Nancy Grossman - Page 21

Nancy Grossman

From producing and starring in family holiday pageants as a child, to avid member of Broadway Across America and Show of the Month Club, Nancy has cultivated her love of the art and respect for the craft of theatre. She fulfilled a dream when she became an adult-onset tap dancer in the early 90's ("Gotta dance!"); she fulfills another by providing reviews for BroadwayWorld.com. Nancy is a member of the Boston Theater Critics Association, the organization which bestows the annual Elliot Norton Awards which honor the outstanding achievements of the Boston theater community, and she formerly served on the Executive Board of the Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE). Nancy is an alumna of Syracuse University, has a graduate degree from Boston University, and is a retired Probation Officer-in-Charge in the Massachusetts Trial Court system.
 






BWW Review: JACQUES BREL Comes Alive at Gloucester Stage Company
BWW Review: JACQUES BREL Comes Alive at Gloucester Stage Company
June 19, 2014

Good music stands the test of time and the Gloucester Stage Company celebrates its 35th Anniversary Season by revisiting one of their most requested productions. JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS still shows a lot of life more than 45 years since its off-Broadway debut. A quartet of polished actor-singers reveals the heart and soul in Brel's music and the brilliant complexity of his lyrics.

BWW Review: Smart Money is on Lydia Diamond's SMART PEOPLE
BWW Review: Smart Money is on Lydia Diamond's SMART PEOPLE
June 16, 2014

Huntington Playwriting Fellow Lydia Diamond delves into uncharted territory in her provocative new comedy having its world premiere at the Huntington Theatre Company under the direction of Artistic Director Peter DuBois. She introduces four incredibly smart Ivy Leaguers who dare to budge the boundaries of polite conversation about racism by posing the question of whether our beliefs and prejudices are hard-wired.

BWW Review: There is Nothin' Like SOUTH PACIFIC
BWW Review: There is Nothin' Like SOUTH PACIFIC
June 15, 2014

They don't make 'em like this anymore, so book your passage to Reagle Music Theatre in Waltham for an enchanted evening at SOUTH PACIFIC. Director David Hugo returns and sets the bar high with topnotch performances from Katie Clark, Peter S. Adams, and an ensemble of enlisted men and women who know their way around the terrific Rodgers and Hammerstein score.

BWW Review: Bridge Rep Ties Up First Season With GIDION'S KNOT
BWW Review: Bridge Rep Ties Up First Season With GIDION'S KNOT
June 11, 2014

Bridge Repertory Theater of Boston concludes its first season with Johnna Adams' timely play about the aftermath of a traumatic school event. Noted Boston actor Karen MacDonald directs Olivia D'Ambrosio and Deb Martin in two stunning, emotional performances, challenging the audience to choose sides and try to untie the storyline's Gordian knot.

BWW Review: ABE LINCOLN'S PIANO Needs Fine-tuning
BWW Review: ABE LINCOLN'S PIANO Needs Fine-tuning
May 23, 2014

Hershey Felder returns to ArtsEmerson for his third solo musical theater piece after charming and enlightening local audiences with GEORGE GERSHWIN ALONE and MAESTRO: LEONARD BERNSTEIN in recent years. This time he departs from staging the lives of genius composers to delve into the tragic death of a giant of American history by blending Civil War-era songs and first-person stories in an imaginative retelling of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

BWW Review: THE SECRET GARDEN Needs Nurturing
BWW Review: THE SECRET GARDEN Needs Nurturing
May 22, 2014

THE SECRET GARDEN needs a good dose of Miracle-Gro to overcome a lack of vitality. A beautiful, lush score is weighed down by the sluggishness of the tale and static direction. The company has the vocals to do justice to the music and several performers shine, but this garden has a dearth of color.

BWW Review: The 2014 Elliot Norton 32nd Anniversary Awards
May 20, 2014

The Boston Theater Critics' Association hosted the 32nd anniversary presentation of the Elliot Norton Awards last night at the Wheelock Family Theatre. Barely before people were in their seats, the tap dancing ensemble of Stoneham Theatre's THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, led by Ephie Aardema, shuffled, ball changed, and kicked off the festivities. An enthusiastic Joyce Kulhawik, President of the BTCA, took the podium as Master of Ceremonies to introduce a parade of fellow critics and past winners as presenters, as well as two more nominated musical performances later in the program.

BWW Review: All Hell Breaks Loose in CARRIE THE MUSICAL
BWW Review: All Hell Breaks Loose in CARRIE THE MUSICAL
May 15, 2014

All hell breaks loose in CARRIE THE MUSICAL at SpeakEasy Stage Company thanks to a match made in heaven between The Boston Conservatory's rising junior Elizabeth Erardi and local diva Kerry A. Dowling as the tormented teen and her fanatical mother. Directed by Paul Melone with Musical Direction by Nicholas James Connell and Choreography by Larry Sousa, the much talked-about musical will give you plenty to talk about.

BWW Review: ON THE VERGE: Long Day's Journey Into 1955
BWW Review: ON THE VERGE: Long Day's Journey Into 1955
May 10, 2014

Feminist fantasy about three time-traveling Victorian-era women who set out to explore 'Terra Incognita' is playwright Eric Overmyer's paean to language and the art of the spoken word. His craftsmanship as a writer is on display in ON THE VERGE, but the quartet of accomplished, committed actors aren't enough to keep everyone onboard until the end of the ride.

