Boston Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 31

BWW Reviews: Magic Really Exists in HJT'S ALADDIN
by Kristen Morale - July 20, 2015

Ever since I attended my first production at the wonderful Harwich Junior Theater a few months ago, I have consistently been amazed by what has appeared on that stage then and thereafter. The shows never disappoint, and I never cease to be impressed by how talented the involved actors of all ages pr...

BWW Reviews: Monomoy Theater's LEND ME A TENOR
by Kristen Morale - July 16, 2015

Directed by Francesca James, Lend Me a Tenor is beyond brought - it is more like jolted to life in Monomoy's current production of Ken Ludwig's Tony-winning comedy, and to say that it is anything but brilliant this time around is a severe understatement. It is one of the only productions I have seen...

BWW REVIEW: Stellar Cast Wanders OFF THE MAIN ROAD in Williamstown
by Jan Nargi - July 15, 2015

Small-town life is anything but a picnic in William Inge's newly discovered, previously unproduced play OFF THE MAIN ROAD currently receiving its decades-delayed world premiere at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in the Berkshires. This dense and diffuse melodrama meanders through a forest of darkn...

BWW Reviews: HERSHEY FELDER AS IRVING BERLIN: A NEW MUSICAL PLAY
by Nancy Grossman - July 12, 2015

ArtsEmerson: The World on Stage presents the East Coast Premiere of HERSHEY FELDER AS IRVING BERLIN: A NEW MUSICAL PLAY at the Emerson/Cutler Majestic Theatre. Performances have been extended through August 2nd for this feel-good evening of just over two dozen selections from Berlin's vast catalogue...

BWW Reviews: DROWSY We Are Not!
by Kristen Morale - July 12, 2015

Now, to continue in the tradition of giving each of us the theatrical experience we truly relish and yearn for this time of year (if not always!), the Playhouse brings a stellar production of five-time Tony Award Winner The Drowsy Chaperone to a Cape Cod audience, and let me just put it out there no...

BWW REVIEW: Ogunquit's VICTOR/VICTORIA Says Vive la Difference
by Jan Nargi - July 08, 2015

VICTOR/VICTORIA's gender-bending exploration of sexual identity and orientation may have seemed fresh, even daring, in 1982, but by the time it hit Broadway in 1995 it was already a bit tame. Today in a 20th anniversary production at Maine's Ogunquit Playhouse, it feels downright quaint when compare...

BWW Review: Butterscott Presents The Slick Overproduced Commercial Pop Thing
by Tory Gates - July 07, 2015

...there is musical professionalism amidst the madness....

BWW Reviews: MULLINGAR OF OUR MINDS
by Kristen Morale - July 04, 2015

So saying, the plot of John Patrick Shanley's Outside Mullingar shows just disheartening it is when four characters are discovered to have been strangers for so long due to those undisclosed feelings that have eaten away at their souls for so long; when the time for changes arises, the obstacles whi...

BWW REVIEW: Peace Eludes THOREAU in Return to Walden at BTG
by Jan Nargi - July 01, 2015

In THOREAU, a world premiere play written by and starring Berkshire Theatre Group's David Adkins, the renowned author, philosopher and activist returns to Walden in search of peace but can't escape his own inner anguish over the horrors of slavery and the execution of abolitionist John Brown....

BWW Reviews: HJT's THE MUSIC MAN
by Kristen Morale - June 30, 2015

Harwich Junior Theater, a group that boasts productions of ten plays and musicals each year, numerous community outreach and educational programs and a variety of other annual events, is sure to amaze audiences with its current production. Performing such a well-known musical work and presenting it ...

BWW REVIEW: Dancers Bring Something Extra to NEWSIES National Tour
by Jan Nargi - June 29, 2015

A lot may seem familiar in Disney's Broadway musical NEWSIES now on tour in Boston, but the dancing chorus of a dozen or so able-bodied newsboys makes this production soar....

BWW Reviews: The Academy of Performing Arts' SWEET CHARITY
by Kristen Morale - June 26, 2015

When I sit down to write a review of a show I've recently seen, I am more often than not tempted to write about the profound storyline of that show, or perhaps the added depth a playwright might add to his plot to make it rather abstract and therefore open to mass interpretation by audiences. I conf...

