Jan Nargi - Page 2

There's no doubt that dark times are ahead for the people of Berlin in this faithful recreation of the tawdry 1998 Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of CABARET. Using the original Broadway sets by Robert Brill and costumes by William Ivey Long, this Ogunquit Playhouse version, running now through August 10, is rough, tough and gritty, taking the implied decadence and hedonism of pre-World War II Germany and attaching it blatantly to every denizen of the speakeasy known as the Kit Kat Klub.

How much one enjoys THE LIGHTNING THIEF, The Percy Jackson Musical, currently at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston through July 28, may correlate directly with one's familiarity with the source material. On opening night, the large number of teens and tweens in the audience - who were clearly anticipating the appearance of every monster, plot twist and special effect - were laughing, cheering and clapping with unbridled vigor. However, the adults whom I queried at intermission, who had no such prior exposure to the immensely popular Rick Riordan children's book series that mashes up teen angst with Greek mythology, were considerably less enthralled.

DEAR EVAN HANSEN, the 2017 Tony Award-winning musical currently at the Boston Opera House through August 4, is that rare teen angst story that neither trivializes nor over dramatizes the challenges of coming of age in modern America. Rather, this at times funny, at times penetrating, and always tender exploration of alienated youth draws us deeply into the world of an anxious young man who feels like he's forever on the outside looking in.

There are times when the percussion in TAP DOGS, the testosterone-fueled tap dance extravaganza now at the Hanover Theatre in Worcester through April 14, is so penetrating that your diaphragm literally pulses in rhythm to the beat. A workman-themed sound and dance performance that seems like the love child of STOMP and BLUE MAN GROUP, TAP DOGS combines the athleticism of urban gladiators with the precision of six-part (and 12-footed) harmony to deliver a thrilling 75 minutes of non-stop tap invention.

The opulent, newly restored Emerson Colonial, the historic crown jewel among Boston's glittering theatrical houses, is the perfect setting for the equally opulent but imperfect stage adaptation of Baz Luhrmann's anachronistic 2001 movie musical MOULIN ROUGE. Originally opened in 1900, the ornately adorned gilt and red velvet theater is now celebrating its grand re-opening with a glitzy, gaudy pre-Broadway tryout of a mash-up of 1900 Bohemian Paris and a contemporary jukebox of pop rock, techno, disco and punk music. The result is a whirling dervish of sights and sounds designed more for effect than affect. The audience, obviously familiar with and adoring of the original movie, rapturously cheers on cue. But for those seeking a more nostalgic emotional connection to the material, this MOULIN ROUGE may seem more rock concert than musical theater.

The mania with which the late Robin Williams brilliantly voiced the Genie in the 1992 Disney animated film ALADDIN infuses every inch of Casey Nicholaw's high-octane Broadway musical production. Now on tour at the Boston Opera House through August 5, ALADDIN is a gilt-edged treasure chest of sensory overload that unabashedly begs for cheers - and gets them - throughout its two-and-a-half hour running time.

There's a lot to digest in the American Repertory Theater (ART) premiere of the new musical JAGGED LITTLE PILL, billed as a story of 'pain, healing, and empowerment' based on Alanis Morissette's landmark rock album of the same name. Directed and choreographed - sometimes too aggressively - by Diane Paulus and Sidi Larbi, this exploration of a suburban Connecticut family's extensive sturm und drang packs a checklist of contemporary issues into one explosive package.

An unequivocal hit is currently heating up the Ogunquit Playhouse in Ogunquit, Maine in preparation for its transfer Off-Broadway to Stage 42 in NYC July 6. Featuring a veritable goldmine of 40, count 'em, rock 'n' roll, blues, and R&B classics, SMOKEY JOE'S CAFE: The Songs of Lieber and Stoller is a stunning revival of the landmark musical revue that makes all other juke box musicals pale by comparison.

FDR called the attack on Pearl Harbor "a day that will live in infamy." Equally ignominious, though, was his knee-jerk response: the decision to authorize the incarceration of 110,000 Japanese Americans in internment camps - without cause, trials, or hearings - for close to the duration of WWII. The Broadway musical ALLEGIANCE, championed by actor/activist George Takei and based on his true life experiences, attempts to shed light on that particularly ugly chapter in American history precisely at a time when a new generation of immigrants is being persecuted, detained and deported. In its New England regional premiere at SpeakEasy Stage Company in Boston, that mission is only partially achieved.

