The Goat (or Who is Sylvia?)

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "The Goat" by Edward Albee

Date: Sat. Feb. 25, 12:07 AM

Quicktake on THE GOAT OR WHO IS SYLVIA?

     "The Goat" (or Who is Sylvia?) by Edward Albee is either the darkest comedy the dean of American Absurdist has ever written, or the first postmodern tragedy. Indeed, as director Spiro Veloudos mentions, the additional subtitle is ''Notes toward a definition of tragedy." Whatever this provocative drama is, the Lyric's production is at the highest level. Multiple award winner Paula Plum plays Stevie, the wronged wife, with range and brilliance. Stephen Schnetzer, who was brought in to replace the original male lead, brings his experience in the role on Broadway and in Washington to Martin, the bedeviled husband. He meshes perfectly with Plum. Richard Snee as Martin's best friend Ross, who knowingly precipitates disaster for his friends, plays the superficiality of that role perfectly. And young Tasso Feldman is convincingly callow as Stevie and Martin's gay teenage son Billy.

     Albee isn't shy about including everything from classical references to passing references to some of his own plays in the dialogue, constantly providing a supertext to the evolving family catastrophe caused by hapless Martin falling in love with a goat. Since the audience is aware of this incredible premise from the first, the ostensibly realistic start to the first scene of the play is already fraught with Absurd double meanings. By the second, when Stevie starts breaking various object d'arte around the set, a stunning modern living room by Brynna C. Bloomfield, there's a feeling that things really might get out of control. And in the brief third scene, the final moments are shattering as in an ancient tragedy. Considerably shorter than many of his notable works, the play packs every bit as much punch.

    This script ranks with Albee's Pulitzer prize winners; "A Delicate Balance", "Seascape", and "Three Tall Women". "The Goat" won the Tony, but like his first important play, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" was passed over for the more prestigious literary award. Like most of his work, the play centers around family relationships and the potential destructive power of love, whatever form it takes. Whether or not any of the action refers to the playwright's own life story is immaterial.

---

"The Goat" by Edward Albee, FEB. 24 - MAR. 18

Lyric Stage Co.

140 Clarendon St., Copley Sq. (617) 585 - 5678
Lyric Stage Co.

UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "Underneath The Lintel" by Glen Berger

Date: Thurs.

Quicktake on UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL

     "Under the Lintel" is an intriguing one man show, given an intense reading by Jason Lambert. His indeterminate age and lack of accent immediately raises some questions about the reality of the piece. Barlow Adamson, who also did Shakespeare's "R&J" for this company, has directed this 90 minute show economically, without forcing any particular interpretation on Glen Berger's complex monodrama. The set has a somewhat improvised air which only adds to the puzzle whether Lambert's Librarian is merely obsessive, or involved in some deeper mystery concerning the obscure myth this archetypical functionary is pursuing. Mill 6 continues to find and produce plays of literary interest using some of the best talent available. Now if they could only find a slightly larger and equally affordable venue so more people could see it.

---

"Underneath The Lintel" by Glen Berger
791 Tremont Street (Rear), (866) 811 - 4111
Mill 6

OTHELLO (BTW)

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "Othello" by Wm. Shakespeare

Date: Sun, Feb 19,

Quicktake on OTHELLO

     With "Othello", Boston Theatre Works has achieved a level of Shakespearean production beyond their past efforts. The show is bolstered by a cast lead by Jonathan Epstein and Tony Molina, two Shakespeare and Company veterans who played this piece in Lenox, as Iago and the title role. In addition, Susanna Apgar, who trained and acted with S&C plays Desdemona, while Iago's wife is played by Elizabeth Aspenlieder, a ten year member of the company. The remainder of the reduced cast includes ART grad and filmmaker Trey Burvant as Michael Cassio, local actor Michael McKeogh as Iago's pigeon Roderigo, while Publick Theatre and Shakespeare Now! hand Gerard Slattery takes on both the Doge of Venice and a functionary on Cyprus where the action happens. Actor and retired teacher Ray Jeness, now with the Gloucester Stage Company, plays Desdemona's father, the Governor of Cyprus, and the Venetian emissary at the end of the play, while Claire Shinkman, whose last Shakespearean role was Laertes in last summer's Theatre in the Raw "Hamlet" at the Theatre Coop, is a Venetian senator and Cassio's bawdy playmate Bianca. These nine form a tight ensemble more than capable of illuminating this play.

