Boston Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 35

BWW REVIEW: CLOSER THAN EVER Opens Door to Directing for Leigh Barrett
by Jan Nargi - September 22, 2014

Leigh Barrett, one of Boston's most formidable musical theater talents, makes an impressive professional directorial debut with New Repertory Theatre's CLOSER THAN EVER....

BWW Reviews: Latest Tour is LION KING Light
by Nancy Grossman - September 20, 2014

The national tour of THE LION KING returns to kick off the 10th Broadway In Boston season at the Boston Opera House, most fittingly as the musical reopened the venue following its historic renovation in 2004. Some of the effects have diminished over the years, but the opening night audience roared i...

BWW Reviews: All-Star Roster Brings the Bard to Fenway Park
by Nancy Grossman - September 20, 2014

It was a winning night at Fenway Park for the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and the hometown fans as they celebrated with an all-star roster for SHAKESPEARE AT FENWAY. The one-night event had comedy, tragedy, and some extra excitement (not unlike the Red Sox) for a great start to CSC's 20th anniv...

BWW REVIEW: Christopher Chew Is Razor Sharp in Lyric's SWEENEY TODD
by Jan Nargi - September 15, 2014

Revenge is anything but sweet in the Lyric Stage Company of Boston's compelling, often gut-wrenching take on Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's musical masterpiece about Victorian London's notorious demon barber of Fleet Street....

BWW REVIEW: Ogunquit Brews Up Another Winner with WITCHES OF EASTWICK
by Jan Nargi - September 10, 2014

Ogunquit continues its 'high-flying' 82nd season with the American Northeast premiere of Cameron Mackintosh's THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK, a musical adaptation based on John Updike's novel and the 1987 Warner Brothers hit motion picture....

BWW Reviews: August Wilson's FENCES Is a Solid Base Hit
by Nancy Grossman - August 27, 2014

Gloucester Stage Company concludes its 35th season with Pulitzer Prize-winning drama FENCES, the sixth in August Wilson's ten-play chronicle of 20th century American history from the perspective of African-Americans. In Director Eric C. Engel's production that strives to illustrate the universal nat...

BWW Reviews: A Very Chekhovian VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE at Shakespeare & Co
by Larry Murray - August 22, 2014

For those who think that Christopher Durang's popular VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE is a strawhat comedy, this production proves it's goat real heart too, just as in any Chekhov play....

BWW REVIEW: FINDING NEVERLAND Needs to Find Its Voice
by Jan Nargi - August 17, 2014

Just as central character J. M. Barrie needs to find his true voice in order to break through the writer's block that is hampering his playwriting career, FINDING NEVERLAND, the new musical about the family that inspired the beleaguered author to create Peter Pan, needs to find its voice, too. Teete...

BWW Reviews: Let's Talk About Language with Bad Habit Productions' TRANSLATIONS
by Alex Lonati - August 15, 2014

Translations, directed by M. Bevin O'Gara, takes place in 1833 rural Ireland, with most of the action occurring in a school whose adult students often discuss incorporating English into their studies and other methods of furthering themselves in a constantly changing world. Soon, British soldiers co...

BWW Reviews: Enthralling DANCING LESSONS at Barrington Stage Co.
by Larry Murray - August 14, 2014

When a professor with Asperger's Syndrome needs DANCING LESSONS, he meets an injured dancer, and they both find life lessons in this uplifting and romantic comedy....

BWW REVIEW: Gail Bennett Leads Ogunquit's MARY POPPINS in the Most Delightful Way
by Jan Nargi - August 13, 2014

Ogunquit Playhouse in Ogunquit, Maine is on a roll, following its thrilling, record-breaking production of BILLY ELLIOT with another beloved British musical import, Disney and Cameron Mackintosh's MARY POPPINS. Featuring a terrific cast, crisp, thoughtful direction by Shaun Kerrison, and energetic c...

BWW Reviews: Nancy E. Carroll is Worth the Journey to 4000 MILES at Gloucester Stage Company
by Nancy Grossman - August 10, 2014

Playwright Amy Herzog's 4000 MILES is a slice-of-life drama that observes a month in the relationship between a 91-year old grandmother (Nancy E. Carroll) and her 21-year old grandson Leo (Tom Rash) who drops in on her in the middle of the night at the end of a harrowing cross-country bicycle trip. ...

