This week said a tearful goodbye to Ann and Chris on Parks and Recreation. While this wasn’t the funniest episode, it was definitely an emotional one as everyone struggled to figure out the perfect way to send Ann and Chris off. Leslie already knows exactly what she had to do for Ann before she leaves. […]
Somehow, I have managed to avoid seeing a production of The 25th Annual Putnam Counting Spelling Bee, despite the innumerable local productions over the last few seasons in Boston. The music is fun and catchy, and the plot seems like it could provide for an enjoyable, albeit lighthearted, night of theater but I never really […]
Paradoxically, an impressive and professionally staged university theater production often receives a harsher critical glare. When indulgent excuses need not be made for technical mistakes, missed cues, or flubbed lines, almost the entire critical focus shifts to the actors’ skills and the directorial choices made regarding the performances themselves. Boston College’s workshop production of The […]
I desperately want to like new, emerging fringe theatre in Boston. While we have a vibrant fringe scene, such scene can always use support from patrons and reviewers, especially if it’s good. Porpentine Players offers rarely-produced classic and period pieces for Boston audiences. However, their inaugural production of the terribly difficult A Man for All […]
Some performances stick with you; some productions stick with you for all of the wrong reasons. Hovey Players present the intelligent play Next Fall without much of the intelligence. Playing to the LCD (“Lowest Common Denominator”), the cast bypass a lot of the cleverness and heart of the play to perform the hilarious comedy underlying […]
I am constantly in awe of the physical and mental stamina required of dancers, and have always said that if I could go back in time I would make sure to pursue dance. Well this show made me want to die immediately and be reborn a dancer. Heartbeat of Home is a spectacle with all […]
Available at iTunes and on the music player on his website. In the dead of winter, I can’t help but react favourably to a dose of anything tropical; a hypnotic bass line and a Red Stripe can go a long way towards lightening the winter gloom. Boston-based Mighty Mystic is a fixture on the U.S. East Coast […]
I always get excited to see a show that I have never seen staged. There is something thrilling about having no pre-conceived notion about what to expect, and being met with an entirely new experience when you enter a theater. This was the case when I saw Salem Theatre Company’s production of Bernard Pomerance’s The […]