All it takes is one well-placed, often shocking line to permanently cement a show in my mind. In Necessary Monsters, John Kuntz’s new play, I ran into that line about halfway through the two hour performance, at the pit of this nested, Russian-doll-of-a-show. An upper crust, philanthropic socialite (actually a performer in drag (Thomas Derrah) […]
I thought I was being clever when, as I tripped and scraped and picked my way over the frozen tundra that used to be the sidewalk along Arsenal Street, I said to myself: “I’ll begin the review with some joke comparing the show to the Snowmaggedon that has plagued Boston this month.” After stepping out […]
Watching Lyric Stage Company’s production of Intimate Apparel, directed by Summer L. Williams, I came to an unexpected conclusion: in this production, the important period piece finds its strongest stride in the individual and intensely personal more than in its historicity. There is so much to enjoy here: set in 1905, the play follows Esther […]
When I heard about the shootings at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, I immediately thought of the religion scholar Stephen Prothero. More specifically, I thought about his book God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions that Run the World, which I finished reading just about a month ago. Prothero’s main argument is […]
I first saw Fufu and Oreos in a staged reading. Obehi Janice performed her one-woman creative memoir at Company One’s 2014 XX PlayLab, only slightly hindered by carrying a binder-script and lacking props. The piece piqued my interest, and I was looking forward to seeing it fully produced. Bridge Repertory Theater has taken it up: […]
Here are four productions going up this month that particularly caught my attention. Three of the four are period pieces (two take place in 1912), and all of them, in their diverse ways, deal with the most basic of human drives: the desire to achieve fulfilment and find happiness in the face of intense environmental […]
Where do I begin in describing how much fun I had at Kerplop! The Tale of the Frog Prince? I suppose at the beginning, with a description of a traditional panto for those not in the know. A pantomime in this context is a UK theatrical tradition based on staging well-known fairy tales in an […]
The Broadway comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, written by Christopher Durang and directed by Jessica Stone (based on the original Broadway direction of Nicholas Martin) is a fun modern romp peppered with Chekhov references and further seasoned with tomfoolery and nostalgia. Two siblings, Vanya (Martin Moran) and the adopted Sonia (Marcia DeBonis), […]