Stage
Dances with Caterpillars
The Sandglass Theater, an award-winning theater company specializing in combining music and theater with puppetry, continues its Voices of Community series this weekend with Caterpillar Soup. Written and performed by Lyena Strelkoff, it recounts her experiences trying...
Joke's on You
Masters of satire and mockery, bouffons were the jesters of the French Renaissance. Normally marginalized as ugly, disfigured or mad, through performance they regained the upper hand, ridiculing their audiences to entertain. Award-winning performer Eric Davis revives...
Madoff the Elder
As long as bankers and brokers have had the ability to play with other people's money, they've also had among them a few scoundrels whose definition of "play" was a bit more fast and loose than the average. Such is the life of one Mr. Voysey,...
The Ground Truth
Isn't it funny how often the patriotic notion that our troops are fighting overseas to defend our constitutional liberties, bumps up against attempts to stifle those freedoms at home? That's the ironic back-story to Voices in Conflict, a theatrical collage of...
The Once and Future Queen
Ever heard of Gormlaith? That's not a monster in the Beowulf mold, or some ancient villain—Gormlaith was in fact the wife of one of the most famous men in Irish history, High King of Ireland Brian Boru, whose harp still graces Irish money. In The Last High...
Pop Will Eat Itself
From its humble beginnings in a nightclub on New York's Upper West Side to its current reign as the city's longest-running musical comedy revue, Forbidden Broadway has left audiences rolling in the aisles since 1982. The production of the Tony Award-winning...Summer Seasoning
Ah, summer! The season of long evenings spent… sitting indoors in the dark. While most normal people are stirring the charcoal in the warm dusk, and even discriminating theatergoers are selecting just one or two shows a week from the summer theater cornucopia,...
Oh, To Be In England
I fully expected to headline this article “A Brolly Good Time.” Outdoor theater, in the spring, in England? I must have been mad to plan a theater-going trip around that quixotic notion. But instead, I was outrageously lucky. The sun shone out of a...
Singing Along
These girls just want to have fun, but they also cry and sing. Part chick flick and all girl-power, Girls' Night: The Musical is the story of five female 30-something friends on a girls' night out at a karaoke bar. First produced in 2000 at a community...
StageStruck: Doubts About Faith
Both Freud's Last Session, at Barrington Stage Company's Stage 2, and Faith Healer, in the Berkshire Theatre Festival's Unicorn Theatre, bore into questions of truth and illusion, faith and fraud. One takes the form of a dialogue between two rationalists...
Bard Blanket Bingo
Break out your blankets; it's time for some theatre in the great outdoors. To kick off its 2009 season of Shakespeare Under the Stars, the Hampshire Shakespeare Company proudly presents one of the Bard's most enduring plays: Henry IV, Part 1. Even though it is...
Fishing for Home
Sixteen-year-old Allie and her 11-year-old brother Cal have run away from their abusive father. They hole up in an Appalachian shack, where Allie does her best to be his mother too, and Cal feeds them both with fish from the mountain stream. The Catch explores...
StageStruck: The Hills Are Alive
In this summer of economic discontent, more theaters are turning to the time-tested ingredients of summer stock: comedies and musicals. I'll be covering a clutch of laff-vehicles next week, but first, three pieces of musical theater that couldn't be more...
Shakespeare Under the Stars
Shakespeare's rough-and-tumble comedy The Taming of the Shrew gets a workout in Look Park's Pines Theater this weekend—and so does the cast in the Valley's newest theatrical ensemble, the August Company. Eight actors play all the roles, doubling up...
Stage Struck: Ripped From the Headlines
One pits small-town values against big-city greed. The other takes an almost Freudian view of religious fundamentalism. One is a comedy with a cynical stone in its sentimental heart, the other a hard-edged drama of ideas with a rather soft-centered message.Both of...
The Happy Pill Circus
The purveyors of puppety goodness join forces with Northampton's Primate Fiasco, a band of Dixieland proclivities and circus-like abandon. The event is dubbed The Happy Pill Circus, and promises to be a theatrical good time of rare dimension.It's sponsored by...
Pooh by Numbers
If the kids are getting restless in July, take them to see an interactive performance of Winnie-the-Pooh at the Paintbox Theatre in Northampton. Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger will be there, led by local storyteller Tom McCabe as A.A. Milne, author of the Pooh tales....
Of Time and Illusion
Arthur Miller is considered by many to be America's Greatest Playwright, with only Eugene O'Neill and Tennessee Williams the other obvious contenders for the crown. Interestingly, all three were prolific dramatists but their reputations are founded on less...
StageStruck: Minority Report
During the intermission of Dividing the Estate, my companion said, "Does this take place in the '50s?" No, it's 1987, but the small Texas town it's set in seems frozen in time, and Horton Foote's script feels like it was written 50 years ago....
