States of Grace

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "States of Grace" by Debra Wise and company

based on the writing of Grace Paley

Date: Sun, Jan 28, 8:27 PM

Quicktake on STATES OF GRACE

     After more than two years of development, Underground Railways Debra Wise and various collaborators are presenting the world premiere of "States of Grace," a monodrama featuring Wise as Faith, a stand-in for activist author Grace Paley. The rest of the cast includes versatile actor Owen Doyle in his first stint as a puppeteer/actor, UConn MFA Fay Dupras who fabricated most of the puppets, and Khalil Flemming a young actor seen at BCT, WFT, and Stoneham as well as on PBS.

    The script combines several of Paley's unique stories with her political concerns and her frustrations as a writer, mother, and public citizen. The puppetry is incorporated into the realistic kitchen set designed by David Fichter and constructed by Will Cabell, who won IRNEs for their previous work on "Alice Underground", URT's last adult drama created in 1997-1998. The show was directed by Greg Smucker, a longtime collaborator and lit by Karen Perlow, both of whom worked on "Alice..." The original score was created by world-music composer Evan Harlan, currently on the faculty of the New England Conservatory.

     Debra's performance is convincing and heartfelt, whether arguing with her father, a puppet that appears from a kitchen cabinet, talking with her spouse who appears from the refrigerator as a humanette, or dealing with a young black neighbor played by Khalil. She even morphs into a disgruntled retired druggist, conflicted over his black neighbors. She'll next be seen at the New Rep in Austin Pendleton's "Orson's Shadow." "States of Grace" will have a special performance at Tufts on Mar. 5 before it becomes part of URT's touring repertory.

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"States of Grace" by Debra Wise, Jan. 25 - Feb. 10

Underground Railway Theater at Boston Playwrights' Theatre

949 Comm. Ave., Allston / (781) 643 - 6916

Underground Railway Theater

A Winter's Tale

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "The Winter's Tale" by Wm. Shakespeare

Date: 01/27/07 9:30 AM

Quicktake on THE WINTER'S TALE

     The ASP's second offering of the season is a brisk production of Shakespeare's late romance "The Winter's Tale" played in the round. Veteran actor/director Ricardo Pitts-Wiley from Rhode Island makes a forceful Leontes, the King of Sicilia consumed by jealousy. B.U.’s Paula Langton is a forceful and extremely pregnant Hermione, his adoring wife. Visiting artist Joel Colodner plays Polixenes, King of Bohemia and Leontes boyhood friend who Leontes imagines has cuckolded him. Veteran Boston actor Richard Snee is Antigonus, Leontes loyal advisor, forced to spirit away Hermione's newborn daughter. IRNE winner Bobbie Steinbach is his strong willed wife Paulina, who later saves the day. Almost all the actors play at least two roles. Thus when exiting, pursued by a bear, after depositing the child on the coast of Bohemia Snee reappears moments later as the Shepherd, herding members of the company who moments before played the bear as a group mime. This is the moment when the first sign is given that the play isn’t merely a domestic tragedy.

    In the second half, things lighten even further when John Kuntz, noodling on his sax, appears as Autolycus and demonstrates his roguish ways by relieving Doug Lockwood who’s now playing the Shepherd’s clownish son of his possessions by pretending to be an Irish clergyman recently set upon by robbers. The young lovers, played by James Ryen and Cristi Miles, of contrasting heights but well-matched playing Florizel and Perdita, recall couples from the Bard's earlier romances. He's the Prince and she doesn't know she's really Hermione's daughter. At the festival which follows, just as they're about to be engaged by her father, Polixenes, who's there in disguise, halts the happy occasion and troubles loom. The young lovers abscond with the help of Camillo, Leontes' former adviser played by Doublas Theodore, who previously helped Polixenes flee from Sicilia and has been advising him these 16 years. The three return to Leontes' court.

    It's now up to visiting director, Curt L. Tofteland from the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, to sort out the finale. Through happy accident, the Shepherd brings proofs left with Perdita when she was abandoned. Autolycus has duped the two bumpkins into bringing them to Polixenes who's pursuing his son--and future daughter-in-law--to Sicilia. This goes smoothly enough but the real challenge is when Paulina leads Leontes et al to a supposed statue of Hermione and brings it "to life." As with most of the show this is accomplished with few frills. The acting area is plain with an abstract motif suggesting a bare tree on the floor, a design echoed on banners hung from the balcony in the tall hall at CMAC. Costumes suggest period garb but are largely utilitarian. It takes a dozen adults and one child to carry off this show, but ASP has added a fourth to their season, in which director Ben Evett will use just six actors to mount "Love's Labours' Lost". That should be worth seeing.

