A Life-Affirming Production Of ‘The Color Purple’ at Umbrella Stage

May 30, 2023May 31, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Cast of ‘The Color Purple’ at Umbrella Stage

Book by Marsha Norman. Music and Lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray. Produced by Brian Boruta. Directed by BW Gonzalez. Music Direction by Nathanael Wilkerson. Choreographed by Najee A. Brown. Scenic Design by Janie E. Howland. Lighting Design by SeifAllah Salotto-Cristobal; Sound Design by James Cannon. Costume Designer: Danielle Domingue SumiHair, Hair & Makeup Design by Schanaya Barrows. Through June 4 at Umbrella Stage, 40 Stow St., Concord, MA.

by Linda Chin

Umbrella Stage’s production of The Color Purple, a musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, is – in a word – epic.

Designers Janie E. Howland, Danielle Domingue Sumi, and SeifAllah Salotto-Cristobal have created a world that is simultaneously unassuming and powerful: an unpainted, multi-level structure constructed of rough-hewn beams and natural wood deck boards, unadorned, well-worn period costumes in earthy tones, and soft, dusky lighting punctuated with jewel tones (including the titular color) transport us to rural Georgia in 1909-1949.

SWEENEY TODD

May 22, 2023June 7, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Tony Annicone

Trinity Rep’s closing musical of their 59th season is Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd,” which opened on Broadway on March 1, 1979, and won 8 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. This musical is a macabre tragicomedy based on the legend of a half-mad 19th Century English barber driven to crime when an evil judge takes his wife and daughter from him. Unjustly imprisoned, Todd eventually escapes 15 years later and vows to bring justice to the judge who destroyed his life and all the people of London. He forms a partnership with Mrs. Lovett, an enterprising bar mistress whose previously worst meat pies in London soon become the tastiest, with Todd’s victims as their secret ingredient. This musical also shines with a fabulous turntable set by the late Eugene Lee and Patrick Lynch with terrific costumes by Shahrzad Mazaheri. Director Curt Columbus infuses his cast with the energy and insight to pull off these complex characters. At the same time, music director Andrew Smithson taught the talented cast members the intricate and precise Sondheim music and lyrics in this over three-hundred-page score. The diction is crystal clear. Their combined efforts produce a sensational musical that must not be missed. It is rewarded with a resounding standing ovation at night’s close.

Addiction Recovery-Centered Theater Group 2nd Act Premieres New Work, ‘I’ll Be There For You’

May 20, 2023June 2, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

2nd Act is a collective of artists in recovery that uses theatre, film, and drama therapy to address the impact of substance use by empowering diverse and inclusive communities to promote understanding in the face of stigma. Founded in 1984 by Lynn Bratley as the Improbable Players, the troupe performed “prevention plays” in middle and high schools for the first quarter century of their existence, with titles like “I’ll Never Do That!”, a four-person play about a family affected by alcohol and drug use, and “Stages,” a two-person play about how alcohol and other drugs affect us at every stage of our lives. The group merged with Rhode-Island based COAAST (Creating Outreach About Addiction Support Together) in 2021 and expanded its programming to include a Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Theatre program and a Drama Therapy program.

The organizations have performed for well over a million audience members during their “extended run.” 2nd Act will hold its annual spring fundraiser on Tuesday, May 23rd at the Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion in Boston from 6:00-8:00 pm. The evening will kick off with a VIP reception, including mocktails and light fare, followed by a premiere staged reading of our newest prevention play; I’ll Be There For You. This new show will be performed by actors in recovery and is based on interviews with Queer and BIPOC youth in recovery from Substance Use Disorder, and will highlight their voices as under-served members of our community. This premiere is intended to raise funds for I’ll Be There For You to tour middle and high schools in New England in the coming school year.

