Herb Philpott

Review: PIPPIN: Growing Up Is Hard To Do

The second and final production of Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston’s 2022 season is Stephen Schwartz’s PIPPIN, originally produced on the Broadway stage in 1972 with direction and choreography by Bob Fosse, and revived/reimagined in 2013 by Diane Paulus at the American Repertory Theater before going to Broadway. Undaunted by following in those two very large sets of footsteps, RMT Artistic Director Rachel Bertone forges her own path to stage a version that leads with an enlarged heart and a healthy helping of fun and whimsy.

Review: WEST SIDE STORY: You've got to be taught

What did our critic think of WEST SIDE STORY at Reagle Music Theatre Of Greater Boston: There's a new spring in the step of Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston in Waltham. Award-winning director and choreographer Rachel Bertone takes over as Artistic Director and opens the season with WEST SIDE STORY, with Dan Rodriguez by her side as music director.

BWW Review: LA CAGE AUX FOLLES: The Best of Times at Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston

In the summer of 1983, Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein put on a show that was light years ahead of the zeitgeist, vis-a-vis the awareness and acceptance of LGBTQ people in America, and about twenty years before the legalization of same-sex marriage. Yet, after a successful tryout at the Colonial Theatre in Boston, they boldly went where no Broadway musical had gone before when they opened LA CAGE AUX FOLLES at the Palace Theatre on August 21, 1983. Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston concludes its 51st Summer Season with LA CAGE, and I am pleased to report that the show continues to stand the test of time. The three most important components for a successful staging of this musical are the two actors who play the leading men, Georges (J.T. Turner) and Albin (James Darrah), and the dance troupe who comprise Les Cagelles, the drag performers at the Saint-Tropez title nightclub owned by the latter couple, and they collectively win the trifecta.

Photo Flash: Reagle Music Theatre Presents 'La Cage Aux Folles'

Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston's 51st Summer Season concludes with La Cage Aux Folles from August 8-18, 2019.

BWW Review: Linehan and Ellis March in Step in Reagle Music Theatre's THE MUSIC MAN

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 showing off the ensemble's terpsichorean talent with challenging dance combinations, and Music Director Dan Rodriguez conducts a 12-piece orchestra that brings out the brio of Willson's score. The 1957 Tony Award-winning Best Musical still has lots of get up and go, with stirring marches and patter songs, romantic ballads, and a town full of characters as American as apple pie.

Photo Flash: First Look at THE MUSIC MAN at Reagle Music Theater

Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston's 50th Anniversary Summer Season closes with The Music Man from August 2-12, 2018. The multiple Tony award-winning musical runs for 8 performances (including 4 matinees) at the Robinson Theatre, 617 Lexington St., Waltham, MA starring IRNE Award Nominee Mark Linehan as Harold Hill and Elliot Norton Award Winner Jennifer Ellis as Marian Paroo. Produced by Robert J. Eagle; Directed and Choreographed by Susan M. Chebookjian, who will restage the original Broadway and film choreography by Onna White; Music Direction by Dan Rodriguez.

BWW Review: Reagle Music Theatre's ANYTHING GOES: Seaworthy and 'See-worthy'

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 fabulous singing and dancing keep this ship afloat for its transatlantic journey.

BWW Review: A CHORUS LINE High Kicks Reagle Music Theatre's 50th Season

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 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Forty-three years later, it remains a classic for elevating the nameless boys and girls who toil on the line to marquee status. Without the singers and dancers in the chorus, there could be no musical theater; and without musicals, the theater world would be a quieter, more subdued place.

Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston Opens 50th Anniversary Season With A CHORUS LINE

Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston kicks off the company's spectacular 50th Anniversary Summer Season with A Chorus Line from June 7-17. The multiple Tony Award-winning musical will run for 8 performances at the Robinson Theatre, 617 Lexington St., Waltham, MA.

Tony Award nominee and renowned Broadway actor Michel Bell makes his Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston debut this month. Bell will revive the role of JOE, the performance that earned him a Tony Award nomination in Hal Prince's 1995 Broadway production of Show Boat. Bell's bass-baritone delivery of the iconic song 'Ol' Man River' brought audiences to their feet on Broadway. Bell brings his immense talents to the Reagle stage now through July 16 for 8 performances only, in this intimate Goodspeed Musicals version of the Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II masterpiece. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!