Tag: Drama

Theater Review: Swept Away by Speakeasy Stage

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Swept Away

Book by John Logan
Music & Lyrics by The Avett Brothers
Directed by Jeremy Johnson
Music Directed by Paul S. Katz
Choreographed by Ilyse Robbins

May 14, 2026: Calderwood Pavilion, Boston, Massachusetts

Cast

Wyatt Anton – Ensemble
Christopher Chew – Captain
Max Conner – Little Brother
Peter DiMaggio – Mate
Carson Hollingsworth – Ensemble
Elliot Lazar – Ensemble
Bishop Levesque – Big Brother
Kevin Patrick Martin – Ensemble
Nicholas Papayoanou – Ensemble
Anthony Pires, Jr. – Ensemble
Ezra Quinlan – Aerialist/Ensemble

Scored to music by North Carolina folk-rock band The Avett Brothers, Swept Away is a story of a shipwreck, survival, guilt, and redemption.  The story is framed by an older Mate dying of consumption and haunted by the members of the crew he served with on the ill-fated journey.  Task with telling their story, Mate recalls setting out in 1888 on an aged whaling ship at the end of the whaling era. Joining the crew are the enthusiastic farm boy Little Brother who wants to see the world before settling down but is pursued by the more practical Big Brother.  Before Big Brother can convince Little Brother to come home with him, the ship sets sail and he’s forced to join the crew as well.The first half of the show has a festive feel with the camaraderie of the crew as well as personality conflicts with the pious Big Brother.  After the shipwreck, the crew is reduced to Mate, the brothers, and the Captain on a life boat forced to make difficult choices to survive.

I really like the Avett Brothers music (which surprisingly wasn’t written specifically for the show) and the singing and choreography is wonderful.  Ezra Quinlan also adds some artistry to climbing the rigging in their aerial performances. I can find no evidence of an aerialist in the Broadway production, so I believe this is an innovation of Speakeasy Stage, and it really works.  The plot and characterization are thin, but I feel that the show still delivers on an emotional level.  For a story dealing with tragic death, cannibalism, and the darkness of human nature, it has a surprisingly hopeful conclusion.

In the fun game of “Hey, I know that guy!” here are the actors I’ve seen in other productions:  Wyatt Anton (Fun Home), Christopher Chew (A Sherlock Carol), Peter DiMaggio (Lizard Boy), and Kevin Patrick Martin (Titanic – does he specialize in doomed ship musicals?).

Speakeasy Stage continues performing Swept Away at Calderwood Pavilion through May 23rd

Theater Review: Gem of the Ocean by Actors’ Shakespeare Project

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Gem of the Ocean

By August Wilson
Directed by Monica White Ndounou

May 10, 2026: Hibernian Hall, Roxbury, Massachusetts

CAST

Caesar Wilks – Kadahk Bennet
Rutherford Selig – Michael Broadhurst
Black Mary – Marhadoo Effeh
Solly Two Kings – Jonathan Kitt
Citizen Barlow – Joshua Lee Robinson
Eli – Derek Thomas
Aunt Ester – Regine Vital

Set in 1904 in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, Gem of the Ocean takes place entirely in Aunt Ester’s front room.  Aunt Ester is a community spiritual leader know for her ability as a “washer of souls,” and a recurring character in August Wilson’s Century Cycle.  Also living in the household are Eli, a middle-aged man who act’s as Aunt Ester’s guardian, and a young woman named Black Mary who is Ester’s housekeeper but also a protege.  Frequent visitors to the house include: the amiable Solly Two Kings, a man who escaped slavery and helped others escape on the Underground Railroad and scouted for the Union Army;  Rutherford Selig, a peddler who is a rare trusted white friend of Ester’s; and Caesar Wilks, the show’s villian is Black Mary’s brother who has become a police officer and landlord, enforcing the mill’s exploitative system by evicting people from their homes and then arresting them for vagrancy.

The play begins with the arrival of Citizen Barlow, a young man who recently migrated from Alabama who is deeply troubled and needs Aunt Ester’s help to wash his soul.  The story within Aunt Ester’s house is set against a background in which many of the Black residents of Pittsburgh work at a mill where they are underpaid and exploited.  When a man is accused of stealing a barrel of nails and jumps to his death, the workers go on strike and riot. At the same time, news arrives from the South of Black people hoping to escape Jim Crow but can’t escape at risk of lynching, which include Solly’s sister. These political crises play out in Aunt Ester’s house in a story with humor, tenderness, and horrible realities.

