“Spring Awakening” Stirs Energy and Passion from its Talented Cast

by Brian Balduzzi

I never saw the original production on Broadway; in fact, the F.U.D.G.E Theatre Company production (one of the first in the New England area) is my first foray into Spring Awakening’s dynamic rhythm of awakening youths. Impressed with the company’s summer production of Carousel, I was anxious to see Joe DeMita’s creativity in the punk-rock style, but, more specifically, I wanted to see if he would appreciate the German expressionism from the original play.

I wasn't disappointed in DeMita’s choices towards minimalism when it came to the set and staging. The stage is almost barren from start to finish- the actors bring on chairs, tables, and appropriate props to differentiate the scenes and locations- and stage manager Julia Murray keeps the production moving at a wonderful pace. DeMita’s creative use of ropes tethered to the ceiling, wrapped around characters, and tugged in interpretive choreography is effective in some points of the show, but it also distracts from the stunning chemistry and relationships between the actors. In a play about intimate bonds, I felt disconnected from the characters, wondering what the undead-looking ensemble members were going to do with the ropes next. I appreciate the wonderful metaphors around tying the characters up in their own confusion and emotions, but the choice ultimately detracts more than it adds.

BU's Bug Shocks and Stuns for Less Gruesome Reasons

by Brian Balduzzi

On a particularly stormy night, I ventured out to Boston University Stage Troupe’s production of Bug by Tracy Letts, directed by veteran Chris Hamilton, hoping for a night of horror and suspense.

Unfortunately, I was less than smitten with the results. Billed as “the play that gets under your skin,” I was not moved by the production or many of the performances in it. Thankfully, some secondary characters were compelling and spot-on, but too few, too late.

The horror was in the production team. From the sound design to set design, each piece was unified but off-point for the play. The sound was loud; tip: subtlety and silence are unnerving. The music, while appropriate to the themes of the play, didn’t fit with the concept of creating a horror story. I was greatly annoyed when music and fighter noise played during one of Peter’s speeches. As I will say below, Dan Stevens (Peter) can deliver a speech in an interesting and compelling way. Just let him speak!

Horror-pop Halloween: Zombies, An Evil Videogame, and A Sinister Suburb

by Borah Coburn

Happy Medium Theatre’s production of Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom by Jennifer Haley is often funny, endearing in a nerdy (and sometimes intensely angsty teenage way), and engrossing. The basic story is that in the creepy/Stepfordian suburb of an unnamed town, all the teenagers have become totally engrossed with a videogame that uses satellite photos of the players’ neighborhood and zombifies its inhabitants. But the game isn’t just a game, and the consequences of in-game action start appearing in the real world—so what happens at the final level? It’s an enjoyable night of theatre, especially if you like the scary side of Halloween and/or gaming.

Sugar Cereal goes Girl Hopping at Club Oberon

 by Brian Balduzzi

I think it's delightful when I can just enjoy theatre; it doesn't happen often that I can sit back with a glass of Pinot Grigio and appreciate a play like a good sitcom. Sugar Cereal Productions' launch and world-premiere of Girl Hopping was such a night.

Housed in the infamous Club Oberon, Girl Hopping is a sweet, tarty look into the lives of six women. Six lesbian women. Really, the stories would have been the same if you inserted a couple of men, but I’ll talk more about how the energy is just right with this particular cast of actresses and characters. These women all live in West Hollywood, California, and they all sleep with each other. Or they want to sleep with each other. Or they have slept with each other. But as light and enjoyable as the evening proved, playwright Ilene A. Fischer left the mundane and saccharine to actual sitcoms, instead filling Girl Hopping with charm and bite, a devilish mix for this hot cast of women.

