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NEW TODAY: Monday, 8 February, 2010
A review (of "Pack of Lies") from Tony Annicone
"You CAN'T Lose Them All --- but the Red Sox are out there, every afternoon, ain't they!"
Plays Covered:
14 jan BOYCE & MELINDA'S INVESTMENT STRATEGIES MagicBeanProductions WIMBERLY BCA 5
I don't often write reviews of plays I haven't liked. Such writing only gets the author hated by all the people who Did like a show --- and I speak from years of experience of seeing plays and then reading about them. I've stuck a lot of pins in "reviewer-dolls" in the past, sometimes in after-show conversation, sometimes in print. I see no sense in joining the crew who get their jollies by shooting fish that can't get away and can't ever fight back. I don't enjoy hating theater. I prefer to forget shows that didn't appeal to me --- though perhaps some thought about why I wasn't impressed might prove useful. So here are a few that had excellent productions by excellent designers and performers but nonetheless find themselves in my "forget-ory"; Maybe it's just me, but I wonder why?
Dear Mr. Stark:
Mark Navin, Senior Producer
Though I have lived here for over fifty years, every week when Radio Boston comes on, I learn things about Boston; often things so eye-openingly new and important I'd refer to them as "news". I thank you for teaching me what many things I don't know about my city. and, since you've asked us to "Send us your thoughts and story ideas!" I thought I'd ask you to turn your excellent staff of reporters loose to discover just how much you all don't know about the scope and vigor of Live Theater here in Boston. To entice you, let me enumerate a few things I know myself --- many of which I'll bet the many people who actively Make theater here don't even know themselves.
There is, of course, the shady history that kept plays out of Colonial New England --- though I think General Burgoyne Acted in plays when he held the city in the Revolutionary War. Everyone knows that a "museum" called The New Exhibition Room had to call productions of Shakespeare "lectures" because theater was illegal. But when flaming radicals calling themselves Actors' Equity demanded people actually get paid not just for performances but for Rehearsing, producers started "rehearsing" here in Boston, trying-out shows in front of the most intelligent and enthusiastic audience in America.
They may not know that when he became theater critic for the Boston GLOBE at first Kevin Kelly refused to "waste his time" reviewing even The Charles Playhouse's or the Theatre Company of Boston's plays, because making or breaking shows on their way to Broadway openings was more important. (At that time a producer who wanted a two-week run here had to reserve a slot in one of the three big playhouses here A Year in advance, so many came through town.) They may know, though, that visiting playmakers took much more seriously the words and advice of their friend Eliott Norton, who worked for the RECORD-AMERICAN and, when they bought it, the HERALD.
When I wrote reviews (circa '67 - '72), aside from the three Broadway houses and TCB and the Charles I found ten tiny companies that down in New York Brooks Atkinson was calling "off-Broadway" theatres. About the time I started my website (The Theater Mirror), including theater-schools and a healthy necklace of suburban Community Theatres I found 48 with local addresses. In 2001 I printed a little guidebook to 93 working inside the Boston city limits.
Well, in 2009 you could see more than 200 shows --- I saw 194 of them myself. If your WBUR reviewer, or the critics "covering" live theater at the GLOBE did a decent job, they'd have a lot to talk about. In fact, there were about 111 different companies working here --- not including ELEVEN MORE that began performing in 2009 alone.
And the good news is that, though the financial attrition that the current recession wreaks has created revenue drops at sports and movies and concerts, attendance at live theater has not dropped at all; it may even be growing.
So there's a lot of "news" to report, isn't there?
If you're interested, I could get you started investigating:
1) the CENTRAL SQUARE THEATRE just opened the first new performing-space in years, now the home for two healthy, long-itinerant "homeless" local companies.
I could go on; I'd love to of course, but I won't. Your crew are really good at digging into a subject and turning up things people never knew about the city they live in. I look forward to hearing what surprisingly new things you will find. I'll bet even the the people who Make theater here will be surprised --- they're too busy doing their thing to realize what a vast theatrical Explosion they're part of.
If you DO turn your excellent spotlight on the local theater scene, probably you'd like to co-ordinate airing it with one of the two major events that bring the entire "theater community" of Boston together under one roof:
In March or April, the IRNE Bash
(Each year "The Independent Reviewers of New England" give awards for excellence to both the Equity companies and the local Fringe companies in town. Ten years ago they started in a Chestnut Hill common-room; then in a larger upstairs function room at the Massachusetts College of Art. Outgrowing that they used the Rotunda Room at the Hotel Essex until they outgrew That, and now the event fills the Cyclorama Building at The Boston Center for The Arts. Even if you don't do a show, I recommend you attend this lively event.)
