Category Archives: Theater

Huntington Theater presents K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Huntington Theater presents, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, a co-production with the Front Porch Arts Collective at The Calderwood Pavilion in the South End and runs through Sunday, April 2.

The play from Boston native, Lenelle Moïse, is a heart-opening story that according to the online description will appeal to “fans of David Bowie, bell hooks, and fireworks by the Charles”. Unsure what to make of that but I do like Bowie. The story focuses on Lala an artist who uses the back of pizza boxes as her canvas. A sweet and sticky summer inspires her to romance Dani, a budding feminist – and Albert, his smooth-talking twin. What could possibly go wrong?

Sergio and I have plans to check out this play next week. Tickets are incredibly reasonable, making this a great option for a date or night out with friends. I highly recommend reserving time after to grab a drink at The Kartal to extend the evening out and to discuss the show.

For more informaiton or to purchase tickets visit their website, k-i-s-s-i-n-g.

Hasty Pudding Theatre: 174 Cosmic Relief!

The Hasty Pudding Theatre is America’s oldest theater company in the United States. This tiny theater tucked into a side street across from Harvard Yard is often overlooked, and I wanted to give the troupe a shout out. If you’re looking for a fun evening out at the theater that won’t break the bank, check out this year’s production, HPT: 174 Cosmic Relief! Tickets start at a very reasonable $35 and are worth every penny.

HPT 174: Cosmic Relief!

Houston, we have a problem: FBI agent LAUREN ORDER has tanked the Apollo Mission again! Since Lauren turned her communist mother in to the FBI as a child, the Bureau has been her home — but after losing all of her puppy test-astronauts to the cosmos and sending America’s space race chances hurtling, she’s been demoted to the place of a government agent’s nightmares: Hollywood. On her way to bust failed director WORSE N. WELLES’s production of a sci-fi movie with communist undertones, Lauren has a realization: if she can’t make a real moon landing happen, why not fake one instead? With the help of resident diva SHIRLEY UVERDOVME, lovable but dim leading man THEODORE MEE, spacey hippie AUNTY ESTABLISHMENT, method actress ESTHER TERRESTRIAL, and professional extra JUSTIN D’BACKCROWNED, will this production studio successfully feign one giant leap for mankind? Will tap-dancing child actor MANNIE! VENTUALLYWILLFALL finally find someone to adopt him? Will Lauren’s lost space pup LASSIE NINORBETTE find her way back home? And, for Neptune’s sake, will ousted NASA scientist NOAH CREDITED, Ph.D. finally find a use for his squeak ray? Take one small step into Farkas Hall this spring to find out as HPT proudly presents its 174th production: COSMIC RELIEF!

Written By: Maureen Clare and Matthew Cole

HPT 174: COSMIC RELIEF!
February 5th to March 5th
Get Your Tickets Here

If you love campy productions – the Hasty Pudding Theater is for you!

Tickets to see Sasha Velour now available

RuPaul Drag Race winner, Sasha Velour, brings her new tour “The Big Reveal” to Boston on Monday, May 8th at the Wilbur Theater in Boston’s Theater district.

The tour is in support of her first book, The Big Reveal: An Illustrated Manifesto of Drag. The show will include exciting new performances, an immersive evening of drag, storytelling, and live art, to bring the book to life, featuring iconic new performances from Velour herself, an in-person conversation with a special guest star, an audience Q&A, and book signings.

The 16-city US & Canada tour begins in early April and wraps up in early June. For more inf. Tickets to the Boston show will sell out so make plans with friends now and get tickets while they remain available.

For more information about this show and how to purchase tickets visit, Sasha Velour: The Big Reveal.

Paige Turner: Tucking Myself In comes to Club Cafe

Paige Turner returns to Club Cafe with a new show for the third time in a year. Last February Sergio and I saw her show My Funny Valentine. Paige puts on an excellent show and is worth every penny IMO. This show, Tucking Myself In! features ridiculous parodies and songs that Paige sings live from HAIRSPRAY, TAYLOR SWIFT, MUPPETS, CARLY RAE JEPSEN.

Make plans with friends or for a fun date night and get your tickets before she sells out (because she ALWAYS sells out). Trust me when I tell you that by the time her show comes to Boston in late February you’re going to need / want a fun night out. Tickets start at $30 for her two shows on Friday, February 24 and Saturday, February 25.

Click on the links below to get your tickets before they have sold out.

Paige Turner’s show, Tucking Myself In! comes to Club Cafe
Friday, Feb 24 @8PM
Saturday, Feb 25 @8PM

Shangela: Fully Lit Tour comes to Boston Jan 19

After a successful stint on the latest season of Dancing With The Stars, drag queen Shangela announced her Fully Lit Tour. The 11-city comedy and cabaret show kicks off in a couple of weeks when she comes to Boston on Thursday, January 19th at the Wilbur in Boston’s Theater District.

If you’re looking for a fun night out with friends, make plans and get your tickets before she sells out. Tickets are currently on sale and can be purchased in-person at the theater or online here.

In addition to Boston, Shangela’s Fully Lit Tour will also be coming to the following cities later this winter.

