Nancy Grossman - Page 6

If there's one thing that summer theater should be, it's fun, and Gloucester Stage Company's production of THE 39 STEPS happily fulfills the requirement. Actually, it is more than fun - it is laugh out loud funny, thanks to the witty script, the crisp direction by Artistic Director Robert Walsh, and the antics and split-second comic timing of a quartet of actors who play over 150 characters without going off the rails. Joining them on stage is Malachi Rosen, a Foley Artist who produces a litany of sound effects, allowing the audience to see and hear how every door slam, train whistle, and gun shot happens. The 1935 film was a classic Alfred Hitchcock thriller, but the stage adaptation by Patrick Barlow heaps large helpings of farce and satire atop the story, while maintaining a high level of suspense.

On Monday night, the Emerson Colonial Theatre presented THE SETH RUDESTSKY SERIES STARRING JESSIE MUELLER, the first of three concerts with Cheyenne Jackson (October 4) and Kelli O'Hara (January 9) to follow. The host of Sirius SM's On Broadway channel, Rudetsky is a pianist, a music director, and possesses a vast knowledge of musical theater. In this series, a combination of conversation and musical performances, Rudetsky moves seamlessly between his dual roles as onstage accompanist and interviewer, starting out on the piano bench and ambling over to a quasi-living room ('we have a carpet') with a pair of comfy armchairs. Singing a broad range of selections, both Broadway and pop, Mueller proves herself to be a vocal chameleon, and presents as warm, genuine, and occasionally self-deprecating during the interview portions of the show.

Playwright Matthew Lombardo revisits his 2002 play as a one-act solo vehicle for Faye Dunaway, now receiving a pre-Broadway premiere at the Huntington Avenue Theatre in Boston. Attractive design elements evoke the Old Saybrook, Connecticut world of Katharine Hepburn, but neither the script nor the star can conjure her spirit and engage us in the story.

There's an unmistakeable sound of thunder emanating from the Ogunquit Playhouse these days, commencing with the rhythmic pounding of nearly two dozen pairs of feet, and ending in a crescendo of audience applause. It is not fulsome praise to give DirectorChoreographer Randy Skinner multiple huzzahs and many pats on the back for this fresh and exciting production of 42ND STREET the iconic show-biz musical about a small town girl who pursues her dream and takes Broadway by storm. From the grownups to the kids in the chorus, Tony Award-nominee Skinner seamlessly blends stage veterans and non-Equity performers into one sparkling, magical troupe that really knows how to put on a show.

A year shy of its 100th birthday, the Cabot Theatre in Beverly, a North Shore treasure for the performing arts, presented multiple Grammy Award-winning recording artist Dionne Warwick in concert before a sold-out house on Friday night. Now in the sixth decade of her singing career, Warwick and her virtuosic five-piece band played hit after hit after hit, each one of them a reminder to the devoted audience of the breadth of her discography and the reasons for her incredible longevity and staying power.

Gloucester Stage Company opens its 40th Anniversary Season with a nostalgic romp in the park, specifically Neil Simon's 1963 hit play, BAREFOOT IN THE PARK. Pairing McCaela Donovan and Joe Short (who are married in real life) as the young newlyweds moving from their blissful six-day honeymoon into a Manhattan sixth-floor walk up is a stroke of luck for Director Shana Gozansky. Making her GSC debut, she didn't have to worry about establishing trust and comfort in the romantic aspects of the characters' relationship. Not only do Donovan (Corie) and Short (Paul) fit together hand in glove, but Paula Plum and Richard Snee, another offstage married couple, complete the cast and contribute immeasurably to the hilarity.

YERMA, a play with music, adapted and translated by Melinda Lopez from Spanish poet/playwright Federico Garcia Lorca's 1934 work, is receiving its world premiere by the Huntington Theatre Company at the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts. On press night, in the age-old tradition of the show must go on, Lopez was pressed into service to perform in place of the ailing Jacqui Parker, one of the five women who surround the title character as her emotional support community, even as their multiple children are a stinging reminder of her infertility. It is a tragic tale, but one fueled by hope and infused with beautiful flamenco-inspired music and Spanish culture.

