BOSTON THEATER REVIEWS

Bridge Repertory Theater of Boston presents the world premiere of local playwright MJ Halberstadt's THE LAUNCH PRIZE under the direction of Tiffany Nichole Greene. A quartet of visual arts graduate students anxiously awaits the announcement of the prize winner and their friendship is challenged by t...

Described as a theatrical crime caper, FAST COMPANY explores a major con gone wrong and digs into the dynamics of the family Kwan. It's a fun ride when the game is being plotted and executed, but slows considerably when the focus is on the family. The actors do what they can to get inside their char...

The Eventide Theatre Company has made a bold choice in sharing Frank's story with a Cape Cod audience through means of a score depicting her feelings while fearfully secluded in the "Secret Annex," with certain lyrics molded from actual quotes made by the young prisoner. It is safe to say that Event...

The Suffolk University/Boston Playwrights' Theatre co-production of RHINOCEROS, newly adapted by Wesley Savick from Derek Prouse's translation, features a Boston setting, but maintains the themes of Eugene Ionesco's 1959 classic play from the Cold War era. Things being as they are, that sort of feel...

Brown Box Theatre Project and Icaro Theatro presents Boxer Shorts: A Cycle of Short Plays. From Water to Dust (del auga al polvo), playing at Boston's Atlantic Wharf through March 4th. This is Brown Box's second year presenting an evening of short plays. This year, the Project brings us four plays f...

There is so much about the heartwarming nature complete with a simple lesson learned and the sheer magic involved in making that happen that have brought many to profess their love of The Wizard of Oz, which is, in essence, a wonderful story that tugs at the heartstrings ever so slightly. From an ad...

In a departure from its more substantial recent fare, Zeitgeist Stage Company offers up a sugary confection about a cake baking competition in a small Vermont town. Although widely-produced in Canada and the United States, including a run Off-Off Broadway, CAKEWALK is a slight story that is slow to ...

Stoneham Theatre stages the third installment in Richard Nelson's four-play series with the director, design team, and cast intact from the earlier entries. They are a cohesive, well-oiled team, but while SORRY gets deeper into the personalities of the characters, it fails to deliver the political g...

The horrific future depicted in George Orwell's cautionary tale '1984' feels that much more frightening in 2016 because so much of the oligarchical world predicted by the visionary author in his dystopian 1949 novel has come to fruition. The power gap between the haves and the have-nots is alarming....

There's not much hope for the girls at the center of MILK LIKE SUGAR, Kirsten Greenidge's Obie Award-winning play about teenagers seeking fulfillment through pregnancy. Though the writing can be cliched at times, portrayals and direction are truthful. Thanks to excellent performances throughout, the...

Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has assaulted the fourth wall and countless racial stereotypes in his funny and audacious new play AN OCTOROON. Adapted from an 1859 melodrama titled "The Octoroon" by Irish playwright Dion Boucicault, Jenkins' piece weaves a biting contemporary narrative within Bou...

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 ...

Identity and the search for it is a common thread that binds us. No other generation is currently battling with defining their own identity more than Millennials. It's ironic that the group of people on the front lines of electing the nation's first African-American president and fighting for social...

Merrimack Repertory Theatre hosts the regional premiere of Mat Smart's TINKER TO EVERS TO CHANCE, a play for die-hard baseball fans. Focused on a mother and daughter who bond over their shared love of the Chicago Cubs, it resonates with members of Red Sox Nation who understand the roller coaster emo...

Boston Playwrights' Theatre mounts BACK THE NIGHT, Melinda Lopez's new play that explores violence against women on a college campus. When a feminist blogger is attacked, there are plenty of aspersions to go around as her enemies list is a long one. Her best friend, fraternity brothers, college offi...

The extraordinary journey of the Broadway revival of PIPPIN began at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge a few years back, and now that triumphant Tony Award-winning musical, directed by Diane Paulus, is back in Boston via the national tour. While some tweaks have since been made to the prod...

In a blackout we hear shouting. The front door of a minister's house is kicked opened. Enter a man dragging in a native woman wearing rags. He hands her off to the housekeeper. The housekeeper barks a few commands and forces her into a back room. The opening scene of Underground Railway Theatre's mu...

Storytelling is theatre in its' purest form, but a story can often become secondary or lost when faced with spectacle. In a culture where overproduced mega musicals dominate the box office, it is refreshing to see A.R. Gurney's "Love Letters," a delightful bare bones, two person play with a single f...

New Repertory Theatre continues its third annual Next Rep Black Box Festival with Colm Toibin's THE TESTAMENT OF MARY, a controversial one-woman play that reimagines the life and attitudes of Mary some twenty years after the crucifixion of her son. Artistic Director Jim Petosa directs Paula Langton ...

If the homespun humor and quirky philosophizing that comes to you live from Lake Woebegone via A Prairie Home Companion warms you up on a cold winter's night, then NICE FISH is your cup of cocoa. The brainchild of Mark Rylance and Louis Jenkins, based on Jenkins' offbeat down home prose poems writte...

DISGRACED and VIOLET heat up the winter with power and grace as the Huntington Theatre Company and SpeakEasy Stage enter the second half of their 2015-2016 seasons with winners....

When the author greeted the audience at the top of Bistany's Mysteries he explained that when he sat down to give us his latest novel, he realized suddenly he was staring at a partially blank page. Panicked as opening night quickly approached, Mr. Bistany had a brilliant idea: let the audience c...

MRT stages the first of three world premieres with Artistic Director Sean Daniels' play THE WHITE CHIP, a dark comedy about his own alcoholism and recovery. By sharing his personal story, he hopes to help someone else going through the same thing; by lightening the mood, he makes the story entertain...

There's Sondheim music galore playing at the Lyric Stage Company as Producing Artistic Director and recognized Sondheim expert Spiro Veloudos directs an octet of Boston musical theatre performers in SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM. In effect, the composer/lyricist is the ninth member of the ensemble as he appe...

Fresh Ink Theatre Company presents the inaugural production of Ginger Lazarus' THE HOUSEKEEPER at Boston Playwrights' Theatre. The four-character drama includes a ghost, but she's less scary than the teenage girl struggling with her grief and growing pains. An inept father relies on the new housekee...