There is much fun afoot in this cleverly written, earnestly acted, and crisply directed play being revived on the main stage at the Huntington Theatre Company. SHERLOCK'S LAST CASE had its world premiere in 1984 in Los Angeles before transferring to Broadway for a short run in 1987 with Frank Langella in the lead role. Huntington stalwart Maria Aitken returns to direct a tightly-synched cast with Rufus Collins (Holmes) and Mark Zeisler (Watson) as the long-time companions taking on a new nemesis. Has Holmes met his match, or will he live to sleuth again?
THE AGE OF INNOCENCE at McCarter Theatre feels like a respite from a shameless world. Dripping with elegance and elevated decorum of New York society circa 1870, the play, however, is anything but remote. It seems to speak to the quieter reality most of us still remember-the one waiting for permission to matter once again. Not one of elite social circles, but of contemplation and self-knowledge, even when they hurt.
The exciting world premiere of 'Pamela's First Musical' is now on stage at Two River Theater through October 7 and as they say in the show, it's 'splendiferous.' This is a show that will surely be enjoyed by a broad audience of theatergoers including families with youngsters.
Do you remember when you were a child and the best of days were made up of adventures in the woods, tea parties with your stuffed animals, and fantastic sword fights between friends? These exciting, but entirely made up worlds entertained our young minds for hours on end and, for some, kept us from focusing on the harsh realities of life. For the characters at the center of Bess Wohl's world premiere play, MAKE BELIEVE, the opening production of Hartford Stage's 2018 - 2019 season, childhood fantasy fills a void and serves as a protective shield. Imagination shelters the children at the center of the play (and even their grown-up selves) from their real-life problems and provides a shared bond that carries on throughout their lives.
Brookline playwright and former Huntington Playwriting Fellow Eleanor Burgess captures the zeitgeist in her fast-paced and intense new play, THE NICETIES, now receiving its world premiere by the Huntington Theatre Company at the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts. Inspired by a 2015 firestorm at Yale University, her alma mater, Burgess dives head first into the deep end of racial politics in academia, and tackles difficult questions that are most often avoided in discourse in America today. She employs a millennial black student and a 60-year old white professor to effectively argue opposing sides of the debate, but Burgess is smart enough not to choose sides, leaving it up to the audience to contemplate their own thoughts and feelings.
BroadwayWorld has an inside look at Pamela's First Musical, a world premiere with a book by Wendy Wasserstein and Christopher Durang, music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by David Zippel, directed and choreographed by Graciela Daniele at Two River Theatre. Performances continue through Sunday, October 7 in Two River's Rechnitz Theater, 21 Bridge Avenue, Red Bank, NJ. Tickets are available from 732.345.1400 or tworivertheater.org.
BroadwayWorld has a first look at Pamela's First Musical, a world premiere with a book by Wendy Wasserstein and Christopher Durang, music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by David Zippel, directed and choreographed by Graciela Daniele at Two River Theatre. Performances continue through Sunday, October 7 in Two River's Rechnitz Theater, 21 Bridge Avenue, Red Bank, NJ. Tickets are available from 732.345.1400 or tworivertheater.org.
When is it wrong to love someone? Is love the highest ideal, or is kindness and duty even greater than love? Wharton's Pulitzer Prize winner isromantic and heartbreakingly unsentimental in its portrayal of a rigid society where 'people dreaded scandal more than disease.'
Be More Chill, the original musical with music and lyrics by Joe Iconis (NBC's 'Smash', The Black Suits, Broadway Bounty Hunter) and a book by Joe Tracz (The Lightning Thief, Netflix's 'Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events') will have its New York premiere production this summer. Stephen Brackett directs and Chase Brock choreographs the limited 9-week, off-Broadway engagement July 26 - September 23 at The Irene Diamond Stage at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street, NYC).
Not to be missed! Two River Theater is now presenting 'Songbird.' Set in Nashville, Tennessee, it is an intriguing story based on Anton Chekhov's 'The Seagull' that deals with the complexities of human relationships. Written by Michael Kimmel, with music and lyrics by Lauren Pritchard, the show features the finest direction by Gaye Taylor Upchurch, choreography by Marc Kimelman, and musical direction by Kris Kukul.
