Ari Lew News

Cape Rep Theatre continues its 2018 season with the Broadway musical sensation, MAMMA MIA!, music and lyrics by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, and some songs with Stig Anderson, book by Catherine Johnson, originally conceived by Judy Cramer, August 1 through September 2.

Cape Rep Theatre continues its 2018 season with the Broadway musical sensation, MAMMA MIA!, music and lyrics by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, and some songs with Stig Anderson, book by Catherine Johnson, originally conceived by Judy Cramer, August 1 through September 2: Tuesdays, Todays and Thursdays at 7 pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, and Sundays at 2 pm. There is no performance Sunday, August 5th. Tickets are $40. Pay-What-You-Can-Night is the first Friday, August 3. Student Rush tickets also available. Call the box office for details. Cape Rep Indoor Theater. North Side Route 6A E. Brewster. 508.896.1888 or www.caperep.org.

Cape Rep Theatre continues its 2018 season with the Broadway musical sensation, MAMMA MIA!, music and lyrics by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, and some songs with Stig Anderson, book by Catherine Johnson, originally conceived by Judy Cramer, August 1 through September 2: Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7 pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, and Sundays at 2 pm. There is no performance Sunday, August 5th. Tickets are $40. Pay-What-You-Can-Night is the first Friday, August 3. Student Rush tickets also available. Call the box office for details. Cape Rep Indoor Theater. North Side Route 6A E. Brewster. 508.896.1888 or www.caperep.org.

The Harbor Stage Company, the artist-run ensemble on Cape Cod's Wellfleet Harbor, opens their seventh intrepid season with Conor McPherson's spellbinding drama The Weir. Set in a sleepy Irish pub, this modern classic follows a lonely newcomer and band of local bachelors as they wind through an unexpectedly eerie evening. Rich humor and haunting lyricism shape this hypnotic portrait of community, confession, and the thin line between memory and myth.

Summer starts at Cape Rep's Outdoor Theater on June 26th with our Summer Children's Show Series. On Tuesdays & Thursdays from June 26 through August 30, Cape Rep Theatre presents the hit musical HOW I BECAME A PIRATE, book, music and lyrics by Janet Yates Vogt and Mark Friedman, based on the popular children's book How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long with illustrations by David Shannon, directed by Holly Erin McCarthy and musical direction by Ben Colgan. Tickets are $12 and general admission.

The Harbor Stage Company, the artist-run ensemble on Cape Cod's Wellfleet Harbor, opens their seventh intrepid season with Conor McPherson's spellbinding drama The Weir. Set in a sleepy Irish pub, this modern classic follows a lonely newcomer and band of local bachelors as they wind through an unexpectedly eerie evening. Rich humor and haunting lyricism shape this hypnotic portrait of community, confession, and the thin line between memory and myth.

The Tilden Arts Center at Cape Cod Community College will present Mark Hollman and Greg Kotis's "Urinetown: The Musical," winner of three Tony Awards. Evening performances will take place at 7:30 p.m. on April 5, 6, 7, 13, 14, 20 and 21. Matinees will be offered at 2 p.m. on April 7, 14 and 21. All performances will be held on the Main Stage of the Tilden Arts Center.

Ridgewood Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company will lead off their 80th Anniversary season with a special production of Iolanthe (which is the first production Ridgewood G&S presented during their founding in 1937). Iolanthe runs November 4-26 in various locations throughout the tri-state area.

Ridgewood Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company will lead off their 80th Anniversary season with a special production of Iolanthe (which is the first production Ridgewood G&S presented during their founding in 1937). Iolanthe runs November 4-26 in various locations throughout the tri-state area.

Renowned puppet and mask maker RALPH LEE presents his METTAWEE RIVER THEATRE COMPANY in the New York Premiere of Before the Sun and Moon, September 8-10, 7:30 PM, in the lovely outdoor garden of St. John the Divine, where the company is in residence.

Guillotine Theatre presents a world premiere of Lisa Alapick's THE NASTY WOMEN of the Ecstatic Rainbow Mystical Retreat as part of the Capital Fringe Festival. A new comedy inspired by The Bacchae, NASTY WOMEN re-imagines the central argument of Euripides' play in light of current political events.

Guillotine Theatre presents a world premiere of Lisa Alapick's THE NASTY WOMEN of the Ecstatic Rainbow Mystical Retreat as part of the Capital Fringe Festival. A new comedy inspired by The Bacchae, NASTY WOMEN re-imagines the central argument of Euripides' play in light of current political events.

Hand to God is a ballsy, brassy and in-your-face consideration of life in a Southern church and its impact on the lives of its congregants, exposing the hypocrisy of small-town convention and social mores that continue to evolve at a glacial pace. You'll be singing hosannas in the show's aftermath, reveling in the knowledge that you've seen some very talented people doing what God - or any other higher power or reverential deity - must have intended from the very beginning, as in '…in the beginning…' Who knew a church's puppet ministry could be so intriguingly facile yet uproariously entertaining?

