Nancy Grossman - Page 22

Israeli Stage presents the North American premiere production of Hanna Azoulay-Hasfari's DAYS OF ATONEMENT, a dramatic exploration of the Moroccan-Israeli immigrant experience through the eyes of four estranged sisters who reunite when their mother goes missing on the eve of Yom Kippur. Producing Artistic Director Guy Ben-Aharon directs the stripped-down staging featuring a quartet of strong, complex performances from Jackie Davis, Adrianne Krstansky, Ramona Lisa Alexander, and Dana Stern.

Gloucester Stage Company opens it 38th season with the New England premiere of John Kolvenbach's play about a pair of brothers who decide to try robbing a bank in an unwise career move. Taking the money turns out to be much easier than finding a way out of the executive washroom. A sympathetic bank teller, a cooperative cop, and a hostage who harbors some secrets all play a part in determining a convoluted outcome.

Amy Herzog's 2013 Pulitzer Prize finalist and 2012 Obie Award-winner for Best New Play opens the 40th Anniversary Season in Lenox under new Artistic Director Allyn Burrows. Annette Miller gives an incredible performance as the widowed nonagenarian Vera Joseph who is visited by her 21-year-old, untethered grandson Leo in her West Village apartment. These two outsiders engage in a series of battles, only to discover how much they have in common. Under the direction of Nicole Ricciardi, 4000 MILES is a delight from coast to coast.

The Lyric Stage Company of Boston closes out the season with David Lee's adaptation of Lerner and Loewe's CAMELOT, a revision that hones in on the relationships among the three principals and retains the glorious score, while jettisoning considerable weight from the historically burdensome book. Producing Artistic Director Spiro Veloudos shapes the production with his vision for the 21st century, assisted by the virtuosic Music Director Catherine Stornetta and Rachel Bertone, whose choreography blends medieval style with modern dance steps.

SpeakEasy Stage Company's Boston premiere of Marsha Norman's (Book) and Jason Robert Brown's (Music and Lyrics) adaptation of Robert James Waller's novel is elevated by the luminescent Jennifer Ellis and hunky Christiaan Smith. The libretto wobbles, but the leads and ensemble warble Brown's soaring score beautifully. Bring tissues.

The 2017 Boston Pops Spring season is a tribute to Boston Pops Conductor Laureate John Williams who celebrates his 85th birthday this year. Opening night featured film and recording star Queen Latifah in her Pops debut and they'll do it all over again tonight.

GREECE is the word and the place where Ryan Landry and his Gold Dust Orphans take you for their latest musical extravaganza. It's 1950 B.C., the gods are gathered on Mt. Olympus, and the mean girls and toga-clad boys are returning to Olympia High School with a new student in their midst. Will Sandy steal the heart of heartthrob Danny, or can Pandora Spox lure him away, or will he remain loyal to his Titan buddies? Zeus, Venus, and Aphrodite may be pulling the strings and tossing thunderbolts, but true love is a formidable foe. Larry Coen directs a talented ensemble, blending GDO regulars and fresh faces, but, alas, no Rhoda the dog.

World premiere of MY 80-YEAR-OLD BOYFRIEND at Merrimack Repertory Theatre is based on the true story of Broadway singer/actress Charissa Bertels and her unlikely friendship with a decidedly older gentleman. The narrative is uplifting, the score floats along with the story like a raft on a lazy river, and the performer is delightful company.

Zeitgeist Stage Company introduces new faces that meld into an impressive ensemble to convey the unusual and flawed characters from the mind of Williams and the pens of half a dozen eclectic playwrights in DESIRE: AN EVENING OF PLAYS BASED ON SIX SHORT STORIES BY TENNESSEE WILLIAMS. A self-admitted aficionado of Williams, Director David J. Miller mixes and matches his cast to meet the challenge of portraying diverse personalities.

Stoneham Theatre seriously ups its game with Moira Buffini's 1997 play GABRIEL, a World War II tale of survival and intrigue, where the fate of a family may rest upon the identity of a mysterious stranger. Producing Artistic Director Weylin Symes directs a cast that includes some of Boston theater's most stellar actors, as well as a nine-year old member of 'the young company' making her Mainstage debut in a pivotal role. Scenic designer Matthew Lazure's evocative set takes us to the island of Guernsey, to a rustic farmhouse lacking the creature comforts formerly enjoyed by the family before the Nazi occupation.

