Set in Harlem, When January Feels Like Summer mixes humor with a love story that connects three communities: Indian, black and transgender. Catch the Underground Railway Theater’s production of Cori Thomas’ award-winning script Oct. 20-Nov. 13 at Central Square Theater.
Written by acclaimed Bad Jews playwright Joshua Harmon and headed to Broadway in February, Significant Other tells the story of a 20-something single gay man who worries about his own romantic life after his friends begin marrying. SpeakEasy Stage’s production runs through Oct. 8 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA.
After turning heads in New York and London (and perhaps a few stomachs—be prepared for some gore), Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. makes its New England premiere with Company One. Composed of funny and frightening vignettes that vivify the constraints faced by modern women,
the play hits the stage at the BCA’s Plaza Theatre Oct. 21-Nov. 19.
George Gershwin’s 1928 composition An American in Paris inspired the Oscar-winning 1951 film of the same name, which in turn led to this Tony-winning play that opened on Broadway in 2015. The show closes its Great White Way performances in October and begins its U.S. tour at the Wang Theatre Oct. 25-Nov. 6.
Prolific playwright Melinda Lopez takes the ArtsEmerson stage for Mala, her one-woman show that draws on her Cuban heritage and centers on a mother-daughter relationship. See the world premiere Oct. 27-Nov. 20 at the Emerson/Jackie Liebergott Black Box Theater.
Two rising stars on the Boston theater scene, playwright Kirsten Greenidge and director M. Bevin O’Gara, team up for the world premiere of How Soft the Lining, which explores the friendship of Mary Todd Lincoln and her freed black seamstress in the wake of President Lincoln’s assassination. Bad Habit Productions stages the play Nov. 5-20 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA.
Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Bill Rauch (All the Way) returns to the American Repertory Theater to direct Fingersmith, based on Sarah Waters’ best-selling novel about a pickpocketing maid who falls for an heiress in Victorian England. The play drops the fourth wall and runs Dec. 4-Jan. 8 at the Loeb Drama Center.
THE IMPROPER’S 2016 FALL ARTS PREVIEW: DANCE | VISUAL ARTS | MUSIC | COMEDY
Hot Tickets for Drama Queens
By Matt Martinelli | Photo Credits: Company: Justin Saglio; Sunday in the Park, Paul Marotta | Sept. 16, 2016
A Sondheim Duet
The curtain has risen on the fall theater season, and there’s not one, but two Stephen Sondheim musicals on the boards—and they’re both playing right now. The Lyric Stage’s Company, directed by Spiro Veloudos, runs through Oct. 9, while the Huntington Theatre Company’s Sunday in the Park with George, directed by Peter DuBois, runs through Oct. 16 at the Avenue of the Arts/BU Theatre. The two companies have made a long-term commitment to exploring the 86-year-old New Yorker’s work and will both take part in a Sondheim symposium at the Boston Center for Adult Education on Oct. 1. That’s not the only connection: It turns out that early in their careers, Veloudos and DuBois both performed the same role in a Sondheim play—Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. And both directors took the time to sound off on Sondheim to us.
On what makes a Sondheim musical special…
DuBois: Sondheim captures the human experience in a way that can speak to you in every moment of your life. His characters range from 8 to 88, so no matter where you are in your life, you can relate to an experience his characters are having. As you grow older and come back to his work, you will catch yourself reacting to various moments differently.
Veloudos: There is an intelligence about his work that I think you don’t find with any other writer of musical theater. And like Shakespeare, it doesn’t matter how many times you have seen it; it’s different. Sondheim is much the same. I have actually called him the Shakespeare of the Musical Stage.
On the scene in their show that best exemplifies Sondheim’s style…
DuBois: Sunday in the Park with George is something that’s always spoken to me creatively. There’s an incredible song at the end of the show called “Move On.” Every artist needs to hear that message at some point—that the only way forward may be leaving something behind—and moreover, every human being needs to hear that message at some point in their lives as well.
