Review: SELECTED SHORTS at The Adams Theater
by Marc Savitt - June 03, 2026
Listening to SELECTED STORIES is a delight. The actors bring energy, nuance, intonation, inflection, and character to every aspect of the story they are telling. Having them do so live, in-person to a room full of enthusiastic audience member reactions made it even more so....
Review: JOHN & JEN at Berkshire Theatre Group
by Marc Savitt - May 31, 2026
As BTG's Artistic Director, CEO Kate Maguire stated: 'Through moments of joy, heartbreak, humor and healing, JOHN & JEN explores the enduring connections between siblings, parents and children- the people who remain part of us across a lifetime. With Andrew Lippa's moving score and a story filled ...
Review: SOMETHING ROTTEN! is Anything But at Lyric Stage Boston
by R. Scott Reedy - May 14, 2026
When it comes to playwrights and poets, William Shakespeare towers above everyone else who has ever put pen to paper. After all, he is the greatest writer ever in the English language, and his 39 plays, 154 sonnets, and three long narrative poems have been translated into virtually every living lang...
Review: Music Carries the Day in The Umbrella Stage Company's HAIRSPRAY
by R. Scott Reedy - May 06, 2026
In most, if not all, other mountings of “Hairspray: The Broadway Musical,” Tracy Turnblad is tucked under her bedcovers when audiences first see the young heroine, ready to show off her high-teased bouffant and let loose with the first notes of the rousing opener, “Good Morning, Baltimore.”...
Review: Dramatic Musical SWEPT AWAY Stays Afloat with Score by The Avett Brothers
by R. Scott Reedy - May 01, 2026
The musical “Swept Away” tells the story of four whalers shipwrecked off New Bedford in 1888, making it especially resonant for local audiences, who can experience the musical drama in a well crafted New England premiere at SpeakEasy Stage Company in the Virginia Wimberly Theatre at the Calderwo...
Review: WHO IS EARTHA MAE? at The Brickbox Theater
by Christopher Verleger - April 13, 2026
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you say the name Eartha Kitt? Those of us who are even remotely familiar with the late singer-dancer-actress will most likely say Catwoman, the iconic feline femme fatale she portrayed in the 1967 season of the ‘Batman’ television series, or her o...
Review: Matthew Lombardo's WHEN PLAYWRIGHTS KILL Slays with Laughter
by R. Scott Reedy - April 14, 2026
Seven years ago, an already hot summer in Boston heated up even more during a pre-Broadway tryout of a truncated version of playwright Matthew Lombardo’s “Tea at Five” at the Huntington Theatre when its star, Academy Award winner Faye Dunaway, was fired after allegations that she physically an...