StageStruck: Sit-Down Comedy
The opening scene of The Porch is one of the out-and-out funniest and most perfectly formed comic set pieces I've ever seen: three elderly ladies sitting on wicker chairs, two of them trying to explain to the other, without getting too graphic, exactly what it was...
Surf, Sun and Shakespeare
Hampshire Shakespeare Company presents an adaptation of Shakespeare's wild romantic comedy Twelfth Night this week. Set in the Caribbean in the 1930s, the company's version of the classic tale brings a Latin twist to one of the Bard's most accessible...
A Farce to Be Reckoned With
For those who like their medieval plays with a dash of craziness, the Renaissance Theater Company proudly presents Francis Beaumont's Knight of the Burning Pestle as their first production of the school year. This groundbreaking 17th-century satire is more Monty...
Shakespeare, Foursooth
This summer, Shakespeare & Company are staging more actual Shakespeares than usual, including all three of the mainstage productions and one in the new Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre that's usually home to contemporary work. Now playing are two of the great...
Somatic Dance
Two UMass alumnae, Irada Djelassi and Katherine Hooper, come to town this week with the dance troupe they co-direct, BoSoma—Boston Somatic Dance Company. Four other alumnae dance with the troupe. The co-directors also present a lecture on starting a non-profit...
Knockabout Is Fair Play
"Dying is easy. Comedy is hard." Those famous last words, variously attributed to a number of great actors, are famous because every performer knows they're true. It's all, as they say, in the timing. The throwaway quip, the perfectly placed punch...
StageStruck: Y'all's Town
Harrison, Texas, is a fictional small town that playwright Horton Foote superimposed over his real-life hometown of Wharton. Many of his plays are set in "Harrison," and he developed almost a repertory company of characters who show up in various works. All...
Now and Then
New Century Theatre presents Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, a play of love, lust and academia set in an English country house during both the 19th century and the present. July 30-Aug. 8: Sun.-Thu., 7:30 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m., $14-28, New Century Theatre, Theatre 14,...
La Boheme Martin
What if Pablo Picasso met Albert Einstein at a bohemian Parisian nightspot on the same night it was visited by a time-traveling rock star on a mission? This is just one of the many zany questions raised in comedian Steve Martin's most popular play, Picasso at the...
Theater for Life
"If you had an hour to speak to the world, what would you want to say?"That question, posed to participants in the Springfield-based youth program First Generation, was one of the sparking points for their creation of a theater piece based on their life...
Was it… the Butler?
Since 1995, one area comedy troupe has satisfied the Pioneer Valley's appetite for dinner with a side of sleuthing. Back by popular demand, The Comical Mystery Dinner Theater returns to the Skinner mansion for another presentation of their "new...
StageStruck: Pressure-Cooker Plays
One of the thrills of summer theater, for actors and audience alike, is its pressure-cooker schedule. The rehearsal period for each show is usually less than two weeks, challenging the actors to put together convincing performances without the luxury of extended...
Stage Struck: Double Header
In these even-tougher times for the arts, the one-person play is enjoying an enforced resurgence. Shakespeare & Company mounted three of them this year, Amherst's Ko Festival formed its whole summer season around solo shows, and now the Berkshire Theatre...
StageStruck: On the Fringe
Two companies situated on the fringes of the Berkshires invite adventurous playgoers to step outside the comfort zones of the region's major summer theaters. Both Double Edge Theatre in Ashfield and the Berkshire Fringe in Great Barrington specialize in original...
Romeo & Juliet Cubed
The stars are aligning for those "star-crossed lovers," as three separate versions of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet hit the stage in the coming weeks.Each production comes to the classic romance from a different perspective. A touring company captures...Grease Is Still The Word
After all these years, Grease is still the word. The beloved rock musical returns to the stage courtesy of the New England Youth Theatre of Brattleboro. Aug. 6-7, 7:30 p.m., August 8-9, 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., $7.50/ students, $9.50/ seniors, $11.50/ general, New...
Harmonizing for Hospice
Young@Heart, the well-known troupe of elderly choral singers, makes its way back home for a local performance at Mount Holyoke College after another seaon of globetrotting.Born in 1982 in a Northampton housing facility, The Young@Heart Chorus has become famous,...
StageStruck: In the Bernstein
This summer at Shakespeare & Company, a season of edgy contemporary works has unfolded in the company's Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre. It's an intimate, rough-hewn space in S&Co's new, $10 million Production and Performing Arts Center, a former...
The Capitol Steps
Putting the "mock" back in democracy, The Capitol Steps invade the Pioneer Valley with their new tour, "Obama Mia," featuring political satire that skewers both sides of the aisle. You'll be singing along to their spoofs of current news issues...Stage Struck: Cliff Diving
A sweet, pure voice floats over the auditorium of the Academy of Music. The song, from a musical of the '90s, fills the air of Northampton's venerable old palace and bounces off the empty seats.Yes, empty seats. There's only a handful of people in the...