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"The Winter's Tale" by Wm. Shakespeare, Jan. 25 - Feb. 17

Actors' Shakespeare Project at Camb. Multicultural

Bullfinch Courthouse, 41 2nd St, E. Camb. (866) 811 - 4111 (TM)
ASP

Britannicus

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "Britannicus" by Jean Racine, translator C.H.Sisson

Date:Wed, Jan 24, 2007 10:56 PM

Quicktake on BRITANNICUS

     Robert Woodruff's final exercise for the ART as its Artistic Director is a surprisingly coherent modern dress production of Jean Racine's seldom seen "Britannicus"--if you basically ignore the titillating dumbshow in the shadows stage left and right and finally upstage. While the text provides all the information needed for the drama, the director seems to feel the audience won't get understand how decadent things are unless they see Nero taking a shower before the action while two minor characters have a quickie on the set center stage and his mother finishes dressing on the other side of the set ignored by a man in a robe on the bed nearby. C.H,Sisson's servicable prose translation is well-acted in prime-time drama style by an experienced New York and rep theatre cast, which includes Adrianne Krstansky from the Brandeis faculty as Albina, Agrippina's confidant. The poetic cast of the original--which is in rhymed couplets--is large missing but not essential to the drama

     Joan McIntosh acts up a storm as Agrippina, Nero's manipulative mother, the center of the drama from first to last. Alfredo Narisco is her dissolute son, ready to live up to the huge motto at the back of the stage; "Empire creates its own reality," the clearest expression of the director's intent. The title character is played rather monochromatically by Emerson grad Kevin O'Donnell, while his fiance Junia, the focus of the rivalry between him and his step half-brother the emperor, is done by boyish Merritt Janson from the Institute, who has the better part and deserves at least one decent costume. John Serrios plays Burrhus, Nero's Praetorian military adviser supplied by Agrippina, who's ultimately unable to control his Emperor while David Wilson Barnes is the duplicitous Narcissus, who pretends to befriend Britannicus while working for all the more powerful members of the court. He and Krstansky have a thing going. The man on the bed, who's never heard from, is Pallas, Nero's tutor, played by Douglas Cochrane.His character never actually appears in the original

     The historically minded will note that Seneca, Nero's chief political advisor is missing from the cast, though he is mentioned. Racine probably thought that the recent death of Mazarin, Louis XIV's eminence gris, made any attempt to include such a role politically unwise. "Britannicus" was intended as a morality play for the Sun King; on today's stage it becomes a dynastic thriller, a taut drama--the script of course maintains the unities--which doesn't need the multimedia signposts which clutter this production. Incidentally, Nero's current wife, Octavia, Britannicus' sister, done byMegan Roth, doesn't say a word--she's also an added presence--does get to sing a couple of arias--in French probably.

    The entire show is miked since the stage is cleared to the walls, the set is predictably techno, and the lighting grid looms overhead and out over the orchestra. Video projection plays a peripheral and only occasionally distracting role in the show. The costume plot is modern and indicative, and would be appropriate for any daytime soap. The result is more coherent that most recent ART efforts and the cast manages to do the play quite professionally despite the technical distractions.

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"Britannicus" by Jean Racine, Jan. 20 - Feb. 11

American Repertory Theatre in Loeb Auditorium

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

RACE

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "RACE" adapted by Jamie Pachino from Studs Terkel

Date: Sun, Jan 21, 10:22 AM

Quicktake on RACE

     Studs Terkel's oral histories, the outgrowth of news work in Chicago, will like those of his Victorian predecessors become the chronicle of the last half of the 20th Century from the midwestern working class viewpoint, warts and all. Theatre On Fire, Darren Evan's new effort, brings this compendium of American attitudes towards race to the stage over issues such as dating, property values, job opportunities, and racially motivated fears. The focus of the last is the murder of 14 year old Chicagoan Emmett Till fifty some years ago, as recounted by his mother, voiced by Dee Crawford. Other members of the ensemble have their own moments, with Ann Carpenter playing everything from an elderly civil rights protestor in Atlanta to a housefrau ready to move when the second black family comes into the neighborhood. The cast creates a kaleidescope of attitudes towards race issues exploring the underlying frustration of both white and black, left and right at this thorny social issue. Jamie Pachino's distillation from Terkel's interviews and observations is rather despairing.