New Repertory Theatre takes us for a ride in the wayback machine for the Boston-area premiere of one of Lydia Diamond's earliest plays. THE GIFT HORSE is a somewhat autobiographical, witty play that is heavy on character, rife with serious themes, and about fifteen to twenty minutes longer than what we are accustomed to two decades later. Obehi Janice, Alejandro Simoes, and Maurice Emmanuel Parent make the ride worthwhile.

BARBECUE is a play about which one cannot say too much without ruining its considerable effect. Here's the minimalist FYI, things you need to know but that won't give anything away. It is written by Robert O'Hara, directed by Summer L. Williams, and features an ensemble cast of ten actors who all give great performances and disappear into their richly drawn characters. Taking place on a raised pavilion in a pastoral park, the lovely setting belies the serious nature of the subjects (substance abuse, family dysfunction, race) that BARBECUE serves up on a platter. And one more thing - it's a comedy.

Boston Playwrights' Theatre closes season with EVERY PIECE OF ME, a drama about a family in Ireland whose daughter is coming home after nearly five years living in America. Her departure was marked by high dudgeon, but she is returning with hopes of reconciliation. Will they let her in?

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Ayad Akhtar returns to the Huntington Theatre Company with THE WHO & THE WHAT, a provocative drama that looks at differences around faith and identity within a Muslim-American family. Giving credit to Norman Lear and William Shakespeare for inspiration, Akhtar's own ability to draw well-rounded characters and insert humor into the equation adds up to a compelling and diverting piece of theater.

Broadway came to Natick last night as the Jewish Arts Collaborative presented SETH RUDETSKY & JUDY KUHN: A BROADWAY CABARET AND CONVERSATION at The Center for Arts in Natick (TCAN). As promised by JCA Artistic Director Joey Baron in his introduction, the evening was fun (with a capital "F") as these two veterans of the Great White Way regaled the sold-out house with backstage stories, Rudetsky's masterful musicianship, and Kuhn's gorgeous vocalizing from her considerable musical theatre canon.

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus may be folding after 146 years in operation, but you can catch Moonbox Productions' loving tribute to its creator, P.T. Barnum at the Roberts Studio Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts. Director/choreographer Rachel Bertone has crafted a dazzling, dizzying staging of BARNUM, featuring electrifying performances, beautiful vocals, and an array of circus routines that are made to look easy by the talented ensemble cast. Come follow the band and join this circus!

The National Tour of the Tony Award-winning Lincoln Center Theater production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's THE KING AND I brings its parade of adorable children, a pair of star-crossed lovers, an imperial ruler, and a strong-willed, warm-hearted educator to the Boston Opera House through April 23rd. One of the grande dames of the 1950s, THE KING AND I retains its exalted place in the R & H pantheon, thanks to the artistry of Director Bartlett Sher, a songbird by the name of Laura Michelle Kelly, and a flawed King of Siam for our times, Jose Llana.

Playwright William Gibson chronicles Golda Meir's life and times in GOLDA'S BALCONY, focusing primarily on the period of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, interspersed with flashbacks of her journey to becoming Prime Minister of Israel. Bobbie Steinbach inhabits the role in a tour de force performance that is passionate, fierce, intuitive, and packed with emotion. The New Rep production is skillfully directed by Judy Braha.

Playwright Eleanor Burgess burrows into her own backyard of Brookline, Massachusetts, to follow four high school friends from the eve of their graduation through a decade of change in CHILL. Director Megan Sandberg-Zakian guides an all-female creative and design team, a first for MRT.

Boy bands were big in the '90s. Marked by close harmonies, synchronized choreography, and saccharine sex appeal, each had its own image and they were particularly successful with young female audiences. ALTAR BOYZ at the Stoneham Theatre spins the concept, combining it with the popular wave of Christian-themed music, and the result is an original musical revue featuring five singing and dancing boys on the last night of their national "Raise the Praise" tour.