Month: March 2025

Harbor Stage Brings the Cult Film ‘My Dinner with André’ to Life

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Robin Bloodworth, Jonathan Fielding, and Robert Kropf in Harbor Stage Company’s
“My Dinner with Andre” Photo: Joe Kenehan

‘My Dinner With André’ – Based on the film by Wallace Shawn and André Gregory. Developed by Johnathan Fielding and Robert Kropf. Production Stage Management by D’Arcy Dersham. Scenic Design by Evan Farley. Lighting Design by John Malinowski. Produced by Harbor Stage Company, ‘My Dinner With André’ runs at BCA Plaza Black Box Theatre at 539 Tremont Street, Boston through March 30th.

By Shelley A. Sackett

A corner booth, fancy fare and tasty conversation — who doesn’t remember the cult frenzy caused by Louis Malle’s 1981 110-minute film that enchanted audiences, defied pigeon-holing and raised the bar on the “art” referred to as conversation?

This unconventional film should have been all but unwatchable. After all, it is simply a cinema verité version of a conversation between playwright Wallace Shawn and André Gregory, a well-known experimental theater director who seems to have dropped off the edge of the planet and whom Shawn has been trying to avoid for years.

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In The Huntington’s ‘The Triumph of Love,’ All’s Fair in the War Between Reason and Romance

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Marianna Bassham, Nael Nacer in Huntington’s ‘The Triumph of Love’. Photos by Liza Voll

‘The Triumph of Love.’ Written by Pierre Carlet de Marivaux. Adapted by Stephen Wadsworth. Directed by Loretta Greco. Scenic and Costume Design by Junghyun Georgia Lee. Hair, Wig, and Makeup Design by Tom Watson. Lighting Design by Christopher Akerlind. Composer and Sound Design by Fan Zhang. Presented by The Huntington Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave., Boston through April 6, 2025.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Pierre Carlet de Marivaux’s “The Triumph of Love,” which premiered in 1732 and is at The Huntington through April 6, is like a trifle dessert, with light spongey layers of raucously funny deceptions, disguises and mistaken identities soaked in a sherry-spiked pastoral period set design. Instead of the traditional alternating tiers of sweet jams and custard, however, Marivaux has substituted a bitter concoction of calculated cruelty and manipulation. The end result is a sugar-coated confection that leaves a very bitter taste in the mouth.

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Harbor Stage Company’s ‘My Dinner With Andre’ Lingers With Bitter Aftertaste

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Robin Bloodworth, Jonathan Fielding, andRobert Kropf in Harbor Stage Company’s
“My Dinner with Andre” Photo: Joe Kenehan

My Dinner With Andre’ – Based on the film by Wallace Shawn and André Gregory. Developed by Johnathan Fielding and Robert Kropf. Production Stage Management by D’Arcy Dersham. Scenic Design by Evan Farley. Lighting Design by John Malinowski. Produced by Harbor Stage Company, ‘My Dinner With Andre’ runs from March 13th – March 30th at 539 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02116. 

By Charlotte Snow 

Many great conversations happen at a table, over the course of a meal, when thoughts are shared and hearts are bared. The ritual of devouring sustenance and drinking in words can be deeply human. Harbor Stage Company’s My Dinner With Andre endeavors to serve a slice of life, but the meat and potatoes are far too small a portion and leave the audience famished.  

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Don’t Let The Bleak Premise Of The First Rate Musical “Parade” Scare You Away

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Cast of the National Tour of ‘Parade’ at the Emerson Colonial Theatre. Photos by Joan Marcus

‘Parade’ – Book by Alfred Uhry; Music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown; Co-conceived by Harold Prince; Directed by Michael Arden; Choreography by Lauren Yalango-Grant & Christopher Cree Grant; Music direction by Charlie Alterman. At the Emerson Colonial Theatre, Boston, through March 23rd.  

By Shelley A. Sackett

It was with trepidation that I attended opening night of “Parade,” now at the Emerson Colonial Theatre through March 23. After all, the premise of the 2023 multiple Tony Award-winning musical revival is hardly uplifting. The book by Alfred Uhry (author of “Driving Miss Daisy”) is set in 1913 Atlanta and tells the true story of Leo Frank, a transplanted Brooklyn Jew and pencil factory supervisor who is married to his Jewish boss’s daughter, Lucille. As the newlyweds struggle to carve out their lives in the red hills of Georgia, Leo is falsely scapegoated for the murder of a 13-year-old white girl in his employ. The rest of the play dramatizes his trial, imprisonment, and 1915 mob lynching.

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Swinging Between Thinking and Feeling in Huntington’s ‘Triumph of Love’

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Vincent Randazzo, Avanthika Srinivasan in Huntington’s ‘The Triumph of Love’. Photos by Liza Voll

The Huntington Theatre presents ‘The Triumph of Love. Written by Pierre de Marivaux. Adapted by Stephen Wadsworth. Directed by Loretta Greco. Scenic and Costume Design by Junghyun Georgia Lee. Hair, Wig, and Makeup Design by Tom Watson. Lighting Design by Christopher Akerlind. Composer and Sound Design by Fan Zhang. At The Huntington Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave., Boston through April 6, 2025.