BWW Reviews: Chita Rivera Makes it Worth THE VISIT to Williamstown Theatre Festival
by Nancy Grossman - August 07, 2014

Broadway legend Chita Rivera makes her Williamstown Theatre Festival debut opposite Festival favorite and former Artistic Director Roger Rees in the newest incarnation of Kander and Ebb's THE VISIT, the musical based on the 1956 tragicomedy by Swiss playwright Friedrich Durrenmatt, with book by Terr...

BWW Reviews: PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES Makes a Pit Stop at Cape Playhouse
by Nancy Grossman - August 05, 2014

PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES is a country music revue that feels right at home in the big old barn that is the Cape Playhouse in Dennis. It offers up rockin' music, folksy charm, and good home cookin' with a cast of six who sing, dance, and play a variety of instruments....

BWW REVIEWS: Two Bawdy Romances Brighten Boston's Summer
by Jan Nargi - August 04, 2014

The Nora Theatre's HER ACHING HEART and Commonwealth Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT are the theatrical equivalents of light summer reading, and both deliver spirited romance for a mid-summer night....

BWW Reviews: The Most Twisted Bedtime Story with Circuit Theatre Company's THE ANNOTATED HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MUSKRAT
by Alex Lonati - August 04, 2014

You don't go into a show called The Annotated History of the American Muskrat without some very specific preconceptions. While you may have no idea what the piece is actually going to be about, you know it's probably safe to say that it isn't about to be your standard Tennessee Williams drama. The C...

BWW Reviews: CREATIVE LICENSE: A NEW MUSICAL
by Nancy Grossman - July 28, 2014

Writer/director Kevin Cirone's labor of love is having its world premiere in the subterranean Davis Square Theater in Somerville. Good musical variety and an ensemble of eager, committed actors are among the positive attributes, but character development and storyline need some fine-tuning....

BWW Reviews: Explosive FOOL FOR LOVE at Williamstown Theatre Festival
by Larry Murray - July 28, 2014

Nina Arianda and Sam Rockwell team up as May and Eddie in Sam Shepard's FOOL FOR LOVE at the Willliamstown Theatre Festival and the fireworks on stage are spectacular to watch. Daniel Aucin directs this visceral production....

BWW Reviews: Intelligent Laughter at Hub Theatre's COMPLETE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE [ABRIDGED]
by Alex Lonati - July 25, 2014

The Hub Theatre Company of Boston is presenting The Complete Works of Shakespeare [Abridged], a hilarious, highly physical, wacky portrayal of all of the Bard's plays originally conceived by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield....

BWW Reviews: Revealing BREAKING THE CODE at Barrington Stage Co
by Larry Murray - July 23, 2014

A rethinking of the 1986 biographical play by Hugh Whitemore about mathematician and computing innovator Alan Turing who was instrumental in solving the Nazi's Enigma Code yet was vilified as a homosexual and chemically castrated before ultimately being pardoned 60 years after his death. A swirling ...

BWW Reviews: Thomas Hampson: An American Hero at Tanglewood
by Erica Miner - July 22, 2014

Few vocal performers of our day are as closely identified with American classical music as this renowned artist....

BWW Reviews: The Trumpet Shall Sound - Håkan Hardenberger Conquers Tanglewood
by Erica Miner - July 21, 2014

The Boston Symphony Orchestra's Saturday, July 19 offering at the Koussevitzky Music Shed, as Latvian-born Music Director designate Andris Nelsons helmed Swedish composer Rolf Martinsson's Bridge, Trumpet Concerto No. 1, with Swedish trumpet soloist Hakan Hardenberger...

BWW Reviews: Many Mediums Make for a Spectacle in Company One's ASTRO BOY AND THE GOD OF COMICS
by Alex Lonati - July 20, 2014

Telling the story of popular Japanese cartoon, Astro Boy, and his creator, Osamu Tezuka, the piece utilizes more mediums than I ever imagined possible for a stage piece. Not only were projections used, but controlled animation, live drawing, vocal effects, puppetry, and combinations of all of the ab...

BWW Reviews: Gloucester Stage Toasts AULD LANG SYNE
by Nancy Grossman - July 18, 2014

Gloucester Stage Company presents the Boston area premiere of Jack Neary's AULD LANG SYNE, an uneven vehicle driven by stellar performances from Paula Plum and Richard Snee, under the direction of Douglas Lockwood....

BWW REVIEW: THE LITTLE MERMAID IS IN FINE VOICE AT NSMT
by Jan Nargi - July 18, 2014

Charming performances, strong music, and inventive staging create an undersea paradise for Disney's THE LITTLE MERMAID at North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, Mass....