A.R.T. Continues to Bring Musicals into the 21st Century with Electric Historical Comedy ‘SIX’

August 27, 2019August 28, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Catherine of Aragon (Adrianna Hicks, at center) performs “No Way” in SIX, written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss and directed by Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage Photo: Liz Lauren

By Mike Hoban

Six – By Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss; Directed by Lucy Moss & Jamie Armitage; Choreography by Carrie-Anne Ingrouille; Music Supervision by Joe Beighton; Music Direction Roberta Duchak; Orchestrations by Tim Curran; Scenic Design by Emma Bailey; Costume Design by Gabriella Slade; Lighting Design by Tim Deiling; Sound Design Paul Gatehouse. Presented by the American Repertory Theatre in arrangement with Kenny Wax, Wendy & Andy Barnes, George Stiles and Kevin McCollum in association with Chicago Shakespeare Theater at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge through September 29.

The A.R.T. is getting the early jump on the 2019-2020 season with Broadway-bound British import SIX, and like last year’s brilliant new work and season opener, The Black Clown, it’s got an appeal that extends far beyond the typical theater base (read white and older – two constituencies of which I am a member). But that’s where the similarities between the two pieces end. While Black Clown was an often heart-wrenching artistic masterpiece chronicling the American black experience from slavery through the 1930’s, SIX is an unadulterated blast of fun – despite the extreme misogynistic abuse suffered by our protagonists at the hands of husband Henry the VIII. SIX refers to the number of “Ex-Wives” (the title of the opening number) who were “divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived” at the hands of Henry – as the children’s rhyme from the UK television and book series Horrible Histories so succinctly summed up.

A.R.T.’s ‘We Live in Cairo’ Gives the Children of the Revolution a Voice

May 29, 2019May 29, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Cast of A.R.T.’s ‘We Live in Cairo’ – Photos: Evgenia Eliseeva)

by Mike Hoban

‘We Live in Cairo’ – Book, Music, and Lyrics by Daniel & Patrick Lazour. Directed by Taibi Magar. Choreography by Samar Haddad King; Music Direction by Madeline Smith. Presented by American Repertory Theater at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge, through June 16.

The American Repertory Theater’s engaging production of We Live in Cairo, a musical retelling of the Arab Spring protests that led to the end of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year reign, is further proof that convention-defying musicals can be lot more satisfying than some of the formulaic pablum being offered up on Broadway stages in recent years. This latest work continues a run of adventurous original musicals by the A.R.T., and follows up last year’s edgy jukebox musical Jagged Little Pill and the magnificent 2018-2019 season opener The Black Clown with an unconventional piece from newcomers Daniel & Patrick Lazour, a pair of twenty-somethings from Boylston, MA. And while Cairo lacks the blockbuster score (by Alanis Morrissette) of Jagged or the sheer artistry of Black Clown, it’s an ambitious and creative first effort.

Theater Mirror Interviews Sara Porkalob, Creator/Performer of ‘Dragon Cycle’

April 1, 2019April 1, 2019 michaelhoban1 Comment

by Deanna Dement Myers

On a snowy Sunday morning, I sat down with Sara Porkalob, storyteller and creator of the Dragon Cycle, being presented at the American Repertory Theater Oberon Theater until April 7. We had an inspirational and rambling chat where we talked about importance of a loving family, our shared Filipino-American heritage, the process of writing, and about creating the type of theater that reflects your values. She may have also given me tips on where to find the perfect lip color. 🙂

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.

A.R.T. Gives Oxygen to Celine Song’s ‘ENDLINGS’

March 9, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

By Linda Chin

Endlings – Written by Celine Song; Directed by Sammi Cannold; Scenic Design by Jason Sherwood; Costume Design by Linda Cho; Bradley King, Lighting Designer; Sound Design by Elisheba Ittoop. Presented by American Repertory Theater. At Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St. Cambridge through March 17.

Like the Manhattan millennial Ha Young muses in the second act of Endlings, I love theater. After seeing Endlings, by playwright Celine Song, I love theater even more. And as a lifetime theatergoer and arts advocate who is Asian American, I admire the American Repertory Theater (where Endlings runs through March 17) even more than ever. Song wrote an “Asian play” she considered “unproducible” – with extensive technical and casting demands (beach and underwater scenes, talking clams, three elderly Asian actresses who could swim – and spoiler alert – could rap), and an inscrutable title (what exactly are endlings, anyway?). Not only did ART give Endlings its world premiere less than a year after its development during the 2018 Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference, it was produced with all creative hands on deck. If the response of the audience on opening night (diverse in age, ethnicity, as well as students and long-term subscribers) was any indication, I was not alone in being moved by this work – at times funny, at times painfully poignant, and clever throughout.