BWW Review: A Grand Night for Singing at The Pops
BWW Review: A Grand Night for Singing at The Pops
May 8, 2014

America's Orchestra opened its 129th spring season with Keith Lockhart conducting and Jason Alexander as special guest artist. Best known as Seinfeld's best buddy George Costanza, the Tony Award-winning Alexander is a consummate showman and offered a celebration of Broadway music to complement the Pops' selections by American masters from Copland to Ellington to Gershwin.

BWW Reviews: Groans and Guffaws in THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF COMEDY (ABRIDGED) at MRT
BWW Reviews: Groans and Guffaws in THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF COMEDY (ABRIDGED) at MRT
May 6, 2014

The Reduced Shakespeare Company finally tackles the subject of comedy, condensing the complete history (abridged) into a concise two-hour package that doesn't miss a trick. From cavemen to clowns, shtick to Stooges, and Seinfeld to the Supreme Court, there's something for everyone in the myriad sketches offered up by this trio of talented comedians. With the exception of the mention of a few of George Carlin's infamous seven words, THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF COMEDY (ABRIDGED) at Merrimack Repertory Theatre is good family entertainment and the kids might even learn to appreciate the pioneers of the art form.

BWW Review: GOOD TELEVISION Channels Great Theater at Zeitgeist Stage Company
BWW Review: GOOD TELEVISION Channels Great Theater at Zeitgeist Stage Company
May 1, 2014

GOOD TELEVISION proves that live theater makes everything better, even reality television. First time playwright Rod McLachlan creates complex characters and focuses on their diverse motivations in this authentic take at Zeitgeist Stage Company. Artistic Director David J. Miller seamlessly directs an ensemble of eight actors who give fully-realized performances and bring us behind the scenes of a fictionalized intervention-style show.

BWW Review: Boston Theater Top to Bottom
BWW Review: Boston Theater Top to Bottom
April 24, 2014

There's something beautifully poetic in juxtaposing two current offerings by small theater companies in Boston. Bad Habit Productions celebrates ambitious women in Caryl Churchill's TOP GIRLS at the Boston Center for the Arts, while Ryan Landry and the Gold Dust Orphans are light years removed from Walt Disney in SNOW WHITE AND THE 7 BOTTOMS at Machine Nightclub in the shadow of Fenway Park.

BWW Review: OUR LADY: Savior in Kinky Boots
BWW Review: OUR LADY: Savior in Kinky Boots
April 18, 2014

Solo performance piece written and performed by James Fluhr (Boston University CFA '11), OUR LADY was created as a response to hate and homophobia, as well as to reveal the author's own coming out story. It is a moving, riveting mixed media theatrical event playing as part of the Next Rep Black Box Festival at New Repertory Theatre.

BWW Review: Loyalties Tested in BECOMING CUBA at Huntington Theatre Company
BWW Review: Loyalties Tested in BECOMING CUBA at Huntington Theatre Company
April 15, 2014

Huntington Theatre Company playwright-in-residence Melinda Lopez collaborates with Director M. Bevin O'Gara to bring BECOMING CUBA to the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts. Rich in historical content, the play is set in Havana in 1897 in the midst of the Cuban War of Independence (Spanish-American War), and features beautiful writing, fully-realized characters, and evocative design elements.

BWW Review: World Premiere of THE UNBLEACHED AMERICAN at Stoneham Theatre
BWW Review: World Premiere of THE UNBLEACHED AMERICAN at Stoneham Theatre
April 14, 2014

Stoneham Theatre presents the world premiere of Michael Aman's THE UNBLEACHED AMERICAN, a play about Ernest Hogan, the "father of ragtime." A long forgotten African American musical innovator, Hogan attained great success before tumbling into infamy. This important story imagines his relationship with an Irish immigrant nurse charged with caring for him in the final months of his life at the turn of the 20th century.

BWW Review: Whistler in the Dark Fades Out With FAR AWAY
BWW Review: Whistler in the Dark Fades Out With FAR AWAY
April 8, 2014

Whistler in the Dark Theatre is calling it a day, but not before staging one final play that will challenge their audience. Concluding their season celebrating Caryl Churchill, the Whistlers are fading out with the dystopian fable FAR AWAY.

BWW Reviews: Beckett, Bananas, and Barkhimer Make REEL TO REEL Go Round
BWW Reviews: Beckett, Bananas, and Barkhimer Make REEL TO REEL Go Round
March 31, 2014

Fort Point Theatre Channel pairs Samuel Beckett's KRAPP'S LAST TAPE with THE ARCHIVES by local playwright Skylar Fox for an engaging double bill. Steven Barkhimer in the former and Sally Nutt, Allison Smith, and Karin Trachtenberg in the latter all give quality performances in two one-acts that reflect on memory, regret, and preservation.

BWW Review: Jason Robert Brown Teaches Harvard a Thing or Two
BWW Review: Jason Robert Brown Teaches Harvard a Thing or Two
March 28, 2014

Tony Award-winning composer-lyricist Jason Robert Brown is the Blodgett Artist in Residence at the Harvard University Department of Music for the spring term and he gave the equivalent of a master class last night at Oberon. In a seventy-five minute performance, Brown served a buffet of delicious morsels from his musical theater canon and had the audience eating out of his hand.

BWW Reviews: TALLEY'S FOLLY Past Its Prime
BWW Reviews: TALLEY'S FOLLY Past Its Prime
March 26, 2014

Merrimack Repertory Theatre cranks up the way back machine to transport the audience to Lebanon, Missouri, on July 4, 1944, in Lanford Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winner TALLEY'S FOLLY, but the play chugs along on fumes, despite the best efforts of all parties.



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