BWW REVIEW: Company One Hits Bull's-Eye with EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS
by Jan Nargi - June 24, 2015

Three abandoned but not lost souls find strength in each other in A. Rey Pamatmat's quirky but penetrating comedy EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM at Company One in Boston....

BWW Reviews: Into the Home of Happy Medium Theatre's DYING CITY
by Alex Lonati - June 24, 2015

Happy Medium's production of DYING CITY by Christopher Shinn was the first hyper realistic piece I've seen in the private home of those performing....

BWW Reviews: Cape Playhouse's THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN
by Kristen Morale - June 22, 2015

How does one go about explaining what playwright Eric Coble describes as "the speed of the end?" Assuming a person knows what the end looks like and how it will come about, the mere realization that each of our lives will someday end and that we must deal with the complete decay of who each of us on...

BWW Reviews: New Plays and Lovely Ladies in Boston Public Works Theater Company's THREE
by Alex Lonati - June 16, 2015

Boston Public Works Theater Company's production of THREE, a new play by Emily Kaye Lazzaro...

BWW Reviews: Boston Gay Men's Chorus and Laura Benanti SMILE at Symphony Hall
by Nancy Grossman - June 15, 2015

The Boston Gay Men's Chorus annual Pride concert on Sunday at Symphony Hall featured Special Guest Laura Benanti, the Tony Award-winning singer/actress, also known to television audiences for her roles on "Nashville" and "The Good Wife." In a program with selections ranging from musical theater grea...

BWW REVIEW: Dream Cast Ignites DREAMGIRLS at NSMT
by Jan Nargi - June 14, 2015

Director Nick Kenkel has made lightning strike a second time at North Shore Music Theatre with his dazzling and definitive production of DREAMGIRLS. Blessed with a dream design team and a tremendously talented cast of triple threats, Kenkel has dug beneath the glitz and the glamour of the American m...

BWW REVIEW: Great Lyric Cast Charms in LIGHT UP THE SKY
by Jan Nargi - June 13, 2015

Boston theatrical royalty brightens Lyric Stage Company's LIGHT UP THE SKY, Moss Hart's classic comic valentine to the divos and divas of the stage....

BWW Reviews: HJT's THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL
by Kristen Morale - June 09, 2015

Celebrating sixty four years since Betty Bobp founded a group which would come to welcome theater aficionados of all ages to join and take part in the beauty of the dramatic arts, followed by Producing Artistic Director Nina Schuessler's dedication to creating a year-round educational venue on the C...

BWW Reviews: New England Premiere of SWEET AND SAD at Gloucester Stage
by Nancy Grossman - June 01, 2015

Gloucester Stage opens its 36th season with the second play of Richard Nelson's four-part American epic collectively known as THE APPLE FAMILY PLAYS. Collaborating with Stoneham Theatre, each company will produce two of the plays between this year and next under the direction of Stoneham's Producing...

BWW Reviews: A NIGHT IN HAVANA
by Kristen Morale - June 04, 2015

Judging by the immense talent that graced the stage at the Wareham theater Saturday night, it is without doubt that Buzzards Play Productions founder Janice Rogers is beyond thrilled with her choice to treat this one audience to an eclectic and exciting selection of wonderful music from some very ta...

BWW Reviews: THE HOW AND THE WHY Opens the Season at Shakespeare & Company in the Berkshires
by Karen Bovard - June 01, 2015

Plays about brainy and complex women are way too scarce. Sarah Treem-known for her work on cable shows like THE AFFAIR, IN TREATMENT, and HOUSE OF CARDS-has given us a new one which provides two great roles, plenty of emotional punch, some terrific lines, and lots to think about....

BWW Reviews: FAILURE: A LOVE STORY
by Kristen Morale - May 26, 2015

The idea of love and what is meant to come of it usually implies a happy ending for the woman who falls in love with her soul-mate, or for the man who couldn't imagine a life without the daily practice of bestowing affection upon his beloved. Love is meant to bring out the best in people and allow t...

BWW Reviews: Stoneham Theatre's Recipe for $uccess
by Nancy Grossman - May 25, 2015

Director/choreographer Ilyse Robbins reigns as chair of the board over a company of established pros and starry-eyed up-and-comers in Stoneham Theatre's effervescent HOW TO $UCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING. Tyler Bradley Indyck and Ephie Aardema make beautiful music together, Angelo McDonou...