Tony-Nominated Play Gets New England Premiere

by Brian Balduzzi

It's remarkable how many meanings that the word “fall” can take in our daily lives. We fall asleep, we fall down, we fall in love, we fall back on those we love. This fall, I was delighted to attend SpeakEasy Stage Company’s New England premiere of Next Fall by Arlington, MA-native Geoffrey Nauffts. This stunning piece of theatre had audiences falling in line to see the 2010 Tony-nominee for Best Play on Broadway. The awards and accolades are no surprise to me; the script is punchy, poignant, and moving. The Boston community is fortunate enough to have a cast and director with the sensitivity and talent to navigate the many nuances of Naufft’s script for the full-range of meanings on the play’s clever title. 

The Huntington Delights and Inspires with A New Candide

photos by T Charles Erickson

by Brian Balduzzi

The rarely-produced Candide is a literary torment to stage; not only does the musical feature an impressive and daunting score, but there is a large ensemble of characters, numerous set changes through magical worlds, and a distinct comedic style that borders on the macabre. I can think of few companies other than the Huntington Theatre Company with the talent, resources and ambition to accomplish such a stunning production of this glorious musical. With the broad strokes of her delightful new adaptation of the classic Voltaire satire, Mary Zimmerman adds an artful eye to the minutiae in her staging and directing of the musical numbers, fluid scene changes, and ingenious relationships between the many featured characters and ensemble members.

Living in Arcadia with Bad Habit Productions

by Kelly Bedard

Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia is one of the most interesting theatrical pieces written in the 20th century. It’s quick-witted and academic, funny and touching, thought-provoking, heart-breaking and wildly entertaining. With heavy parallelism linking the superb characters between two eras in a single household (1809 and 2011- the studied and the studying), Arcadia becomes a sort of puzzle for the audience, putting the pieces together as Hannah and Bernard try to, discovering the missing links and the importance of the character connections. It’s one of those pieces that when directed and acted competently can be a lightning-fast night at the theatre that’s memorably rewarding for the audience.

Boston’s Bad Habit Productions was far more than competent in their handling of such precious material this August. Director Daniel Morris both designed the beautiful and functional open-concept set and used it perfectly, negotiating his actors around a tricky four-sided audience setup. The work of lighting designer Michael Clark Wonson and sound designer J Jumbelic added wonderfully to the tone of the piece and Barbara Crowther’s costumes were wonderful.

But it was the altogether very strong cast that really brought Stoppard’s largely character-driven piece to life.

Introducing Argos Productions

by Kelly Bedard

I’m a little bit in love with Argos Productions. With a charismatic artistic director and a mandate to perform original works with the writer involved in the development, Argos is the latest company after my heart. Their inaugural production, however, is a little shaky.

The Secret Garden

by Brian Balduzzi

We are often surprised to find the world is not what we first expected; brothers can betray us, wives can die unexpectedly, and the world can be a more beautiful place than how we’re accustomed to seeing it.

The MIT Gilbert and Sullivan Players presented a captivating and surprisingly talented interpretation of Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon’s The Secret Garden. The musical tells the classic story of Mary Lennox, a sullen and obstinate child, whose parents are unexpectedly killed by cholera in India. She is sent away to live with her hunchbacked Uncle Archibald in England where Misselthwaite Manor houses more than simply the inhabitants, but also the ghosts and memories of loved ones past. Here, Lennox learns to love again with the help of a pair of brother-sister servants and a forbidden garden that houses its own secrets and magic.

Newton Country Players' "Into the Woods" Isn’t Your Average Fairy Tale

by Brian Balduzzi

I’ve argued with many friends about the purpose of theater; some people believe that theater is meant to tell a story and entertain, while others maintain that a performance is not complete without leaving the audience with some message or question to ponder later that night. I can think of no finer work to satisfy either group’s desires than Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods. In the hands of the Newton Country Players, the ambitious production featured an especially strong supporting cast, but lacked magic in its execution.

FUDGE Theatre Company Does Carousel

by Brian Balduzzi

I was raised on Rodgers and Hammerstein; in fact, I didn’t think there was any musical that I hadn’t seen by this famous musical writing team. And then I remembered Carousel. Richard Rodgers is cited as saying that it was his favorite of all his musicals, quite a compliment given that Oklahoma! preceded it by just two years.

