Appreciation: Michael Ricca’s ‘What Matters Most’

March 10, 2020October 24, 2020 michaelhoban1 Comment

by Linda Chin

Michael Ricca performed his new one-man show, ‘What Matters Most’at the Central Square Theater in Cambridge from March 6-8.

After a week of Super Tuesday shock and disappointment, working on a grueling but rewarding project, and reports of the increasing number of Coronavirus cases close to home, being a recluse on Friday night was certainly tempting. But seeing singer Michael Ricca perform his new one-man show, What Matters Mostat the Central Square Theater in Cambridge to a packed house was exactly what the doctor ordered to elevate my mood.

Speakeasy’s Chilling ‘The Children’ Asks the Hard Questions

March 6, 2020March 6, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Tyrees Allen, Paula Plum, and Karen MacDonald in Speakeasy Stage’s ‘The Children’ – Photos by Maggie Hall Photography)

By Julie-Anne Whitney

‘The Children’ Written by Lucy Kirkwood; Directed by Bryn Boice; Scenic Design by Cristina Todesco; Costume Design by Rachel Padula-Shufelt; Lighting Design by Jeff Adelberg; Sound Design by David Remedios; Stage managed by Rachel Sturm. Produced by SpeakEasy Stage Company at the BCA Calderwood Pavilion through March 28, 2020.

Inspired by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Eastern Japan – started by an earthquake which caused a tsunami that led to the death of 19,000 people – Lucy Kirkwood’s Tony-nominated play The Children is a blistering commentary on the global environmental devastation caused by human progress and development.

Hazel (Paula Plum) and her husband, Robin (Tyrees Allen), are nuclear physicists who have relocated to a dilapidated cottage just outside the exclusion zone of the local nuclear power plant. The recent “disaster” at the plant forced them to abandon their family home and into early retirement. When their former colleague, Rose (Karen MacDonald), shows up unannounced, the lifeless cottage is suddenly filled with tension, jealousy, and intrigue.

Child Is Father to Man in SpeakEasy’s “The Children”

March 5, 2020March 6, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Paula Plum and Karen MacDonald in Speakeasy Stage’s ‘The Children’ – Photos by Maggie Hall Photography)

by Shelley A. Sackett

“The Children”. Written by Lucy Kirkwood. Directed by Bryn Boice. Scenic Design by Cristina Todesco; Costume Design by Rachel Padula-Shufelt; Lighting Design by Jeff Adelberg; Sound Design by David Remedios. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company, Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, 537 Tremont Street, Boston through March 28.

Playwright Lucy Kirkwood had wanted to write about climate change for quite a while when the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan provided the impetus and inspiration. With The Children, a must-see production enjoying its Boston premiere at SpeakEasy Stage Company, she has succeeded in crafting a thoughtful and provocative three-character play that manages to raise profound existential and moral questions while slowing peeling back the layers of this threesome’s long and complicated history. It is also one heck of a riveting eco-thriller/emotional detective story brilliantly acted by inimitable stage luminaries Tyrees Allen, Karen MacDonald and Paula Plum.

National Tour of Roald Dahl’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” Lands in Worcester

March 5, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

*Ryan Umbarila, Cody Garcia in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” at Hanover Theatre*

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

The magical musical that is Hanover Theatre’s current National Tour of Roald Dahl’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” brings us into the world of Willy Wonka, the world famous candy creator. Dahl wrote over 30 books throughout his career. This version is based on the author’s 1964 classic book and uses some of the Academy Award nominated songs from the 1971 movie version “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley as well as fresh new songs from Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman who also wrote “Hairspray, the Musical.” Hidden in Willy Wonka chocolate bars are five golden tickets which will allow five children into his factory. Charlie Bucket and four others are the winners of these tickets, granting them access into this marvelous and mysterious factory. The five of them begin a mesmerizing journey through Wonka’s world of pure imagination where each of these children learn life lessons as well as having tantalizing treats and seeing incredible inventions along the way. The children have to learn to follow Wonka’s rules or face the consequences. The moral of the story in all these incarnations is telling the truth and being a nice person does always pay off. Though audiences might think this is a show just for children, it is one for the child in all of us (at any age) who yearn for the days of nice people and truth tellers to return to the forefront once again. This high energy musical is beautifully directed by Matt Lens, and excellently musically directed by Kelly Thomas, with an 8 piece orchestra and some incredible and breathtaking choreography by Alison Solomon, who mold their 28 multitalented cast members into these iconic roles. Their marvelous insight into this show wins all of them a prolonged standing ovation.