Just in time for LGBTQ Pride Month, and on the cusp of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, SpeakEasy Stage Company presents the New England premiere of the Off-Broadway musical THE VIEW UPSTAIRS in the Plaza Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts. Inspired by a little-known historical event, Max Vernon pays tribute to '70s gay culture and the victims of the firebombing of the UpStairs Lounge in the French Quarter of New Orleans in 1973. Although 32 people perished (the deadliest assault on a gay bar prior to the 2016 shooting at the Pulse nightclub which killed 49 people), Vernon's book and score focus on the personalities of the archetypal characters, the challenges they faced in that era, and the strong ties they forged to make a life in the homosexual community.

Playwright Patrick Gabridge, the 2018-2019 Mount Auburn Cemetery Artist-in-Residence, creates a series of site-specific plays which focus on the natural world of the 175-acre landscaped jewel in the heart of Cambridge. Five short plays inspired by and staged at various locales throughout the cemetery are a mix of comedy and drama, with a quartet of fine actors under the direction of Courtney O'Connor. The 75-minute performance requires walking approximately a mile and a half, but it truly is a splendid walk in the park and seating is provided at each location.

Brothers Daniel and Patrick Lazour have found a creative home at the American Repertory Theater for the world premiere of their musical WE LIVE IN CAIRO. In collaboration with Director Taibi Magar and Choreographer Samar Haddad King, the Lazours have continued to develop the book, music, and lyrics in the supportive incubator of the A.R.T. following workshops at the Eugene O'Neill National Music Theatre Conference (2015) and the New York Theatre Workshop (2016 Richard Rodgers Award). Infused with their own cultural experiences, the knowledge gained from their research and travels, and the influence of generations of protest music, WE LIVE IN CAIRO is an amalgam of the personal and the political, combining 21st century technology with good old-fashioned songwriting and storytelling techniques.

Over the course of the last twenty years, Producing Artistic Director Spiro Veloudos has been a man with a mission. During that time period, he has systematically presented the works of composer Stephen Sondheim at the Lyric Stage Company, beginning with ASSASSINS in the 1998-1999 season, and concluding with PACIFIC OVERTURES to wrap up the 2018-2019 season. In spite of the daunting nature of the undertaking, Veloudos has tackled it with gusto and proven himself to be a meritorious interpreter of the Sondheim canon. Collaborating with Music Director Jonathan Goldberg, Choreographer Micheline Wu, and his familiar roster of designers, Veloudos recreates the musical in his own vision, downsizing what originated as a behemoth show to fit the parameters of the Lyric's thrust stage.

Even as Artistic Director and Founder Guy Ben-Aharon rings down the curtain on Israeli Stage after nine seasons, his final offering draws back the curtain to give us a peek at the human collateral damage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Playwrights Hanna Eady and Edward Mast's collaboration on THE RETURN, receiving its New England Premiere production at Deane Hall at the Boston Center for the Arts, holds a mirror up to the deep fracture caused by the long-running and controversial hostilities within the State of Israel and throughout the Middle East. Philana Mia (Her) and Nael Nacer (Him) combine in a tours de force performance to portray the humanity of two people, virtually powerless in an inhumane world.

Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Orchestra opened the 134th Spring Pops season with a 50th anniversary tribute to the watershed events of the summer of 1969, two stunning short films, a homegrown astronaut, and a celestial Broadway legend. Commencing with the 'Opening Fanfare' from Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra (the theme used in '2001: A Space Odyssey'), and concluding with the Pops' signature song, John Philip Sousa's 'The Stars and Stripes Forever,' the two selections bookended the program that took us to the moon, to the past, and to the Great White Way.

