BOSTON THEATER REVIEWS

The entire company delivered high quality performances.  Each cast member displayed deep insight into their character(s).  Particularly impressive for a group where nobody is a full-time professional. ...

DANGEROUS HOUSE is a powerful and poignant piece that delivers an extremely important message that needs to be seen and heard. Comments overheard upon exiting the theatre suggest that many patrons felt it ranks among one of the festival's best....

The journey takes us to a small southern town, 1945. More precisely, to the kitchen and adjacent back yard of the Addams family on the eve of a wedding. The action plays out over a few days in late August and tells the story of 12-year-old tomboy Frankie. Frankie's mother died when she was born, and...

The notably attractive, and extremely talented ensemble plays out every moment of this classic so well it will delight the eyes and the ears of those that have seen the piece before, as well as those who are experiencing it for the first time.  This is true of the acting, singing, and the dancing.�...

Feeling down in the dumps? A little worn out and tired from a long summer? Ready for the Kids to just get back in school already? I have just the cure for you....

Mark Linehan and Jennifer Ellis march in step in a glorious rendering of Meredith Willson's THE MUSIC MAN to close out Reagle Music Theatre's 50th Anniversary Summer Season with a bang. Director/choreographer Susan M. Chebookjian's staging is seamless, with one production number after another showin...

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 a...

Olivia D'Ambrosio's vision for DARK ROOM is an artistic blend of spoken dialogue, choreographed movement, evocative sounds and music, and the best use of the architectural features of the space at the Multicultural Arts Center in East Cambridge. George Brant's play is inspired by the life, death, an...

Elements Theatre Company's Blithe Spirit is a visual feast of a production that updates it female leads to heroines and strips the piece to its comedic core. It's a thought-provoking interpretation, and this show deserves a longer run than the two weekends it will see....

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...

Timeless tale re-imagined with contemporary spin by Jason O'Connell and Brenda Withers. Jeremiah Kissel makes GSC debut in title role opposite Andrea Goldman, under the direction of Artistic Director Robert Walsh....

An energetic cast of nearly 40 performers and a 16-piece orchestra give the incomparable Cole Porter score of ANYTHING GOES its due. Leigh Barrett headlines as Reno Sweeney, and multiple IRNE Award-winners Elaine Grace and Dan Rodriguez direct/choreograph and music direct/conduct, respectively. The ...

Director Jane Staab's Beauty & the Beast is a fable for our time, emphasizing the humanity of its enchanted castle's 'objects' (and even its titular beast) through costume and demeanor, while stressing the power of kindness and the promise of change. The themes run throughout this show - from its wi...

Premiere of documentary play about the former First Lady takes us back to those saner days of yesteryear, when a Republican forced from office in ignominy was replaced by a decent man who tried to heal the nation. Betty Ford may have been her husband's greatest asset in the two short years they resi...

ArtsEmerson presents the New England premiere of BORN FOR THIS - A NEW MUSICAL, based on the life story of Bebe Winans and his sister Cece Winans, offspring of a spiritual, musical Detroit family, who made a huge splash as teenagers on the Praise the Lord network of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker in the ...

Barrington Theatre Company's (BSC) 2018 Season opening production 'The Royal Family of Broadway', is a wacky, wonderful, and highly entertaining 1920's era madcap musical romp....

The 133rd spring season of The Boston Pops Orchestra at Symphony Hall is winding down, but the final week is a whirlwind of activity, culminating in three performances of WEST SIDE STORY: In Concert, and an appearance by two of the stars of the groundbreaking HAMILTON: AN AMERICAN MUSICAL. Tony Awar...

Greater Boston Stage Company has lined up a dream ensemble for their season finale, CALENDAR GIRLS, based on the 2003 Miramax motion picture. Under the direction of Nancy E. Carroll, a formidable actor in her own right, Maureen Brennan, Sarah deLima, Mary Potts Dennis, Kerry A. Dowling, Karen MacDo...

Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston, celebrating its 50th Anniversary Summer Season, was still in its first decade when A CHORUS LINE opened on Broadway in 1975, kicking off its run of 6,137 performances. The groundbreaking musical was nominated for twelve Tony Awards, winning nine, and took home...

The classic Musical 'Mame' opened the 2018 season last night at NSMT. The Musical by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, with Lyrics by Jerry Herman, and based on the book by Patrick Dennis, is a 1966 Musical Theatre warhorse that has starred such luminaries as, Rosalind Russell, Angela Landsbury, an...

Artistic Director Lee Mikeska Gardner embraces the mission of The Nora Theatre Company to "promote the feminine voice" with an all-male production of LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES, Christopher Hampton's 1985 adaptation from the novel by Choderlos de Laclos. Perhaps best known from the 1988 film DANGEROUS...

Boston's newest small theater company christened its inaugural season with a one-night only, pop-up musical benefit performance of SWEENEY TODD, THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET IN CONCERT on Saturday, June 2nd, at First Church Cambridge. The brain-child and labor of love of Producing Artistic Direc...

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Arthur Miller was renowned and celebrated for his masterpiece DEATH OF A SALESMAN, as well as ALL MY SONS and THE CRUCIBLE, plays in which issues of morality took center stage. He refused to name names when called before the House Un-American Activities Committee, s...

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 ...

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 ...