While most of the play takes place in a realistic setting, the ceremony in which Citizen travels on the boat Gem of the Ocean to the City of Bones is an eerie and unsettling journey into the supernatural. This scene is aided by wonderful lighting, masked characters, and people playing drums behind the audience.  The cast of this play is uniformly strong with Regine Vital, Jonathan Kitt, and Joshua Lee Robinson standing out.

Gem of the Ocean continues at Hibernian Hall in Roxbury through Sunday, May 17, 2026. This production is the fourth consecutive year in which Actors’ Shakespeare Project has performed a play by August Wilson in the heart of Black Boston, which will continue in Spring 2027 with Jitney.

100 Years of Movie Musicals: Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)

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Next year marks the 100th anniversary of the movie musical, and to celebrate I’m embarking on a two-year project to watch 100 movie musicals from 1927 to the present!

Title: Dance, Girl, Dance
Release Date: August 30, 1940
Director: Dorothy Arzner
Production Company: RKO Radio Pictures
Main Cast:

  • Maureen O’Hara as Judy O’Brien
  • Louis Hayward as James ‘Jimmy’ Harris Jr.
  • Lucille Ball as Bubbles/Tiger Lily White
  • Virginia Field as Elinor Harris
  • Ralph Bellamy as Steve Adams
  • Maria Ouspenskaya as Madame Lydia Basilova
  • Mary Carlisle as Sally
  • Katharine Alexander as Miss Olmstead
  • Edward Brophy as Dwarfie Humblewinger
  • Walter Abel as Judge
  • Harold Huber as Kashulian
  • Sidney Blackmer as Puss in Boots
  • Ludwig Stössel as Caesar
  • Harry Tenbrook as Spectator

Synopsis (via Letterboxd):

Judy O’Brien is an aspiring ballerina in a dance troupe. Also in the company is Bubbles, a brash mantrap who leaves the struggling troupe for a career in burlesque. When the company disbands, Bubbles gives Judy a thankless job as her stooge. The two eventually clash when both fall for the same man

My Thoughts:

Judy O’Brien dreams of becoming a ballerina but makes ends meet dancing in clubs.  Her fellow chorus girl and sometimes roommate Bubbles is content to reinvent herself as the burlesque star Tiger Lily White.  Bubbles gets Judy work as a stooge, which means dancing ballet so that the men in audience can yell at her while Bubbles makes a costume change.  They both find themselves attracted to Jimmy, a rich drip going through a messy divorce whose still very much in love with his wife.  The tension builds as Judy simmers through the all the indignities.

I’m of two minds on this film.  On the one hand, it’s full of the cliches of backstage musicals and feels contrived to set up didactic messages.  On the other hand it’s a covert feminist dismantling of those types of films.  In defense of that latter interpretation is the fact that Dorothy Arzner was the only woman director in Hollywood at that time and probably had things to say about the male gaze and women’s inequality in show business.  Lucille Ball is terrific as Bubbles who uses her sexuality to get her way and is millions of miles away from Lucy Ricardo.  Maureen O’Hara’s performance feels ridiculous in how perfectly good she is, but when she finally snaps it’s incredible.

There are some great song and dance numbers in this movie and it definitely feels ambitious for it’s time, albeit held back by the production code.

Rating: ***1/2

Movie Review: The Merry Wives of Windsor (1980)

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Title: The Merry Wives of Windsor
Release Date: January 1, 1980
Director: Jack Manning
Production Company: Shakespeare Society of America
Main Cast:

  • Gloria Grahame – Mistress Page
  • Leon Charles – Sir John Falstaff
  • Valerie Seelie-Snyder – Mistress Ford
  • Dixie Tymitz – Mistress Quickly
  • Joel Asher – Dr. Caius
  • Phillip Persons – Justice Shallow
  • Eugene Brezany – Slender
  • Richard Cordery – Sir Hugh Evans
  • Lee Fishel – Pistol
  • Lanny Broyles – Bardolph
  • Paul Aron Scott – Nym
  • Lisa Barnes – Anne Page
  • Addison Randall – Fenton
  • Lucinda Dooling – Robin

Synopsis (via Letterboxd):

Sir John Falstaff in love? Chaos must inevitably follow.

My Thoughts:

With some Shakespeare plays – especially the comedies – I appreciate them more after seeing a performance.  But in this case I think I chose the wrong performance, or maybe it’s just not that good.  This version is filmed on a stage in Los Angeles (without an audience) that is said to resemble the Globe Theatre (it doesn’t). The whole thing is cheap and slapdash.  And yet it’s introduced by John Houseman and stars Hollywood veteran Gloria Grahame, so it’s not like it’s a community theater production.  Anyhow, there are other adaptations of The Merry Wives of Windsor out there, so I chose poorly.

