Nancy Grossman - Page 20

Israeli Stage celebrates its fourth anniversary and looks ahead to its first full theatrical production, in partnership with ArtsEmerson: The World on Stage. Producing Artistic Director Guy Ben-Aharon continues to expand his roster of incredible Boston theater talent, featuring an all-star cast in MAKE MY HEART FLUTTER at the Goethe-Institut.

Regardless of your opinion about the Affordable Care Act, you might be interested to know how paying for healthcare started and the reluctant role played by surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital. Set primarily in Hartford and Boston, ETHER DOME has special significance for the local audience, offering both a history lesson and theatrical entertainment of the highest order.

Happy Medium Theatre starts its sixth season by ending the run of the Factory Theatre with LANGUAGE OF ANGELS, a testament to the ambience and creative possibilities of the soon-to-be-defunct space. Director Lizette M. Morris does a masterful job of building and prolonging the suspense, with a strong assist from her design team and ensemble cast.

Wheelock Family Theatre opens its 34th season with ALICE, a musical reimagining of Lewis Carroll's classics, ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND and ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS. WFT veteran Andrew Barbato wrote the adaptation and directs the production featuring a garden of flower buds played by children who may one day follow in his footsteps, as well as some perennials on local theater stages who deserve to have more than a few bouquets tossed their way. From seedlings to adolescents to full-grown, the vibrant members of this ensemble are all ready to embark on the journey with Alice, down the rabbit hole and wherever it may lead.

Berkshire Theatre Group presents the world premiere of POE by Eric Hill at the Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge, imagining the last days of the writer before his untimely death in Baltimore in 1849. In the title role, David Adkins breathes life into the man, but the play needs life support. Kate Maguire mesmerizes with her recitation of 'The Tell-Tale Heart,' showing that Poe's own words can best provide the necessary drama.

Despite all of its violence and disturbing themes, Director Jim Petosa and company find the humor in ASSASSINS and are able to make the characters come alive as people with flaws, rather than monsters. In the controversial Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman musical, the cure for what ails them is to kill a President and the 1991 show strikes a chord in our gun-happy culture. A terrific lineup of voices handles the Sondheim score with aplomb.

IRNE Award-winning actress Celeste Oliva gives two riveting performances in Deirdre Girard's RECONSIDERING HANNA(H) to open the 2014-2015 season at Boston Playwrights' Theatre. With thoughtful direction by Bridget Kathleen O'Leary, RECONSIDERING HANNA(H) tells two good stories for the price of one, both of which will stay with you long after the curtain falls.

Les 7 doigts de la main makes a high-flying return to open the fifth season of ArtsEmerson: The World On Stage with TRACES, an energetic mix of acrobatics, skateboarding, basketball, and contemporary dance performed by seven amazingly talented young artists.

Following last season's award-winning production of THE NORMAL HEART, Zeitgeist Stage Company sets the bar high with the compelling drama BENT, featuring outstanding performances from Victor L. Shopov and Brooks Reeves. Directed with distinction by David J. Miller, the play challenges its audience to bear witness to atrocities, but illustrates the strength of the human spirit.

Three-time Tony Award nominee Carolee Carmello wowed 'em in a one-night only performance presented by FUDGE Theatre Company Founding Artistic Director Joey DeMita, in association with Matt Phillipps. With her virtuoso piano accompanist/Music Director Phil Reno, the versatile artist stormed through a set list of eleven o'clock numbers from Broadway musicals. It was an unusual way for her to spend her night off from FINDING NEVERLAND at the A.R.T., but the appreciative audience at the Arsenal Center for the Arts didn't seem to mind.

The national tour of THE LION KING returns to kick off the 10th Broadway In Boston season at the Boston Opera House, most fittingly as the musical reopened the venue following its historic renovation in 2004. Some of the effects have diminished over the years, but the opening night audience roared its approval.

It was a winning night at Fenway Park for the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and the hometown fans as they celebrated with an all-star roster for SHAKESPEARE AT FENWAY. The one-night event had comedy, tragedy, and some extra excitement (not unlike the Red Sox) for a great start to CSC's 20th anniversary season.

Gloucester Stage Company concludes its 35th season with Pulitzer Prize-winning drama FENCES, the sixth in August Wilson's ten-play chronicle of 20th century American history from the perspective of African-Americans. In Director Eric C. Engel's production that strives to illustrate the universal nature of one man's story, we can identify with the protagonist's anger and struggle for control in a rapidly-changing world. Daver Morrison and Jacqui Parker bat leadoff in a lineup of strong performances.

Playwright Amy Herzog's 4000 MILES is a slice-of-life drama that observes a month in the relationship between a 91-year old grandmother (Nancy E. Carroll) and her 21-year old grandson Leo (Tom Rash) who drops in on her in the middle of the night at the end of a harrowing cross-country bicycle trip. The reason for the visit is a mystery, which is oh-so-gradually revealed, but the story doesn't cover much territory between point A and point B. Director Eric C. Engel grasps the timing necessary to bring out the play's humor and Carroll is a master of delivering a very funny line with a deadpan expression.

Broadway legend Chita Rivera makes her Williamstown Theatre Festival debut opposite Festival favorite and former Artistic Director Roger Rees in the newest incarnation of Kander and Ebb's THE VISIT, the musical based on the 1956 tragicomedy by Swiss playwright Friedrich Durrenmatt, with book by Terrence McNally. Director John Doyle has reimagined it as a one-act with a focus on the love story, and his collaboration with Choreographer Graciela Daniele results in a show that makes movement a vital component to convey elements of the narrative without words.

PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES is a country music revue that feels right at home in the big old barn that is the Cape Playhouse in Dennis. It offers up rockin' music, folksy charm, and good home cookin' with a cast of six who sing, dance, and play a variety of instruments.

Writer/director Kevin Cirone's labor of love is having its world premiere in the subterranean Davis Square Theater in Somerville. Good musical variety and an ensemble of eager, committed actors are among the positive attributes, but character development and storyline need some fine-tuning.

Gloucester Stage Company presents the Boston area premiere of Jack Neary's AULD LANG SYNE, an uneven vehicle driven by stellar performances from Paula Plum and Richard Snee, under the direction of Douglas Lockwood.

Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston brings back this crowd-pleasing British musical comedy about a cockney gent who learns that he is the 14th heir to the Earl of Hareford, but must choose between love and money. Director/Choreographer Cynthia Thole appeared in the original Broadway revival of ME AND MY GIRL and transmits her familiarity with the show to an exuberant cast, led by engaging, talented Peabody native Joshua Holden.

In celebration of its 25 years on Broadway, Cameron Mackintosh brought forth a new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA for a North American Tour, now in its Boston premiere at the ornate Boston Opera House. Directed by Laurence Connor, with choreography by Scott Ambler, impressive set design by Paul Brown, Maria Bjornson's Tony Award-winning original costume design, and evocative lighting design by Paule Constable, the show is a visual spectacle that has enough magical effects to transport the audience to the Paris Opera House in the late 19th century.