Nancy Grossman - Page 21

PATTERN OF LIFE asks a lot of questions and challenges the audience to search for their own answers. In this play about life and death, McGough exposes a situation that most of us have not thought about very much and asks us to put ourselves in the other person's sandals. Director Bridget O'Leary and the cast of Nael Nacer and Lewis D. Wheeler focus on the human aspect of the story.

Good music stands the test of time and the Gloucester Stage Company celebrates its 35th Anniversary Season by revisiting one of their most requested productions. JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS still shows a lot of life more than 45 years since its off-Broadway debut. A quartet of polished actor-singers reveals the heart and soul in Brel's music and the brilliant complexity of his lyrics.

Huntington Playwriting Fellow Lydia Diamond delves into uncharted territory in her provocative new comedy having its world premiere at the Huntington Theatre Company under the direction of Artistic Director Peter DuBois. She introduces four incredibly smart Ivy Leaguers who dare to budge the boundaries of polite conversation about racism by posing the question of whether our beliefs and prejudices are hard-wired.

They don't make 'em like this anymore, so book your passage to Reagle Music Theatre in Waltham for an enchanted evening at SOUTH PACIFIC. Director David Hugo returns and sets the bar high with topnotch performances from Katie Clark, Peter S. Adams, and an ensemble of enlisted men and women who know their way around the terrific Rodgers and Hammerstein score.

Bridge Repertory Theater of Boston concludes its first season with Johnna Adams' timely play about the aftermath of a traumatic school event. Noted Boston actor Karen MacDonald directs Olivia D'Ambrosio and Deb Martin in two stunning, emotional performances, challenging the audience to choose sides and try to untie the storyline's Gordian knot.

Hershey Felder returns to ArtsEmerson for his third solo musical theater piece after charming and enlightening local audiences with GEORGE GERSHWIN ALONE and MAESTRO: LEONARD BERNSTEIN in recent years. This time he departs from staging the lives of genius composers to delve into the tragic death of a giant of American history by blending Civil War-era songs and first-person stories in an imaginative retelling of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

THE SECRET GARDEN needs a good dose of Miracle-Gro to overcome a lack of vitality. A beautiful, lush score is weighed down by the sluggishness of the tale and static direction. The company has the vocals to do justice to the music and several performers shine, but this garden has a dearth of color.

The Boston Theater Critics' Association hosted the 32nd anniversary presentation of the Elliot Norton Awards last night at the Wheelock Family Theatre. Barely before people were in their seats, the tap dancing ensemble of Stoneham Theatre's THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, led by Ephie Aardema, shuffled, ball changed, and kicked off the festivities. An enthusiastic Joyce Kulhawik, President of the BTCA, took the podium as Master of Ceremonies to introduce a parade of fellow critics and past winners as presenters, as well as two more nominated musical performances later in the program.

All hell breaks loose in CARRIE THE MUSICAL at SpeakEasy Stage Company thanks to a match made in heaven between The Boston Conservatory's rising junior Elizabeth Erardi and local diva Kerry A. Dowling as the tormented teen and her fanatical mother. Directed by Paul Melone with Musical Direction by Nicholas James Connell and Choreography by Larry Sousa, the much talked-about musical will give you plenty to talk about.

Feminist fantasy about three time-traveling Victorian-era women who set out to explore 'Terra Incognita' is playwright Eric Overmyer's paean to language and the art of the spoken word. His craftsmanship as a writer is on display in ON THE VERGE, but the quartet of accomplished, committed actors aren't enough to keep everyone onboard until the end of the ride.

America's Orchestra opened its 129th spring season with Keith Lockhart conducting and Jason Alexander as special guest artist. Best known as Seinfeld's best buddy George Costanza, the Tony Award-winning Alexander is a consummate showman and offered a celebration of Broadway music to complement the Pops' selections by American masters from Copland to Ellington to Gershwin.

The Reduced Shakespeare Company finally tackles the subject of comedy, condensing the complete history (abridged) into a concise two-hour package that doesn't miss a trick. From cavemen to clowns, shtick to Stooges, and Seinfeld to the Supreme Court, there's something for everyone in the myriad sketches offered up by this trio of talented comedians. With the exception of the mention of a few of George Carlin's infamous seven words, THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF COMEDY (ABRIDGED) at Merrimack Repertory Theatre is good family entertainment and the kids might even learn to appreciate the pioneers of the art form.

GOOD TELEVISION proves that live theater makes everything better, even reality television. First time playwright Rod McLachlan creates complex characters and focuses on their diverse motivations in this authentic take at Zeitgeist Stage Company. Artistic Director David J. Miller seamlessly directs an ensemble of eight actors who give fully-realized performances and bring us behind the scenes of a fictionalized intervention-style show.

There's something beautifully poetic in juxtaposing two current offerings by small theater companies in Boston. Bad Habit Productions celebrates ambitious women in Caryl Churchill's TOP GIRLS at the Boston Center for the Arts, while Ryan Landry and the Gold Dust Orphans are light years removed from Walt Disney in SNOW WHITE AND THE 7 BOTTOMS at Machine Nightclub in the shadow of Fenway Park.

Solo performance piece written and performed by James Fluhr (Boston University CFA '11), OUR LADY was created as a response to hate and homophobia, as well as to reveal the author's own coming out story. It is a moving, riveting mixed media theatrical event playing as part of the Next Rep Black Box Festival at New Repertory Theatre.

Huntington Theatre Company playwright-in-residence Melinda Lopez collaborates with Director M. Bevin O'Gara to bring BECOMING CUBA to the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts. Rich in historical content, the play is set in Havana in 1897 in the midst of the Cuban War of Independence (Spanish-American War), and features beautiful writing, fully-realized characters, and evocative design elements.

Stoneham Theatre presents the world premiere of Michael Aman's THE UNBLEACHED AMERICAN, a play about Ernest Hogan, the "father of ragtime." A long forgotten African American musical innovator, Hogan attained great success before tumbling into infamy. This important story imagines his relationship with an Irish immigrant nurse charged with caring for him in the final months of his life at the turn of the 20th century.

Whistler in the Dark Theatre is calling it a day, but not before staging one final play that will challenge their audience. Concluding their season celebrating Caryl Churchill, the Whistlers are fading out with the dystopian fable FAR AWAY.

Fort Point Theatre Channel pairs Samuel Beckett's KRAPP'S LAST TAPE with THE ARCHIVES by local playwright Skylar Fox for an engaging double bill. Steven Barkhimer in the former and Sally Nutt, Allison Smith, and Karin Trachtenberg in the latter all give quality performances in two one-acts that reflect on memory, regret, and preservation.

Tony Award-winning composer-lyricist Jason Robert Brown is the Blodgett Artist in Residence at the Harvard University Department of Music for the spring term and he gave the equivalent of a master class last night at Oberon. In a seventy-five minute performance, Brown served a buffet of delicious morsels from his musical theater canon and had the audience eating out of his hand.