The secret to successful entertainment in any form is conceptually simple: know your audience. I suspect that the producers of Samuel Beckett’s All That Fall at 59E59 Theatre had an audience in mind when they chose to produce the show. I am also confident that I am not that audience. In a single word, I […]
Sometimes in life we experience a tragic event and try hard to conceal it from the ones we love. But sometimes the ugly truth forces us to divulge what is hidden deep in our hearts. Rich Ryan just happens to be one of those individuals. Rich experienced a terrible moment in his life that many […]
There are a large number of suspicious deaths occurring at the Walter Kerr Theatre, and, strangely enough, all of the victims bear striking resemblances to one another – and to Jefferson Mays, the gifted actor who portrays every doomed D’Ysquith family member in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. Gentleman’s Guide is an artistically […]
The Empty Room’s current production of RC Sherriff’s World War I drama Journey’s End is so much better than it seems on first reflection. When broken down for parts, 98% of it is in fine, working order. Some of that 98% I would even call excellent (Joshua Stodart’s steel-nerved scamp of a Mason, for example, not […]
Simple Machine’s production of The Turn of the Screw, adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher from the ghostly tale by Henry James and directed by M. Bevin O’Gara, is very well-acted and very well-executed. The perk of a play like Screw is that everything hinges on only two actors. The dreadful risk of such a play is […]
As previously mentioned, Lyric Stage Company of Boston assembled one of the best seasons in Boston this year. For their fortieth year, Lyric Stage Company pulled out the big guns with silly and smart farces to beautiful and serene dramas to insightful and challenging musicals. For their second production of the season, Lyric Stage Company […]
I have strong feelings about Romeo and Juliet. There, I said it before and I’ll say it again. I always wait with baited breath during the Prologue to see how this new production will interpret this timeless classic. Sometimes, I leave merely disappointed; other times, I leave damned confused. Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s production leaned towards […]
*sigh* It’s now been 2 years since Stratford put on a Shakespeare production truly worthy of the festival stage. Last year’s Cymbeline was pretty good and there are 2 near-great productions in this year’s lineup (Othello and Merchant of Venice) but nothing with the excitement of 2011’s fabulous Twelfth Night and thrilling Titus, or the […]