All I know is that the next Shakespeare movie I will be watching is directed by Orson Welles, so I expect it to be good!

Rating: **

 

Book Review: The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare

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Author: William Shakespeare
Title: The Merry Wives of Windsor
Publication Info: New York : Washington Square Press, 2004. [written circa 1597]
Summary/Review:

Sir John Falstaff is back, this time thrust into the center of madcap comedy and romance. Seeking money as always, he sends identical notes attempting to woo married women, Alice Ford and Margaret Page.  They catch on to his Falstaff’s plan and conspire to go along with meeting him in order to play trick on him.  Unaware of the plotting, Frank Ford becomes exceedingly jealous of his wife and goes about in disguise.  And while all of this happening, three men court the Page’s daughter Anne but she only desires one of them, a gentleman named Fenton.

This is one of three plays featuring Falstaff, but scholars are uncertain whether this play was written before or after Henry IV, part 2.  I haven’t read that one yet, but of the two I’ve read, I can’t say that I particularly like Falstaff.  I mean,  I know he’s  rogue, but he’s not even a funny one.  And the comic hijinks of this play don’t feel up to Shakespeare’s best.  The legend is that he wrote it quickly on the request of Queen Elizabeth to create a play about Falstaff in love, and it feels like a rush job.

It’s still better than The Two Gentlemen of Verona, but otherwise it doesn’t rank highly in the Bard’s oeuvre for me.

Rating: **1/2

 

I’m reading every Shakespeare play, one per month, in chronological order.  Here’s my progress thus far:

  1. The Two Gentlemen of Verona
  2. The Taming of the Shrew
  3. Henry VI, Part 1
  4. Henry VI, Part 2
  5. Henry VI, Part 3
  6. Titus Andronicus
  7. Richard III
  8. The Comedy of Errors
  9. Love’s Labours’ Lost
  10. Richard II
  11. Romeo and Juliet
  12. A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream
  13. The Life and Death of King John
  14. The Merchant of Venice
  15. The History of Henry IV, Part 1

Boston Movie Festival: Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (2010)

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Title: Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench
Release Date: November 5, 2010
Director: Damien Chazelle
Production Company: Varilight Films | Olive Productions
Main Cast:

  • Jason Palmer – Guy
  • Desiree Garcia – Madeline
  • Sandha Khin – Elena

Synopsis (via Letterboxd):

After connecting with the shy Madeline, a jazz trumpeter embarks on a quest for a more gregarious paramour, but through a series of twists and turns punctuated by an original score, the two lovers seem destined to be together.

My Thoughts:

The park bench is where Guy and Madeline break up. Guy, a jazz trumpeter, has followed his wandering eye to a new romance with Elena.  Madeline, meanwhile, is unemployed and driftless but may find happiness in <gasp> New York City! Filmed in black & white with single hand-held camera and an achronological narrative, this film has all the markers of a low-budget indie movie.  But then musical numbers break out! The movie feels like a Boston version of La La Land, which makes sense since both films share director Damien Chazelle and composer Justin Hurwitz. This movie has a real Berklee vibe so I was surprised that Chazelle actually made it as his thesis at Harvard.

Rating: ***1/2

Boston Movie Festival: Mermaids (1990)

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My Patriots Day tradition is to watch movies set and/or filmed in Boston and it’s environs, and in 2026 we’ll enjoy a week of Boston cinema.

Title: Mermaids
Release Date: December 14, 1990
Director: Richard Benjamin
Production Company: Orion Pictures
Main Cast:

  • Cher as Rachel Flax / Mrs. Flax
  • Bob Hoskins as Louis “Lou” Landsky
  • Winona Ryder as Charlotte Flax
  • Michael Schoeffling as Joseph “Joe” Peretti
  • Christina Ricci as Kate Flax
  • Caroline McWilliams as Carrie
  • Jan Miner as Mother Superior
  • Betsy Townsend as Mary O’Brien
  • Richard McElvain as Mr. Crain
  • Paula Plum as Mrs. Crain

Synopsis (via Letterboxd):

Fifteen-year-old Charlotte Flax is tired of her wacky mom moving their family to a different town any time she feels it is necessary. When they move to a small Massachusetts town and Mrs. Flax begins dating a shopkeeper, Charlotte and her 9-year-old sister, Kate, hope that they can finally settle down. But when Charlotte’s attraction to an older man gets in the way, the family must learn to accept each other for who they truly are.