In April or May, The Boston Marathon
(Beginning at noon fifty different local companies perform fifty new 10-minute plays by fifty different playwrights, five an hour --- followed by the most hectic party full of cross-congratulating you can think of, after which everyone goes home to sleep for a week. It also outgrew the Boston Playwrights' Theatre (who still coordinates this extravaganza) and now takes place in the Wimberly Performance Space at The BCA. It is no longer confined to the Sunday before that silly footrace that stole its name.[Insert wry emoticon of your choice here!])
Love,
Massachusetts businessman Bill Hanney has reached an agreement with Citizens Bank to purchase the North Shore Music Theatre property.
30 GLOBES Hath September
My name is Ronny Pompeo, I most recently played Edgar Allan Poe in FUDGE Theatre's production of NEVERMORE. I am not sure if you have heard from Joey DeMita, but we will be remounting the show for two additional performances on February 13th at Stonehill College (times TBD). I remember you told me that you wished that the show ran longer than one weekend, as there were some friends that you would have told to come. Here is the chance that the cast and crew have been waiting for, a chance for those who were not available that November weekend to come experience a show of which we are so very proud. I hope you are able to spread the word of this remount and help us to be seen by the many wonderful "theatre folk" in Boston.
Thank you so much for your time. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season
CURRENTLY RUNNING SHOWS
"Blackbeard's Booty"
You know a play is great when it dazzles, sparkles with jaw-dropping, stage gizmos and effects, gorgeous costumes, and an immensely talented cast. But when a packed audience walks out singing, dancing, and clucking excitedly about how fantastic a show is, while leaving reluctantly, hoping to catch that final musical note, you know the show’s a mega-hit, a spectacular production that delivers in a big way.
SpeakEasy Stage is giving Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell’s inventive little musical a good whirl. TITLE OF SHOW, yes, that’s what it’s called, runs through Feb. 13th at the BCA. The two authors decided to enter a contest with three weeks to deadline---and to “break new ground” with a musical. Imagine an episode of SEINFELD with singing twenty-somethings instead of talking Jerry and Elaines and you have the whole idea. The musical we’re seeing is the story of how they wrote TITLE OF SHOW. (That was line 1.on the application so they left it as their name!)
I wish I could write a review about writing a review about a musical about two guys writing a musical. [Can I say "incestuous" without sounding negative here?] This isn't exactly a BACK-stage play (but, as you know I Love them!) --- it's sort of a BEFORE-stage play. Eric Levenson's set is just a solid brick wall, painted pure-white, on which Seaghan McKay projects windows into the bricked-up-windows, or hundreds of programs for real musicals flitting by as they're alluded to in a "let's write a musical like [BLANK]" song. The music is thumped out by Will McGarrahan on an electric Yamaha, and the four kids performing have nothing but four peripatetic chairs to play with. It's a musical without anything but music that you'd expect a musical to contain, it's a theatrical abstraction, it's totally self-referential, it's sort of like the "Opening Doors" number in "Merrily" but not quite, it's inane, and it's f'ing MAGNIFICENT!
The second show of Walpole Footlighters 86th season is the 1983 drama, "Pack of Lies" by British writer, Hugh Whitemore. Bob and Barbara Jackson are a nice middle-aged English couple with their daughter, Julie. Their best friends are a charming and friendly Canadian couple named Kroger. All is blissful in their world until a detective from Scotland Yard asks to use their house as an observation station to try and foil a Soviet spy ring operating in the area. The Jackson family becomes more and more put out as Scotland Yard's demands on them increase. Suspicion mounts when their best friends are suspected as being part of the ring then they become more and more frustrated and angry as the situation spirals further and further out of their control. Finally there are no excuses left and, feeling hurt and betrayed, the Jacksons are really put to the test when the detective asks them to help set a trap. Should they betray their friends? They face an excruciating moral choice between friendship and duty. It is based on a real life spy scandal in Britain in the 1960's.
Last week the Underground Railway production of "Harriet Jacobs" finished a run at the Central Square Theatre, and next week the Arena Theatre production of "Stick Fly" will open in the Wimberly space at the Boston Center for The Arts. Obviously: local girl (Lydia R. Diamond) is making good!
George Stiles and Anthony Drewe’s cheeky barnyard musical, HONK! (based on Hans Christian Anderson’s THE UGLY DUCKLING) is getting a high flying production at Wheelock Family Theatre (playing through Feb. 28th) Director Jane Staab’s energized cast includes some of Boston’s top performers—working side by side with a passel of talented kids as fish, ducklings and assorted fauna. The musical will appeal to children for its silly antics but adults will find it refreshingly irreverent…and vegetarians (like me) will be overjoyed with its pro-animal stance: All the creatures on the farm know that “people are bad news!” Poor Mayor Turkey (Gary Thomas Ng) is positively phobic over the thought of Thanksgiving.