SpeakEasy Stage Company presents the New England premiere of the 2018 Lucille Lortel Award-winner for Outstanding Play (tie), Jocelyn Bioh's SCHOOL GIRLS; OR, THE AFRICAN MAN GIRLS PLAY, directed by Summer L. Williams. A Ghanaian-American playwright, Bioh sets the play in 1986 at a top boarding school in Ghana. The action centers on self-anointed queen bee Paulina (Ireon Roach) who aspires to win the Miss Ghana Beauty Pageant in order to represent her country in the coveted Miss Global Universe Pageant. When Headmistress Francis (Crystin Gilmore) introduces Ericka (Victoria Byrd), a new student from Ohio, just before the audition, Paulina is unexpectedly faced with a formidable challenger, not just for the competition, but also for the attentions and loyalty of her crew.

Never mind all those Marvel heroes and the new bladder buster movie 'Avengers: Endgame,' if you want to see a real heroine in action, line up for the Gold Dust Orphans' final show at the soon-to-be repurposed Machine Nightclub. Kiki Samko takes the director's reins and wrangles all of the players into a cohesive ensemble, with several of the actors taking on two (and, in one case, three) roles. Qya Marie has moved up the ranks of the Orphans to become a dynamic leading player. Tim Lawton wears multiple hats as music director, Trump, and Bald Eagle, and his hilarious and eerily spot-on rendition of the orange one is among the finest performances I've seen him give. Ryan Landry's writing also lands a flurry of blows, expressing more transparent social and political commentary than usual. If you're in the mood for some super (hero) entertainment, make it THE EBONIC WOMAN.

INDECENT is a beautiful work of art that exists in a realm above and beyond the conventional category of a play, or, in this case, a play with music. It has an ethereal quality that suggests an oil painting in motion, with every movement and every utterance in service to telling a story that cannot be communicated by words alone. The Huntington Theatre Company presents the Boston premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel's play, under the direction of Tony Award-winner Rebecca Taichman, featuring many members of the original Broadway cast.

New Repertory Theatre presents BECOMING DR. RUTH, Mark St. Germain's (FREUD'S LAST SESSION) biographical comedy that tells you everything you didn't even know you wanted to know about Dr. Ruth, but were glad the playwright asked. Set in her Washington Heights, NY, apartment with a panoramic view overlooking the Hudson River, the play introduces us to the 69-year old Westheimer in the throes of moving after thirty years in the location. Surrounded by an array of boxes and clutter, the conceit provides a plethora of talking points as she unearths items that serve as important markers in her life story. Anne O'Sullivan reaches through the fourth wall to grab our attention with warmth and Ruth's indomitable joie de vivre.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre concludes its 40th season with Molly Smith Metzler's CRY IT OUT, a delightful human comedy that surfs along on the waves of a burgeoning friendship between a pair of mothers of newborn babies, while also acknowledging the myriad challenges that lurk beneath the surface. The playwright examines some of the decisions faced by families when baby makes three, bringing up socioeconomic differences, stresses on the marriage, and debating child-rearing best practices. Over coffee in their adjoining backyards, the women help each other navigate the waters of their new realities and learn that modern day motherhood is no day at the beach.

On December 4, 1956, at Sun Record Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, a great moment in rock 'n' roll history occurred, almost by chance. Record producer Sam Phillips, sometimes referred to as the "Father of Rock 'n' Roll," brought together the past, present, and future artists of his recording company for an impromptu jam session which was photographed and recorded for posterity. Nile Scott Hawver (Carl Perkins), Scheider (Jerry Lee Lewis), Austin Wayne Price (Johnny Cash), and Luke Linsteadt (Elvis Presley) act out their characters with just enough imitation to evoke the originals, while never sliding into caricature.

CAROLINE, OR CHANGE is Tony Kushner's (book and lyrics) semi-autobiographical, sung-through musical, with music by Jeanine Tesori (FUN HOME), that had its origins Off-Broadway in 2003, before transferring to Broadway in 2004 for 136 performances and receiving six Tony nominations. In the ensuing years, it had numerous productions in regional theaters and London, and it has long been on Moonbox Productions' short list, according to Producer and Artistic Director Sharman Altshuler. Under the direction of Allison Olivia Choat, the Moonbox staging is a solid effort with a cohesive ensemble, excellent musical direction and vocals, and vivid design elements. Yewande Odetoyinbo is a force in the title role.