Tension and Healing in “Cardboard Piano”

March 28, 2019March 28, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

*(Rachel Cognata, Marge Dunn, Michael Ofori and Marc Pierre in New Rep’s ‘Cardboard Piano’ – Photos by Andrew Brilliant, Brilliant Photography)*

by Michele Markarian

‘Cardboard Piano’ – Written by Hansol Jung. Directed by Benny Sato-Ambush. Presented by New Repertory Theatre, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown through April 14.

Adiel (Rachel Cognata) and Chris (Marge Dunn) are young lovers – Chris is sixteen – who have planned a makeshift wedding ceremony for themselves on New Year’s Day, 2000, in the church in Uganda where Chris’s missionary dad is pastor. The young woman are very different – Adiel is comfortable with her sexuality, Chris is not (“Fuck around in my house of worship and I’ll throw a bolt at your head,” Chris says in God’s voice, when thunder and lightning abound outside). Chris’s parents have found out about her and Adiel and are very upset, to the point where Chris has drugged them and stolen their car keys so that she and Adiel can escape. After saying their vows into a tape recorder, Chris and Adiel are interrupted by a young man of thirteen, Pika (Marc Pierre), who brandishes a gun and threatens to kill Chris. Pika is wounded, and Adiel insists on taking care of him before they leave. After dressing Pika’s wound, Adiel goes to her aunt’s house to say goodbye and grab a suitcase. Pika, an abducted child soldier, tells Chris that he has committed sins too atrocious for even God to forgive (“I’m a terrible soul and so He has forgotten about me”). Chris insists that God will forgive, and on the same tape recorder used to record her “marriage”, creates a healing for Pika that absolves him of his sin. But Pika is wanted, and a young soldier (Michael Ofori) comes to the Church looking for him. Instead he finds Adiel, returning with a suitcase. A scuffle ensues, Pika commits one more atrocity, and then, when he discovers the true nature of Adiel’s and Chris’s relationship, commits another.

Porkalob’s ‘Dragon Lady’ a Class Act

March 25, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Linda Chin

‘Dragon Lady’ – Creator & Performer: Sara Porkalob, Director: Andrew Russell; Lighting Design: Amith Chandrashaker; Sound Design: Erin Bednarz; Original Music: Peter Irving, Band: Hot Damn Scandal, Assistant Director: Michael Rosegrant, PSM: Kate Hauser. Presented by the American Repertory Theater as part of the A.R.T. Breakout series at Oberon, 2 Arrow St. Cambridge through April 6

Sara Porkalob is a multi-hyphenate wonder: a Filipinx American activist-feminist and actor-writer-singer-producer-director-storyteller. Let’s add educator to this 29 year old’s list, as experiencing her remarkable show Dragon Lady is akin to taking a master class. A master class from a superhero, that is, as in this tightly crafted show written in homage to her grandmother, Porkalob the Wonder Woman takes us on a journey through time and space. Each vignette in Dragon Lady reveals part of Maria Porkalob Sr.’s life story – working in a nightclub owned by the Philippine mafia, immigrating to America, raising five children in a trailer park, sharing time-honored wisdom with her granddaughter Sara – and each is a pearl.

Flat Earth Introduces You To…’Not Medea’

March 24, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

*(Juliet Bowler in Flat Earth’s ‘Not Medea’)*

Review by James Wilkinson

‘Not Medea’ – Written by Allison Gregory. Directed by Elizabeth Yvette Ramirez. Set Design: Ben Lieberson. Costume Design: Elizabeth Krah. Props Design: Jake Scaltreto. Lighting Design: Connor Van Ness. Sound Design/Composer: Kyle Lampe. Graphic Designer: Jake Scaltreto. Presented by Flat Earth Theatre at the Black Box at the Mosesian Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal St., Watertown through March 30

The levels of irony present in the title of Allison Gregory’s play, Not Medea, are truly awe-inspiring. The play is currently being staged by Flat Earth Theatre and even now, a few days after having seen the show, I’m still marveling at just how perfect a title it is (there’s more to the production than the title, but it seems as good a place as any to start). For you see, the production we’re seeing is, quite literally, not Medea. At least, it’s not Euripides’ ancient Greek drama, Medea. Gregory’s play, however, does follow the story of Medea, albeit from a slightly different angle. Here we meet a woman who is…not Medea, but whose story begins to run parallel to the Greek Medea to the point where the lines between the two begin to blur and intersect. So while, yes, this might not be the Medea we’ve previously encountered, it’s a modern-day Medea that is of our own time in the way that Euripides’ play was of his.