     The show is performed on a plain abstract set by Zeynep Bakkal, with a distant strip of sky seen behind large revolving doors at the back and no furniture, just a low central platform. John R. Malinowski has designed simple but effective lighting which changes with the mood of the play as much as the action. Rachel Padula Shufelt's costumes are modern, minimal, and very effective. Cam Willard's soundscape, with wind, storm, alarums, and musical backgrounds moves the action along. Jason Slavick has directed the show with an economy that matches the production, relying on his experienced cast and the words of the Bard to carry the action. Compared to the ART's mirror backed extravaganza several seasons ago, or the touring version the Guthrie recently brought in, this production digs deeper into the conundrum of Othello's tragedy, leaving the audience with more to think about, and Epstein and Molina's artful performances to remember.

---

"Othello" by Wm. Shakespeare, Feb. 16 - Mar 11

Boston Theatre Works in Plaza Theatre

BCA, 539 Tremont, (617) 933 - 8600
Boston Theatre Works

Forbidden Broadway

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit" by Gerard Alessandrini

Date: Fri, Feb 17, 11:42 PM

Quicktake on FORBIDDEN BROADWAY: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT

     He's Back. The latest version of Needham native Gerard Alessandrini's satirical view of Broadway, the 2005 edition, is running for a month in larger new theatre at the BCA. A decade ago, an earlier edition of this parodic formula played for six and one/half years in Boston at the Terrace Room. The concept transfers well enough to a conventional proscenium stage, the kind of stage where most of its targets appear.

     The talented ensemble, Janet Dickinson, Valerie Fagan, Kevin McGlynn, and Nick Verina, with music director Catherine Stornetta at the piano takes on Broadway past and present. This includes "Wicked" due here shortly and the interminable "Les Mis..." on its way out, though next season's edition will probably find a way to attack the fact that MacIntosh is reopening his cash cow on Broadway. Most of the humor is broad and basic, but the pace is breakneck as usual. It helps to have seen the shows and the Annual Tony Awards on television, to know vaguely what was hot in 2005 (and what flopped), but the absurdity of the current production milieu on Broadway, which Alessandrini considers "a crime" is obvious. Media stars like Christina Applegate take their knocks, "Avenue Q" and Julie Taymor's "Lion King" take their lumps, and will no doubt get a few more in years to come.

    While the level of satire hardly approached Culture Clash's visit last spring under HTC auspices. this spoof will probably due better, helping to keep the lights bright down on its end of Tremont. The performers have voices and charm to match any who've toured into town in "legitimate" vehicles, and would be welcome as leads for NSMT or Reagle, or in fact, on HTC's mainstage. Alessandrini's contribution to the American Musical Theatre may not be soley as is fondest critic, but for keeping the revue format alive and kicking.

---

"Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit" by Gerard Alessandrini, Feb.14-Mar.12

Wimberley Theatre in Calderwood Pavilion

BCA, 527 Tremont, (617) 933 - 8600
presented by H.T.C.

Romeo & Juliet (ART)

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "Romeo & Juliet" by Wm. Shakespeare

Date: Wed, Feb 15, 11:45 PM

Quicktake on ROMEO & JULIET

     The A.R.T.'s reputation for making Shakespeare tedious remains unblemished with this latest production. There was some hope that when Hungarian Janos Szasz defected to do a movie, a new director, Israeli Gadi Roll, might avoid some of the excesses usually perpetrated, especially when the black actor playing Romeo left over "creative differences" to be replaced by ART/MXART graduate Mickey Solis, who'd been originally cast as Benvolio. No such luck; the auteur strikes again. The current production is Shakespeare played at full bellow in eccentric modern dress on a stage, a rectangle covered with dark sand, placed between two halves of the audience,. The acoustics of the Loeb are made worse by this arrangement, so much so that some of the cast. even seasoned ART members, seem to be getting hoarse. Or it could be the particles floating in the air from the powdery stage covering.

