Author Archive

Sound woes slow otherwise strong ‘Ragtime’

DORCHESTER — Quite simply, “Ragtime” is one of the best and important musicals of the past quarter-century. Adam Shapiro as Tateh and Shona Cirone as Mother in the Fiddlehead Theatre’s production of “Ragtime”… Continue reading

Strong cast, choreography boost NSMT’s ‘9 to 5’

BEVERLY — North Shore Music Theatre‘s “9 to 5: The Musical” is based on the very successful 1980 movie “9 to 5” that grossed $103 million and starred Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin and… Continue reading

They’re lumberjacks, and they’re OK

STONEHAM — Sometimes, just being entertained is enough. James Kaplan and Fred Alley aren’t trying to cure cancer or reinvent the wheel with the lighter-than-air musical “Lumberjacks in Love,” now at the Stoneham… Continue reading

At Speakeasy, a mother of a morality play

BOSTON — We all have codes we live by. Some of those codes might seem, as the characters in Stephen Adly Guirgis’ funny, funky “The Motherf**ker with the Hat” might say, a little… Continue reading

Couple disrupts the quiet of ‘Homestead Crossing’

LOWELL — Homestead Crossing is a quiet, comfortable place, the kind of place where not much ever happens and the residents like it that way. In a world premiere by Massachusetts playwright William… Continue reading

‘Good People’: A Southie you’ll want to visit

BOSTON — You don’t have to have born down on A Street or raised down on B Street to enjoy the Huntington Theatre’s production of David Lindsay-Abaire’s “Good People.” The native of South… Continue reading

Woodstock to Waltham: Sha Na Na at Reagle Sat.

WALTHAM – Yes, like everyone else in the Northeast who was in their late teens at the time, I almost went to Woodstock in 1969. And like everyone else, I might have been… Continue reading

Lyric’s ‘Mikado’: Some very inspired silliness

BOSTON — There is something to be said for two and a half hours of inspired silliness. “The Mikado,” now playing at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston, in the most beloved of… Continue reading

‘No Room for Wishing’: Going inside the tents

BOSTON — From October to December 2011, they were a daily feature on the news: the community of tents and tarps on parkland in the Financial District of Boston, better known as Dewey… Continue reading

Another star falls, but NSMT lands on its feet

BEVERLY — North Shore Music Theatre owner Bill Hanney is not taking any more calls from doctors or chiropractors. Not after he recently lost a second leading lady to a back injury. Lorna… Continue reading