Nancy Grossman - Page 8

Colorful and imaginative costumes, other-worldly lighting and sound effects, and a scenic design that combines magic with urban details, serve as the playground for the Lyric Stage Company's production of the 1975 Tony Award-winning Best Musical, THE WIZ, under the direction of Dawn M. Simmons. Helping her translate her vision of Oz, by way of New Orleans, are Music Director Allyssa Jones, fronting a vibrant eight-piece orchestra, and Jean Appolon, whose inventive choreography anthropomorphizes a tornado, a poppy field, and the eponymous Yellow Brick Road.

The Boston Theater Critics Association (BTCA) celebrated more than two dozen outstanding actors, directors, designers, and ensembles at The 36th Annual Elliot Norton Awards ceremony at the Huntington Avenue Theatre last night. The coveted Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence was presented to Leigh Barrett, Robert J. Eagle received a Special Citation in honor of his 50 years at Reagle Music Theatre, and the Guest of Honor Award went to internet sensation Randy Rainbow.

Israeli playwright Joshua Sobol, unable to find a theater in his home country, stages the world premiere production of THE LAST ACT at Boston's Israeli Stage Company. Producing Artistic Director Guy Ben-Aharon asserts the importance of engaging with the audience to spark thought and conversation, regardless of which side of the issue one might align with. A quartet of accomplished actors gives compelling performances that draw us into the personal drama, played out against a backdrop of the political divide between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Heart & Dagger Productions concludes its 8th season with Katie Bender's STILL, NOW, a mind-bending, non-linear play directed by Amy Meyer and providing a showcase for the talents of Kiki Samko. A young woman navigating the trials and tribulations of a stage four cancer diagnosis falls back on her experience with Butoh, a Japanese dance form meant to free the body from any confines.

Greater Boston Stage Company in Stoneham presents the Boston premiere of THE LEGEND OF GEORGIA MCBRIDE, a play with music about a not-so-great Elvis impersonator who finds success with a new calling involving lipstick, sequins, high heels, and specially-padded undergarments. If you subscribe to the philosophy that life is what happens when you're busy making other plans, then playwright Matthew Lopez makes a strong case for it.

LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! by Terrence McNally won the 1995 Tony Award for Best Play and, although much has changed in the ensuing twenty-four years since it opened at the Manhattan Theatre Club, as a slice of gay life, it withstands the test of time. On each of the three major summer weekends, eight gay male friends gather at one's sprawling lakeside country house in Dutchess County to dish, dine, and dance. President Bill Clinton was in his first term, the AIDS epidemic infiltrated every aspect of the gay community, and the fragility of life weighed on the hearts and minds of these close friends.

Ryan Landry mines the Old West and Old Hollywood for his new Gold Dust Orphans springtime musical. It's a fast ride on a runaway train with more kicks than a buckin' bronco. Old Orphans and new rally around Director Robin JaVonne Smith, stepping into the big boots of the late, beloved Larry Coen, and she hits the bullseye. Don't let a team of wild horses keep you from BROKELAHOMO!

Tony Award-nominated director Liesl Tommy (A RAISIN IN THE SUN, MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM, RUINED) returns to the Huntington Theatre Company to lead a stellar, diverse cast in prolific British playwright Caryl Churchill's TOP GIRLS. Written in 1982 as a diatribe against Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's anti-union administration in England, the themes of Churchill's outspoken feminist play remain relevant and all too familiar more than three decades later. In addition to choosing actors outside the box of white, British women, Liesl also fields a creative team of designers which is almost exclusively female.

Boston Playwrights' Theatre hosted the North American premiere of THE ROSENBERGS (AN OPERA) the past two weekends. It moves to Spingold Theater Center at Brandeis University for three performances next weekend. A co-production of Boston University and Brandeis, the opera features music by Joachim Holbek, libretto by Rhea Leman, and is directed by Dmitry Troyanovsky. Moving performances by Brian Church and Christie Lee Gibson breathe life into Julius and Ethel Rosenberg as real people who lived a tragic love story.

