Boston Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 33

BWW REVIEW: Danger Lurks Beneath the Surface in OCEANSIDE
by Jan Nargi - March 08, 2015

The gripping undertow of a turbulent past threatens to drown the three main characters in OCEANSIDE, a searing new play by Nick Gandiello currently in its world premiere at Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell. Taut, terse and unrelenting, the play ebbs and flows with a deceivingly gentle rhythm un...

BWW REVIEW: The Con Is on in KING OF SECOND AVENUE
by Jan Nargi - March 06, 2015

New Repertory Theatre in Watertown revisits Yiddish Theatre with Robert Brustein's new Klezmer musical comedy THE KING OF SECOND AVENUE....

BWW Reviews: INTIMATE APPAREL Worn Close to the Heart
by Nancy Grossman - March 06, 2015

INTIMATE APPAREL is one woman's story of courage and resilience set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing America in early 20th century New York City. Under the direction of Summer L. Williams, who also directed Lynn Nottage's BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK at the Lyric Stage Company, INTIMATE APP...

BWW Reviews: THAT HOPEY CHANGEY THING: Calling Tina Fey
by Nancy Grossman - March 05, 2015

The first of four APPLE FAMILY PLAYS to be staged in collaboration between Stoneham Theatre and Gloucester Stage Company, THAT HOPEY CHANGEY THING has six quality Boston area actors who will stay with the project for the duration, but one hopes that the nutritional value of the plays going forward ...

BWW Reviews: GROUNDED Achieves Liftoff
by Nancy Grossman - March 03, 2015

Celeste Oliva gives a riveting, tour de force performance as The Pilot in George Brant's GROUNDED at the Nora Theatre Company, under the astute direction of Artistic Director Lee Mikeska Gardner. George Brant's play examines the life of one woman, prohibited from flying due to an unexpected pregnanc...

BWW Reviews: Six-Time Tony Award Winner Audra McDonald Returns to Celebrity Series
by Nancy Grossman - March 02, 2015

Audra McDonald has picked up two more Tony Awards since her last appearance at the Celebrity Series of Boston in 2011. Accompanied by her music director Andy Einhorn on piano, Gene Lewin on drums, and Dave Phillips on bass, McDonald gave the sold-out Symphony Hall audience an evening of stars, moon...

BWW Reviews: UNCLE JACK Distant Chekhov Relative
by Nancy Grossman - February 27, 2015

The Boston Center for American Performance and Boston Playwrights' Theatre co-production of Michael Hammond's comedy UNCLE JACK is a modern-day retelling of Chekhov's UNCLE VANYA relocated to a small summer theater in the Berkshire hills....

BWW Reviews: Feast On THE BIG MEAL At Zeitgeist Stage Company
by Nancy Grossman - February 24, 2015

THE BIG MEAL, the Boston area premiere of Dan LeFranc's play about the interactions of five generations of an extended family, is the kind of show that Zeitgeist Stage Company and Artistic Director David J. Miller feast upon - a character-driven ensemble piece that showcases the range of the actors,...

BWW REVIEW: Every Day's a Long Day for THE SECOND GIRL at the Huntington
by Jan Nargi - February 21, 2015

Downton Abbey meets Eugene O'Neill in Ronan Noone's new play THE SECOND GIRL, the story of what goes on in the servants' kitchen while O'Neill's fictional Tyrone family suffer through their very long day's journey into night upstairs....

BWW REVIEW: MOTOWN Shakes the Blues in Boston
by Jan Nargi - February 12, 2015

MOTOWN, Berry Gordy's self-aggrandizing tribute to the independent record label that fused gospel, blues, jazz, doo wop and country into a unique and wildly popular Detroit sound, is currently heating things up at the Boston Opera House through February 15....

BWW REVIEW: FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS Continues at A.R.T.
by Jan Nargi - February 10, 2015

An epic story is told on an intimate scale in Suzan-Lori Park's splendid mash-up of Civil War slavery and present-day racial strife....

BWW Reviews: A Bridge Rep Rep: Oreos and a Father-Son Car Ride
by Nancy Grossman - February 10, 2015

Bridge Repertory Theater of Boston continues its second season with shows two and three running in repertory. While seemingly very different, FUFU & OREOS and SIXTY MILES TO SILVER LAKE are linked by a common theme of struggling to navigate between two worlds. As the Boston theater community examine...

