In SpeakEasy’s ‘Once’, Impossible Dreams Seem Possible

March 8, 2019March 8, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Mackenzie Lesser-Roy as ‘Girl’ and Nile Scott Hawver as ‘Guy’ in SpeakEasy Stage’s ‘Once’ – Photos by Maggie Hall Photography)

By Linda Chin

‘Once’ – Book by Enda Walsh; Music and Lyrics by Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová. Based on the Motion Picture Written and Directed by John Carney. Directed by Paul Melone; Music Direction by Steven Ladd Jones; Choreography by Ilyse Robbins; Scenic Design by Rachel Padula-Shufelt; Lighting Design by Karen Perlow; Sound Design by Andrew Duncan Will. Presented by Speakeasy Stage at the Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St., Boston through April 7

Artists and audiences benefit when theater companies embrace authenticity and relatability as critical components of their mission and values, and plan their seasons accordingly. Bravo to those producers, creative teams and casting directors with bold visions and broad reach and the perseverance to find the best actors for the roles, especially challenging with the specific requirements in musical theater works. Bravo to musicals of this season that were impeccably cast: Miss You Like Hell (Company One & ART), Breath and Imagination (Lyric Stage & Front Porch Arts Collective) and Billy Elliot (Seacoast Rep). To this list we can add SpeakEasy’s Fun Home, which with Scottsboro Boys and Allegiance in previous seasons represent a sweep of standouts with multi-talented (& multicultural & multigenerational) ensembles of actors who speak (and sing and dance) their truth. In Once, the actors are also the musicians for the musical (a first in SpeakEasy’s 27-year history), making impossible dreams – of artists, immigrants, people young and old – seem possible.

“Allegiance” a Piece of America’s Dark History

May 13, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

By Michele Markarian

‘Allegiance’ – Book by Marc Acito, Jay Kuo, and Lorenzo Thione, Music and Lyrics by Jay Kuo. Directed by Paul Daigneault. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company, Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, through June 2.

“Every Pearl Harbor Day, they trot me out to prove that I’m still alive”, says the elderly Sam Kimura (Gary Thomas Ng), a decorated World War II war hero. If Sam sounds bitter, it is because the bombing of Pearl Harbor produced a declaration of war against Japan that adversely affected loyal Japanese Americans, including Sam and his family. It was just a few months afterwards that the US government forcibly rounded up 110,000 Japanese American from California, Washington, Arizona and Oregon. Families, just by virtue of looking like the enemy, had to sell their homes, businesses and items for a pittance of what they were worth to take up residence in camps, interned behind barbed wire.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-Time and the Mystery and Suspense Genre

November 12, 2017November 12, 2017 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Michael Cox

The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-TimeAdapted by Simon Stephens from the novel by Mark Haddon. Produced by Speakeasy Stage Company and playing at the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion October 20 – November 25.

Just after midnight in Swindon, a town 71 miles West of London, fifteen-year-old Christopher John Francis Boone finds a dog brutally murdered in his neighbor’s garden. Wellington, a cherished family pet, has been impaled with a pitchfork and is still pinned to the ground. Mrs. Eileen Shears, the owner of the dog and the garden, calls the police. And when they arrive they’re looking for answers. But Christopher can’t provide them. Instead, he assaults the officer.

As The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-Time unfolds, Christopher tells us his side of the story. He writes it down in a notebook as part of a school project, and he chooses to convey the experience as a murder mystery.