Theatre
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Geoffrey Rush and Susan Sarandon in Exit the King
First Broadway Revival of Eugene Ionesco Play
By: - Mar 30th, 2009The "dream cast" of Oscar winners, Geoffrey Rush and Susan Sarandon in a revival of Eugene Ionesco's 1962 "Exit the King" was mostly a snore. We know that the 400-year-old King Berenger I is dying within minutes of the first act but the bathos is dragged out through a tortuous evening of Theatre of the Absurd. Indeed.
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The Wrestling Patient: at SpeakEasy Stage Co.
World Premiere of WWII Play about Dutch Writer
By: - Mar 30th, 2009In the last 60 years, Holocaust stories are familiar narratives about good and evil. The SpeakEasy Stage Company is having the World Premiere of a true story that has been little told about a distinctive Dutch Jewish writer Etty Hillesum during the last years of her life.
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Footloose the Musical at the Colonial Theater
Road Show Launches Season in Pittsfield
By: - Mar 20th, 2009The touring company of "Footloose the Musical" appeared for two sold out performances at the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield. Our critic titubated down the aisle after a fabulous show.
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Shakespeare & Company Faces Economic Storm Calmly, Creatively
Balances Cuts and Restructuring with Program and Revenue Growth
By: - Mar 17th, 2009Shakespeare & Company is a $5.6 million dollar theatrical operation employing more than 200 people each year in the Berkshires. When the economy took its dip, the company and its Board got into action, readying the survival plans and donning the life preservers for the stormy economic seas in the months ahead.
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Jane Fonda in 33 Variations
Return to Broadway After 46 Year Absence
By: - Mar 14th, 2009In 1991 Jane Fonda announced that she "retired" from acting. But she has appeared in a couple of movies since then. Her last appearance on Broadway was 1963 in "Strange Interlude." After a lapse of 46 years she returned this week to star in "33 Variations" by Moises Kaufman. As Dr. Katherine Brandt she is dying of Lou Gehrig's disease while researching why Beethoven created "33 Variations" on a seemingly trivial waltz by Anton Diabelli.
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Two Men of Florence at Huntington Theatre Co.
Richard Goodwin's Science vs. Religion Smackdown
By: - Mar 13th, 2009Like some sort of metaphorical wrestling match, Richard Goodwin has dramatized the science versus religion controversy of Galileo and Pope Urban VIII as an ongoing dispute between the logic of science and the emotion of religion. However, Galileo is very emotional about his science, and this Pope feels very logical about his religion. The wrestling is a verbal torrent interestingly framed. Even though we side with one over the other intellectually, the problem is whether are not we are made to really care about who actually wins.
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The Big Daddy of Boston's Resident Theatres, Spiro Veloudos
Lyric Stage Hits New Heights Under His Leadership
By: - Mar 07th, 2009Spiro Veloudos has been a fixture on the Boston theatre scene for more than thirty years, and is currently Producing Artistic Director of Lyric Stage. In a revealing conversation, he gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to run a Boston theatre company.
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Shakespeare & Company 2009/ 2010 Season
Most Ambitous Schedule Ever for 32-year-old Berkshire Instititution
By: - Mar 04th, 2009For her final season as Artistic Director of Shakespeare & Company, Tina Packer has pulled out all the stops for a dense and intense 2009/ 2010 season. Mostly Packer aspired to fully book the first season of the new Evelyn P. Bernstein Theatre. Tony Simotes takes over day to day operation on June 1 and Packer informed the media that "I can't wait." She anticipates a new phase of her career as an actor, writer, teacher and director.
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Blackbird Roosts at Boston's SpeakEasy Stage Company
An Unsettling Exploration of Underage Sex, Secrets and Lies
By: - Mar 03rd, 2009Fifteen years ago Ray and Una had a passionate love affair. She was twelve and he was an adult. He went to jail. She lost her innocence. David Harrower's "Blackbird" was first commissioned by the Edinburgh International Festival in 2005, played London's West End in 2007 and debuted later that year in a Manhattan Theatre Club production. It now receives its Boston premiere at the SpeakEasy Stage Company.
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Elizabeth Aspenlieder: Save the Date
Last Chance to See Shakespeare & Company Hit
By: - Mar 01st, 2009Shakespeare & Company took a chance that has really paid off by offering an extended production, January through March 8, of the Theresa Rebeck one woman play "Bad Dates" starring the brilliant actress Elizabeth Aspenlieder.
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Beckett's Elusive Endgame at American Repertory Theatre
Stunning Play Features a Brilliant Cast
By: - Feb 25th, 2009Samuel Beckett was one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th Century. His work is about ambiguity and the human condition. The current production of Endgame at the ART is both skillfully presented and intellectually embracing. The fabulous performances of the four ensemble cast members are among their best ever. This Post Modern play is simply magnificent.
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Cat On A Hot Tin Roof At Lyric Stage
Sizzling Tennessee Williams Classic
By: - Feb 15th, 2009Tennesee Williams' Cat On A Hot Tin Roof inhabits a Mississippi Delta plantation world of hypocrisy, greed and mendacity. A disfunctional wealthy family celebrates the birthday of its patriarch in a destructive way. Maggie the Cat, Brick, and Big Daddy all portray a human firestorm caused by addiction to the bottle, desperation to conceive a child, and not so ambiguous feelings toward a late best friend.