     Evan's has directed this fast-paced show, compiled from Terkel's book of the same name, on a set of runways placed which occupy most of the space in Charlestown Working Theatre's black box space. The audience sits around the periphery or out in the middle of the action. Most are seated on double-stacked plastic milk crates (cushions are provided). The 90 minute show is a mutual experience as the ensemble plays in their midst, often speaking alone. Designer Audra Avery's maze of platforms, surrounded by sections of wire fence, recalls the sidewalks of the inner city, and the confines of the projects. Evans has used appropriate music for the Civil Rights movement and the unrest of the '60s to puntcuate the show, underlining how little things have really changed.

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"RACE" adapted from Studs Terkel by Jamie Pachino, 19 Jan. - Feb. 3

Charlestown Working Theatre

442 Bunker Hill Ave. Charlestown, (866) 811 - 4111
CWT

Silence

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "Silence" by Moira Buffini

Date: Fri, Jan 20, 11:53 PM

Quicktake on SILENCE

     When London playwright Moira Buffini penned "Silence" in 1999, she probably didn't consider that this dark comedy about medieval times, roughly based on historical personages and events, would have even more resonance only eight years later. The script, which won the Washburn Prize, was inspired by the unease over the approaching millennium, but its freewheeling gender-politics, odd anachronistic attitudes, religious and political unrest now seems prophetic. Rendered as a chase and set in the mythic Dark Ages, a small cast of six raises some big questions about power, religion, and loyalty.

    The heroine of this mini-saga is Ymma of Normandy, played by luminous Marianna Bassham, seen last fall as Ophelia for the ASP. Her nemesis is Lewis Wheeler's Anglo-Saxon king, Ethelred, labeled by history as the Unready, whose bullying petulance and religious mania turns lethal as the action progresses. The King marries this princess, exiled from Normandy by her brother, to his ally, Silence of Cumbria, a small northwestern kingdom, created by the dissolution of Northumbria around 866 AD. Lord Silence, played by Emily Sproch, is not the boy he seems to be, and therein hangs the tale. Silence and Ymma flee north towards his homeland after Ethelred decides to marry the lady himself for his own salvation -- her mother was a saint. Ymma also has a powerful effect on the King's enforcer, Eadric Longshaft, a rough warrior played by IRNE winner Christopher Michael Brophy, who played the Thane for the New Rep's educational tour last spring. The ensemble is rounded out by IRNE winner Anne Gottlieb, seen this fall as the lead in "The Women" at Speakeasy, as Ymma's companion, Agnes, and B.U.'s Michael Hayes as Roger, a conflicted Catholic priest who attempts to instruct Silence, who's a pagan, in the faith despite his own urges.

     This three-act drama takes the cast from Dover to Kent through the midlands to the north, through a mythic landscape played on an impressive unit set by Cristina Todesco, constructed by Wooden Kiwi, expertly lit by Christopher Ostrom. IRNE winner Frances Nelson McSherry's period costumes complete the picture, while providing a subtle commentary on the action. Director Rick Lombardo, at the top of his form, has also provided an impressive original sound design. The play, which raises such universal questions as Father Roger's "Is God going to destroy us? And if he is, is he wrong?" could stand on its own, but the New Rep's impressive production values help sweep the audience along to the evening's ironic conclusion.

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"Silence" by Moira Buffini", Jan. 17 - Feb. 11

New Repertory Theatre at Arsenal Center for the Arts

321 Arsenal, Watertown / 617 - 923 - 8487
New Rep

Amazon/Haiku

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "Amazon/Haiku" by Alfaro/Snodgrass

Date: Sun, Jan 14, 8:29 PM

Quicktake on AMAZON/HAIKU

     This Equity Members Project at Boston Playwrights', which runs for one more week there, before moving up for a weekend in Gloucester at the West End, features senior actor June Lewin in two compelling performances in two long one-acts. In Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro's "Sailing Down the Amazon" she holds the stage alone as Rima, a retired actress recently diagnosed with Alzheimers, who decided to take a exotic trip rather than have an MRI. It's the turn of the Millennium after all.

     In Kate Snodgrass' "Haiku" Lewin plays Nell, the mother of an adult autistic woman, Louise, played Emily Singara. She's become sure that her daughter comprehends more than most people realize. Her older daughter, Billie, played by Kippy Goldfarb, gave up on that possibility long ago. But Nell, a writer, has published two short books of haiku poetry which she believes comes from Lulu and a crisis is looming as she's slowly growing blind.

