Author Archive

‘Cuisine’ cleverly combines feats and food

BOSTON – You don’t often get to meet the man or woman behind the acrobat and get their story. Just as the late Michael Bennett allowed us to peek behind the facades of… Continue reading

‘Mary Poppins’ is practically perfect in every way

BEVERLY – It’s practically perfect in every way. The North Shore Music Theatre’s production of Disney’s “Mary Poppins” combines Disney magic with its own kind and the result is a joyously spectacular production… Continue reading

‘The Last Schwartz’: Keeping family and faith alive

GLOUCESTER – You never know what will cause the ties that bind families together to fray. Family gatherings are often emotional powder kegs ready to explode. It can happen even at a memorial… Continue reading

Burns helps ‘If/Then’ overcome its shortcomings

BOSTON – What would our lives look like if, at a key juncture, we went off in another direction than the one we actually chose? The team that created the musical “Next To… Continue reading

It’s pure Bedlam in raucous ‘Twelfth Night’

  CAMBRIDGE – Never has the name of a theatrical troupe been more apt. Bedlam, the New York City-based troupe whose production of “Saint Joan” captured Elliot Norton and IRNE Awards, has returned… Continue reading

Lavish, loving ‘Show Boat’ is the king of the river

BOSTON – This is the show Stacey Stephens and Meg Fofonoff always wanted to do, in the theater they always wanted to do it in. The co-artistic producers of the Fiddlehead Theatre Company… Continue reading

‘Blinders’: A fool and his vote are soon parted

WATERTOWN – The old saw is that you can’t fool all of the public all of the time, but what about when you come pretty darn close? Playwright Patrick Gabridge speculated about that,… Continue reading

Dahl’s ‘Matilda’ makes a seamless move to the stage

BOSTON – Perhaps one of the reasons Roald Dahl was one of the greatest writers of children’s books is that he never treated his readers as children. Instead of avoiding issues that the… Continue reading

‘Lobster Girl’ sets off on an ill-fated voyage

STONEHAM – You can have a bevy of talented people working on a project but when things don’t come together, they don’t come together. It’s fun to welcome a new work into the… Continue reading

Reagle, Ellis, Sheehan do right by classic ‘Carousel’

WALTHAM – You can take a few notes from a signature piece of music in some musicals that, when heard, immediately bring the play to mind. That includes the opening strains of the… Continue reading