Carousel is a timeless story of carousel barker Billy Bigelow and his intense romantic relationship with the local factory girl Julie Jordan. Most audience members know how it ends, if only because of the very famous and incredibly moving “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. However, Friends United Developing Genuine Entertainment (F.U.D.G.E.) Theatre Company prove that this show is more than a simple love story about two ill-fated lovers. FUDGE’s production is passionate and moving- pulsing with vibrancy- and the production features exceptional performances from, most notably, the secondary characters.

Flat Earth’s "Bug" Surprises and Excites

by Brian Balduzzi

I think I'm infected, but that’s not always a bad thing.

Flat Earth Theatre’s production of the problematic Bug infected me with inspiration and awe. I wasn't a fan of the play before seeing this version. I thought that it was an actor’s journey into internalized storytelling, but Flat Earth rose to any challenges in the script with gusto and skill. Let’s explore why I’ve been bitten by Flat Earth Theatre’s Bug’s brilliance.

The story, a mere hour-and-forty-five minute suspenseful thriller, begins with Agnes White, a thirty-something cocktail waitress, leaving her abusive husband Jerry Goss to live alone in a seedy motel room. Agnes’ lesbian friend R.C. introduces Agnes to Peter Evans, a young Gulf War vet who's gone AWOL. From there the paranoia, intensity and conspiracy theories build within the tiny confines of the motel room.

"2010: Our Hideous Future: The Musical" Not a Totally Hideous Dystopia

by Brian Balduzzi

On my latest adventure into the Boston fringe theatre scene, I discovered what may be the longest, most eccentric title yet; the production bursts with the same energy. 2010: Our Hideous Future: The Musical!, a Near-Futuristic Dystopian Cyperpunk Musical Comedy, flashes and pulses with a punk rock score and “hip” cyber jokes. I will admit that I was/am a cyber geek and I suppose the show could be renamed “a musical comedy for cybergeeks”. The audience was split between patrons who dropped into Club Oberon after a long day in the office (really, what did they expect? Carousel?) and the cult crowd that 2010: Our Hideous Future has been generating since its debut at the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre in August 2010. This show speaks to a generation of young theatregoers who tweet on the T, Facebook a break-up (yes, I used it as a verb), and use Foursquare to update Mom and Dad about when they’ll be home.

The Unfortunate Unfortunate

by Brian Balduzzi

Vagabond Theatre Group was very ambitious in their staging of The Unfortunate Cutthroats, an original play written by Zach Winston and directed by James Peter Sotis. The Unfortunate Cutthroats portrays life at sea for what else but cutthroat pirates. The production bobs like a boat out at sea and staggers under the weight of an unfortunately long script, but shines with some able actors and a strong director.

The show opened with perhaps its most compelling scene: Marcus, a young pirate played by Peter Murphy, examines a tied-up Claude Amos, played with particular skill by an unmoving David Max Gibbons. Unfortunately, the production went off-course from there.

Sugar Cereal Productions is "snap, crackle, and pop"-ping Fresh

by Brian Balduzzi

The Boston theatre scene is small and, with each new production reviewed, I notice more and more overlap among companies; there are directors who perform as actors, costume designers dressing as patrons, and actors who mask as critics. Recently, I was delighted to be invited to a galas for the opening of a new company by one of my favourite multi-hyphenates, Mark Sickler.

Mmm, Mmm, Good: A Bold Production of "MilkMilkLemonade"

by Brian Balduzzi

Heart and Dagger Productions presents a challenge with verve; its newest production of MilkMilkLemonade is not for the faint-hearted.

