Theater
As a theatrical event, The American Stage anthology would have to be classified as a rousing vaudeville show: there are literary routines for all brows—high, middle, and low. The American Stage: Writings on Theater from Washington Irving to Tony Kushner, edited by Laurence Senelick, Library of America, 867 pages, $40. By Bill Marx “There is…
By Helen Epstein Shakespeare & Company’s new director Tony Simotes is in his last week of radiation and chemotherapy for throat cancer in Boston, but he was in the Berkshires this weekend to preside over the first read-through of Richard III.
Perhaps the inspirational cliches, by-the-numbers storyline, and fan cartoon hijinks are what’s expected in a baseball musical. Johnny Baseball, Music by Robert Reale, Lyrics by Willie Reale, Book by Richard Dresser. Story by Dresser and Reale. Directed by Diane Paulus. Staged by the American Repertory Theater at the Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge, MA, through July…
By Bill Marx Summer has never been a time for theaters taking chances and the sluggish economy only encourages the hot weather drift to safety. But there’s some funky activity around the margins as well as encouraging news about Shakespeare & Company’s finances. Also, the Gloucester Stage Company has forsaken last year’s geriatric lineup and…
. . . these plays in their various modes approach the theater as a means of knowing and not merely as a means of expression. — Richard Gilman, “The Drama is Coming Now.” Disfarmer conceived, directed, and designed by Dan Hurlin. Original music by Dan Moses Scheier. Text by Sally Oswald. Part of the Emerging…
Theatre by David Mamet. Faber and Faber, 157 pages, $22 Reviewed By Joann Green Breuer David Mamet’s concise and consistently frustrating book, Theatre, informs even while it infuriates, arguing for throwing out babes with the bath water as if theatre could, or should, make a splash without them. Get your towels out. But as you…
The Great American Trailer Park Musical. Music and Lyrics by David Nehls. Book by Betsy Kelso. Directed by Paul Daigneault. Nicholas Connell, Music Director. David Connolly, Choreographer. Jenna McFarland, Scenic Design. Seth Bodie, Costume Design. Karen Perlow, Lighting Design. Aaron Mack, Sound Design. Staged by the SpeakEasy Stage Company at the Boston Center for the…
One admires not just the quality of Brian Stokes Mitchell’s voice, but his artistry in getting to the emotional heart of whatever he is singing. He has long been a national treasure. Reviewed By Caldwell Titcomb The Celebrity Series concluded its 2009-10 season with one of its finest offerings: a solo concert by Brian Stokes…
What makes a comedy a sure-fire hit? Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward. Directed by Spiro Veloudos. Staged by the Lyric Stage Company of Boston, Boston, MA, through June 5. Reviewed By Helen Epstein That was one of the few questions I was taking the trouble to ask myself while giving in to the sheer enjoyment…
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