Theatre, and West Yorkshire Playhouse. Presented by American Repertory Theater at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St. Cambridge, through Jan. 5.
Ever since the release of the movie series of the same name in the early 2000’s, I’ve pretty much thought of the “Barber Shop” as the social and cultural domain of African-American men. It had never occurred to me before seeing Barber Shop Chronicles (now playing at the A.R.T.), that the same elements that made barber shops a safe haven for black men in the U.S. – namely, a place where they could gather and express themselves without the judgement/harassment of an often hostile society – were also a cultural institution in other corners of the world, despite knowing that those same conditions existed pretty much everywhere, including the African continent.
‘A Story Beyond: A Musical Fable’ – Written by Jason Slavick and Rachel Wiese. Directed by Jason Slavick. Music and Lyrics by Nathan Leigh. Puppetry Design and Direction: Faye Dupras. Costume Design: Kendra Bell.Lighting Design: PJ Strachman. Scenic Design and Props Master: Rebecca Lehrhoff. Mask Design: Becca Jewett. Presented by Liars and Believers at theBoston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St., Boston through December 22.
Liars and Believers’ new production, A Story Beyond: A Musical Fable, ended up being my favorite kind of theatrical experience. The kind where you go with barely any knowledge of what you’re walking into, the house lights go down, the stage lights come up and the expectations you didn’t know that you had end up being shattered. You’re not so much presented with a world to observe but rather, you’re invited into that world, given the chance to let the experience surround you. It washes over with a warm glow and you don’t want to leave. The production’s theatrical vocabulary is drawing from inspirations older than the Greeks, but it manages to employ that vocabulary with a zing that gives it an energy that feels of the moment.