Veloudos: The scene [in Company] that I think has that sardonic humor that Sondheim is known for is the scene where Harry and Sarah are trying to one-up each other—Sarah is showing off her karate skills—and Joanne, as sort of a Greek chorus, comes out and sings, “It’s the little things you do together.” … Immediately following that comic song, then Sondheim has Harry sing “Sorry/Grateful” in response to the question “Are you ever sorry that you got married?” A very funny scene with a comic song, followed immediately with a song, not so much of regret—a big motif in Sondheim’s work—but one of reflection.
THE IMPROPER’S 2016 FALL ARTS PREVIEW: DANCE | VISUAL ARTS | MUSIC | COMEDY
By Matt Martinelli | Photo Credit: Liza Voll
A Rendezvous with Carmen
Boston Lyric Opera opens its 40th anniversary season with Carmen on Sept. 23-Oct. 2, bringing opera back to the Boston Opera House for the first time in 25 years. A co-production with the San Francisco Opera, the show marks the U.S. debut of provocative Catalan director Calixto Bieito and stars mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano in the title role. She lent us her voice for a few questions.
You’ve performed with the BLO before, starring in Don Giovanni last year. What do you enjoy about working with them? They hire wonderful people, who come prepared. From day one, we can have dialogue about the story we’re planning on telling and the things we want to highlight. There’s always an atmosphere of respect. Everyone here wants to put on a great performance and give the audience something that will be memorable, a powerful experience.
How does this staging of Carmen differ from your previous time in the role? They were both in updated, more modern settings—settings that would be closer to things that people can visually relate to. I feel very fortunate in that both of them that I’ve done, I think they really highlight the humanity of all the characters, rather than a stereotype of the character. This production is very focused on the storytelling between this man and this woman, and the complexities of their relationships—these ideas that are ever-enduring in terms of human relationships of love vs. lust, freedom vs. possession and how physical chemistry with a person doesn’t make them the best choice for a partner.
Are you looking forward to performing at the Boston Opera House? Very much so. I have never actually been in the Boston Opera House. … I’m very excited to get into the theater and try it out. It’s a beautiful space, which I think is very fitting for our Carmen production.
What’s the most important thing you do to before performances? Rest. I want to rest my voice, but I also want to rest my body. Carmen is typically a very physical show. I tend to get manhandled quite a bit. Sometimes I find that after a long series of rehearsals, I’m a little sore. The best thing to do is to be quiet, cook myself a nice dinner, maybe go see a movie. It’s incredibly boring, but that’s the best way for me to fill my gas tank.
THE IMPROPER’S 2016 FALL ARTS PREVIEW: DANCE | VISUAL ARTS | MUSIC | COMEDY
By Matt Martinelli | Photo Credit: The Totalitarians: Gary NG
Party Lines
November’s election is on everyone’s mind, so it’s no surprise that plays about the political process are popping into local theaters. While they’re not directly depicting the Trump-Clinton showdown, each play’s director highlighted a line from the script that best relates to the current political climate.
A dimwitted Nebraskan is propelled toward higher office by a power-hungry campaign strategist in Gloucester Stage’s The Totalitarians, directed by Jeff Zinn and running through Sept. 24.
Penelope Easter: “A campaign is a date. Between you and me. And we’re dancing, we’re getting drinks, we’re touching each other’s shoulders and our nipples are paying attention, but I need more if we’re gonna be an L.T.R.”
A liberal media member releases a satirical right-wing book that’s taken all too seriously in Titanic Theatre Company’s The Return to Morality, directed by Michelle Aguillon at Central Square Theater through Sept. 25.
Arthur Kellogg: “I would like you to ask yourself: If my life was in the hands of another person, to whom would I grant this power? You say to me, electing a new president is not a matter of life and death. But I assure you, it is, because the president of this country holds your life in his hands.”
Jim Petosa directs New Repertory Theatre’s production of Good, C.P. Taylor’s drama about a moderate professor who is lured into the Nazi party in 1930s Germany. It plays Oct. 8-30 at the Charles Mosesian Theater in Watertown.