     The show is made longer by incessant scenery rearrangement, which has stagehands in black in the darkness unrolling and rerolling carpets, removing and resetting chairs and stand lights. Almost all humor has been squelched along with almost every trace of romance. The biggest laugh is unintentional as Juliet clambers down a ladder from the steel "balcony" which extends from the rear to over the house stage right. Her cowboy boots, worn on alll occasions, are the final touch. Romeo and his friends are upper class hoodlums given to wielding knives, obviouysly fake and wooden, which makes the fight scenes athletic exercises. There have been a number of productions hereabouts featuring the star-crossed lovers, including the New Rep's inaugural effort last fall, which used modern dress and contemporary metaphors to reinvigorate the play. This attempt in international style is the least successful. Fortunately, Shakespeare fans have BTW's "Othello" starring Jonathan Epstein opening this weekend at the BCA or Trinity's more eccentric "Hamlet" as options.

---

"Romeo & Juliet" by Wm. Shakespeare, Feb.4 - Mar.16

A.R.T. at Loeb Drama Center

64 Brattle St. Harvard Sq., (617) 547 - 8300
A.R.T.

THE POSSIBILITIES

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "The Possibilities" by Howard Barker

Date: Sat, Feb 11,10:44 PM

Quicktake on THE POSSIBILITIES

     Social conscious theatre continues at CWT with a new company, Whistler In The Dark, presenting English poet and playwright Howard Barker's series of moral fables, "The Possibilities", an ensemble show originally created by The Wrestling School, an experimental theatre group in London. These hard edged intellectual pieces, the bloody-minded British equivalent of Brecht's Lehrstuck, resonate with current worldwide unrest even more than they did in the '90s when they were written. The name of the group, incidentally, comes from an admonition in one of the two poems used to introduce the show.

     An ensemble, four women and three men, mostly recent theatre grads, present these pieces briskly under the direction of Meg Taintor, the group's Co-Artistic Director. The cast includes Timothy F. Hoover, seen at TheatreZone last season as Tom Joad, Brian Quint who just did "Romance 101" with Lowell's new Image Theatre, and very tall Andrew Winson who was in the Theatre Coop's "Our Country's Good" last fall. Sarah Huling most recently appeared with the Czech-American Marionette Theatre in "The Book of Esther", Lorna McKenzie has worked with Footlight, Walpole, Medway, and Destruction, Jennifer O'Connor was also seen in TheatreZone's "Grapes of Wrath" while Sarah Pauline Robinson graduated from Brandeis/Theatre Arts last May. WITD has assembled a good ensemble of physical actors for their first effort. Their next one will be Eric Overmeyer's "In Perpetuity Throughout the Universe."

---

"The Possibilities" by Howard Barker, Feb.11 - Mar. 4

Whistler in the Dark at Charlestown Working Theatre

442 Bunker Hill Ave., Charlestown (617) 945 - 9033
Whistler In The Dark

Flesh and Blood

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "Flesh & Blood" by Peter Gaiten
                 based on a novel by Michael Cunningham

Date:Sat., Feb. 11, 1:08 AM

Quicktake on FLESH AND BLOOD

    Peter Gaiten's reduction of Pulitizer Prize winning novelist Michael Cunningham's novel "Flesh and Blood" for the stage is only sporadically successful. Try as they might, David J. Miller and his cast of eleven actors rarely get beyond the soap opera nature of this family saga, filled with cliche situations and contemporary hot button issues. The playwright's first error was to stick largely to the serial nature of the novel, which traces three generation of an American family which sprung from a poor Greek immigrant and a working class girl from New Jersey. While the scene does expand to include New York, its suburbs, and Boston, it doesn't capture any specific locale. Miller's unit set, as usual well-done and allowing for a fluid presentation given the limitation of the BCA Black Box, is more decorative than necessary and rather than becoming a symbol of the father's aspirations, is more of an interesting obstacle course.


     The father of the Stassos family, Constantine, who came here as a young man, is played by veteran local actor, Robert D. Murphy, who develops a believable character from rather thin soil. Maureen Aducci, as Mary, the mother of the three children whose overlapping fates provide much of the action, has more chance to develop a complex role, and does so with grace, as she's done in past seasons at the Theatre Coop. The showiest part is Cassandra, taken beyond stereotype by Dan Minkle, who finds in this drag-queen/shoplifter with a heart of gold perhaps the production's most intriguing, if still sparse, character. Seen at the Publick in past seasons in roles such as Ajax and often at Ren Faires, Minkle's burly presence combined with bitchy dialogue is a bright spot in the production.