A Dance of Tragedy
When the Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia in the '70s, artists became targets. Many perished or fled the country in fear. Among those who fled were the creators of the Angkor Dance Troupe. In 1986, two dance teachers and a handful of dancers (who learned the...
StageStruck: Fringe of the Hub
When we think of Boston theater, we're likely to think first of the downtown touring houses—the Wilbur, the Colonial, the Schubert—and the university-connected institutions, the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard and the Huntington at B.U....
StageStruck: August in November
Hartford has seen more than its fair share of sprawling generational dramas this year. We've just had Horton Foote's three-part, nine-hour Orphans' Home Cycle at Hartford Stage, which earlier in the year also produced Foote's Dividing the Estate, a...
A Quest
As part of the Arts at AIC series, the Garret Players perform the multi-faceted play East of the Sun and West of the Moon. This enchanting adaptation of a Norwegian folk tale details the travels of teenage girl, Tove, who meets a mystical bear that leads her away on a...
Stage Struck: Love's Labors
“We’re trying to recreate some of the excitement, some of the fun, some of the anarchy and sensuality that we have at the Globe.” That’s Dominic Dromgoole, director of Shakespeare’s Love Labour’s Lost, which played in London’s...
Pandora Recycles
Curiosity is a modern take on the age-old Greek myth of Pandora and a mysterious box. Miguel Romero, the creator of the project, traveled to Asia and Europe to work with artisans in crafting emotive masks and antique shadow puppets and to study Japan's bunraku...
StageStruck: Re-Inventing Christmas
Since the moment of its publication in December 1843, A Christmas Carol has epitomized the holiday spirit—a time when goodwill flows like wassail and, as Scrooge's nephew Fred says, "Men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts...
After the Overture
In the throes of financial meltdown, who would have the nerve to take an opera from regional to professional in the semi-rural reaches of Western Massachusetts? Put a 33-year-old company started up by a fellow who ran a hardware store—Richard...
The Golden Ticket
New England Youth Theatre (NEYT) presents a production of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory based on Roald Dahl's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. To promote the show, NEYT is selling Golden Tickets inside of chocolate bars around Brattleboro. The...
High-tech, High-def Hamlet
The Royal National Theatre of Great Britain played a one-night stand in the Valley last month. It went so well they’re making a return visit this Sunday. The performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet was, of course, the latest in the NT Live...
Marley's Greatest Hits
It's that time of year again; time to stuff your "bah-humbugs" in a sack and raise a toast of good cheer to sweet Tiny Tim (no, not the guy with the ukulele). A Christmas Carol returns to the Northampton stage this holiday season, starring Emmy...
StageStruck: Snarky Genius
Catherine isn’t very nice. She’s snarky, contemptuous, volatile and bitingly sarcastic. She’s not very happy, either. Here she is, on her 25th birthday, drinking alone. Well, not exactly alone. Her father is keeping her company. Her father, a...
Just About
Just as most New Englanders are settling in for another long winter, a play has arrived that's perfect for a chilly night. John Cariani's Almost Maine takes place under the watchful eyes of the Northern Lights in the fictional community of Almost. The area is...
He Dreams In Colors
A musical of biblical proportions, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is presented this January by Amherst Leisure Services. The show, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, follows the story of Joseph, a father's favorite child whose claim to fame...
Stage Struck: Blood Brothers
I haven’t seen Runt of the Litter, but the premise is intriguing, even for someone, like me, who has zero interest in football. At heart, Bo Eason’s one-man show is that staple of sports fables, the underdog-overcomes-adversity-to-make-good story. The...StageStruck: Cognitive Dissonance
As a young gay man, Richard Vaden is interested in what his generation has learned—and hasn't—about "what being gay is supposed to mean." As a student at Simon's Rock in Great Barrington, he interviewed 17 young gay men and turned their...
StageStruck: Swimming the Undercurrents
Seven years ago this month, Spalding Gray, who revolutionized the monologue form with Swimming to Cambodia and other intensely personal performance pieces, and who had suffered from depression all his life, stepped off the Staten Island ferry into the waters of New...
A Zen Clown
You can have your Squiggles the Clown and Hondo the Magnificent. It takes a clown of bigger aspirations to dub himself Avner the Eccentric. Avner Eisenberg is indeed a clown of eccentric tendencies, offering physical comedy, acts of audacious balancing and a mix of...
Really Fast, Really Big, Very Brooklyn
Hamlet is dying. Fatally pierced by Laertes' poisoned rapier, the Prince of Denmark draws his breath in pain to speak his immortal last line:"Rosebud."The two other corpses on the stage are twitching with laughter. The line isn't in...
Stage Struck: Phenoms on Stage
The Vagina Monologues is an international phenomenon. Since its birth in 1998, Eve Ensler's compilation of women's reflections on their most private part has become an annual event, with performances in hundreds of schools, colleges, community venues and...E-Edition
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