ArtsEmerson Brings a Sensational “Dreaming Zenzile” to Boston

February 25, 2022February 25, 2022 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Cast of ‘Dreaming Zenzile’ (Somi Kakoma in foreground)

by Michele Markarian

“Dreaming Zenzile” Devised by Somi Kakoma. Directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz. Produced by Arts Emerson, in partnership with Octopus Theatricals, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, New York Theatre Workshop, National Black Theatre, and McCarter Theatre Center, Emerson Paramount Theatre, 555 Washington Street, Boston through February 27.

“Zenzile – you have done it to yourself”. This is the name singer Miriam Makeba was given at birth, based on her mother’s difficult labor and recovery; the Xhosa word for a woman whose life moved forward on the wings of saying “yes” could not be more fitting. Based on the life of Zenzile Miriam Makeba, “Dreaming Zenzile” is a narrative concert that tells the incredible story of Miriam Makeba’s musical journey from South Africa to worldwide stage, both as musician and activist.

The Tension and Release of “Detroit Red”

February 7, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Eric Berryman in ArtsEmerson’s ‘Detroit Red’)

By Michele Markarian

“Detroit Red” by Will Power. Directed by Lee Sunday Evans. Presented by Arts Emerson, Emerson Paramount Center, 559 Washington Street, Boston, through February 16.

A tense, noir-ish film clip of a man holding a gun in a downtown Boston jewelry store is superimposed across the stage. “It takes point two seconds for a gun to respond to your finger’s light touch”, begins the twenty-year old Malcom Little, aka Detroit Red, at the top of the world premiere of “Detroit Red”, which covers the years the young Malcolm X lived in Boston. His early life was troubled – a murdered father, a mother who suffered a nervous breakdown, an older sister with health complications – and his struggle to find his place in the world is marred by his treatment at the hands of white people.

ArtsEmerson’s ‘Shadow’ is Deceptively Profound

January 24, 2020January 24, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

*The cast of* *ArtsEmerson’s* *‘The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes’* *Photo: Jeff Busby*

By Mike Hoban

‘The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes’ – Director: Bruce Gladwin; Creative Development Artists: Bruce Gladwin, Mark Deans, Sarah Mainwaring, Scott Price, Simon Laherty, Sonia Teuben & Victoria Marshall (This show was developed, in part, at the 2019 Sundance Theatre Lab at MASS MoCA). Presented by Back to Back Theatre in conjunction with ArtsEmerson at the Emerson Paramount Center, Jackie Liebergott Black Box, 559 Washington St. Boston through January 26.

It wasn’t until the final moments of The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes, the import to the ArtsEmerson stages from Australia’s Back to Back Theatre, that the meaning of the title of the production dawned on me – and then it was as startling clear as a slap to the face. To explain why would be to give away too much about this deceptively profound theater experience, but it’s in the telling of the story by performers that you don’t usually see on stage that makes Shadow such an unpredictable gem of a piece. Written and performed by a cast of “neuro-diverse” actors with intellectual disabilities, it is at various times educational, jolting, hilarious and thought-provoking – while never taking itself too serious, despite some tough subject matter.

ArtsEmerson’s One-of-A-Kind ‘An Iliad’ Is Not to Be Missed

November 21, 2019 michaelhoban1 Comment

Denis O’Hare in ArtsEmerson’s ‘An Iliad’ – Photo by Joan Marcus

By Shelley A. Sackett

‘An Iliad’ – Written by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare; Directed by Lisa Peterson; Scenic Design by Rachel Hauck; Costume Design by Marina Draghici; Lighting Design by Scott Zeilinski; Composer/Sound Design by Mark Bennett; Produced by Arts Emerson and Homer’s Coat in association with Octopus Theatricals at Emerson Paramount Center through November 24.

“An Iliad,” the brilliant play by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare in a lamentably short run at Emerson Paramount Center, is one phenomenal piece of theater. In a mere 100 minutes, on a simple stage with no props or costume changes, the virtuoso Denis O’Hare (with the help of bassist Eleonore Oppenheim) magically creates the story behind Homer’s epic poem about the tragic Trojan War. This is no ordinary dramatic experience. It is a magic carpet ride into the deepest power and charm that theater can offer. No wonder the painted muses above the magnificently renovated stage are all smiles. They know this audience is in for a one-of-a kind experience that will resonate long after their thunderous standing ovation finally fades.

‘The Magic Flute’ at ArtsEmerson Defies Tradition

November 8, 2019November 13, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Cast of ‘The Magic Flute’ at ArtsEmerson

by Michael Cox

“The Magic Flute” – Adapted and directed by Mark Dornford-May. Performed by Isango Ensemble. Presented by ArtsEmerson, Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre, 219 Tremont Street, Boston through November 10.

It all begins with the marimbas, tables of long wooden bars mounted above resonators, instruments that look similar to xylophones, but the sound is so much different. It’s a joyous sound – the sound of a warm and faraway place where the atmosphere is festive. And the rhythm that throbs under the music just makes you want to dance.

