Boston Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 13

BWW Review: A HUMAN BEING, OF A SORT at Williamstown Theatre Festival Examines the Complex Notion of Freedom
by Marc Savitt - July 05, 2019

A HUMAN BEING, OF A SORT represents an examination of what may lie beneath the surface. It suggests we look more closely at a reality complicated by context. It presents many of the paradoxes seemingly present in human interaction. It is a period piece but also quite timely and relevant. We find ou...

BWW Review: TEA AT FIVE: Light Repast
by Nancy Grossman - July 02, 2019

Playwright Matthew Lombardo revisits his 2002 play as a one-act solo vehicle for Faye Dunaway, now receiving a pre-Broadway premiere at the Huntington Avenue Theatre in Boston. Attractive design elements evoke the Old Saybrook, Connecticut world of Katharine Hepburn, but neither the script nor the s...

BWW Review: A RAISIN IN THE SUN at Williamstown Theatre Festival Breathes New Life into An American Classic
by Marc Savitt - July 02, 2019

Directed by Obie Award winner Robert O'Hara, Hansberry's fearless interrogation of hope in the face of racial and economic strife is as provocative and powerful today as when it premiered. In the hands of this talented team, the issues the younger family faces transcend traditional lines and disti...

BWW Review: 42ND STREET at Ogunquit Playhouse: That's a WOW!
by Nancy Grossman - June 30, 2019

There's an unmistakeable sound of thunder emanating from the Ogunquit Playhouse these days, commencing with the rhythmic pounding of nearly two dozen pairs of feet, and ending in a crescendo of audience applause. It is not fulsome praise to give DirectorChoreographer Randy Skinner multiple huzzahs a...

BWW Review: Dionne Warwick at the Cabot Theatre: Timeless After All These Years
by Nancy Grossman - June 29, 2019

A year shy of its 100th birthday, the Cabot Theatre in Beverly, a North Shore treasure for the performing arts, presented multiple Grammy Award-winning recording artist Dionne Warwick in concert before a sold-out house on Friday night. Now in the sixth decade of her singing career, Warwick and her v...

BWW Review: OUTSIDE MULLINGAR at Berkshire Theatre Group Charms Audiences with a Delightful and Refreshing Evening's Entertainment.
by Marc Savitt - July 01, 2019

In a time when most of us are tied to and dependent on electronic devices, and we are bombarded by messages, tweets, compressed news cycles, and Fear Of Missing Out, it is rare that we have an opportunity to step-back, disconnect, decompress, and focus simply on the people and things that really mat...

BWW Review: INTO THE WOODS at Barrington Stage Company is a Delightful Journey Well Worth Going On.
by Marc Savitt - June 26, 2019

INTO THE WOODS opened on Broadway over 30 years ago. It has since been revived several times, adapted into a Disney Film, and presented by countless regional and community theatres as well as school groups. If you are thinking, "been there - done that" and there is no reason to see this presentati...

BWW Review: PRIVATE LIVES Offers a Taste of Throwback Theatre at Dorset Theatre Festival
by Marc Savitt - June 23, 2019

Despite the valiant efforts of the cast, a strikingly handsome set, and beautiful costumes, PRIVATE LIVES will not be (pardon the pun) everyone's cup of tea. The material is dated and generally appeals most to an older audience segment and those who long for the days of Fred Astaire and Ginger Roge...

BWW Review: AMERICA V. 2.1: THE SAD DEMISE & EVENTUAL EXTINCTION OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO at Barrington Stage Company Packs far more than a 1 - 2 Punch.
by Marc Savitt - June 23, 2019

This bold, brave, important, timely, and highly relevant story is a cautionary tale. In the spirit of Brave New World, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451 it is set in a dystopian society but as Playwright Stacey Rose, who was awarded the grand prize in BSC's Bonnie & Terry Burman New Play Award of 2019 for t...

BWW Review: A Nimble BAREFOOT IN THE PARK at Gloucester Stage Company
by Nancy Grossman - June 18, 2019

Gloucester Stage Company opens its 40th Anniversary Season with a nostalgic romp in the park, specifically Neil Simon's 1963 hit play, BAREFOOT IN THE PARK. Pairing McCaela Donovan and Joe Short (who are married in real life) as the young newlyweds moving from their blissful six-day honeymoon into a...

BWW Review: MISS SAIGON at Citizen's Bank Opera House
by David Tompkins - June 15, 2019

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BWW Review: YERMA: Tragic Tale of a Woman's Obsession
by Nancy Grossman - June 14, 2019

YERMA, a play with music, adapted and translated by Melinda Lopez from Spanish poet/playwright Federico Garcia Lorca's 1934 work, is receiving its world premiere by the Huntington Theatre Company at the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts. On press night, in the age-old tradition o...