Ancient Eastern Culture Meets Western Theater in A.R.T.’s ‘Endlings’

March 4, 2019March 5, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Emily Kuroda, Wai Ching Ho, and Jo Yang in A.R.T.’s ‘Endlings’

by Mike Hoban

Endlings – Written by Celine Song; Directed by Sammi Cannold; Scenic Design by Jason Sherwood; Costume Design by Linda Cho; Lighting Design by Bradley King; Sound Design by Elisheba Ittoop. Presented by the American Repertory Theater. At Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St. Cambridge through March 17.

On the surface, Endlings – now being given its world premiere at the A.R.T’s Loeb Center in Cambridge – is about three older women who have spent nearly their entire lives earning a meager existence by diving for seafood from a tiny island off the coast of South Korea. While the subject matter sounds like it would make for an intriguing enough premise on its own, Korean-Canadian playwright Celine Song has chosen to expand her darkly comic play to include themes of her own family’s migration to Canada (and eventually New York City) in search of “better real estate”, as well as a wildly comic philosophical discussion of how much one’s ethnic/racial identity should inform their work. Staged on an absolutely gorgeous and cleverly constructed set, the play also smashes the fourth wall to pieces throughout, creating an uneven but highly entertaining and biting comic pastiche.

Is it really the ‘ENDLINGS’?

March 1, 2019March 16, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

By Sheila Barth

BOX INFO: World premiere of Celine Song’s 1-1/2 hour play at American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.), appearing through March 27, at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Tickets start at $25. americanrepertorytheater.org

While Celine Song’s new, two-act play is a fascinating foray into the world of little-known Korean women who spend most of their lives – and days – diving daily for seafood, the playwright needs to concentrate more on these women and less on her self-effacing fixation of writing about “white persons“ plays in Act II.

ART Delivers a Contemporary, Absorbing “Othello”

January 21, 2019January 21, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Michele Markarian

‘Othello’ – Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Bill Rauch. Scenic Design by Christopher Acebo; Costume Design by Dede M. Ayite; Lighting Design by Xavier Pierce; Composer & Sound Designer, Andre J. Pluess; Projection Design by Tom Ontiveros. The American Repertory Theater presents the Oregon Shakespeare Festival production at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St. Cambridge through February 9.

“This is wonderful, isn’t it?” “Terrific!” was the buzz on the stairs to the restroom during the intermission for Othello, currently playing at A.R.T. People sounded pleased and slightly surprised. Not because it was good – who doesn’t like, or pretend to like, Shakespeare? – but because it was so stunningly good. We weren’t watching a play, we were immersed in it.

ART’s ‘Barber Shop Chronicles’ A Shear Delight

December 11, 2018December 28, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Mike Hoban

‘Barber Shop Chronicles’ – Written by Inua Ellams; Directed by Bijan Sheibani; Set Design by Rae Smith; Lighting Design by Jack Knowles; Sound Design by Gareth Fry; Music Direction by Michael Henry; Movement Direction by Aline David. Co-produced by Fuel, National Theatre, and West Yorkshire Playhouse. Presented by American Repertory Theater at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St. Cambridge, through Jan. 5.

Ever since the release of the movie series of the same name in the early 2000’s, I’ve pretty much thought of the “Barber Shop” as the social and cultural domain of African-American men. It had never occurred to me before seeing Barber Shop Chronicles (now playing at the A.R.T.), that the same elements that made barber shops a safe haven for black men in the U.S. – namely, a place where they could gather and express themselves without the judgement/harassment of an often hostile society – were also a cultural institution in other corners of the world, despite knowing that those same conditions existed pretty much everywhere, including the African continent.

BARBER SHOP CHRONICLES – Where Real Men Gather, Gab, and Get Groomed

December 10, 2018December 22, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

By Sheila Barth

BOX INFO: One-act, 110-minute play, written by Inua Ellams, co-produced by The Fuel, National Theatre, and West Yorkshire Playhouse, appearing at American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) through Jan. 5, 2019, on its US premiere tour, Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge: Dec. 19-22. 26-29, 31, Jan. 2-5, at 7:30 p.m.; Dec. 19,22,23, 27, 29-31, Jan.5, 2 p.m.. Tickets start at $25, subscriber, member, groups, student, senior, Blue Star families EBT cardholders and other discounts. americanrepertorytheater.org, 617-547-8300.

We all do it. While getting our hair cut or styled at the barber shop or salon, we engage in small talk with our hairdresser/barber. We even discuss lofty topics, solving the world’s problems. Sometimes, we lean over a bit to eavesdrop on what the person in the chair nearby is revealing. Strangely enough, we openly talk about family and friends’ secrets, our feelings, likes and dislikes, political and personal problems to a stranger. You never know what truths, boasting, or bravado may erupt, but you know the dynamic exists globally.