The national tour of the 2015 Tony Award-winning revival of THE KING AND I, now brightening the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts in Worcester, is a perfectly respectable production. The timeless and soaring Rodgers and Hammerstein score is beautifully sung and impeccably played by the 16-piece orchestra, and design elements (especially Catherine Zuber's elegant period costumes) effectively juxtapose the traditions of 1860s Siam against the encroaching modernization of the. But something is off balance in this Bartlett Sher directed re-visioning. The women, not the King, rule.

In a brief engagement at the Hanover Theatre in Worcester, Mass. (which ended this Sunday), the national tour of Steve Martin and Edie Brickell's southern musical BRIGHT STAR flickers between down-home country charm and maudlin storytelling. Strong performances and a kickin' on-stage bluegrass band, though, manage to knock off the tarnish of this tepid tale of hope and redemption to deliver an uplifting message in the end.

The national tour of the Tony Award-winning musical FUN HOME has landed in Boston and it's as sharply drawn and richly performed as its highly acclaimed Broadway predecessor. Once again mounted on a proscenium stage (it played in the round at Circle in the Square following its original Off-Broadway run at the Public Theatre), FUN HOME loses none of its laser focus as it shines a loving but bittersweet light on the family of a lesbian cartoonist whose memories spring to life from the pages of her latest graphic novel.

Director Maria Friedman's Olivier Award-winning London revival of Stephen Sondheim's MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG lives up to its acclaim in this Huntington Theatre Company production continuing now through October 15. Both Sondheim and Huntington Artistic Director Peter DuBois have called Friedman's MERRILY the best they have ever seen. Those declarations prove not to be hyperbole.

The ingenious stage adaptation of Mark Haddon's popular mystery novel THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHTTIME invites the audience into the challenging world of 15-year-old Christopher Boone (Adam Langdon on opening night) whose exceptional brain is trapped inside an emotionally stunted body. Through the heightened use of sights, sounds, and technically stylized staging, this Tony Award-winning play creates a world of frightening sensory overload that enables the viewer to empathize viscerally with a boy who can't empathize with others.

The Costa Verde Hotel on the cliffs high above Acapulco might as well be the end of the world for the tourists and American ex-patriots who converge there in Tennessee Williams' haunting and haunted THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA currently receiving a star-studded revival at the A.R.T. in Cambridge, Mass.

Joie de vivre is in short supply in AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, the acclaimed Broadway musical now launching its first national tour in Boston through November 6. Inspired by the beloved 1951 MGM movie musical starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron, this Broadway iteration looks and feels monochromatic compared to its opulent Technicolor predecessor, but that is mostly by design. This adaptation brings the story's post World War II setting front and center, revealing a city and its inhabitants still shell shocked as they try to rebuild in the aftermath of the Nazi occupation.

Tight harmonies and an even tighter cast make the first national tour of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER delicious fun. Now at Boston's Citi Center Shubert Theatre through October 23, this totally original musical comedy by Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak crackles with snappy wit and endlessly clever songs.

The Ogunquit Playhouse in southern Maine has been setting the bar higher and higher with each new production under Bradford T. Kenney, artistic director. What used to be a quintessential ocean-side summer stock house now operates from May through November, often mounting New England, and occasionally national, regional premieres. Its current musical, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, is the company's most ambitious venture yet. Adapted from the 1996 Disney animated film which was based on the classic Victor Hugo novel "Notre Dame de Paris," the Ogunquit production boasts a towering vaulted set design, a 21-member cast of Broadway veterans, and a tremendous 32-member choir. This HUNCHBACK delivers soaring vocals as big as its epic themes.

The talented, hard-working children of MATILDA THE MUSICAL NATIONAL TOUR spend much of their time on stage revolting against their horrible headmistress Miss Trunchbull. Off-stage they should revolt against the horrible sound system that renders their lyrics indecipherable.

It's a lot to ask of a leading lady to make audiences forget Barbra Streisand in the role that catapulted her to stardom. That's one of the reasons why FUNNY GIRL, the musical that forever linked Streisand to the title character Fanny Brice, has never been revived on Broadway. Well, look no more, producers. If ever there was an actress who could fill Streisand's shoes and make FUNNY GIRL her own, it's the star who's currently electrifying audiences in the role at North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly: Shoshnna Bean.