Trinity Rep’s The Song of Summer Represents Regional Repertory Theater at its Best

March 21, 2019March 22, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Charlie Thurston in Trinity Rep’s ‘The Song of Summer’)

By Linda Chin

The Song of Summer – Creative Team: Lauren Yee (playwright), Taibi Magar (director), Adam Rigg (set design), Valérie Thérèse Bart (costume design), Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew (lighting design), and Mikaal Sulaiman (sound design). Original song by Max Vernon and Helen Park.

Much like those songs from the summers of our adolescence and young adulthood, Lauren Yee’s new play, The Song of Summer will most definitely touch your heart, stick in your head, and trigger memories of times good, bad, and in-between. Robbie Retton is a young self-made pop star who is living a life others dream of – with a hit song, manager, LA lifestyle, girls lining up to see him – a long way from his high school persona as an awkward nerd with an unstable home life. After an absence of about 12 years, he shows up unexpectedly at his old piano teacher Mrs. C.’s house in Pottsville PA, a one-hospital, one-movie theater, and one-new-Thai-restaurant town. Robbie was one of Mrs. C’s prized students and one of her daughter Tina’s good friends. In contrast to Robbie, Tina was the cool, adventurous, sexually experienced teen with the ambition and smarts to escape from the stifling town and be a doctor. We come to learn that Mrs. C is pretty cool herself, an ex-hippie, single mother who adopted Tina from China and with her wise and kind maternal touch “adopted” Robbie as well. Mrs. C. is also welcoming of Robbie’s manager Joe, who shows up in town to bring his runaway client back to his senses, and back to the tour route.

‘Photograph 51’ Takes a Molecular Look at Science of Relationships

March 21, 2019March 22, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

*(Josh Gluck and Stacy Fischer in Nora Theatre’s ‘Photograph 51’)*

By Michele Markarian

‘Photograph 51’ – Written by Anna Ziegler. Directed by Rebecca Bradshaw. Kristin Loeffler, Scenic Designer; Chelsea Kerl, Costume Designer; Elizabeth Cahill, Sound Designer; Aja M Jackson, Lighting Designer. Presented by The Nora Theatre Company, 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge through April 15.

Rosalind Franklin (Stacy Fischer) came of age as a scientist during the 40s and 50s, when it was unusual for young women to pursue such a path. 1951 finds the x-ray chrystallographer in a research lab at King’s College, London, where she is assigned the task of working on x-ray diffraction (don’t panic; there is a wonderful glossary of terms in the show’s program). Franklin finds herself in a boys’ club, where her colleague, the awkward Maurice Wilkins (Barlow Adamson) decides to dine in the male-only dining room on his new lab partner’s first day, rather than accompany her to lunch. Unsurprisingly, this gets them off on the wrong foot.

The Bear in the Room at Brown Box Theatre

March 20, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Review by James Wilkinson

don’t feed the bear – Written and performed by Cam Torres. Directed by Alex Lonati. Lighting Design by Connor O’Brien. Presented by Brown Box Theatre March 15-17, 2019 at Atlantic Wharf in Boston and March 22-24, 2019 at Ocean City Center for the Arts in Ocean City.

Brown Box Theatre’s new production, don’t feed the bear, tells the story of Will. Or rather, it would, but Will doesn’t exist. Except that he might exist. By the end of the play it certainly seems like he might exist and I think I can build a pretty convincing case that he does. That might be a misdirection though, much like the laptop he’s working on. Let me explain. The laptop exists, but it’s not real. None of this is real. You might want it to be real, but that’s too bad. None of this is real. That much you can know for certain; none of this is real. None of this is necessary. The title of the show isn’t even relevant to what’s happening on stage. (Except that I think it might be…)

The ‘Haves’ Are Taken to Task in ArtsEmerson’s ‘An Inspector Calls’

March 19, 2019March 19, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Jeff Harmer, Diana Payne-Myers, Lianne Harvey, Hamish Riddle, Andrew Macklin, Christine Kavanagh and Ensemble in An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley, P.W. Productions on tour 2018/19 Directed by Stephen Daldry Designed by Ian MacNeil Lighting by Rick Fisher Associate Director Julian Webber Photo by Mark Douet)

