★★★★★ Inspired by the now infamous case of the Colorado baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple, Bekah Brunstetter uses that basic conflict as a jumping off point for The Cake, which runs at the Lyric Stage until Feb 9. While Brunstetter’s script doesn’t always ring true, Courtney […]
LIFE TO THE EVERLASTING CAT: THE BOLD REVOLUTION—AND WELCOME RETURN—OF CATS
★★★★☆ Hi, my name is Chris, and I’m a Cats fan. Ever since Cats premiered almost 40 years ago, it’s been the musical that people have loved to hate. But for me, it was my gateway drug to the theater, and I have been bowing my head in reverent thanks for, well, […]
ALL THE MILLION HOURS: PARADE AT MOONBOX PRODUCTIONS
★★★★☆ Moonbox Productions continues its impressive run of presenting complicated, adult musicals with more polish, professionalism, and nuance than most other companies in the Boston area, even those with more cash and more clout. Parade tells the story of the arrest, conviction, and lynching of an innocent man, Leo Frank, for the […]
ALTERING THE COURSE: MOBY-DICK AT THE AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATER
★★★★★ Moby-Dick is either a long, elaborate funeral for the American musical as we know it or the birth of a new kind of theatrical language. Which side you come down on will depend on your reaction to this world premiere musical, which runs at the American Repertory Theater through Jan 12. […]
ON STAGE NOW: MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, DOLLY PARTON’S SMOKY MOUNTAIN CHRISTMAS CAROL, CHRISTMAS ON URANUS, AND OLIVER!
AGATHA CHRISTIE’S MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS AT THE LYRIC STAGE ★★☆☆☆ Forget “whodunnit,” the bigger question is “who cares.” An ensemble cast of beloved local actors doing their best is what Murder on the Orient Express boils down to. Ken Ludwig’s adaptation of the classic Agatha Christie murder mystery […]
THE CHAOS OF DREAMS AND IMAGES: ARLEKIN’S THE SEAGULL IS REMARKABLE
★★★★★ Only about once—maybe twice—a year does a production come along that makes me feel as if I’ve been ignited from the inside out. It takes a special kind of vision—along with all the different theatrical stars lining up just right—to turn a long and (forgive me) boring Chekhov play into the most […]
A CACOPHONY OF CHINTZ: SPONGEBOB SINKS AT THE WANG
★★☆☆☆ When it was announced in 2015 that Nickelodeon would be bringing a SpongeBob musical to Broadway, you can imagine how many people reacted with a giant eye roll, particularly those of us who had PTSD from the Broadway production of The Little Mermaid, which had sea creatures “swimming” around the stage on […]
NOPE-DA-DOO: LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS LIMPS AT LYRIC STAGE
★★★☆☆ If ever there was a musical that embodied the notion of “the little musical that could,” it would be Little Shop of Horrors, the kooky 1982 Off-Broadway musical that rightfully earned its place among musical theater’s most beloved comedies, thanks mostly to the terrific 1986 Frank Oz film that allowed the story […]
NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO BE BELIEVED: CYMBELINE SPUTTERS ON THE BOSTON COMMON
★★☆☆☆ Confusing. Haphazard. Far-Fetched. Convoluted. For centuries, such words have been used repeatedly to describe Cymbeline, Shakespeare’s rarely staged late tragicomedy that is being performed on the Boston Common by Commonwealth Shakespeare Company through Aug 4. George Bernard Shaw even famously called it “stagy trash.” Trash, I’m not sure, but it […]
A GODDESS IN OUR MIDST: FAYE DUNAWAY IN TEA AT FIVE
★★★☆☆ In the spirit of total transparency, it must be said that I would pay money to sit and watch Faye Dunaway do just about anything. Or, for that matter, absolutely nothing. My love for her runs deep. So it was very much with that same sense of adoration and awe that I […]
