Boston Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 22

BWW Review: Order Up! WAITRESS National Tour at Boston Opera House
by Nancy Grossman - February 23, 2018

Nearly three years after it premiered at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, and while still enjoying a successful run on Broadway, the national tour of WAITRESS is serving customers at the Boston Opera House as part of the Lexus Broadway In Boston 2017-2018 season. The Diane Paulus-driven ...

BWW Review: Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle Brings Laughter and Sorrow to Merrimack Rep
by Nancy Grossman - February 21, 2018

Merrimack Repertory Theatre presents the world premiere of LOST LAUGHS: THE SLAPSTICK TRAGEDY OF FATTY ARBUCKLE, bringing to life the story of one of the great comics of silent films. A century ago, he was Hollywood's first million-dollar man, but fell from grace when charged with murder. Despite hi...

BWW Review: Swipe Right for BAD DATES
by Nancy Grossman - February 13, 2018

BAD DATES remount at Huntington Theatre Company reunites Director Jessica Stone and actor Haneefah Wood who worked together in HTC's VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE (2015). Put aside any qualms you may have about one-person plays because Theresa Rebeck has conjured up a character with a multitu...

BWW Review: LONELY PLANET: Hope in the Face of Loss
by Nancy Grossman - February 07, 2018

New Repertory Theatre and Boston Center for American Performance team up to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Steven Dietz's LONELY PLANET, a story of friendship, loss, and hope during the height of the AIDS epidemic. Artistic Director Jim Petosa directs with a smooth ebb and flow, keeping our foc...

BWW Review: Fresh Ink Theatre Offers a Breath of Fresh Air with NOMAD AMERICANA
by Nancy Grossman - February 06, 2018

World premiere production of Kira Rockwell's NOMAD AMERICANA introduces the eccentric Echo family, whose vagabond lifestyle allows them the freedom to be who they are while looking for the magic in the universe. The play is a gently meandering character study and a breath of fresh air....

BWW Review: DEATH AND THE MAIDEN: A Play for the Zeitgeist
by Nancy Grossman - February 04, 2018

Chilean author Ariel Dorfman's 1990 play DEATH AND THE MAIDEN is set in an unnamed country that is probably Chile as it emerges from a long period of dictatorship and adjusts to life under a fledgling democratic government. Even as the nation struggles to reinvent itself, one woman's road to recover...

BWW Review: LOVE NEVER DIES: Nevertheless, He Persisted
by Nancy Grossman - February 02, 2018

The North American tour of LOVE NEVER DIES brings the musical to the United States for the first time since its 2010 London premiere, and is playing at the Boston Opera House through February 11th as part of the 2017-2018 Lexus Broadway in Boston Season....

BWW Review: Sondheim's ROAD SHOW: Looking For America
by Nancy Grossman - January 23, 2018

The Lyric Stage Company continues to meander through the works of Stephen Sondheim with ROAD SHOW, his most recent collaboration with librettist John Weidman. While not in the upper echelon of Sondheim's works, the score and the Lyric production make it worthwhile. This musical travelogue about the ...

BWW Review: A NIGHT WITH JANIS JOPLIN: Feel Like Singin' the Blues
by Nancy Grossman - January 20, 2018

On the occasion of what would have been her 75th birthday, A NIGHT WITH JANIS JOPLIN opened a two-night engagement at the Boch Center Shubert Theatre, sharing with Boston the spirit of Janis and the blues vocalists who inspired her. Newton native Kelly McIntyre evokes Joplin with her body language, ...

BWW Review: SHE LOVES ME at Tyngsborough High School
by Emily Holzman - January 19, 2018

In the latest instalment of an annual Tyngsborough tradition, the town's high school theatre program puts on SHE LOVES ME as this year's dinner theatre production, which you do not want to miss. Resolve to see this show with a dear friend before the days go by!...

BWW Review: SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE Sizzles at SpeakEasy Stage Company
by Nancy Grossman - January 16, 2018

SpeakEasy Stage Company's New England premiere production of SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE is a meaty, fast-paced comic romp with lots of sizzle to go with that steak. Jennifer Ellis and new leading man in town, George Olesky, are a match made in heaven, surrounded by a talented ensemble that includes Nancy E...

BWW Review: A.R.T. Rolls Out BEDLAM'S SENSE & SENSIBILITY
by Nancy Grossman - December 16, 2017

BEDLAM'S SENSE & SENSIBILITY is Kate Hamill's adaptation of Jane Austen's classic woman-centered novel, a free-wheeling offering for the holiday season that is the right story at the right time. The ensemble cast embraces the spirit of play that is Bedlam's stock in trade, while conveying the power ...

BWW Review: HOLD THESE TRUTHS: Past is Prologue
by Nancy Grossman - December 08, 2017

HOLD THESE TRUTHS blends historical fact with fiction to tell Gordon Hirabayashi's compelling story of standing up for his constitutional rights when he was ordered to report to an internment camp only months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The events of the past echo loudly today and the...

