Category Archive: Reviews

Hub’s ‘6 Hotels’ showcases a talented quartet

BOSTON — The Hub Theatre Company is closing its second season by assembling a quartet of skilled actors who portray a variety of roles in the production of Israel Horvitz’s “6 Hotels” at… Continue reading →

NSMT crafts an emotional, intimate ‘Les Misérables’

BEVERLY — The debut of the hit musical “Les Misérables” in the West End of London in 1985 and on Broadway in 1987 heralded an era of big-budgeted, mega-cast, sprawling musicals that ran… Continue reading →

‘Annie’ makes a grand, glorious return to Boston

BOSTON — National touring productions are like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates: You never know what you’re going to get. So it’s good news that the national touring production of “Annie” at the… Continue reading →

Speakeasy’s intense ‘Bad Jews’ crackles and sizzles

BOSTON — The name alone has created a controversy of sorts. The Speakeasy Stage Company‘s production “Bad Jews” by Joshua Harmon at the Calderwood Pavilion of the Boston Center for the Arts isn’t… Continue reading →

MRT’s ‘Dusk Rings a Bell’ too much of a slow go

LOWELL — In the Merrimack Repertory Theatre’s production of Stephen Belber‘s “Dusk Rings the Bell,” a moment in time between a young man and a young woman is unearthed and becomes a 25th… Continue reading →

A strong cast lifts Stoneham’s ‘Addams Family’

They’re creepy and they’re kooky, Mysterious and spooky, They’re all together ooky, The Addams Family. The theme from “The Addams Family” TV show STONEHAM — Watching someone like Tom Derrah — whose acting… Continue reading →

‘Ether Dome’: Finally, a way to ‘do no harm’

BOSTON — “First, do no harm” is the translation of a Latin instruction for physicians, often mistakenly connected to the Hippocratic Oath but actually occurring in another ancient text devoted to medicine. But… Continue reading →

Talented Gibson enlivens Fiddlehead’s ‘Aida’

DORCHESTER — When Disney Theatricals decided to recast “Aida” as a musical, it seemed a curious choice. Verdi’s opera “Aida” is an iconic work, so popular that the Metropolitan Opera had performed it… Continue reading →

The ‘Beasts’ score again with highly-original ‘Knock!’

BOSTON — As a people, Russians have not often been associated with great senses of humor. Yakov Smirnoff doesn’t count. And avant-garde humor — albeit black humor that may not be transparent at… Continue reading →

‘Assassins’ explores the killers behind the deeds

WATERTOWN — The word is infamous. But the majority of the word “infamous” — which means “well known for some bad quality or deed” — is “famous” and the definition of the word… Continue reading →