Jan 20: Washington DC, Warner Theatre
Jan 21: New York City, Town Hall
Jan 26: Los Angeles, The Wiltern
Jan 27: San Francisco, Castro Theatre
Feb 01: Orlando, Dr. Phillips Center – Steinmetz Hall
Feb 02: Raleigh, Meymandi Concert Hall
Feb 03: Philadelphia (Glenside), Keswick Theatre
Feb 04: Pittsburgh (Munhall), Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall
Feb 09: Dallas, Majestic Theatre
Feb 10: Austin, Paramount Theatre

More details about the Fully Lit Tour

SIX: The Unauthorized Dragsical

Did you miss seeing SIX, the very popular Broadway musical touring the US when it came to Boston earlier this year? No worries, next month SIX: The Unauthorized Dragsical a campy spoof of the current Broadway hit which offers a modern take on the lives of the six wives of Henry VIII is sure to be equal parts fun and funny.

Join Lurenzone Theatrics at Club Cafe in January when they bring their theatrical lip-syncing extravaganza and drag queens get to tell their side of the story. The cast includes performers from New England and beyond.

SIX The Unauthorized Dragsical
January 20 – 22, 2023
Club Cafe

Margaret Cho comes to The Wilbur this April

Last week Margaret Cho announced her new tour, Live and LIVID. The 20+ city tour starts in early March but doesn’t arrive in Boston until Thursday, April 13th at The Wilbur Theater in Boston’s Theater District.

Tickets went on sale December 9th so don’t delay in making plans, because she will sell out! Hopefully she will add a second show for that evening. This would make for a fantastic night out with friends or a fun Christmas gift for that hard to buy for guy gay.

Margaret Cho is Live and LIVID at The Wilbur

The Front Porch Arts Collective

Chicken & Biscuits: December 9, 2022 – January 8, 2023

I wanted to give a shout out to a theater company I only recently became aware of called The Front Porch Arts Collective. Since it was formed five years ago, the Black theater company has aimed to bring greater racial equity to the Boston theater community. Their production of Douglas Lyons’s “Chicken & Biscuits” at Suffolk University’s Modern Theatre marks their first solo staging. Tickets are very affordable ($25 for adults and $15 for students).

Chicken & Biscuits
Purchase Your Tickets Here

About Chicken & Biscuits
This raucous family comedy is full of laughter and love, and it will leave you begging for seconds. The Jenkins family is coming together to celebrate the life of their father—hopefully without killing each other! But any hopes for a peaceful reunion unravel when a family secret shows up at the funeral

I would like to the Front Porch Arts Collective much luck and hope to get to see this production before it closes next month. You can learn more about this theater company, here.

Kiki & Herb: Do You Hear What We Hear – SHOW CANCELLED

Earlier today it was announced that due to unforeseen circumstances this show would be cancelled. Refunds will be available to all who purchased tickets.

For more information visit the event site bochcenter.org/events/detail/kikiandherb.

Torch Song by Harvey Fierstein comes to Boston

Next week Torch Song opens at the BCA Calderwood Pavilion. Described as hilarious and heart wrenching, Torch Song follows Arnold Beckoff on his odyssey to find happiness in New York. All he wants is a husband, a child and a pair of bunny slippers that fit, but a visit from his overbearing mother reminds him that he needs one thing more: respect.

Join Arnold on this all-too-human journey about the families we’re born into, the families we choose, and the battles to bring them all home. For more information about the show at the BCA Calderwood Pavilion and to purchase tickets visit the Boston Theatre Scene website or click on the button below.

The Play That Goes Wrong

This weekend The Lyric Stage Company will open with a funny new play called The Play That Goes Wrong. Centered around a misguided troupe of wannabe actors performance of “The Mruder at Haversham Manor” nothing goes according to plan, ranging from technical gaffes, forgotten lines, and sabotaging scenery the troupe comicaly strives to maintain their poise until the final curtain call. Described as part Monty Python, part Sherlock Holmes, all mayhem—this 1920s whodunit is disastrously delightful.

The play runs through the middle of December, and tickets are on sale now. Click the link below for more information about the play and / or to purchase your tickets. Individual tickets start at $40.00.

The Play That Goes Wrong
November 11 – December 18
@Lyric Stage Company

SpeakEasy Stage presents ENGLISH

This Friday, The SpeakEasy Stage of Boston opens with their second production of the 2022/23 season, ENGLISH. The play has received numerous accolades and is described by the New York Theater guide as, “a stunning play about hope, belonging, and desire.”

Set in an English language class in a suburb of Tehran, the student’s teacher, Marjan, insists they speak “English Only!” as she struggles to prepare them for their Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The implications and opportunities for the students can be life changing if they pass this exam but of course it isn’t all that simple or straightforward with one student set on derailing the lesson plan.

ENGLISH
October 21 – November 19, 2023
More Info Here

As someone who has struggled to learn a second language off and on over the years, I can relate to the challenge as well as the humor that comes from mispronounciations, mistakes, and misunderstandings, and I look forward to seeing this show which runs from October 21 – November 19, 2022.

Make plans with friends to see this production or make it a date night, but be sure to get your tickets.