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Berkshire Theatre Festival Plans Enticing 2009 Season
Randy Harrison, David Adkins Among Favorites to Return this Summer
By: - Feb 14th, 2009With eight productions and principal casting announced for the Summer 2009 Season, the Berkshire Theatre Fetival continues to deliver a satisfying banquet of comedy, drama and music under the steady leadership of Kate Maguire.
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Williamstown Theatre Festival 2009
A Shortened 55th Season
By: - Feb 13th, 2009Given the poor economy, artistic director, Nicholas Martin, has reduced the number of Nikos Stage productions from five to three plays and shortened the seaon (July 1 through August 23) by two weeks. By making these cuts he has avoided any compromise of the quality of productions for one of the nation's most renowned theatre companies.
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Randy Harrison e Stato Fortunato in Aspettando Godot
Coverage of Berkshire Theatre Festival Production Proves Sticky
By: - Feb 04th, 2009Our coverage of Randy Harrison in last summer's production of "Waiting for Godot" at Berkshire Theatre Festival has proved to be "sticky" on the web. Here we present the review translated into Italian.
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Bread & Puppet Theater's Sourdough Philosophy
Boston Center for The Arts Cyclorama Hosts
By: - Jan 27th, 2009With its creative and politicized winds blowing from the far left, The Bread & Puppet Theater is literally a force of nature. Now celebrating its third year at the Boston Center for the Arts, the Vermont-based multiarts group is led by Peter Schumann with roots in the 1960's. It is still a magical, layered and thought-provoking visual, musical and theatrical experience. And there are the giant puppets and freshly baked bread as well.
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Change of Command at Shakespeare & Company
Tony Simotes to Assume Role of Artistic Director
By: - Jan 22nd, 2009Tony Simotes co-founded Shakespeare & Company with Tina Packer and other dedicated artists in 1978. Packer has led the noted company for thirty years as Artistic Director, and now he will take the helm. Packer will continue to guide the company's long term growth, which includes building a reproduction of the Elizabethan-era Rose Theatre in Lenox.
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Elizabeth Aspenlieder Sparkles in Bad Dates at Shakespeare & Company
Buoyant Theresa Rebeck Comedy a Perfect Antidote for the Midwinter Blues
By: - Jan 19th, 2009Not to be missed is this one-waman show showcasing the extraordiary talents of Elizabeth Aspenlieder. The rollicking comedy about dating is directed by Adrianne Krstansky and plays at Shakespeare & Company's Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre through March 8.
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The Seagull Startling At American Rep
A New Perspective on a Modern Classic
By: - Jan 17th, 2009Not your expected Chekhov's usual fare, this version of The Seagull is quite contemporary and dreamlike. The American Repertory Theatre's edginess works in unexpected ways with a modern classic. This Seagull brilliantly flies its own unpredictable course.
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Barrington Stage Company Plans Exciting 15th Anniversary
Carousel, Sleuth, Streetcar on Mainstage, World Premiere on Stage 2
By: - Jan 16th, 2009Barrington's Main Stage will feature audience favorites Carousel, Streetcar Named Desire and Sleuth, while on Stage 2 Mark St. Germain's Freud's Last Session will receive its world premiere, followed by Glen Berger's off-Broadway hit, Underneath the Lintel. Bill Finn's Musical Theatre Lab will be back with two workshops, as will the Barrington Stage Company's Youth Theatre presenting Disney's High School Musical 2.
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Charming The Corn Is Green at Huntington
Kate Burton Shines in Spirited Portrayal
By: - Jan 15th, 2009The Corn is Green is a delightful play about hope and redemption. Set in a Welsh coal mining village, the narrative follows an eccentric spinster's journey of educating the children of the area in spite of community opposition and personality quirks. Her unsophisticated star pupil has the ability to gain a scholarship to Oxford, but fate and love raise their hands.
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Bad Dates at Shakespeare & Company, Take Two
Elizabeth Aspenlieder prepares for the role of a lifetime
By: - Jan 11th, 2009Bad Dates by Theresa Rebeck examines the subject of relationships with humor and irony. Elizabeth Aspenlieder stars and Adrienne Krstansky directs. This second look examines the timeless themes underlying a bittersweet comedy.
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Actor Paul Benedict Dead At 70
Character Actor Dies on The Vineyard
By: - Jan 07th, 2009Paul Benedict was one of those actors that always brought a smile. He had a distinctive and unusual face and a strange British accent though he was born in New Mexico and raised in Massachusetts. He appeared often with distinction in theatre, film and television. Perhaps not a giant in the world of entertainment, he was certainly a super supporting star. Often he was cast as an eccentric, a looney or an oddball. He was an American original.
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Elizabeth Aspenlieder to Star in Bad Dates
Shakespeare & Company Stages Theresa Rebeck Play
By: - Dec 19th, 2008We dropped in on Elizabeth Aspenlieder and the director Adrianne Krstansky as they were rehearsing the one woman play "Bad Dates" by Theresa Rebeck. It runs through March 8 at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox. It's the first winter production in the new Evelyn P. Bernstein Theatre.
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Berkshire Theatre Festival Announces Adventurous 2009 Season
World Premiere of Red Remembers with David Garrison
By: - Dec 18th, 2008BTF promises a fast paced 2009 with Broadway show tunes, "Peter Pan" and "Candide." A world premiere of "Red Remembers," a play about baseball and Red Barber starring David Garrison. The regional premiere of the disturbing play Sicko, plus Neil Simon, Ibsen and Brian Friel.
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