By Linda Chin

Much like its 2016 production of Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George, based on post-impressionist painter George Seurat’s ‘La Grande Jatte’ (1884), the action in playwright Pierre de Marivaux’s 1732 stylized French comedy The Triumph of Love takes place in a natural setting – and gives a nod to another French artist. In bringing Triumph to life, director (and artistic director) Loretta Greco, scenic and costume designer Junghyun Georgia Lee, and lighting designer Christopher Akerlind have created a visual feast that draws inspiration from Rococo painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s renowned ‘The Swing’ (1767), transforming the Huntington stage into “the gardens of Hermocrate’s country retreat,” replete with vines of ivy climbing the walls, lemon trees, rhododendrons, roses in bloom, and a luminous backdrop of a kaleidoscopic, cloud-swept sky. Completing the landscape, a stone bench with some ornamentation and a simple swing made of wood and ropes.     

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‘Parade’ at Emerson Colonial a Stark Reminder that Past is Prologue

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Cast of the National Tour of ‘Parade’ at the Emerson Colonial Theatre. Photos by Joan Marcus

Parade – Book by Alfred Uhry; Music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown; Co-conceived by Harold Prince; Directed by Michael Arden; Choreography by Lauren Yalango-Grant & Christopher Cree Grant; Music direction by Charlie Alterman. At the Emerson Colonial Theatre, Boston, through March 23rd.  

by Mike Hoban

Theatergoers should prepare for a profoundly conflicted experience with the Broadway revival of Parade, now at the Emerson Colonial on its North American tour. The brilliant artistry of this production is undeniable, with its superb cast and creative staging, but the content is a painful reminder that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Although it’s set in the Deep South in 1913, the mob rule and the institutionalized demonization of the “other” look a lot like America in 2025.

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Deadword Theatre Company’s ‘Julius Caesar’ Stabs Towards Boldness

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Cast of Deadword Theatre Company’s ‘Julius Caesar’

‘Julius Caesar’ – Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Charlie Lunardi. Stage Management by Zoe Moore; Scenic Design by Just Lahue; Lighting Design by Hope Debelius & Rachael Harned; Prop Design by Melinda Kalanzis; Costume Design by Gaby Obando Arévalo; Sound Design by Sam Noto. Produced by Deadword Theatre Company, ‘Julius Caesar’ runs from March 6th – March 16th at 539 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02116. 

By Charlotte Snow

The time has come when Julius Caesar sadly becomes relevant again. This year, it’s more dangerously relevant than ever. Political violence, tyrannical rule, socioeconomic gaps, and more exist in both today’s headlines and Shakespeare’s 426-year-old play. Some theater companies shy away from this script during the post-election season for this very reason, others embrace it. I’m thankful that Deadword Theatre Company, a rising gem in the Boston theater scene, has so boldly staged one of the theatrical cannon’s most spitfire plays.  

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You Don’t Have To Be Irish To Love GBSC’s ‘The Irish And How They Got That Way’

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The cast of GBSC’s ‘The Irish And How They Got That Way’

Greater Boston Stage Company presents ‘The Irish And How They Got That Way’ by Frank McCourt. Original Music Arrangements by Rusty Magee. Directed by A. Nora Long. Music Director Kirsten Salpini. Scenic Design by Jeremy Barnett. Lighting Design by Amanda Fallon. Costume Design by Emily Woods Hogue. Sound Design by John Stone. At Greater Boston Stage Company, 395 Main Street, Stoneham, MA, through March 16, 2025.

By Linda Chin

Like the iconic (and remarkably inclusive for the 1960s & 70s) ad campaign that New Yorkers of a certain vintage will fondly recall – featuring photo portraits of a young African American boy, Chinese man, Italian nonna, Native American elder, White (Irish?) cop, enjoying sandwiches with Levy’s Real Jewish Rye – you don’t have to be Irish to love the Greater Boston Stage Company’s production of The Irish and How They Got That Way.”

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Boston Playwrights’ Theatre’s ‘Recursion Of A Moth’ Flutters Listlessly

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Jenny S. Lee in Boston Playwrights’ Theatre’s ‘Recursion Of A Moth’
Photo Credit: Scornavacca Photography

‘Recursion Of A Moth’ – Written by Brandon Zang. Directed by Katie Brook. Sound Design by Audrey Dube; Lighting Design by Grant Powicki; Scenic Design by Cleo Brooks; Costume Design by Cleo Needleham; Produced by Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, ‘Recursion Of A Moth’ runs from February 27st – March 9th at 949 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215. 

By Charlotte Snow 

The audience walks into the house, filled with incongruous electronic audio, to find a blank stage except for a leather chair adorned with notebooks, two podiums pushed upstage, and a constantly looming giant white semi-circle screen at the center. It’s a disarming and almost chilling effect that promises its audience a unique and singular theatrical experience.  

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SpeakEasy’s ‘A Man of No Importance’ Is Must-See, Feel-Good Theater at Its Absolute Finest

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Eddie Shields and Will McGarrahan in Speakeasy’s ‘A Man of No Importance’
Photos by Nile Scott Studios

‘A Man of No Importance’ – Based on the film, ‘A Man of No Importance.’ Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens; Music by Stephen Flaherty; Book by Terrence McNally; Directed by Paul Daigneault. Choreographed by Ilyse Robbins. Music Direction by Paul S. Katz. Scenic Design by Jenna McFarland Lord. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company. At the Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, through March 22.

By Shelley A. Sackett

There is so much to praise about SpeakEasy Stage Company’s ‘A Man of No Importance,’ director Paul Daigneault’s swansong production after leading the company he founded for 33 years, it’s hard to know where to begin.

Read more “SpeakEasy’s ‘A Man of No Importance’ Is Must-See, Feel-Good Theater at Its Absolute Finest”