Nancy Grossman - Page 17

RETURN OF THE WINEMAKER: AN IRISH CHRISTMAS COMEDY is a gift of the season from Tir Na Productions. An absurd little dark comedy about the second coming of Jesus, it's not your traditional Christmas show, but it boasts terrific performances by Derry Woodhouse, Colin Hamell, Stephen Russell, and Nancy E. Carroll, under the direction of Carmel O'Reilly. Singing, dancing, and freely flowing libations are crucial to playwright Bernard McMullan's story and you will definitely leave the Davis Square Theatre feeling merry.

Ryan Landry taps into political and cultural hot topics for the Gold Dust Orphans' new holiday extravaganza. Everyone's favorite villainess Mrs. Grinchley returns, but she has competition from Whitey Bulger and Donald Trump for the most evil character in A LITTLE ORPHAN TRANNY CHRISTMAS. The mash-up of ANNIE and GREY GARDENS is ripe for hysterical situations, great singing and dancing, and the usual caution about leaving the children at home.

ONE CHILD BORN: THE MUSIC OF LAURA NYRO is a one-woman cabaret style show that can only be called a labor of love. Co-written by Louis Greenstein and its star Kate Ferber, it grew out of Ferber's own adoration of Nyro since childhood and blossomed into a genuine tribute by including testimonials from a variety of fictional "Nyrotics" whose lives were impacted by the late singer-songwriter.

In a departure from traditional seasonal fare, two local theater companies are bringing us back to the simpler days of yesteryear, staging live radio productions of Christmas shows set in the 1940s. Stoneham Theatre offers the frothy, musical bagatelle CHRISTMAS ON THE AIR while Merrimack Repertory Theatre presents an adaptation of the holiday film classic, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY. Replete with evocative sound effects and on-air commercial messages, both plays invite audience participation for applause and a range of emotional reactions, to replicate a live studio broadcast.

Bad Habit Productions continues Season 9: To Face Ourselves with John Guare's 1990 play about the interconnectedness of everyone in the world by a chain of no more than six people. In 2015, the parlor game featuring links with Kevin Bacon feels more relevant.

The U.S. National Tour of BEAUTIFUL - THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL plays a two-week engagement at the Boston Opera House. Focusing on King's early life and career, the good-time time machine rolls out the incredible string of hits written by the composing teams of Carole King/Gerry Goffin and Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil. Abby Mueller is a standout in the role of the music industry icon and BEAUTIFUL excels as a musical journey.

Playwright Katori Hall's lively play about seven African-American women awaiting the end of World War II in a Memphis beauty parlor/boarding house shows a slice of life with authenticity, empathy, and humor. Dawn M. Simmons directs an ensemble of wonderful actors, and the design team brings out the flavor of 1945 Memphis.

SpeakEasy Stage Company presents the New England premiere of Harvey Fierstein's 2014 Tony Award nominee for Best Play. CASA VALENTINA invites and initiates the audience into a world where normal is in the eye of the beholder when a group of heterosexual men meet secretly to release the girl within. Scott Edmiston directs a strong ensemble cast, with breakout performances by Eddie Shields and Greg Maraio.

David Sedaris makes his 11th appearance with the Celebrity Series of Boston, performing before a packed audience at Symphony Hall. His program adheres to a routine format, but there is nothing routine about the subject matter and content of Sedaris' writing, except for the irony, sarcasm and guaranteed mirth it promises.

ArtsEmerson: The World on Stage opens its sixth season with ERNEST SHACKLETON LOVES ME, a time-traveling musical adventure that takes a modern-day woman out of her Brooklyn apartment and way out of her comfort zone to join the polar explorer on his harrowing expedition a century ago. Director Lisa Peterson and the engaging duo of Valerie Vigoda and Wade McCollum bring out the humanity of the characters through the magic of music and design.