CABARET has stood the test of time and Moonbox Productions puts a time stamp on the 1966 musical that brings it into the here and now. Director/choreographer Rachel Bertone and Music Director Dan Rodriguez whip a kick-ass kick line of high steppers into a precision machine to evoke the seedy Kit Kat Klub, and triple threat performers Aimee Doherty, Phil Tayler, and Jared Troilo lead an outstanding cast.

Tony, Grammy, and Emmy Award-winning singer and actress Audra McDonald returned for her 7th appearance with the Celebrity Series on Friday night at Symphony Hall. Accompanied by a virtuoso trio of Brian Hertz on piano, Mark Vanderpoel on bass, and Gene Lewin on drums, she held the audience in her sway for close to 100 sublime, uninterrupted minutes.

Director Scott Edmiston has to thank the guy who wrote a taut adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize-winning play ANNA CHRISTIE, thus positioning him to lead a seamless production which combines inventive stagecraft, stunning design elements, and a group of actors who seem born to their roles. The fact that Edmiston is that guy who Lyric Stage Company enlisted to adapt the play is a tribute to his depth of knowledge about O'Neill and his ability to stay true to the playwright's themes, while making the work both accessible and relevant to a modern audience.

The Greater Boston Stage Company production of Christopher M. Walsh's MISS HOLMES is chock full of delightful elements. Producing Artistic Director Weylin Symes integrates minimalist and inventive stagecraft with a cast combining the usual suspects and a few first offenders for a spellbinding theatrical experience.

THE BAKELITE MASTERPIECE is the Boston area premiere of Kate Cayley's two-hander, directed by Jim Petosa, with stellar performances by Benjamin Evett and Laura Latreille. It is based on the true story of Dutch artist Han van Meegeren, a noted forger accused of treason for selling a long-lost Vermeer painting to the Nazis. He can only avoid death by proving that he is guilty of fraud.

THE THREEPENNY OPERA is a 20th century classic that is rarely performed by a professional opera company. Boston Lyric Opera and Director James Darrah have brought together an ensemble of artists whose acting skills and stellar vocal talents distinctively portray the cast of memorable characters and beautifully render Kurt Weill's jazzy score.

The National Tour of the 2016 Tony Award-winning play THE HUMANS makes its Boston debut at the Boch Center Shubert Theatre. Playwright Stephen Karam, a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, is well-known to local theater audiences from his dark comedy SONS OF THE PROPHET, and SPEECH AND DEBATE. With humor and heart, THE HUMANS offers an in-depth look at the foibles and fears of the members of one family and how they help each other survive in an increasingly unforgiving world.

SpeakEasy Stage Company presents Boston premiere of British playwright Duncan Macmillan's one-person show that explores depression with humor. Marianna Bassham directs Adrianne Krstansky in a brilliant performance as the daughter of a suicidal mother, who copes by creating a list of things worth living for. Audience engagement is part of the charm of this uplifting, life-affirming theatrical experience.

According to AMERICAN THEATRE magazine, Dominique Morisseau's SKELETON CREW is the third most-widely produced play of the 2017-2018 season at regional theaters nationwide. Huntington Theatre Company stages the timely final chapter of the playwright's Detroit trilogy, a powerful drama about the hardships suffered in the Motor City after the 2008 economic recession. Directed with care and great attention to detail by Megan Sandberg-Zakian, the family of workers at an auto plant try to stand their ground against the inevitable while maintaining their dignity and their connections to one another. Outstanding performances by Patricia R. Floyd, Jonathan Louis Dent, Toccarra Cash, and Maurice Emmanuel Parent.

STEVE is a character-driven play in which not much happens, but it is a humorous treatise on the lives of a couple of middle-aged gay couples who are exploring ways to enliven their 'post-passion' relationships. Right about now, we can all use a shot of humor, and whether one is gay or straight, there's much to recognize and connect with in the quotidian routines of these characters. In his first play, Mark Gerrard puts the spotlight on four good friends who face the challenges of kids, in-laws, boredom, infidelity, and mortality with various strategies and mixed results.

In the world premiere of BRAWLER at Boston Playwrights' Theatre, Walt McGough places the action in a hockey arena to explore what happens to an 'enforcer' who is demoted from the Boston Bruins to the minor league team in Providence. Can the former hero of the ice rink find an outlet for his violent urges and reclaim his life?