     The children are Susan (Angela Rose), the oldest, with complex sexual issues concerning her father, Mason Sand as Will, aka Billy, who comes out while studying at Harvard, and Zoe (Melissa Baroni), who never grows up and runs off to the Village where she eventually contracts AIDS after fathering an illegitimate black child. Each has enough plot complications and psychological baggage to have a play of their own. This excess results in a long show with very little resolution. Some novels just aren't suitable to transfer to the stage. While "the sins of the father(s)" is a venerable device, in this case it becomes an embarrassment of cliches. The cast, which also includes Claude Del (Jamal), Andrew Dufresne(Todd), Eliza Lay(Magda), Gregory Maraio(Ben), and Achilles Vatrikas(Harry) tries hard and does achieve a number of effective moments as they play themselves--and additional characters--from 1935 to 2035. However, the mixture of partial realism, pop culture sensationalism, and poetic symbolism--as witness the character names--never gels. Still, Zeitgeist makes its usual brave effort at producing a show not likely to get done otherwise hereabouts. Various members of the audience may take home a range of viewpoints from this disjointed family saga, which barely touches on the poltical and social changes during the periods it covers.

---

"Flesh & Blood" by Peter Gaiten, Feb. 10 - Mar. 4

Zeitgeist Stage Co. at BCA Plaza Black Box

539 Tremont , (617) 933 - 8600
Zeitgeist Stage Co.

Sara Crewe; A Little Princess

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - “Sara Crewe”

book & lyrics - Susan Kosoff, music - Jane Staab
based on Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1902-09 novel

Date: Sun Feb. 5.,7:33 PM

Quicktake on “SARA CREWE: A LITTLE PRINCESS

     The revival of Kosoff & Staab’s adaptation of Mrs. Burnett’s famous novel—right behind “The Secret Garden”— is first rate musical theatre for anyone old enough—and still unjaded— to appreciate its romantic moral. Andrea Ross in the title role is supported by some of the best musical theatre performers in town and a believable cast of other young actors, all tightly directed by Jane Staab. Music director Jonathan Goldberg has improved the orchestrations. Janie Howland has created a two level revolving set right up to her usual standard, as currently on display in Speakeasy’s “Five by Tenn” and Marian Piro's period costumes are a finishing touch. WFT’s 25th anniversary season continues with another sterling show. Suspend your belief in the ungoodness of humanity and go back to the pre-WWI optimism for a spell. It might do you and any young people you take along some good.

---

“Sara Crewe” book & lyrics - Susan Kosoff, music Jane Staab, Feb.3 - 26 (matinees school vacation week)

Wheelock Family Theatre at Wheelock College Auditorium

200 The Riverway / (617 )879-2147

Wheelock Family Theatre

"No Politics" et al.

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "No Politics!" by Patrick Brennan

Date: Sat, Feb 4, 11:21 PM

Quicktake on NO POLITICS

     The second play in the Theatre Coop's annual developmental series, Patrick Brennan's "No Politics" had a workshop production this Friday and Saturday. It's a promising family comedy with more than a little touch of sit-com. Jack (Christopher Mack), who runs the Website for a local PBS station and his wife Amy(Elizabeth Brunette), who also works have just found out she's pregnant after eight years of marriage. Her father, Arthur Riley(Peter Brown), who manages a McDonald's and his second wife, Carol(Katheryne Holland) are coming over to dinner. They're Reagan Republicans, Jack and Amy are vegetarian Democrats. Amy's mother, Arthur's first wife Diane (Debbie Friedlander) is also coming over. She's also a Republican. It's the eve of the Iraq War. Both Amy and Carol have made their husbands promise "No Politics."

     At present Brennan's play has a good start on character and tone, an interesting premise which pits family relationships against political viewpoints, and a lot of plot potential. As a one act it's bursting at the seams and needs to expand into a two act comedy with an occasional moment for reflection. The experienced cast under Daniel Bourque's direction did a respectable job with the material in its current form.