Gloucester Stage Company presents the New England Premiere of GLOUCESTER BLUE, written and directed by Founding Artistic Director Israel Horovitz. The latest in a series of Gloucester-based plays, this dark, funny play pits a pair of blue collar painters from The Fort section of town against a couple of tony one-percenters from Eastern Point. Esme Allen, Francisco Solorzano, Robert Walsh, and Lewis D. Wheeler pull out all the thrills and comedy along the twisty, turning road to a surprise ending.

The genius of Stephen Sondheim is on display in Huntington Theatre Company's production of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, and Artistic Director Peter DuBois casts a vast array of local actors with a few Broadway veterans for a luminous spectacle. Lavish costumes and lush orchestrations counter a minimalist scenic design, and the singing and acting do justice to one of Sondheim's masterworks.

Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins enjoys ambiguity and messing with traditional concepts and constructs. His 2014 Obie Award-winner for Best New American Play, APPROPRIATE, is a prime example as it defies categorization. He borrows themes and tropes from classic American family dramas, and the ensemble of actors in the SpeakEasy production carve out brilliant individual performances that rival anything one might see on a Broadway stage. M. Bevin O'Gara directs this breathtaking drama.

Megan Hilty gave a wicked good performance at the Citi Shubert Theatre last night as she sang her way through her signature songs from the NBC-TV series 'Smash' and selections from her Broadway appearances in WICKED and 9 TO 4 THE MUSICAL. Sirius XM star Seth Rudetsky shined as pianist and host for Broadway @ The Shubert, presented by Mark Cortale to benefit the Boston Gay Men's Chorus.

Artistic Director David J. Miller tackles another iconic play from the catalogue of 20th century gay dramatic literature with Mart Crowley's groundbreaking THE BOYS IN THE BAND. Opening in 1968, one year before the Stonewall riots, these boys were at the head of the parade for the Gay Pride movement. Miller has gathered a roster of nine estimable actors who provide the heart and soul to bring Crowley's types realistically to life at the intimate Plaza Black Box Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts.

Stoneham Theatre opens its 16th season with A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, directed by Weylin Symes and Ilyse Robbins. Front and center for the nonsense is Neil A. Casey, surrounded by a stand-out cast, including Kathy St. George, Chip Phillips, Jordan Ahnquist, and Mark Linehan. Ribald jokes and vaudeville shtick are cause for eye-rolling, but your ears will feast on the gathering of voices covering the Stephen Sondheim score.

New Repertory Theatre joins the nationwide celebration of the late playwright Arthur Miller's 100th birthday with the Boston area premiere of BROKEN GLASS, one of his last plays. In keeping with New Rep's season theme of "Identity," Miller's Olivier Award-winning and Tony-nominated drama is a multi-faceted exploration of what it means to be Jewish, set against the backdrop of the ascent of the Nazi Party in Germany in the days following Kristallnacht in November, 1938. A stellar cast under the thoughtful direction of Artistic Director Jim Petosa inhabits Miller's characters, intuiting their emotional journeys with remarkable authenticity.

MY FAIR LADY is one of the grande dames of musical theater and the Lyric Stage Company is giving her the royal treatment she deserves under the erudite direction of Scott Edmiston, with musical direction by Catherine Stornetta. In a production packed with quality portrayals across the board, Jennifer Ellis takes her considerable skills to a new level with a performance that is at once humorous, heartbreaking, and triumphant. And then she sings.

Katie Anne Clark and Jennifer Ellis are dynamite as the dynamic Sherwood sisters in the Reagle Music Theatre production of WONDERFUL TOWN, an old-fashioned musical comedy with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Clark's comedic flair, Ellis' luminous voice, an ensemble of triple-threat performers, extraordinary choreography, and a 22-piece orchestra are just five of the many good reasons to get yourself to RMT in Waltham before they roll up the sidewalks.

Elements Theatre Company selected three of the 12 monologues in Alan Bennett's TALKING HEADS for their summer production which concluded its brief run this past weekend at Paraclete House at Rock Harbor in Orleans. Ordinary, albeit quirky, characters were brought to life in extraordinary performances by Brad Lussier, Rachel McKendree, and Sr. Danielle Dwyer (who also directed).