     These two pieces paint effective and contrasting portraits of mental illness with the help of a simple but effective set by Lisa Pegnato and careful lighting by Marc Olivere. Matt Otto did the sound design, most important in "...Amazon." The economy and elegance of the writing in each play is a reminder of the serious work being done by Boston's local playwrights.

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"Amazon/Haiku" by Alfaro/Snodgrass, Jan.11-21, Jan. 26-28

JRV at Boston Playwrights & West End Theatre

949 Comm. Ave. Allston, 1 Wash.St, Gloucester (617) 661 - 7930
Boston Playwrights

GUYS ON ICE

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "Guys on Ice" (1998) by Fred Alley and James Kaplan

Date: Sat, Jan 13, 11:27

Quicktake on GUYS ON ICE

     The closest we're liable to get to ice-fishing hereabouts this winter is currently running at the Stoneham Theatre. The duo who adapted "The Spitfire Grill" for the American Folklore Theatre in Wisconsin, Fred Alley and James Kaplan, turned their imaginations to this sedentary winter sport to create an engaging show, light on plot and folksy in demeanor. "Guys on Ice" is a day spent fishing for working men Marvin and Lloyd, played by Cory Scott and Bill Stambaugh, snug in a shanty out on the lake, drinking Leinenkugel (Linie beer) and singing about things like their snowmobile suits or "Fish is de Miracle Food." They're waiting for the arrival of Cubby from the cable TV fishing show, their shot at local fame, and hiding their beer from Ernie the Moocher, played by William Gardiner. He starts the second half with a bit of audience participation and a paean to "Linie" accompanied by the spoons.

    "Guys on Ice" is an homage to the homegrown musical shows which had their roots in the Grange and the brief heyday of regional playwriting which began after WWI and faded after WWII. Its tunes echo lightweight country comedy with a touch of the polka. The creative team, IRNE winners director Jason Southerland from BTW, Jose Delgado, one of Boston's busier music directors, and eclectic choreographerIlyse Robbins, have let the material speak for itself, moreso than more frantic treatment of small town working class life seen in TV sit-coms. Jenna MacFarland Lord's set is a revolving fishing hut against a slanted drop of ice and sky, with an amazing collection of props and decor assembled by Karla Sund. Molly Trainer has dressed the cast in appropriately well-worn winter gear. The show is an affectionate portrait of small town Wisconsin which the American Folklore Theatre has played since its creation in 1998, complete with regional accent ( vaguely Scandanavian) and local slang and no particular political message. See you on de ice.

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"Guys on Ice" by Fred Alley and James Kaplan, Jan. 12 -28

Stoneham Theatre

395 Main St., (781) 279 - 2200

Stoneham Theatre

The Woman In Black

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "The Woman in Black" by Susan Hill, adapted by Stephen Mallarat

Date: Sat, Jan 13, 8:46 AM

Quicktake on THE WOMAN IN BLACK

     Stephen Mallarat's adaptation of Susan Hill's story, a long-running London favorite, has once again surfaced hereabouts, this time as a "winter tale" down in the Hovey Players' basement digs. "The Woman in Black" is a Wilke Collins inspired thriller, set at the beginning of the 20th century, which involves a solicitor enlisting the aid of an actor to tell the story of a haunting which changed his life. Introverted Kipps, played by Randy Marquis, is coached to become all the people in the recounting while Chuck Swager who plays the bumptious actor takes over the narration. Director Kristin Hughes has used the whole small space to surround the audience with the show.

    The storytelling is enhanced by "the miracle of recorded sound," a novelty on stage in pre-WWI London. The show takes place in a shuttered theatre as the pair rehearse the tale. A mysterious silent woman in black, played by Eden Land, joins in . Lighting designer John MacKenzie does his best giving the limitations of the Hovey's system and the spread of the show. The script, which follows the format of the original tale, seems a bit forced and could be condensed into a long one-act for more dramatic effect, but holds up well enough. The challenge of using two actors to accomplish a journey to the bleak shore of Northern England and the mysterious situation which unfolds there is interesting in itself.

