Category Archives: Theater

Later this week The Lyric Stage Co. returns with their first production of 2018, Road Show. The show is inspired by a New Yorker article Stephen Sondheim read about the Mizner brothers, Addison and Wilson, who were born in California in the late 1800s. The show opens at the deathbed of their father who encourages the brothers to go out and mold the new nation. The musical spans the globe as the brothers seek out the amorphous and elusive American Dream through the booms and busts of the early 20th century.

Road Show
January 12 – February 11, 2018
Ticket Information Here

Looking for something different? Later this week a new show opens at Club Cafe’s Moonshine Room called, The Menopausal Mermaid: A drag parody reimagined! The show is described as a kaleidoscope of fantastic drag, sexy sailors and outrageous costumes.

The show opens with a slightly wiser (and peeved) version of Ariel than the Disney production presents. Feeling betrayed by Eric and cursed by Ursula, Ariel is ready to kick ass in this 90-minute musical parody that picks up where the Disney fairy tale left off.  Tired of playing by the rules, Ariel reinvents herself, and along the way she takes on love, fame and Walt Disney.

The Menopausal Mermaid: A drag parody reimagined!
Thursday thru Sunday || January 11 – March 25, 2018
Ticket Information Here

Tell your friends and get tickets while they last. Tickets to this show (including service fees are just $32 and change.

Looking for a holiday present to pick up for a friend or someone special? SpeakEasy Stage is hosting a flash sale on Thursday, December 14th from Noon to Midnight online and from Noon to 7PM at their ticket booth in the South End for their upcoming show, Shakespeare in Love.

Tickets will be slashed for performances from January 6 – 25th to $35 for orchestra seats and $25 for mezzanine seats. For that amount of money you can throw in a few drinks or grab a dinner together and have a fantastic evening.

Purchase your tickets online here: bostontheatrescene.com.
But remember the sale only runs on Thursday from Noon to Midnight!

You may also purchase tickets by calling 617-933-8600 or visiting their ticket booth at 527 Tremont Street in the South End from Noon to 7PM.

Get Your Tickets Here

Friday, December 1st is opening night for The Lyric Stage Company’s latest production, Hold These Truths, a 90-minute play based on the true story of Gordon Hirabayashi, an American Sociologist and son of Japanese immigrants, who is best known for resisting internment during World War II.

Actor Michael Hisamoto plays Hirabayashi, a college student and a Quaker, whose hope and patriotism will leave you cheering.  Hirabayashi’s story is told through flashbacks, taking the audience through his early life, challenging the curfew and exclusion orders in 1942. His storytelling is assisted by a trio of kurogo — traditional Japanese stage hands.

While Hirabayashi may have lost his case when he was alive, but Hirabayashi, he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 by President Barack Obama. Paving the way to Hirabayashi’s ultimate victory. Full of theatricality and humanity, Hold These Truths celebrates resistance and offers startling parallels for contemporary politics.

Yesterday, The Boston Globe reported here that the long dormant Colonial Theater now owned by Emerson College will reopen in June 2018 with a world-premiere musical stage adaptation of the film “Moulin Rouge”, which could go on to Broadway following its run here in Boston.

The Colonial, which closed back in October 2015, has had millions of dollars spent renovating the beautifully historic 117-year old theater; with construction expected to be done by the spring. The international producer, Ambassador Theatre Group from London entered into a long-term lease with Emerson to operate the Colonial Theatre so Bostonians can expect a full line up of excellent shows following Moulin Rouge.

Rendering from Ambassador Theatre Group & Elkus Manfredi Architects

I wanted to give a quick shout out to a Boston-based theater production company here in the South End that you may not be aware of called, Zeitgeist Stage Company. The theater company opened their 2017/18 season with a provocative New England premiere, Faceless. the play revolves around two women, 18 year-old Susie Glenn who is on trial for conspiring to commit acts of terrorism, as well as Claire Fathi, a recent Harvard Law grad and practicing Muslim, who has been brought on to prosecute Susie.  