‘Beautiful’ Continues its Reign as King of Jukebox Musicals at Ogunquit Playhouse

May 17, 2023June 2, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Matthew Amira, Sarak Bockel in *Beautiful – The Carole King Musical* at Ogunquit Playhouse

‘Beautiful’ – Book by Douglas McGrath. Words and Music by Gerry Goffin, Carole King, Barry Mann, and Cynthia Weil. David Ruttura, Director. Joyce Chittick, Choreographer/Associate Director. Nick Williams, Music Director. Derek McLane, Scenic Design. Alejo Vieti, Costume Design. Richard Latta, Lighting Design. Kevin Heard, Sound Design. Roxanne De Luna, Wig Design. At Ogunquit Playhouse through June 10

by Mike Hoban

One of the good things about the plethora of jukebox musicals that have dominated the theater scene in recent years (as well as tribute bands in music venues) is that if you’re a fan of the artist, you can pretty much bank on having a reasonably good time. But if it’s the Ogunquit Playhouse’s spectacular production of Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, then you can count on having a GREAT time. Ogunquit has brought back the show barely six months after its run last fall (which I also saw), and if anything, the show feels even more energized in this restaging.

Sparkly Promsembles Elevate SpeakEasy’s ‘The Prom’

May 16, 2023December 26, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Cast of SpeakEasy Stage Company’s production of “The Prom.” (Photos: Nile Scott Studios)

‘The Prom’ – Music and Lyrics by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin. Book by Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin. Directed by Paul Daigneault. Music Direction by Paul S. Katz. Choreography by Taavon Gamble. Scenic Design by Jenna McFarland Lord. Costume Design by Miranda Kau Giurleo. Lighting Design by Karen Perlow. Sound Design by Andrew Duncan Will. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company at the Calderwood/ Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston through June 10, 2023.

by Linda Chin

Though their Broadway show closed on opening night and the critics wrote them off as “aging narcissists,” co-stars Dee Dee Allen (a dee-lightful Mary Callanan), and Barry Glickman (an effervescent Johnny Kuntz) are determined to stay in the limelight. Joined by fellow #wasOnBroadwaynowOff actors Angie Dickinson (a zazzy Lisa Yuen) and Julliard alum Trent Oliver (a hilarious Jared Troilo), the group decides to become “celebrity activists,” who selflessly support a cause, and are “the kind of stars the press adores.” With publicist Sheldon (a charismatic Meagan Lewis Michelson) along for the adventure, the five “liberal democrats from Broadway” head to Indiana to help a teenager whose story is trending on Twitter: “a girl who wanted to take her girlfriend to the high school prom and the PTA went apeshit.”

‘How High The Moon: The Music Of Ella Fitzgerald’ Soars at MRT

May 15, 2023May 18, 2023 michaelhoban5 Comments

Cast of ‘How High The Moon: The Music Of Ella Fitzgerald’ at MRT

‘How High The Moon: The Music Of Ella Fitzgerald’ – Conceived/Directed by Rob Ruggiero; Music Direction/Pianist George Caldwell; Stage Manager Brian Robillard. Starring Tina Fabrique; Ron Haynes, Trumpet; Rodney Harper, Drums; Nolan Nwachukwu, Bass. Presented by Merrimack Repertory Theatre, 50 E. Merrimack Street, Lowell, MA through May 21

By Nancy Grossman

How High The Moon: The Music Of Ella Fitzgerald is an entertaining theatrical concert that will have you tapping your toes and snapping your fingers as Tina Fabrique and company take you on a sentimental journey through seven decades of the 20th century. Dubbed “The First Lady of Song,” Ella is on the short list of artists with whom the world is on a first-name basis, still widely recognized and adored nearly thirty years after her passing.

A Triumphant “Angels in America” Graces Central Square

May 10, 2023May 10, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Maurice Emmanuel Parent and Zach Fike Hodges in *“Angels in America”* at Central Square

“Angels in America,” Written by Tony Kushner. Directed by Eric Tucker. Presented by Central Square Theater and Bedlam, 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, extended through May 28.