Two River Theater (Artistic Director John Dias, Managing Director Michael Hurst) presents Songbird, based on Chekhov's The Seagull, written by Michael Kimmel, with music and lyrics by Lauren Pritchard, directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch. The choreography is by Marc Kimelman. Music direction and arrangements and orchestrations are by Kristopher Kukul. The press opening is Friday, June 15 at 7pmand performances will continue through Sunday, July 1 in Two River's Rechnitz Theater, 21 Bridge Avenue, Red Bank, NJ. Tickets are available from 732.345.1400 or tworivertheater.org.
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, spoke out agains the Vietnam War, and was an activist in many social causes, allowing him to be seen as the moral conscience of the nation. However, Bernard Weinraub reveals Miller's feet of clay in the world premiere of his play FALL, directed by Peter DuBois at Huntington Theatre Company's Calderwood Pavilion.
There are few things that can impact relationships, families and communities as significantly as politics. Often one of the topics many consider off-limits for casual gatherings, political discourse has a tendency to divide groups along ideological lines and can make for a tense discussion. And in today's world of political extremes, this reality is as evident as ever. It is along these lines that these realities come to life in vivid tableau in Athol Fugard's A LESSON FROM ALOES, the closing production of Hartford Stage's 2017-18 season.
On Friday June 8, the company of Be More Chill hosts a special box office event. From 3:00 - 5:00PM, fans are invited to The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street, NYC) to buy their tickets and meet company members from this summer's hotly anticipated musical. Come and chill out with cast members including Katlyn Carlson, Lauren Marcus, Will Roland, George Salazar and Jason SweetTooth Williams, as well as composer/lyricist Joe Iconis and director Stephen Brackett. There will be opportunities for selfies with the company, fun giveaways and other surprises.
Christopher Durang's world premiere of TURNING OFF THE MORNING NEWS at McCarter Theatre Center is a bold dark comedy for today's anxieties. A stellar cast and memorable characters offer a trip into the absurd reality of life.
McCarter Theatre Center completes the 2017-2018 Theater Series with Christopher Durang's Turning Off the Morning News. His third world premiere commission for McCarter, Durang's follow-up to Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (2013 Tony Award for Best Play), is a decidedly dark and daring comedy taking hilarious aim at today's absurd and dangerous world. Directed by McCarter's Artistic Director and Resident Playwright Emily Mann, the play runs May 4 - June 3 in the Berlind Theatre.
Everybody needs a good laugh, and that's just what you will get when you attend The Nerd, now being performed at George Street Playhouse (GSP) through May 20. Written by Larry Shue and superbly directed by Kevin Cahoon, the play has an awesome cast that channels Shue's comic genius into 2 hours of sheer fun. The Nerd is the coolest show in town!
Tony Award-nominated director Liesl Tommy (A RAISIN IN THE SUN, MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM, RUINED) returns to the Huntington Theatre Company to lead a stellar, diverse cast in prolific British playwright Caryl Churchill's TOP GIRLS. Written in 1982 as a diatribe against Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's anti-union administration in England, the themes of Churchill's outspoken feminist play remain relevant and all too familiar more than three decades later. In addition to choosing actors outside the box of white, British women, Liesl also fields a creative team of designers which is almost exclusively female.
Passion, scandal, love (both requited and unrequited), and regret are emotions fraught with pain and joy. They are also timeless experiences - as relatable today as they were a hundred years ago. Such is the case with Edith Wharton's THE AGE OF INNOCENCE which has been adapted for the stage by Douglas McGrath and is the latest production from Hartford Stage (in association with the McCarter Theatre Center.) The play, based on Ms. Wharton's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, provides a lavish setting for the tale of one man torn between propriety and passion, and the fixed and proper world of New York society at the end of the 19th century.
Awkwardness reaches hilarious new heights in the final show of our season, The Nerd. When an unexpected party guest (played by 2 Broke Girls' Jonathan Kite) turns into an unwanted house guest, Willum (Modern Family's Colin Hanlon) executes an elaborate plan to rid himself of the wacky nuisance. Aided by a rag-tag team that includes friends, a would-be lover and an oblivious boss, creative acts of desperation quickly dissolve into utter mayhem and merriment. The twists and turns of this madcap comedy lead to an ending that leaves you feeling happily hoodwinked!