By Mike Hoban

‘An Inspector Calls’ – Written by J.B. Priestley; Directed by Stephen Daldry; Set Design by Ian MacNeil; Lighting Design by Rick Fisher; Music Direction by Stephen Warbeck; Sound Design by Sebastian Frost. Presented by ArtsEmerson at the Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre, 219 Tremont St., Boston through March 24

Perhaps what is most striking about An Inspector Calls, the riveting National Theatre touring production from London now being presented by ArtsEmerson, is how closely its theme and language reflect the current state of affairs between the haves and have nots – despite the fact that the play made its stage debut just after the close of World War II. An Inspector Calls is an Agatha Christie-style drawing room crime drama that – on the surface – investigates the connection between the apparent suicide of a young woman and the Birlings, a wealthy and politically connected family in the fictitious industrial town of Brumley, England, where the family patriarch owns a factory.

Love is Everything in “Onegin”

March 18, 2019March 18, 2019 michaelhoban1 Comment

*(Greater Boston Stage Company’s ‘Onegin’)*

By Michele Markarian

“Onegin” – Based on the poem by Pushkin and the opera by Tchaikovsky. Written by Amiel Gladstone and Veda Hille. Directed by Weylin Symes; Choreographed by Ilyse Robbins; Music Direction by Steve Bass; Scenic Design by Katy Monthei; Lighting Design by Jeff Adelberg;Costume Design by Deirdre Gerrard; Sound Design by John Stone. Presented by Greater Boston Stage Company, 395 Main Street, Stoneham through March 31.

“Do you see someone worth dying for?” asked Vladimir Lensky (a winsome Michael Jennings Mahoney) to a random woman in the audience. She thought a moment. “You!” she said softly. He looked momentarily taken aback, but recovered enough to thank her and keep the scene moving. Such is the spirit of “Onegin”, a randy, insouciant and utterly captivating musical rendering of Pushkin’s tragic novel in verse, “Eugene Onegin”. For anyone, and that means everyone, who’s ever loved and lost, this show is a must-see.

THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK (Arctic Playhouse)

March 15, 2019April 5, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Tony Annicone

The latest show at Arctic Playhouse is the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play, “The Diary of Anne Frank.” The audience is transported back to the 1940’s where they learn about the diaries of 13 year old Anne Frank. This play tells the story of a Jewish family forced into hiding in an effort to avoid Nazi persecution during World War II where they were isolated from the outside world. Anne, her family and four others lived in constant fear of being discovered. Anne makes the transition from a smart, mischievous youngster to a passionate young woman. She wrote of her daily life, her budding teenage conflicts with her mother, her strong, loving bond with her father and of her first crush and love for Peter. She also expressed her hopes and dreams for the future and her continuing belief that people are really good at heart. They remained hidden for two years, until their betrayal, which resulted in their deportation to Nazi concentration camps. After the war, the pages of Anne’s diary were discovered on the floor of the annex where the family had been hiding. This young girl’s diary, written 74 years ago, still touches the heart and soul of every audience member by making them empathize with her tragic situation. Also hopefully with the current situation this world is in maybe we can learn from the past not to make the same mistakes in these trying times. Director Rachel Hanauer takes us back to the cramped quarters where Anne spent the last years of her life and with her ten member cast, she creates a stunning dramatic production, making it a must see show of this spring season.

Huntington Brings Comically-Infused ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Into the 21st Century

March 13, 2019March 17, 2019 michaelhoban1 Comment

George Hampe and Lily Santiago in Huntington’s ‘Romeo & Juliet

By Mike Hoban

Written by William Shakespeare, Directed by Peter DuBois; Scenic Design, Wilson Chin; Costume Design, Ilona Somogyi; Lighting Design, Russell H. Champa; Original Music & Sound Design, Obadiah Eaves; Choreographer, Daniel Pelzig; Fight Direction, Rick Sordelet & Christian Kelly-Sordelet. Presented by the Huntington Theatre Company at 264 Huntington Ave., Boston through March 31

Over the years there have been a multitude of theatrical updates of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare’s tragic tale of doomed teen lovers, with the best of those inarguably being the Bernstein/Laurents/Sondheim masterpiece, West Side Story. The latest take comes from the Huntington Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Peter Dubois, who – with the help of a plethora of Boston’s local stage luminaries – transports the story into the 21^st century while leaving the original text intact. It’s a surprisingly comic and wildly entertaining version of the classic, but it also does an admirable job of driving home the idea that the toxic “blind tribalism” that is threatening to destroy democracy in America today is hardly a new development.