     This year's series began with Linda Carmichael's drama, "Life's Morsel" last month, and on Feb. 17 & 18, George Matry Masselem's "Beating Death" gets its chance. The Coop's regular season continues in March with Katherine Thatcher's "Voices of Good Hope", about Congresswoman Barbara Jordan with Michelle Dowd taking that role. The season will finish with another play by Vladimir Zelevinsky, the premiere of "Manifest Destiny", a play about immigration. Zelevinsky's earlier plays at the Coop were developed in the same process that the three this year are undergoing.

---

"No Politics!" by Patrick Brennan, Feb.3-4

Theatre Cooperative at Peabody House,

277 Broadway, Somerville, (617) 625 - 1300
Theatre Cooperative

Simpatico

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "Simpatico" by Sam Shepard

Date: Fri Feb. 4, 11:09pm

Quicktake on SIMPATICO

     Fans of Sam Shepard who've never seen this American Master's 1994 psychological puzzle may want to catch the last weekend of its run at the
Devenaughn. The play's not Shepard at his best, and indeed worked better as a movie. The scenes and situations, especially the central conflict between Vinnie and Carter, two old friends whose lives have been intertwined since childhood, have a familiar ring to them.

    The show would work better with really strong actors in these parts, but the whole cast of this production is acceptable at best, and generally too young. The women, Susan Gross(Cecilia) and Lisa Caron Driscoll(Rosie), are generally more effective, and Phil Thompson's enigmatic Simms has the right creepiness. Joe O'Connor and Angelo Athanasopoulus as Vinne and Carter have trouble finding effective line readings together in the all-important opening scene but warm to their roles by the end. Director Jeannie-Marie Brown makes interesting use of the limited theatre space to set a variety of scenes, but hasn't helped the cast pull together into an ensemble. Remember to get there early even with reservations.

    The theatre is in the back of the large Piano Factory Building reached from the middle of the parking lot. By T, get off at Mass. Ave. on the Orange Line, walk one block down to Columbus, and one block away from downtown to Bob the Chef's Bistro. Go down the side street by the restaurant half a block to the parking lot. The theatre entrance is below the big air duct going overhead to the large chimney in the middle of the lot.
There are only about 50 seats. Again, get there early.

---

"Simpatico" by Sam Shepard, Jan. 26 - Feb. 12

Devanaughn Theatre in the Piano Factory

791 Tremont Rear, 1 (866) 811- 4111 (TM)
Devanaughn Theatre

Shakespeare’s Actresses in America

From: Will Stackman


Subject: Quicktake - "Shakespeare's Actresses in America" by Rebekah Maggor

Date: Wed, Feb 1, 10:03 PM

Quicktake on SHAKESPEARE'S ACTRESSES IN AMERICA

     Rebekah Maggor's compilation "Shakespeare's Actresses in America", which had its first showing this week at the ART is a good start to a potentially interesting show. At present her script harks back to the lecture platform. Choosing Margaret Webster as her sole narrator reinforces this impression. It might be interesting get more than their stage personae from the actresses being portrayed. Most such luminaries at least spoke to the press, if they didn't produce autobiographies. For the record, Maggor portrayed Julia Marlowe doing the Balcony Scene and Katherine from The Shrew, Eva La Galliene also on the balcony, also doing the Sleepwalking scene, and Ellen Terry playing the Potion scene from R&J and Ophelia's mad scene. She also did Webster reading Macbeth's letter and "To be or not to be" as a followup to Bernhardt acting that soliloquy in French. There was Sybil Thonrdike in the Letter scene as well, plus Mary Pickford playing Katherine followed by Liz Taylor, and Claire Danes on the balcony. These last three were from films, of course.

     The show at present is about one hour and is most interesting as theatrical history. A few more actresses would give it more range; perhaps Katherine Hepburn as Rosalind, for example, plus at least one scene done in the most contemporary stage style. Maggor displayed quite a range of acting style and could put a bit more of herself into the show.


"Shakespeare's Actresses in America" by Rebekah Maggor, Jan.30-Feb.1

ART at Zero Arrow

Arrow & Mass. Ave., Harvard Sq. (617) 547 - 8300
A.R.T.