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"The Woman in Black" by Stephen Mallarat, Jan. 12 - 27

Hovey Players in Abbott Theatre

9 Spring St. Waltham / (781) 983 - 9171
Hovey Players

BRONTE

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "Bronte" by Polly Teale

Date: Thurs, Jan 11, 11:32 PM

Quicktake on BRONTE

     Wellesley Summer Theatre is currently presenting the American premiere of the third part of British playwright Polly Teale's trilogy. This award winning ensemble has previously presented her "Jane Eyre" and "After Mrs. Rochester," also directed by Nora Hussey. "Bronte" focuses on the author Charlotte Bronte, the author of "Jane Eyre", as well as her younger sisters; Emily, whose only published novel was the controversial "Wuthering Heights," and Anne who wrote "Agnes Grey" and "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall," two somewhat sentimental efforts. Alicia Kahn, one of WST founders, is back to play Charlotte, while Wellesley grad Catherine LeClair, who's been working in Maine but has relocated to New York, has returned to play Emily. Wellesley senior Kelly Galvin, with several WST credits, plays Anne. WST veteran Melina McGrew, who appeared in both of the earlier Teale productions recreates her role as Rochester's first wife, Bertha, and also becomes Heathcliff's Cathy. In several scenes, Kahn once again plays Jane Eyre.

     The men in this production are John Gavin as Rev. Patrick Bronte (nee Brunty), Dan Bolton as his curate, Arthur Bell Nichols, who married Charlotte, and Derek Stone Nelson, who plays the French schoolmaster who inspired Charlotte to develop her innate writing skills and also recreates his role as Rochester. Davin and Nelson also appeared in "After Mrs. Rochester." The important part of Branwell Bronte, the pampered son of the family, who lead a dissolute life of failure, falls to Greg Raposa, who also appears as Heathcliff. Branwell was probably Emily's inspiration for that unfortunate free spirit.
     As in past productions, the set and lights are in the expert hands of Ken Loewit, while Nancy Stevens does another fine job of effective period costuming. George Cook from BC's Robesham Center has supplied an effective sound design of music and sound effects. WST's production is up to their usual standard. The author has supplied a timeline of events in the lives of the Brontes which should be scanned before the show for a fuller understanding of their unique situation and achievements.

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"Bronte" by Polly Teale, Jan. 10 - Feb. 3

Wellesley Summer Theatre in Ruth Nagel Jones Theater

Alumni Hall, Wellesley, (781) 283 - 2000

Wellesley Summer Theatre

The Cherry Orchard

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "The Cherry Orchard" by Anton Chekov

Date: Thurs, Jan 11, 9:03 AM

Quicktake on THE CHERRY ORCHARD

     The Huntington Theatre Company's current production, "Anton Chekov"s "The Cherry Orchard," directed by Nicholas Martin feels like a translation. British playwright Richard Nelson's version of one of the foundations of modern drama seems distant. The words are accurate but filtered through an interpretation which views the action as completely dependent on the difficult circumstances of the central character, Mme. Ranevskaya, played efficiently by Kate Burton, though more as Lyuba -- her character's diminutive. The cast, a mixture of older professionals and younger talent, dressed in accurate turn-of-the-20th century style, tries hard to bring the show to life. The last work of Chekov, which he thought of as a serious comedy, is more a novel than a drama. Martin's workmanlike direction doesn't lift it far from the page. Understanding the characters doesn't seem to help them become real.

     The set, which has only two of the three locales specified by the author, is an undistinguished effort by Ralph Funicello with a limiting floorplan. The famous orchard is projected a double scrim curtain between acts. The only believable sound effect is the distant train; the famous snapping violin string and the sounds of trees being chopped are insufficient. All-in-all, the production has an undistinguished summer festival feel. Of the men, veteran actor Mark Blum makes Gaev, Lyuba's brother, almost too sympathetic, Jeremiah Kissell plays Pishchik, the impecunious neighbor accurately, but on one note, and surprisingly, Will LeBow's Lophakin, who can either be the show's hero or villain, comes off as just another frustrated Russian. The younger woman, Jessica Rothenberg, a BU/SFA sophomore, as Anya, the youngest daughter, and Sarah Hudnut, as Varya, the older adopted daughter who serves as Lyuba's housekeeper, brighten up their scenes and generate some sympathy, but their personal crises are only fleeting. Almost everything about the show is appropriate and respectful, but not particularly illuminating

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"The Cherry Orchard" by Anton Chekov, Jan. 5 - Feb. 4

Huntington Theatre Co. at BU Theatre

264 Huntington Ave., (617) 266-0800
HTC

Design for Living

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "Design for Living" by Noel Coward