BWW Reviews: Into the Minds of Brown Box Theatre Project's ECHOES
by Alex Lonati - February 09, 2015

A dive into the haunting and kinetic production that was Brown Box Theatre Project's Echoes....

BWW REVIEW: AND BABY MAKES COMPLICATIONS IN "A FUTURE PERFECT" AT SPEAKEASY STAGE
by Jan Nargi - February 03, 2015

For thirty-something urban professionals grappling with balancing their personal lives with upwardly mobile careers, Ken Urban's A FUTURE PERFECT may feel timely and relevant. But for Boomers and one-time yuppies who are now the sandwich generation juggling the demands of work, college-bound childre...

BWW REVIEWS: FAMILIES AND POLITICS MIX IT UP ON BOSTON STAGES
by Jan Nargi - January 29, 2015

Boston area stages feature the kick-ass wit of Molly Ivins in RED HOT PATRIOT; Christopher Durang's hilarious mash-up of Chekhov and Snow White in VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE; the modern-day paranoia of cyber spy vs. spy in MUCKRAKERS; and the black comedy of two sons and a funeral in THE BE...

BWW Reviews: A CASE NAMED FREUD Completes Savyon Liebrecht's Trilogy
by Nancy Grossman - January 27, 2015

In commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 70th Anniversary of World War II, Goethe-Institut Boston's German Stage, in association with the Austrian Cultural Forum New York and Israeli Stage, presents the American Premiere of A CASE NAMED FREUD in five locations this week. T...

BWW Reviews: Imaginary Beasts Winter Panto: A Frog Prince Worthy of a Kiss
by Nancy Grossman - January 19, 2015

Matthew Woods and his Imaginary Beasts are back with their annual WINTER PANTO: KERPLOP! THE TALE OF THE FROG PRINCE, tickling the funny bones of the many children in the audience, while going over their heads to engage the adults who are along for the ride....

BWW REVIEW: O.P.C. Turns Trash into Treasure at A.R.T.
by Jan Nargi - December 19, 2014

One person's trash is another person's treasure in Eve Ensler's O.P.C., a socio-political comedy currently enjoying its world premiere at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Mass....

BWW REVIEW: Stoneham's MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS Is White Bread Americana
by Jan Nargi - December 11, 2014

Young Sirena Abalian of Lexington is the shining standout in an otherwise lackluster production of MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, Stoneham Theatre's misguided attempt to stage the bland Broadway version of the classic Judy Garland movie musical....

BWW REVIEW: Penny Fuller Delights in 13 THINGS ABOUT ED CARPOLOTTI
by Jan Nargi - December 10, 2014

Illustrious stage and screen actress Penny Fuller brings all of her charm and incandescence to Merrimack Repertory Theatre this holiday season in the lovely one-woman musical 13 THINGS ABOUT ED CARPOLOTTI....

BWW REVIEW: THE LITTLE PRINCE Takes Flight at New Rep
by Jan Nargi - December 08, 2014

The New Repertory Theatre in Watertown, Mass. harks back to a family classic for this season's holiday fare as THE LITTLE PRINCE takes the audience on an imaginative flight of fancy that teaches gentle lessons along the way....

BWW REVIEW: THE TALE OF THE ALLERGIST'S WIFE Suffers from Congestion at Lyric Stage in Boston
by Jan Nargi - December 03, 2014

Too much mishegas makes for a muddled tale of midlife meltdown in Charles Busch's first venture into mainstream comedy now at Boston's Lyric Stage through December 20....

BWW REVIEW: Cicely Tyson Makes a Joyful Noise in THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL
by Jan Nargi - December 01, 2014

Cicely Tyson reprises her Tony Award-winning role as Carrie Watts in Horton Foote's poignant American classic THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL now in its only east coast engagement at the Emerson/Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston, Mass. The ArtsEmerson World on Stage production continues through December 7....

BWW REVIEW: BAD JEWS Set Off Sparks at SpeakEasy Stage
by Jan Nargi - November 28, 2014

If watching family members spew venom at each other for 100 uninterrupted minutes is your idea of holiday cheer, then by all means head on over to SpeakEasy Stage Company this Thanksgiving weekend for a visit with BAD JEWS....

BWW Reviews: Chilling Set in Actors Shakespeare Project's PHEDRE
by Alex Lonati - November 24, 2014

Actors Shakespeare Project's production of Phedre, which took place at the First Church of Boston, a highly descriptive and heightened diatribe of a play....