ArtsEmerson Delivers Energizing and Creative Retelling of ‘The Magic Flute’

November 7, 2019November 7, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Michele Markarian

The 21 or so performers of Isango Ensemble, a troupe made up of black South Africans, are unassuming and relaxed as they warm up onstage before the show begins. They could be neighbors you pass on the street, or strangers you see on the T, or colleagues in your workplace until their conductor, taut and precise, steps onstage and raises his arms. Isango Ensemble are immediately transformed into performers, filling the space with energy, musicianship and joy. This transformation, not something that audience members usually get to bear witness to, lasts throughout the next two hours during this magical retelling of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute”. Truly an ensemble, the performers are so in tune with one another and the score that they are able to play without the benefit of sheet music. Their instruments consist of marimbas, drums, feet, hands, and in one cleverly executed instance, a trumpet.

Beauty, Passion and Danger Converge in ArtsEmerson’s ‘Triptych’

November 1, 2019November 1, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Roomful of Teeth performing ‘Triptych’ at the Cutler Majestic Theatre. Photo: Maria Baranova)

By Michele Markarian

‘Triptych (Eyes of One on Another)’ – Composed by Bryce Dressner. Libretto by korde arrington tuttle. Featuring words by Essex Hemphill & Patti Smith. Directed by Kaneza Schaal. Presented by Arts Emerson, in association with Celebrity Series of Boston and New England Conservatory at the Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre, 219 Tremont Street, Boston, through November 3.

Several different factors can draw one to see this show. Perhaps you’re an admirer of Robert Mapplethorpe, the controversial artist whose photographic work began in the 70’s until his premature death, from AIDS, in 1989? Or a fan of the poets Essex Hemphill or Patti Smith, whose works make up the text of the show? My curiosity was piqued upon learning that Bryce Dessner, a guitarist with The National, composed the score. Friends I ran into after the show were pulled by Roomful of Teeth, a Grammy-winning vocal project that they’d seen many times at Mass MOCA. Whatever your reasons, your emotions will certainly be aroused by this provocative, evocative, beautiful and sometimes disturbing concert punctuated by the written word, photographs, and the lonely, disinterested yet yearning presence of the graceful dancer Martell Ruffin.

7 Fingers’ Journeys to New Heights with ‘Passengers’

October 1, 2019October 1, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Maude Parent and the cast of ‘Passengers’, now playing art ArtsEmerson’s Cutler Majestic Theatre – Photos by Alexandre Galliez)

By Mike Hoban

Passengers – Conceived, Directed and Choreographed by Shana Carroll. Music, Lyrics, Sound Design, and Arrangements by Colin Gagné. Presented by ArtsEmerson and performed by The 7 Fingers at Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre, 219 Tremont Street, Boston, MA, through October 13

Montreal-based The 7 Fingers returns to the Cutler Majestic Theatre to kick off ArtsEmerson’s 10^th season, and the latest offering from the circus arts troupe, Passengers, elevates the genre from mere circus performance to genuine art. While one surmises that this has long been the aim of the company, as someone who has seen most of the half-dozen 7 Fingers shows presented by ArtsEmerson in recent years, this is the one that truly fulfills that vision. And this in no way demeans previous shows. In addition to the oohs, ahhs, and nerve-wracking aerial stunts that any good circus arts show provides, 7 Fingers always reaches for something more in an artistic sense, but Passengers is in its own stratosphere.

Seven Fingers Returns to ArtsEmerson with ‘Passengers’

September 19, 2019September 19, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

By Mike Hoban

‘Passengers’ – U.S. Premiere presented by ArtsEmerson at the Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre, 219 Tremont Street Boston. September 25 through October 13

ArtsEmerson will be bringing back Montreal’s The Seven Fingers to open their 10^th season next week, with the circus arts troupe presenting the U.S. Premiere of ‘Passengers’. The piece will explore “our fascination with trains both in terms of nostalgic dreams of another era or another land, and as metaphor for the twists and turns of life among fateful encounters with strangers.” Theater Mirror had the chance to speak with a pair of the troupe’s newest performers recently, aerial silks and trapeze artist Sabine van Rensburg and tight wire artist Brin Schoellkopf – both of whom will be making their debut with the arts collective with this show.

ArtsEmerson’s ‘See You Yesterday’ Examines Cambodian Genocide Through Circus Arts, Movement

May 18, 2019May 18, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Mike Hoban

‘See You Yesterday’ – Presented by ArtsEmerson and the Global Arts Corps, at the Emerson Paramount Center Robert J. Orchard Stage through Sunday May 19

ArtsEmerson closes out its 2018/2019 season with a 65-minute circus arts/theatrical piece that uses the horrors of the Khmer Rouge genocide as a basis for its narrative, as told by second generation survivors. And while the results are a bit uneven (this is the U.S. premiere), the young artists deliver a vibrant and sometimes chilling performance, telling their story through movement, dance and of course, circus arts. While much of the piece features the prodigious acrobatic talents of the 19-person troupe, it is the episodes from the Cambodian Killing Fields – which claimed the lives of more than a million people at the hands of the Khmer Rouge regime (although death totals for the four-year reign of Pol Pot were double that) – that give this production its real emotional weight.