My Thoughts:

15-year-old Charlotte has an obsession with Catholicism despite her family being culturally Jewish and not practicing anything.  Her single mother Rachel (whom Charlotte calls Mrs. Flax) has casual relationships with men and when they break up she moves the family to a new state.  Charlotte has an adorable younger sister who is a competitive swimmer (although this isn’t as integral to the plot as the opening scene would make it seem).

As the film begins, the arrive in a fictional village on Massachusetts’ North Shore, moving into a house adjacent to a convent.  Charlotte is naturally drawn to the lives of the nuns but also feels conflicted because she’s attracted to the convent’s caretaker, Joe.  Rachel, meanwhile, begins a romance with a charming shoe store owner named Lou.

I found myself wanting to like this movie more than I did as there’s a really great movie at its core, but it seems to be missing something.  It’s one of those movies that has an excess of quirkiness for the sake of quirky.  And then the climax of the movie involves a heavily-contrived crisis to put Kate’s life at risk.  When Charlotte and Rachel finally have the moment where they open up to one another it still feels like they’re not addressing the central conflict.  Nevertheless, Ryder, Cher, and Hoskins are excellent in their roles, I love the period details and needle drops, and this type of family dynamic is one that still feels unique in movies.

As for Boston content, the movie is filmed in the Cape Ann area so we don’t see Boston proper.  But “RED SOX” is carved into the door of Charlotte’s room and Lou wears a Red Sox cap.  Local characters drop their R’s and notable Massachusetts theater star Paul Plum appears in a minor role.  I only wish someone told the filmmakers that December in Massachusetts is cold and that people would be wearing heavy winter clothing and not driving with the windows open.

Rating: ***

Theater Review: Mariette in Ecstasy by the Treehouse Collective

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Mariette in Ecstasy

Director: Katie Swimm
Adapted by Christina Calvit from the novel by  Ron Hansen

April 18, 2026: The Black Box Theatre at The Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

CAST

Reverend Mother Celine – Carla Perrotta
Mother Saint Raphael – Martha Warren
Sister Catherine – Michelle Leibowitz
Sister Agnes – Jaryn Wilcox
Sister Marguerite – Lauren Foster
Sister Aimee – Grace Duffey
Sister Hermance – Cayd Barrera
Sister Genievieve – Britt Ambruson
Sister Philomene – Hannah Young
Mariette Baptiste – Amanda Burke
Pere Mariott – Djessy Kungu
Dr. Baptiste – Brian O’Hara
Understudy for Mariette – Sarah Lilley
Understudy for Pere Mariott and Dr.Baptiste – Mikey Moses
Understudy for Mothers Celine, Raphael, and the Sisters – Andrea Moore

In 1906 in a rural New York village, a beautiful young woman from a wealthy family enters The Sisters of the Crucifixion priory as a postulant.  Mariette’s elder sister by 20 years is the Reverend Mother of the community.  Her arrival immediately stirs up unrest in the priory as some of the sisters  are affectionately drawn to Mariette, while others question her motivations and wonder why she’s always at the center of attention.

After a crisis, Mariette begins experiencing stigmata and ecstatic visions.  Again, reactions vary from those who feel they’ve been blessed by a miracle to doubting it’s real, and even envy that someone so young an inexperienced would receive this “gift.” While we never learn if it’s a miracle or fake, Mariette’s monologue at the end is intriguing as she accepts the entire incident as her burden to bear from God.

Amanda Burke is excellent in the lead role, and demonstrates that religious ecstasy can seem a whole lot like demonic possession. The large ensemble cast contains a lot of people dressed the same, and it’s subsequently hard to distinguish their characters.  I think the actors do a terrific job of giving their characters some individuality, but I feel the script could’ve done more to build their characters beyond a few traits.  The play is performed in a black box theater with minimal props, but nevertheless the feel of being in different spaces of the convent is made clear.

The Treehouse Collective’s Mariette in Ecstasy closes on April 19, 2026.

100 Years of Movie Musicals: Show Boat (1936)

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Next year marks the 100th anniversary of the movie musical, and to celebrate I’m embarking on a two-year project to watch 100 movie musicals from 1927 to the present!

