Theater

Play by play: April 23, 2010

Theater listings, week of April 23, 2010

By JEFFREY GANTZ | April 21, 2010

OPENING

THE BLONDE, THE BRUNETTE AND THE VENGEFUL REDHEAD | “A cheating husband, a meddling neighbor, and a dropped ice cream cone combine to shatter Rhonda Russell’s quiet, suburban life. Seven very different characters offer their own perspective of the day Rhonda went berserk.” That’s the set-up for this 2004 work by Australian dramatist Robert Hewett; the catch is that all seven characters are played by one performer — in this case, former American Repertory Theater company member Karen MacDonald. Emerson College performing-arts chair Melia Bensussen directs this regional premiere. | Merrimack Repertory Theatre, 50 East Merrimack St, Lowell | 978.654.4MRT or merrimackrep.org | April 22–May 16 | Curtain 2 pm [April 28] + 7:30 pm Wed | 7:30 pm Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 4 pm [no April 24] + 8 pm Sat | 2 + 7 pm [no evening May 16] Sun | $26-$56

THE EMANCIPATION OF MANDY & MIZ ELLIE | Local playwright and director and Company One member Lois Roach created this drama about two women who’re brought together by the Emancipation Proclamation. The story is told “through live percussion, rhythmic movement, and the songs of freedom”; the production will feature Roxbury’s OrigiNation Dance Troupe. Victoria Marsh directs. | Boston Center for the Arts, Plaza Theatre, 539 Tremont St, Boston | 617.933.8600 | April 30–May 22 | Curtain 7:30 pm Wed-Thurs | 8 pm Fri-Sat | 2 pm Sun | $30-$38; $30 seniors; $15 students | $18 Wednesdays

FARRAGUT NORTH | Zeitgeist Stage closes out its season with this play by Beau Willimon that promises “dirty campaign tricks, questionable journalistic practices, sex with interns — all the things that make American politics great.” Set “during a close presidential race on the eve of the Iowa caucuses,” it involves a young press secretary who “falls prey to backroom politics, manipulation from campaign veterans, and the wiles of a seductive young intern.” David J. Miller directs. | Boston Center for the Arts, Plaza Black Box Theatre, 539 Tremont St, Boston | 617.933.8600 | April 30–May 22 | Curtain 7:30 pm Wed-Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 4 + 8 pm Sat | 4 pm Sun | $30; $20 students, seniors

GLORY DAYS | The Broadway glory days of this musical from James Gardiner (book) and Nick Blaemire (music and lyrics) were few indeed: it opened on May 6, 2008, at the Circle in the Square Theatre and closed following the first performance. But it’s getting a second chance from F.U.D.G.E. Theatre Company founder and artistic director Joe DeMita, who has “re-imagined, re-worked, re-interpreted, re-staged and re-choreographed” this story of “four best friends who reunite a year after high-school graduation, only to find how much they have grown apart.” Musical direction is by Jason Whiting. | Arsenal Center for the Arts, Black Box Theatre, 321 Arsenal St, Watertown | 781.245.0500 | April 30–May 8 | Curtain 8 pm Wed + Fri-Sat | 2 pm Sun | $20

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Related: Ghost stories, Winged migration, Being Scrooge, More

Ghost stories
For all of the excitement that surrounded Wilco on the Maine State Pier or Sufjan Stevens at Port City Music Hall or the various sold-out Ray LaMontagne shows of the past year, there is no question that last Sunday's Phish show at the Cumberland County Civic Center was the biggest thing to hit our fair city in a very long time.
Winged migration
Since their start in the middle of the decade, Brown Bird have been one of the region's go-to chamber-folk outfits, with a couple of dark and stormy albums earning them a following in various nooks of New England. The release of their latest album, The Devil Dancing , feels like both an ending and a new beginning.
Being Scrooge
Over the 33 years that Trinity Rep has been staging A Christmas Carol , many actors playing Ebenezer Scrooge have growled and grumped, cantankered, and curmugeoned around the stage.
Christmas present
Christmases come and Christmases go, as psychedelic wrapping paper gives way to orderly Republican stripes, as sweet little Jimmy grows into gruff Uncle James.
Hot for teacher
MECA faculty re-imagine the natural world and play with nostalgia
Wanting more
After its triumphant traversal of the complete Béla Bartók string quartets at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Borromeo Quartet was back for a free 20th- and 21st-century program at Jordan Hall, leading off with an accomplished recent piece by the 24-year-old Egyptian composer Mohammed Fairuz, Lamentation and Satire.
Injustice for all
Scott Sturgeon loses his train of thought a couple of times during this interview. He's loopy from jet lag — which is unavoidable after a 20-hour flight from New Zealand (halfway around the planet from his non-residency at a squatted apartment building in New York City), where he's just finished a tour with his claim-to-fame band, Leftover Crack.
Photos: Boston expressionism at Danforth Museum
Photos of the works of expressionist artists David Aronson, Henry Schwartz, Gerry Bergstein and at the Danforth Museum in Framingham.
Still Wonderful
It's a risky gamble, creating a stage version of Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life .
Group hug
Things aren’t always what they’re called — we know that flying fish don’t fly and starfish aren’t even fish.
Fears and rages
Woyzeck isn't a play, it's a Rorschach inkblot test for directors and theater companies.
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Topics: Theater , Entertainment, Karen MacDonald, Neil Simon, More

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ARTICLES BY JEFFREY GANTZ

EMMANUEL MUSIC'S B-MINOR MASS; LEXINGTON SYMPHONY'S DEBUSSY AND HOLST | October 03, 2011
Johann Sebastian Bach wasn't the first composer to recycle previous material, but he might have been the first to put together his own greatest-hits album.

JORDI SAVALL AND THE BOSTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA | June 17, 2011
"The Celtic Viol" — the title of the Boston Early Music Festival concert Catalan gambist Jordi Savall gave yesterday evening at Jordan Hall — looks like an oxymoron, since Irish and Scottish music is almost by definition traditional and popular and the viol is associated with "serious" early classical music.

REVIEW: JIG | June 16, 2011
Sue Bourne's documentary about Irish stepdancing in general and the 2010 Irish Dance World Championships in particular treads a formulaic path.

THE BOSTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL EXHIBITION | June 17, 2011
What with the operas and the big-name visitors and the demonstrations and mini-classes and workshops and symposia and society meetings, to say nothing of the Early Music America Conference and Young Performers Festival, it would be easy to overlook the Boston Early Music Festival's Exhibition.

LARISSA PONOMARENKO BOWS OUT | May 26, 2011
The bad news — really bad news — this past week is that principal dancer Larissa Ponomarenko is retiring after 18 years with Boston Ballet. (She will, however, be staying on as a ballet master.)