BWW Review: New Rep's Season of Resilience: MAN OF LA MANCHA
by Nancy Grossman - December 07, 2017

New Repertory Theatre's 2017-2018 season is labeled Resilience, and it doubles down on the theme with its current production of MAN OF LA MANCHA. The 1965 Tony Award-winning Best Musical, which was based on the play I, DON QUIXOTE, ran for 2,328 performances, has been revived on Broadway four times,...

BWW Review: A CHRISTMAS CAROL: Recited by the Author
by Nancy Grossman - December 05, 2017

Merrimack Repertory Theatre's production of Tony Brown's adaptation of A CHRISTMAS CAROL has Joel Colodner as the author performing his own work in front of an audience. Directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian, this inventive version is enhanced and enriched by the musical accompaniment of Rebecca White a...

BWW Review: Gold Dust Orphans Ask the Musical Question: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JESUS?
by Nancy Grossman - December 05, 2017

As sure as Christmas rolls around every December 25th, Ryan Landry and the Gold Dust Orphans return to the stage at the Ramrod Center for the Performing Arts at Machine Night Club with a Christmas-themed musical mystery, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JESUS? The inventive mash-up is unlike any other holi...

BWW Review: ELF THE MUSICAL: Spiritual Revival
by Nancy Grossman - December 02, 2017

ELF THE MUSICAL is a fun family favorite for all ages. Based on the 2003 film which starred Will Ferrell, the show debuted on Broadway in 2010 with George Wendt as Santa Claus. He reprises the role in the touring production at the Wang Theatre, leading an ensemble of singing and dancing elves, and ...

BWW Review: Lots to Love in SHE LOVES ME at Greater Boston Stage Company
by Nancy Grossman - November 30, 2017

Ilyse Robbins leads a team of champions in Greater Boston Stage Company's SHE LOVES ME, a delightful musical for the holiday season - or any season, for that matter. Music Director Matthew Stern brings out the best in the Jerry Bock/Sheldon Harnick score with the voices of Jennifer Ellis, Sam Simahk...

BWW Review: Moonbox Ascends THE 39 STEPS
by Nancy Grossman - November 21, 2017

Moonbox Productions requires you to use your imagination, but you will be duly rewarded thanks to the talents of Director Allison Olivia Choat, her crew, and the four-person cast of THE 39 STEPS. Kevin Cirone, Sarah Gazdowicz, Bob Mussett, and Matthew Zahnzinger are all top-notch, and the designers ...

BWW Review: TARTUFFE: Satiric Verses
by Nancy Grossman - November 17, 2017

Moli re's TARTUFFE, as translated by Ranjit Bolt, is directed by Huntington Theatre Company's Artistic Director Peter DuBois and features an accomplished cast, led by Frank Wood and Brett Gelman. The story of a charlatan getting the better of a fool, despite the misgivings and warnings of his family...

BWW Review: Commonwealth Shakespeare Company's Starry Reading of Brecht's Anti-Nazi Play
by Nancy Grossman - November 15, 2017

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company Artistic Director Steven Maler directed an accomplished cast in Bertolt Brecht's FEAR AND MISERY IN THE THIRD REICH, in a staged reading at Babson College, headlined by notable stage and screen actors Tony Shalhoub and Brooke Adams....

BWW Review: THE HEARING: American Premiere at Israeli Stage
by Nancy Grossman - November 13, 2017

In celebration of its seventh anniversary, Israeli Stage presents the American premiere of Renana Raz's theatrical event. The staged reading by Nael Nacer, Maureen Keiller, Melinda Lopez, and Lonnie Farmer explores the basic question of freedom of speech as it pertains to an educational setting. Co-...

BWW Review: ELEMENO PEA: Life's a Beach
by Nancy Grossman - November 08, 2017

Boston Playwrights' Theatre presents the Boston premiere of Molly Smith Metzler's own revision of her charming, funny 2011 play ELEMENO PEA. Set at the end of the summer on Martha's Vineyard, a couple of blue collar siblings from Buffalo try to reconnect with each other while caught up in the world ...

BWW Review: KISS: Emerson Undergrads Excel in Calderón's Syrian Soap Opera
by Nancy Grossman - October 30, 2017

ArtsEmerson: The World on Stage presents Chilean-born playwright Guillermo Calder n's KISS, a play-within-a-play that delivers a message about cultural ignorance, the danger of living within a comfortable remove, and the potential of artists to change the world. Directed by Co-Artistic Director Davi...

BWW Review: THE REVOLUTIONISTS: Make Art, Not War
by Nancy Grossman - October 26, 2017

The Nora Theatre Company presents Lauren Gunderson's THE REVOLUTIONISTS, a play which loudly and proudly shows the contribution of four badass women to the story of the French Revolution. The play is set in 1793, but these themes echo too loudly in 2017, reminding us that women must persist to res...