Faceless performances run through October 7 at the Plaza Black Box Theater at the Boston Center for the Arts in the South End.  Performance are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 PM, Friday at 8:00 PM, Saturday at 4 PM and 8 PM, and Sunday at 4 PM with talkbacks following the Sunday matinees.  

Click here for more information and tickets to Faceless

Earlier this month I shared a post about some of the great plays and musicals local  theater production companies have rolled out for the start of their 2017/2018 line up. There are also a number of shows that will be coming to the area that don’t have big marketing budgets and you may not know about but might enjoy seeing. Check out one or more of these shows.

18th Boston Comedy Festival runs from Wednesday, September 20 – Sunday, September 24 at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square.

John Kelly – Time No Line At The Oberon for one show only, Thursday, September 21st. Kelly’s solo show is a non-linear narrative about his life and work in the East Village in the 1980’s; he touches upon gender performance, the AIDS epidemic, the culture wars, LGBT and queer history, gentrification.  Tickets start at $25.

5 to 9 which played at the Art House in Ptown this summer  comes to The Ramrod on Thursday, September 21 thru Sunday, September 24. If you didn’t see this spoof on the 1980 hit, grab tickets to see Ryan Landry, Varla Jean Merman and Kiki Samko update this story with their evil boss, Donald Trump.

Home At Emerson’s Paramount Center runs from September 27  – October 1 HOME combines illusion, live music, home-spun engineering and an inventive use of audience interaction to compose an experience that asks, where is home? If it is not a place, what is home?

David Sedaris is back in town on Wednesday, October 18 to talk about his latest book, Theft by Finding, when the Celebrity Series brings him back to Boston’s Symphony Hall.

September brings back more than tens of thousands of students to Boston. Most of Boston’s local theater companies return with new productions and this year local theater companies have an impressive line up.

Probably the best known local theater  The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) continues to raise the bar with engaging shows and often times big name actors. September 9th is the opening for a new play from the ART called, WARHOLCAPOTE.

The play is based on the well documented friendship between Andy Warhol and Truman Capote. Using the hundreds of hours in conversation (some of it published), the ART has created the play, WARHOLCAPOTE.

The Lyric Stage Co. of Boston present the musical Gypsy: A Musical Fable. Performances start tonight,  Friday, September 1st and run through October 8th at their theater in the Back Bay. Tickets Available Here.

Over in Cambridge Central Square Theater will open their new season with Constellations.  A mesmerizing romantic journey that looks at the infinite possibilities directed by Scott Edmiston, six-time Elliot Norton Award-winner for Outstanding Director. The show runs from Thursday, September 7th through October 8th. Tickets Available Here.

The SpeakEasy Stage Company opens in September with Men On Boats. Opening September 8th the show tells the story of an actual 1869 expedition led by John Wesley Powell to chart the Colorado River. Comical but never camp, pointed but never political, this rousing historical saga is a provocative meditation on gender and historical memory that offers a new lens through which to view our shared past. Tickets Available Here.

Next week on Friday, September 8th The Huntington Theatre opens their season with the musical, Merrily  We Roll Along, with music from Stephen Sondheim. Be sure to get your tickets before the musical closes on Sunday, October 15th. Tickets Available Here.

Zeitgeist Stage Company presents, Faceless, a drama about 18 year-old Susie Glenn who is on trial for conspiring to commit acts of terrorism, and recent Harvard Law grad and practicing Muslim, Claire Fathi, who has been brought on to prosecute her. The play opens on Friday, September 15  and runs through October 7th. Tickets Available Here.

The theater companies shared above are just a sampling of locally produced shows underway or soon to open. Check out one or more of these productions and support the local arts scene. You’ll be impressed by the caliber of talent, the variety of shows and how much more affordable these tickets are than the national traveling productions playing in the Theater District.