Tag: North Shore Music Theatre

North Shore Music Theatre Delivers a Rousing, Touching ‘Mame’

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Reviewed by Tony Annicone

 

The opening musical of North Shore Music Theatre’s 63rd season is “Mame”, originally titled “My Best Girl”, it is based on the 1955 fictional novel Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis and a 1956 play starring Rosalind Russell. The musical version by Jerry Herman opened on Broadway on May 24, 1966, ran for 1,508 performances and starred Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur who both won Tony Awards for their roles as Mame and Vera.

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NSMT’s Delivers Spirited ‘Christmas Carol’

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Reviewed by Tony Annicone

 

Bill Hanney’s North Shore Music Theatre’s holiday show this year is the 27th Anniversary production of “A Christmas Carol, A Musical Ghost Story” which is an annual favorite. This version of this well known holiday tale was written by former NSMT artistic director, Jon Kimball which he adapted back in 1989. As Jon explains “A Christmas Carol” is a timeless story that still resonates with people of all ages and carries a message that is as genuine and poignant now as it was when it was first written back in 1843. This splendid musical version captures the true spirit and meaning of the holiday season for one and all.

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NSMT’s “42ND STREET”

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Reviewed by Tony Annicone

 

Welcome back to 1933 and the wonderful world of tapping feet in “42nd Street” at North Shore Music Theatre with a huge cast of 30 performers. It is loosely based on the 1933 movie musical with the same name which starred Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell. The stage musical version opened on August 25, 1980 and ran until January 8, 1989, won the Tony Award for Best Musical. It starred Jerry Orbach as Julian Marsh and Tammy Grimes as Dorothy Brock and I was fortunate enough to catch that musical back in 1980. “42nd Street” is the tale of up and coming chorus girl, Peggy Sawyer who arrives in New York seeking a career on Broadway.

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NSMT’s EVITA is Magnificent

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Reviewed by Tony Annicone

 

North Shore Music Theatre’s fourth musical of their 62nd season is “Evita” by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. This rock opera is about Eva Peron, bit actress, mistress and wife to Argentine dictator, Juan Peron. This show is a collage of Eva’s rise to power and her early death. It is a look at a woman loved by the poor, hated by the rich and powerful and who was not above taking matters into her capable hands, whether it be charity funds, colonels on the rise to political power or, finally, political power itself.

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NSMT’s ‘YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN’ a Monstrously Riotous Musical Comedy

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By Sheila Barth

BOX INFO: Two act musical comedy by Mel Brooks, appearing through August 27, at Bill Hanney’s North Shore Music Theatre, 62 Dunham Road, Beverly: Tuesday-Thursday, 7:30 p.m.; Friday, Saturday, 8 p.m.; Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday, 2 p.m. $57-$82. Kids ages 18-under, 50 percent off at all performances. 978-232-7200, nsmt.org.

 

A four-sided scrim bearing a large, foreboding, black and white image of a horror film-style castle on the hill greets theatergoers as they face North Shore Music Theater’s stage. Eerie sounds echo in surround-sound, while gusts of stage fog spurt around them, temporarily obfuscating their view. Chains rattle.  An ominous buzz saw whirrs. Voices groan, moan, howl, in the distance, while ancient-style lanterns set  intaglio in archways adorn the background of the theater-in-the-round. Cacophony abounds. Like an olden-style, black-and-white horror movie, the scrim beams a movie company logo, and announces the film, its stars, producers, directors, etc., then transforms live, in color, to a European village.

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NSMT’s “Beauty & the Beast” A Musical Gem

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Reviewed by Tony Annicone

 

The second musical of North Shore Music Theatre’s 62nd season is Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” which first opened on Broadway on April 19, 1994. It closed on July 29, 2007 and ran 5,461 performances. Based on the 1991 animated Disney movie, the show tells the story of a spell cast on a Prince which transforms him into a ferocious beast. He must love and be loved before the last petal falls from the rose or he will be a beast forever.

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NSMT Serves Up A Delicious Slice of White Bread with Delightful ‘Music Man’

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by Mike Hoban

 

‘Music Man’ – Book, Music, and Lyrics by Meredith Willson. Story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. Directed by Bob Richard. Choreography, Diane Laurenson. Music Direction by Milton Granger; Scenic Design by Kyle Dixon; Lighting Design by Franklin Meissner; Sound Design by Danny Erdberg; Costume Coordinator and Additional Costume Design by Paula Peasley-Ninestein. Presented by North Shore Music Theatre, Beverly, through June 18.

 

“I’m as corny as Kansas in August” may be a line from a song from another classic musical, (South Pacific, “A Wonderful Guy”) but it could certainly double as a description of Music Man, the delightful 1957 musical now being given an inspired revival at the North Shore Music Theatre. Set in 1912 Iowa, birthplace of Meredith Willson, writer of the book, music, and lyrics for the Broadway hit, Music Man may be the quintessential white bread musical, but damn – er, darn – is it good.

 

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NSMT’s “THE MUSIC MAN”

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Reviewed by Tony Annicone

The opening show of Bill Hanney’s North Shore Music Theatre’s 62nd season is “The Music Man” by Meredith Willson. This musical first opened on Broadway on December 19, 1957 and ran for 1,375 performances. Robert Preston played the leading role of Harold Hill who cons the good citizens of River City, Iowa into buying musical instruments and band uniforms by promising to create a boy’s band in the town. Not knowing a clarinet from a saxophone, Hill expects to skip town with cash in hand, only to be caught by the arms of the beautiful Marian Paroo, the librarian, who transforms him into a reformed rouge and respectable citizen by the close of the show.

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