BWW Review: OKLAHOMA! at North Shore Music Theatre
by David Tompkins - June 06, 2019

Oklahoma! is the first musical written by the team of composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in farm country outside the town of Claremore, Indian Territory, in 1906, it tells the story of farm girl Laur...

BWW Review: N. E. Premiere of THE VIEW UPSTAIRS Coincides With LGBTQ Pride Month
by Nancy Grossman - June 05, 2019

Just in time for LGBTQ Pride Month, and on the cusp of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, SpeakEasy Stage Company presents the New England premiere of the Off-Broadway musical THE VIEW UPSTAIRS in the Plaza Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts. Inspired by a little-known historical ev...

BWW Review: HOLD THESE TRUTHS at Barrington Stage Company compels audiences to ask: Is this MY America?
by Marc Savitt - June 02, 2019

Processing the powerful piece of theatre and important lesson in American History / civics HOLD THESE TRUTHS provides, the phrase: 'those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it' comes to mind. Particularly considering the relatively low level of coverage and general knowledge of this...

BWW Review: THE NATURE PLAYS: World Premiere at Mount Auburn Cemetery
by Nancy Grossman - May 31, 2019

Playwright Patrick Gabridge, the 2018-2019 Mount Auburn Cemetery Artist-in-Residence, creates a series of site-specific plays which focus on the natural world of the 175-acre landscaped jewel in the heart of Cambridge. Five short plays inspired by and staged at various locales throughout the cemeter...

BWW Review: THE WAVERLY GALLERY Opens Shakespeare & Company's 2019 Season with A Loud and Resounding WOW!
by Marc Savitt - May 29, 2019

It is a challenge to convey in words the power, importance and relevance of this production. Even harder still, the impact it has on audience members. What I can and will say is that it should not be missed and, be sure to be present and attentive to the inspiring message in the closing line....

BWW Review: THE GOAT OR, WHO IS SYLVIA? Provides a Rich and Powerful Opening to the 91st Season at Berkshire Theatre Group
by Marc Savitt - May 28, 2019

THE GOAT OR, WHO IS SYLVIA? Is a quick paced juxtaposition of humor within rage, anger, and conflict all wrapped up in the trappings of civility. It forces us to look between the blurred lines between love / sex / emotions; connections / physical / emotional; normative behavior - the "supposed to" ...

BWW Review: WE LIVE IN CAIRO: You Say You Want a Revolution
by Nancy Grossman - May 25, 2019

Brothers Daniel and Patrick Lazour have found a creative home at the American Repertory Theater for the world premiere of their musical WE LIVE IN CAIRO. In collaboration with Director Taibi Magar and Choreographer Samar Haddad King, the Lazours have continued to develop the book, music, and lyrics ...

BWW Review: PACIFIC OVERTURES: Lyric Stage's Sondheim Finale
by Nancy Grossman - May 15, 2019

Over the course of the last twenty years, Producing Artistic Director Spiro Veloudos has been a man with a mission. During that time period, he has systematically presented the works of composer Stephen Sondheim at the Lyric Stage Company, beginning with ASSASSINS in the 1998-1999 season, and conclu...

BWW Review: Israeli Stage Bows Out With N.E. Premiere of THE RETURN
by Nancy Grossman - May 13, 2019

Even as Artistic Director and Founder Guy Ben-Aharon rings down the curtain on Israeli Stage after nine seasons, his final offering draws back the curtain to give us a peek at the human collateral damage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Playwrights Hanna Eady and Edward Mast's collaboration on T...

BWW Review: KINKY BOOTS at Emerson Colonial Theatre
by David Tompkins - May 09, 2019

Often when you go to a Broadway show you want to be challenged, enthralled, and blown away. Other times, as Cindy Lauper says in her hit song 'Girls just want to have fun'. Ms. Lauper's 'Kinky Boots' falls under the latter category and that's ok because it is just that, a really, fun and enjoyable s...

BWW Review: OPENING NIGHT AT BOSTON POPS WITH BERNADETTE PETERS
by Nancy Grossman - May 09, 2019

Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Orchestra opened the 134th Spring Pops season with a 50th anniversary tribute to the watershed events of the summer of 1969, two stunning short films, a homegrown astronaut, and a celestial Broadway legend. Commencing with the 'Opening Fanfare' from Strauss' Also S...

BWW Review: SCHOOL GIRLS; OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY: Light Privilege
by Nancy Grossman - May 08, 2019

SpeakEasy Stage Company presents the New England premiere of the 2018 Lucille Lortel Award-winner for Outstanding Play (tie), Jocelyn Bioh's SCHOOL GIRLS; OR, THE AFRICAN MAN GIRLS PLAY, directed by Summer L. Williams. A Ghanaian-American playwright, Bioh sets the play in 1986 at a top boarding scho...