Bok: “Some people used to say he doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about, Hitler…. Just farts out of his mouth instead of his asshole.”
Directed by Dawn Simmons, Warrior Class, a drama about an up-and-coming New York politician haunted by a past transgression, plays at the Lyric Stage Oct. 21-Nov. 13.
Julius: “Besides, what am I going to run on if I don’t do anything?”
Nathan: “Well here’s the thing, you don’t want to give them anything to hang you with.”
THE IMPROPER’S 2016 FALL ARTS PREVIEW: DANCE | VISUAL ARTS | MUSIC | COMEDY
By Matt Martinelli | Photo Credit: The Plough and the Stars: Ros Kavanagh
Irish Invasion
The Irish are coming! The Irish are coming! In honor of the 100-year anniversary of the Easter Rising that spurred the Irish independence movement, a pair of Irish theater companies are performing in Boston. First up is the Abbey Theatre’s production of Sean O’Casey’s 1926 play The Plough and the Stars, which tells the Easter Rising story through the eyes of residents of a Dublin tenement. Directed by Olivier Award winner Sean Holmes, the play hits the A.R.T.’s Loeb Drama Center Sept. 24-Oct. 9. Also dropping anchor in Boston is Gare St Lazare Ireland, a theater company that specializes in bringing Samuel Beckett’s works to life. Here All Night uses music from his novel Watt and spoken word from Beckett’s other texts. Catch the New England premiere Oct. 5-9 at the Emerson/Paramount Mainstage, and stick around for post-performance, onstage viewings of Brian O’Doherty’s Hello Sam exhibit—an ode to Beckett used as part of the set.
THE IMPROPER’S 2016 FALL ARTS PREVIEW: DANCE | VISUAL ARTS | MUSIC | COMEDY
By Matt Martinelli | Photo Credits: When January Feels Like Summer: A.R. Sinclair; An American in Paris: Matthew Murphy
More hot tickets around town
Set in Harlem, When January Feels Like Summer mixes humor with a love story that connects three communities: Indian, black and transgender. Catch the Underground Railway Theater’s production of Cori Thomas’ award-winning script Oct. 20-Nov. 13 at Central Square Theater.
Written by acclaimed Bad Jews playwright Joshua Harmon and headed to Broadway in February, Significant Other tells the story of a 20-something single gay man who worries about his own romantic life after his friends begin marrying. SpeakEasy Stage’s production runs through Oct. 8 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA.
After turning heads in New York and London (and perhaps a few stomachs—be prepared for some gore), Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. makes its New England premiere with Company One. Composed of funny and frightening vignettes that vivify the constraints faced by modern women,
the play hits the stage at the BCA’s Plaza Theatre Oct. 21-Nov. 19.
George Gershwin’s 1928 composition An American in Paris inspired the Oscar-winning 1951 film of the same name, which in turn led to this Tony-winning play that opened on Broadway in 2015. The show closes its Great White Way performances in October and begins its U.S. tour at the Wang Theatre Oct. 25-Nov. 6.
Prolific playwright Melinda Lopez takes the ArtsEmerson stage for Mala, her one-woman show that draws on her Cuban heritage and centers on a mother-daughter relationship. See the world premiere Oct. 27-Nov. 20 at the Emerson/Jackie Liebergott Black Box Theater.
Two rising stars on the Boston theater scene, playwright Kirsten Greenidge and director M. Bevin O’Gara, team up for the world premiere of How Soft the Lining, which explores the friendship of Mary Todd Lincoln and her freed black seamstress in the wake of President Lincoln’s assassination. Bad Habit Productions stages the play Nov. 5-20 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA.
Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Bill Rauch (All the Way) returns to the American Repertory Theater to direct Fingersmith, based on Sarah Waters’ best-selling novel about a pickpocketing maid who falls for an heiress in Victorian England. The play drops the fourth wall and runs Dec. 4-Jan. 8 at the Loeb Drama Center.
THE IMPROPER’S 2016 FALL ARTS PREVIEW: DANCE | VISUAL ARTS | MUSIC | COMEDY
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