Little Christmas Tree Shop of Horrors

Ryan Landry and The Gold Dust Orphans return this winter with their holiday spectacular, Little Christmas Tree Shop of Horrors.

Little Christmas Tree Shop of Horrors
Holiday Run: December 1 – 23
At The Iron Wolf Theatre in S. Boston
Get Your Tickets Here!

For those uninitiated, Landry and his creative troupe of theatrical misfits have been entertaining audiences in Boston and Provincetown for more than two decades. The holiday shows in recent years have been absolutely irreverant and hilarious poking fun at gay cliches, social mores / customs, and of course conservative politics.

About Little Christmas Tree Shop of Horrors
Who is killing the somewhat innocent, questionably respectable people of Revere, Massachusetts? And at Christmas, for Christs sake! Nervous Dollar Store manager, Norbert Feinstein knows, but he’s too busy pining for his co-worker, Tawdry and running from his boss, everyone’s favorite holiday villain, Hermione P. Grinchley! Things look pretty bleak for our heroes until they come across the strangest little Christmas tree… a Christmas tree that KILLS!

Boston’s theater: Fall productions

As the summer comes to a close, I like to promote Boston Theater comanies and their fall productions. This fall, Boston area theater companies have a crop of interesting and engaging productions – something for everyone. For those who may not be familiar with the local theater scene, check it out and for those of you who haven’t seen a live performance in a few years, make plans to catch a show.

Tickets to shows from local theater companies are far more affordable than the national tours that come through Boston, and they make for an excellent date night or evening out with friends.

The Huntington || Sing Street
August 26 – October 2, 2022

It’s Dublin, 1982. Sixteen-year old Conor tries to impress a mysterious girl, Raphina, by asking her to star in a music video for his band. If only he had a band. Teaming up with a group of schoolmates, Conor and Raphina use music to bring them together, escape their troubles at home, and carve out a place in their struggling community. With a score that embraces the new wave sounds of the 80s, Sing Street is an ode to the thrill of young love and a celebration of the power of music to lift us up.

American Repertory Theater || Twighlight Los Angeles, 1992
August 28 – September 24, 2022

A searing examination of racial injustice, police brutality, and social tumult, “Twilight” was drawn from 320 interviews Smith conducted after the 1992 Los Angeles riots ignited by the acquittal of white police officers who were caught on videotape brutally beating a Black motorist named Rodney King.

SpeakEasy Stage Co. || Heroes of the Fourth Turning
September 9 – October 8, 2022

One week after the Charlottesville riots in 2017, four young conservatives gather in a Wyoming backyard to gossip and reminisce. They’ve assembled to honor Gina, their mentor and the newly inaugurated president of a far-right Catholic university. But as their celebration runs deep into the night, the reunion explodes into vicious insults, political accusations, and stunning revelations.

Lyric Stage Co. || Fabulation or, The Re-Education of Undine
September 16 – October 9, 2022

Undine has it all until her husband steals her hard-earned fortune, sending her tumbling down the social ladder. Pregnant and penniless, with life unraveling at every turn, she is forced to return home to Brooklyn and the family she left behind, in a complicated new reality. While her life unravels, Undine learns that hope can be found in small victories and in the discovery of finding happiness within.

North Shore Music Theater || Little Shop of Horrors
September 20 – October 2, 2022

Meek flower shop assistant Seymour pines for co-worker Audrey. During a total eclipse, he discovers an unusual plant he names Audrey II, which feeds only on human flesh and blood. The growing plant attracts a great deal of business for the previously struggling store. After Seymour feeds Audrey’s boyfriend, Orin, to the plant after Orin’s accidental death, he must come up with more bodies for the increasingly bloodthirsty plant.

Central Square Theater || Ada the Engine
September 22 – October 23, 2022

It’s 1830 and Britain’s Industrial Revolution has dawned. The fiery, brilliant Ada Byron Lovelace, is the author of the first computer program and daughter of Lord Byron, and at 17 she befriends Charles Babbage, salon host and inventor of the first mechanical computer. What follows is a tempestuous collaboration wherein they envision a future where a “thinking engine” completes complex calculations.

Romeo & Juliet on Boston Common Aug 11&13

Are you looking for something fun to do this weekend? The Boston Lyric Opera is hosting two free performances of Romeo & Juliet at 8PM on Thursday, August 11 and Saturday, August 13.

Romeo & Juliet on the Boston Common

These FREE performances offer those who have never been to an opera, a unique opportunity to experience it under the stars. You can check out the full cast here. For those motivated by more base instincts, be sure to check out the very handsome baritone, Nicholas LaGeese who plays Mercutio – damn he’s cute.

Similar to the Shakespeare on the Common productions, you can rent chairs but it is best to make a reservation (chair reservation info). If you’re planning to attend, show up early because these free performances attract huge crowds.

I also recommend making pitstop at Roche Bros in DTX before you find a place on the Common to see this production. Roche Bros has a lot of grab-n-go items so you can have an impromptu picnic during the performance. While consuming alcohol on the Common is illegal, if you’re discreet, you’ll be fine. I’m a big fan of bringing some cheeses and one or two bottles of very cold white or rosé.