Cape Rep Theatre will soon present the Cape Cod premiere of Peter and the Starcatcher by Rick Elice, based on the novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, with music by Wayne Barker, November 3 through December 4: Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7 pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm, with an additional 2 pm matinee on Saturday, November 26. There are no performances on November 6, 9, 23 or 24.  Tickets are $35.  Pay-What-You-Can-Night is the first Friday, November 4. Group rates & Student Rush tickets also available.  Call the box office for details.  Cape Rep Indoor Theater. North Side Route 6A E. Brewster. 508.896.1888 or www.caperep.org. 

Everyone is familiar with the works of Stephen Sondheim, quite the musical genius himself: his contributions to everything from 'West Side Story' to 'Sweeney Todd' have really set him apart from others in the musical theater realm; his style is so eclectic, his music so beautiful, that any show which bears his name is most likely going to be something great. Not necessarily a fan of comedy but having great admiration for and desire to see any type of musical I have the opportunity of seeing, Sondheim's 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum' is a musical I have not had the pleasure of seeing before the Eventide Theatre Company showed me just how wonderful a show it truly it. The number of laughs and clever moments planned (and disasters diverted or avoided) are as plentiful as the amount of words in the title of this musical. The show is a farce, so anything and everything can happen, so long as one character's involvement in the continuous hoax is constantly given complete attention to and, ironically, prone to the greatest bout of almost far-fetched confusion that can be had. Yes, 'Forum' not only provides perpetual laughs had by both the sheer unknowingness of all the characters of what, exactly, is going on (not to mention each individual is quite the character on his/her own), but the music is wonderful and upbeat, the plot is lighthearted and there just really is not a reason to be mentioned why this musical is anything but pure, adulterated fun (which doesn't mean what you think!) Eventide should be extremely proud of this production now brought to their stage, and as this was my first time seeing it, I can now confidently share with others the enthusiasm felt that night as I watched magic unfold.

The Cape Cod Theatre Company, home of the Harwich Junior Theatre, brings a stunning production of Shrek: The Musical to a Cape Cod stage and does an absolutely fine job of making sure audiences will see all the wonder to be found in this show. I am like a broken record when it comes to my praise of this group, but even at the risk of being redundant and sounding like a lovesick theater child will I once again say that CCTC has impressed me from the very beginning and continues to do so.

Formerly the Harwich Junior Theater, CCTC may have changed its name but it has hardly lost its niche for bringing the Cape Cod community productions of the utmost quality, and its most recent production of Oliver! has done much more than provide a wonderfully entertaining time for children and adults alike: it has proven that the magnificence and professionalism with which CCTC instills its shows will remain an unchanged beauty in all the group's productions for years and years to come. If you were among the many fortunate enough to see Oliver! this past month, than you have witnessed only a smidgen of why CCTC is a wonderful place in which to behold what magic a memorable performance can bring.

After an exciting summer season, Harwich Junior Theater, now a part of the Cape Cod Theatre Company, continues its sixty-forth season with a revival of its start-of-summer hit, The Great American Trailer Park Musical, bringing back a majority of its original cast that once made (and hereby continues to make) this show quite the adventure to embark on. To call it a revival, though, really does not do what is currently happening on that stage justice, as the cast and creative team has thus come together again to create a show that is even more powerful and more hilarious than what I remember; it is essentially a new show. The success and beauty of the first production, though, made me more than happy to provide a second review of the show, but the prospect of sitting through it again (even though I am now pretty familiar with the show) made me quite willing to make my way to CCTC once again.

When Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice came together to write Evita, they probably didn't realize how big a splash they would be making the realm of musical theater; with its dynamic and rather challenging score, its continuous demand for the sung word (trademark of many Lloyd Webber pieces) and a plot with little to be played with in keeping with its historical basis, Evita is quite the undertaking for any theater group that chooses to accept the challenge of presenting this on stage. In this sense, it also has the great potential of surprising an audience with how beautiful it is when done in a certain way, and this element is what Cape Rep Theatre has managed to make possible and thus present to a Cape Cod audience with its current production of the Webber/Rice musical. "A New Argentina" has indeed risen with this stellar production of Evita, already boasting many sold-out performances with people flocking to bear witness to the story Argentinian First Lady Eva Peron and her epic rise to power.

Cape Rep Theatre's 30th Anniversary Season continues with the sold-out smash hit Evita. Cape Rep newcomer, Rachel O'Malley in the title role 'is mesmerizing' joined by Zal Owen as Che and A. Bryan Humphrey as Peron.  The cast includes Cape Rep company members Chelsey Jo Ristaino as the Mistress and Anthony Teixeira as Migaldi, while Lindsey Erin Agnes, Garrett Almeida, Marie Becklo, Tom Leidenfrost, Ari Lew, Hannah Matusow, Eleanor Tynan, Jonathan Tomaselli, Catie Clark, Nell Daisy Hamilton, and Abigail Ajson round out 'a vibrant ensemble cast result in a production that is simply sensational.'