Set in a fictitious town, young Emory (played by "Bad Boy of Theatre" Joey C. Pelletier) dreams of a life outside his Nanna (played excellently in drag by Mikey DiLoreto)’s farm. He is just a regular eleven-year-old boy who choreographs dances to “Anything Goes” with his human-sized chicken friend, Linda (played with subtle and finely-tailored movements by Erin Rae Zalaski) and dreams of performing on Star Search. Everything is perfectly choreographed in young Emory’s life until he meets Elliot, the boy down the road (played in convincing drag by Melanie Garber). Elliot is exactly what you would expect from an eleven-year-old boy- an angry pyromaniac with a twin growing out of his leg.

If this short description has not sold you on the premise, maybe the production’s wide range of themes and topics from homosexuality to corporations to vegetarianism to friendship will convince you that MilkMilkLemonade is one cool drink to swallow.

A Fond Farewell to IDS

by Brian Balduzzi

The Independent Drama Society (IDS) closes its final season in good health with Neil Simon’s The Good Doctor at the Factory Theater. Director Christine Toohey guides the production alongside a surprisingly large and diverse fleet of assistant directors, setting the tone for the collaborative piece. The Good Doctor is a collaboration in every sense- not only are multiple directors working with an ensemble of varied actors, but the piece is a showcase for not one but two famed writers, Neil Simon and Anton Chekhov. Simon weaves an evening of Chekhov’s hilarious and poignant stories of Russian life, which Toohey directs with sensitivity and an eye for detail. While the vignettes are met with varying degrees of success, the cast, crew and design team meet the challenge of each story with vibrant energy and passion worthy of IDS’s final production.

Theatre@First Intimately Stages “Equus” in Somerville

by Brian Balduzzi

Peter Shaffer's Equus has seen many notable productions since it was written in 1973, including a 1976 Broadway production featuring Anthony Hopkins and Peter Firth playing Dr. Martin Dysart and Alan Strang, respectively. Most recently, I saw the 2009 Broadway revival with Richard Griffiths and Daniel Radcliffe tackling the same roles. While appreciating the production and loving the script, I was not impressed with the theatricality and storytelling of the play until I saw Theatre@First’s innovative production.

Can’t Wait Productions presents its first piece, "Oleanna"

by Brian Balduzzi

I love new theatre companies, their first productions always pulse with a brilliant first-time energy. Can’t Wait Productions’ Oleanna by David Mamet opened with this same raw verve. Upon arriving at the First Church Somerville venue, the audience was ushered not into a proper theatre but into a small office with the name John displayed charmingly on the door, as though we were intruding right onto the character's territory. Though the audience was seated uncomfortably on cramped folding chairs in the tiny room, the set was innovative and the use of the office really clever. Dull lighting and expertly placed set dressings set the mood perfectly, including details like the display of The Privilege of Education, an integral book to the plot. The delayed performance time and questionable soundtrack put me off immediately, but director Tasia Jones' passionate opening remarks more than made up for any wasted time. As the play began, the two-person cast carried that passion through their performances, but they never quite rose to their director's level.

The Boston Conservatory Workshops "Factory Girls"

The Boston Conservatory Theater Ensemble has never failed to impress me, and its recent workshop production of Factory Girls proved no exception. The level of effortless performance delivered time and again by their students always seems to come as a surprise. Guided by an excellent faculty who recognizes the importance of the theatrical process, the Masters candidates at the Boston Conservatory always come through with a successful product. Factory Girls seemed like a logical choice for a strong class of women working towards their M.M (Masters of Music); with roles that ranged from demure to brazen, the female ensemble was tasked with the daunting challenge of representing the dreams, background and real lives of the girls who worked the Lowell Mills.

Based on "The Lowell Offering" and "The Voices of Industry" (periodicals written by women working in these local mills in the early 1840s), The Factory Girls tells the fictionalized story of one representative textile mill- an homage to the real women who lived the compelling tale. Composer/playwrights Creighton Irons and Sean Mahoney use the powerful pop/rock score as a vehicle to showcase the hope and angst of their characters. With a limited book, the lyrics propel the story forward.