Date:Mon, Jan. 8, 12:14 AM

Quicktake on DESIGN FOR LIVING

     Publick Theatre's indoor debut at the BCA Plaza, Noel Coward's 1932 "Design for Living," is a stylish affair. Having previously tackled "Private Lives", director Spiro Veloudos, leaving Stephen Terrell to helm LaChiusa's"See What I Wanna See" over at the Lyric, has taken on shepherding Susanne Nitter and Diego Arciniegas, the Directors of the Publick, along with Gabriel Kuttner, last summer's Wil Shakspur, through the comic emotional minefield of this Coward classic. The complicated menage a trois of Gilda, Leo and Otto is complimented by Nigel Gore as Gilda's art dealer friend then husband Ernest, an essential part of this frothy mix. Beth Gotha as Hodges her housekeeper, Richard Arum, Janelle Mills, Jocelyn Parrrish, a trio of her New York friends, and Paul Melendy complete their world of art and hedonism. The three leads, in parts originally written for the Lunts and the author, slip into their high-class Bohemian roles as if born to play Coward. Nitter is especially impressive in one of Lynn Fontaine's signature roles.

    Costumer Rafael Jaen from Emerson, assisted by Stephanie Cluggish, gives the cast truly elegant tailoring which Harvard's J.Michael Griggs sets off perfectly on a Matisee-inspired set. Upgrades in the furniture mark each act, from a Paris studio, to a comfortable London flat, to an elegant New York penthouse. Both artists use effective palettes, bolstered by Scott Clyve's careful lighting. The BCA's oldest theatre has seldom looked better. And Sir Noel hasn't been better served.

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“Design for Living” by Noel Coward, Jan 4 - Jan. 27
Publick Theatre. in Plaza Theatre, BCA

539 Tremont, (617) 933 - 8600
Publick Theatre

See What I Wanna See

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "See What I Wanna See" by Michael John LaChiusa

Date: Mon, Jan. 8, 12.04

Quicktake on SEE WHAT I WANNA SEE

     Versatile Aimee Doherty has had an interesting collection of roles in recent seasons, starting with "Into the Woods" at the New Rep's old Newton digs, one of Bobby's girlfriends in Speakeasy's "Company" then onto the plain heroine of Amimus' "Promises, Promises" opposite her husband, Jeff Mahoney, followed by Evelyn Nesbit in the New Rep's "Ragtime" over in Watertown. This fall she played the youngest member of the "set" in Speakeasy's "The Women" followed by strong ensemble work in their "Bubbly Black Girl.." Now she's front and center as the female lead for Michael John LaChiusa's twin music theatre pieces in "See What I Wanna See" for the Lyric, a show adapted from three short stories by early 20th century Japanese writer, Ryonosuke Akutagawa. Doherty plays the role of the role of Kesa, created by Idina Menzel in the original New York production. opposite tenor Andrew Giordano as Morita. A BosCon alum, he's back in town in a leading role this time.

     The duo play a pair of lethal lovers in Noh-like vignettes set in medieval Japan used as preludes for the two longer sections, where they play related roles. The first, more operatic piece, is "R Shamon", another retelling of "In the Grove", set in 1951 New York when Kurosawa's classic version was bursting on the film scene. The second more conventional music drama, a post 9/11 fable about the endtime, is "Gloryday" based on "The Dragon". The two halves are subtly inter-related, primarily through Brendan McNab's movie theatre janitor who morphs into disillusioned Catholic priest. he was notable as the political prisoner in Speakeasy's "Kiss of the Spider Woman. "The other two players are Julie Babolan as the Medium who becomes the priest's atheist aunt Monica and Emerson grad Andrew Schufman who first plays a knife-carrying hoodlum named Mako, then a young television reporter. Babolan played Emma Goldman last spring in the New Rep's "Ragtime." The cast becomes a seamless ensemble under director Stephen Terrell, with Doherty as the central focus in "R Shamon" and McNab as the force behind "Gloryday." in which she plays a rather wasted actress. Their intensity get the show over a few weak moments in Part 1.

    Music director Jonathan Goldberg makes the most of his talented vocalists, with himself at the keyboard, two reeds, and three percussionists. The unit set is an architectural creation reminiscent of origami by Brynna C. Bloomfied backed by the suggestion of the famous gate, expertly lit by Karen Perlow. Costumes were created by Rafael Jaen and capture the three periods of the show. LaChiusa's music, which has touches of Japanese tradition, hovers somewhere between modern chamber opera in the world of Weill, Sondheim, and other more contemporary composers who're expanding the horizon of the musical theatre.

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"See What I Wanna See" by Michael John LaChiusa, Jan. 5 - Feb. 3

Lyric Stage Co. at Copley YWCA

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