by Michele Markarian

It is the year 1985. “Angels in America” opens with a funeral, a rabbi (Debra Wise) presiding over the body of an elderly woman who undertook a perilous journey to America to live “in this melting pot, where nothing melted.” The deceased is the grandmother of Louis Ironson (Zach Fike Hodges), a gay Jewish man who is too uptight to introduce his WASP boyfriend, Prior Walter (Eddie Shields), to his family. Later that evening, Prior reveals to Louis that he has Kaposi sarcoma, a symptom of what was then called the gay cancer, or AIDS. In another part of the city, Mormon couple Harper and Joe Pitt (Kari Buckley and Nael Nacer) are both struggling – Harper with a pill addiction and Joe with his latent homosexuality. Joe’s boss is the nefarious lawyer (and mentor to none other than Donald Trump, a fun fact not mentioned in the play) Roy Cohn (Steven Barkhimer, in this performance). Cohn also has AIDS but wants it to be on the record that it’s liver cancer. Cohn feels gays are effeminate and considers himself merely a man who likes to sleep with other men. As both couples fall apart – Louis can’t handle Prior’s illness, and Harper can’t handle the fact that Joe isn’t attracted to her – new connections are forged through dreams and reality.

Deborah Henson-Conant’s ‘The Golden Cage’ Soars

May 10, 2023May 11, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Maddie Allen and Christopher Isolano
Deborah Henson-Conant’s ‘The Golden Cage’

The Golden Cage – Book, Music, and Lyrics by Deborah Henson-Conant; Directed by R. Lee Kratzer; Music Direction by Nevada Lozano; Scenic Design by Tyler R. Herald; Costume Design by Evan Pritzant; Lighting Design by Michael Cole. Presented by Streaming Musicals online and filmed in front of live audiences at the CreateTheater New Works Festival at NYC’s Theatre Row. It can be seen here StreamingMusicals.com

by Mike Hoban

When I was a teen, there was an episode of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, the hit-or-miss knockoff of the iconic Twilight Zone TV series entitled “Hell’s Bells.” In it, hippie John Astin (of Addams Family fame) dies in a car crash and lands in Hell. What he finds there is not a lake of fire but an insanely boring place populated by Midwestern white people. Thinking he is in heaven, the hippie complains to the devil that he wants to go to the “other place.” The devil explains to him that “This is the other place. While this is absolute Hell for you, up there (looks skyward), it’s someone else’s idea of heaven.”

The Parallel Universe of “Joy and Pandemic”

May 6, 2023May 8, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Stacy Fischer, Breezy Leigh, and Ryan Winkles in “Joy and Pandemic” at the Huntington.
Photos by T Charles Erickson

“Joy and Pandemic” by Taylor Mac. Directed by Loretta Greco. Scenic Design: Arnulfo Maldonado; Sound Designer and Composer: Fan Zhang; Costume Design: Sarita Fellows; Lighting Design: Jen Schriever. Presented by The Huntington, Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, through May 21.

by Michele Markarian

Joy (Stacy Fischer) and her unenthusiastic second husband, Bradford (Ryan Winkles), are running an art school for children in Philadelphia, a venture which Bradford’s mother, Rosemary (the magnificent Marceline Hugot), disapproves of. Joy’s daughter Pilly (Ella Dershowitz) is Joy’s biggest fan. The annoyingly sunny Joy is a Christian Scientist who peppers her conversations with phrases like, “All we need is an invitation to see things differently” and “fear is a lie that we tell ourselves” while insisting that everything and all beings are “perfect.” In a bit of foreshadowing in response to some clanging chimes Joy has over her front door, Rosemary snarls, “Must optimism always be so piercing?” With a visit from Melanie (Breezy Leigh), the staccato-voiced black mother of Marjory, one of Joy’s prized students, Joy is about to find out how imperfect she is.

Alvin Ailey Will Rocka Your Soul

May 6, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

*Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at the Wang. Presented by the Celebrity Series of Boston*

by Linda Chin

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is presented by the Celebrity Series of Boston. Robert Battle, Artistic Director. At the Boch Center Wang Theatre, Boston, through May 7, 2023.

Whether it’s your first-time seeing Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (like my adult son), or the umpteenth (like my plus-two, Boston dance legend/educator-extraordinaire Adrienne T. Hawkins), or a dozen or so times like me, you will feel uplifted by the experience. Prepare to be astounded by the impeccably trained company members’ artistry and physicality, to be swept up in the emotions and energy that leaps off the stage. The carefully curated program we saw on opening night (the repertoire and dancers vary at each performance) blends music of a range of genres, new and old works (two world premieres and two pieces choreographed in the sixties), adding to its inter-generational appeal.