Title: Show Boat
Release Date: May 14, 1936
Director: James Whale
Production Company: Universal Pictures
Main Cast:

  • Irene Dunne as Magnolia
  • Allan Jones as Gaylord Ravenal
  • Charles Winninger as Cap’n Andy Hawks
  • Paul Robeson as Joe
  • Helen Morgan as Julie
  • Helen Westley as Parthy Ann Hawks
  • Queenie Smith as Ellie May Chipley
  • Sammy White as Frank Schultz
  • Donald Cook as Steve Baker
  • Hattie McDaniel as Queenie
  • Francis X. Mahoney as Rubber Face Smith
  • Marilyn Knowlden as Kim (as a Child)
  • Sunnie O’Dea as Kim (at Sixteen)
  • Arthur Hohl as Pete
  • Charles B. Middleton as Vallon
  • J. Farrell MacDonald as Windy
  • Clarence Muse as Janitor
  • Charles C. Wilson as Jim Green (uncredited)
  • J. Gunnis Davis as Doctor (uncredited)
  • Eddie “Rochester” Anderson as Young Black Man (uncredited)

Synopsis (via Letterboxd):

Despite her mother’s objections, the naive young daughter of a show boat captain is thrust into the limelight as the company’s new leading lady.

My Thoughts:

Show Boat is an iconic musical so I thought I had a basic idea about what it was about.  I was wrong.  Despite “show” in the title, I didn’t really think it was a behind-the-scenes show business story.  I also thought it was set entirely on a paddle-wheel steamboat.  In fact, it’s set on a barge with a full-size theater built on top, it’s only pushed by steamboats.  And that’s only the first half of the movie.

The story focuses on Magnolia, whose parents own the show boat.  She meets the charming gambler Gaylord Ravenal and they marry, moving to Chicago.  But Gaylord is not reliable, resulting in Magnolia returning to show business where she rises to stardom on Broadway.  It’s a melodrama, but one with a lot of heart, and some very sweet moments of kindness.  The musical numbers are also great.  There is unfortunately a blackface scene although at least it fits the historical setting of a young woman performing in the South in the 1800s, compared with the 1930s stars who just did it as themselves.

The standouts of the film are Paul Robeson and Hattie McDaniel who play minor characters but steal the show every time.  Their scenes feel like they were written by a progressive white person who nevertheless fell back on stereotypes, but Robeson and McDaniel elevate it with their performance.   Robeson’s Joe is frequently referred to as “lazy” but in his actions he’s clearly a hard-working man who has earned his rest, and that “lazy” is more of an in-joke.

I quite enjoyed this movie and hope one day to see a stage production of the musical.

Rating: ***1/2

Movie Review: The Drama (2026)

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Title: The Drama
Release Date: April 3, 2026
Director: Kristoffer Borgli
Production Company: Square Peg
Main Cast:

  • Zendaya as Emma Harwood
    • Jordyn Curet as young Emma
  • Robert Pattinson as Charlie Thompson
  • Alana Haim as Rachel
  • Mamoudou Athie as Mike
  • Hailey Gates as Misha
  • Zoë Winters as Frances
  • Hannah Gross as Alice
  • Sydney Lemmon as Pauline
  • Anna Baryshnikov as Sam
  • Michael Abbott Jr. as Blake

Synopsis (via Letterboxd):

A happily engaged couple is put to the test when an unexpected turn sends their wedding week off the rails.

My Thoughts:

Emma and Charlie are in the stressful preparation leading up to their wedding, when a revelation about Emma’s past makes Charlie and their friends question everything they know about her.  Emma’s secret is revealed early in the film, but since it’s being treated as a dramatic twist, I’m putting the rest of this review after the trailer, so don’t scroll further if you’re spoiler-averse.

As a fifteen year-old, Emma plotted a school shooting, getting as far as acquiring a rifle and recording farewell messages. Charlie finds himself vacillating between fear and attempting not to judge Emma for her past mistakes.  Meanwhile their friend and maid of honor Rachel turns hostile against Emma, and to Charlie for defending her.

The movie has an unsettling quality using tropes of romcoms and psychological thrillers interchangeably.  In fact, even in the beginning of the movie, the story of how Charlie and Emma met comes off more creepy than “meet cute.”  There are a few scenes that are imagination/dreams, but more often than not, scenes that feel unreal are actually what’s happening in this story.

Even without the central controversy of this movie, the characters come off as unlikable jerks.  I feel that if this movie has a message that it’s the inability to communicate that sours relationships.  Extrapolating that further, our society at large continues to face gun violence because of our failures in communication.

Since this is a movie set in Boston, I’ll finish up with a commentary on the Boston content.

  • Charlie is shown working at the fictional Cambridge Museum of Art.  This is funny considering that 2025’s The Mastermind also featured a fictional art museum in the Boston area (and Alana Haim in a supporting role!).
  • Charlie and Emma appear to live in a Back Bay apartment that is far too extravagant for millennials in their line of work to afford.

Rating: ***1/2