Nina Simone Journeys from Artist to Activist in MRT’s ‘Four Women’

March 5, 2020March 5, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

*Cast of MRT’s* *Nina Simone: Four Women*

By Mike Hoban

‘Nina Simone: Four Women’ – Written by Christina Ham. Directed by Kenneth L. Roberson; Christopher Rhoton, Scenic Designer; Michael Alan Stein, Costume Designer; Lee Fiskness, Lighting Designer; Lighting Designer Merrimack Repertory Theatre at the Nancy L. Donahue Theatre through March 8

If you’re anticipating a fawning musical love letter to jazz great and civil rights activist Nina Simone from MRT’s entertaining Nina Simone: Four Women, prepare to be surprised. Christina Ham’s 2016 play-with-music is no feel-good biopic of the “High Priestess of Soul”. Instead, Ham takes the gloves off, depicting Simone as narcissistic and as classist as any old-money white guy before she undergoes a spiritual transformation late in the play. Part fictionalized history lesson and part jukebox musical, Four Women showcases some of Simone’s most popular works (as well as some solid originals), but also highlights the struggles and widely varying experiences of three African-American women that she encounters following a brutal murder that rocked the country.

“The Children” a Stunning Look at What We leave Behind

March 4, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

By Michele Markarian

“The Children”. By Lucy Kirkwood. Directed by Bryn Boice. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company, Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, 537 Tremont Street, Boston through March 28.

“We heard you died,” says Hazel (Paula Plum) to her visitor, Rose (Karen MacDonald), ostensibly an old friend and colleague who has dropped unexpectedly by the temporary housing that Hazel shares with her husband, Robin (Tyrees Allen). It has been thirty-eight years since they’d last seen her on their small British island, and Hazel’s welcome seems less than congenial (she has also, by accident, given Rose a bloody nose). Turns out that the women have shared more than just their former workplace, a nuclear power plant. A tsunami has rendered an accident at the plant, and the residents around it are instructed to live outside of a contaminated exclusion zone. Hazel and Robin have had to abandon their farm and their cattle, much to Hazel’s devastation. Rose, who never married and has lived in America, is seemingly less tethered. Hazel is circumspect about their old friend’s visit with good, intuitive reason – Rose has come back with a request with far-reaching responsibilities and consequences.

A Magical Theatrical Experience with Arlekin’s ‘The Fisherman and the Fish’

March 3, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

*‘The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish’* – *Presented by Arlekin Players Theatre*

By Julie-Anne Whitney

‘The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish’ – Written by Alexander Pushkin; Directed by Evgeny Ibragimov; Set, Costume, and Puppet Design by Ksenya Litvak; Masks designed by Katya Popova; Original Music by Nikolay Yakimov; Lighting Design by Stephen Petrilli; Stage managed by Inessa Ostrova. Presented by Arlekin Players Theatre in Needham, MA through April 12, 2020.

Please note: this is a non-verbal 60-minute performance suitable for ages 4 and up.

The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish is a fable published in 1833 by acclaimed Russian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer, Aleksandr Pushkin. The story has been translated into several languages and adapted into many other art forms (paintings, poems, short stories, ballets, songs, animated films, and plays), perhaps most famously by the Brothers Grimm in their German fairy tale version, The Fisherman and His Wife (1905).

Apollinaire Theatre Company’s ‘Hir’ Throws It All Out There

March 3, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Cast of Apollinaire Theatre Company’s ‘Hir’

Review by James Wilkinson

Hir – Written by Taylor Mac. Directed by Brooks Reeves. Scenic and Properties Design: Ilona Overweg & Kevin McGrath. Costume Design: Elizabeth Rocha. Lighting & Sound Design: Christopher Bocchiaro & Robin Donovan Bocchiaro. Produced by Apollinaire Theater Company at Chelsea Theater Works, February 14-March 8, 2020.

Apollinaire Theatre Company’s production of Taylor Mac’s Hir is a disorienting piece of work, (I think this is mostly by design, so stick with me). From the moment the stage lights come up, the world feels off kilter and I think that the audience can smell it. It pushes them onto unsteady ground. When we go to a narrative drama, we’re often looking at how and why characters change over a period of time. With Hir, the change has already happened, leaving the rest of us to get up to speed with them. It’s as though we’ve caught these characters with their hands already half-way into the cookie jar and as they proceed to empty it out in front of us they keep assuring us, “don’t worry about it…this is fine…just don’t worry about it.” Is it though? I guess that’s up to us.