The third show of 2nd Story Theatre's season is the 1998 "Comic Potential" by British author, Alan Ayckbourn who has written 72 shows. It is a romantic sci-fi comedy. The show is set in a TV studio in the foreseeable future, when low-cost androids (actoids) have largely replaced actors. Idealistic young writer Adam Trainsmith meets Chandler Tate now known as Chance is a former director of classic comedies who makes a living by directing a never-ending soap opera. Adam greatly admires his past directorial work. The leading-role android makes a series of mistakes and the supporting role android spots his lapses and laughs. Later on, while Adam is watching an old slapstick comedy of Buster Keaton, the android laughs again. She is afraid that the sense of humor is a production fault. Adam sees it as an advantage and nicknames her Jacie and persuades Chandler that they should make a comedy for her. Regional TV director Carla Pepperbloom threatens to ruin the project because she is jealous of Adam's sympathy for the talented Jacie and orders the android's memory wiped out. Adam panics and decides to kidnap Jacie but while on the lam they fall in love. To reveal any further details will spoil the fun for the audience. "Comic Potential" is Aychbourn's fifty-third full-length play. The show is about the ability to laugh and the ability to fall in love. They are both illogical and therefore differentiate humans from androids.The comedy also explores the Pygmalion syndrome and competing desires for autonomy and certainty.
Journey back about 350 years ago when Blackbeard was the scourge of the Atlantic coast and when "booty" had an entirely different meaning, when men were men and so were some of the women. Blackbeard amassed a fortune in his lifetime, but now he is dead and the audience must elect a new king, which pirate will become Pirate King. "Blackbeard's Booty" is a new form of dinner theatre that is interactive and improvised. The show is loosely written and directed by Frank O'Donnell who stars as Sir Francis Drake where he leads his cast of some of the funniest and fiercest pirates to plunder the Seven Seas. This show is bawdy and naughty as well as being a fun evening of entertainment with a delicious dinner served with it.
When I came up out of the subway in the heart of Harvard Square, there were two guys --- a drummer with a shaved head and shades and a maybe younger sax man --- over by the kiosk, and they were good. The sax had a hint of Paul Desmond in it, but after a while I recognized that they were well along into variations on Gerschwin's "Summertime". I dropped a buck into a yawning bass-drum-cover, apologising for my penury, and mentioned that it seemed to me that they'd reversed roles with the sax doing melodic rhythm and the drum-set almost carrying the melody itself. The drummer complimented my ear and admitted, with only two of them, there were a lot of holes to fill.
I had nearly an hour, so I retreated up against a pole, my back to the traffic, when they launched into the next tune where they shared the work more equally, and I noticed that a series of at least half a dozen passing toddlers each in turn stopped and stared in hypnotized fascination at the source of live music, some with appreciative murmurs from their parents. I don't dance, but my body swayed in rhythm to the chord-changes and the beat liking what it heard, so before I pushed on I fished out another buck and as I dropped it in admitted "Hell, it's only money man" and as they played we three smiled.
It was still early so I stopped off at The Harvard Book Store's underground second-hand shop hoping some new book would nip me in the pinkie, but it didn't happen, and neither of the books I hoped might turn up --- Russell Hoban's "PILGERMAN" nor Thornton Wilder's "THE CABALA" --- were there nor upstairs in the new-books Fiction section. (The Harvard Bookstore was my first real job, after coming to Cambridge from New Jersey. Once, on a dare from fellow book-pushers, I answered the phone "Harvard Boo Store, may I scare you?"; the patron merely replied "Yes, I'm looking for..." responding to my politely professional tone rather than my words.)
The foyer of Zero Arrow was repainted and hung in blacks as an entrance corridor; at the entry was a box-office table, above it an enormous glass-beads chandelier. I was four minutes early so I retreated to a neutral corner and read to the end of a tale in "AUCASSIN & NICOLETTE AND OTHER MEDIEVAL ROMANCES AND LEGENDS" until ten-of curtain-time, then inquired whether my partner in crime had picked up our tickets. I left his, took my own ("We'll be letting people in at eight") and joined a line stretching nearly a block toward Central Square. A bouncer-ish guy came along affixing paper ribbons around everyone's left wrist ("And when will the doctor see me?" I quipped), and eventually the line edged by dribs and drabs into the black tunnel from which boringly regular ear-blasting base-notes erupted. Apparently Disco is, unfortunately, not yet dead.
Hi Larry,
The desire to create and share art remains timeless however.... and that
impulse is very much alive in your story .
Two suggestions,first,I think there also might be a play in here.
Secondly, don't know if you are aware but you can send a copy of a
self published book to Amazon, set your price and they will list and
sell it for you. You get 30% I believe, better than most royalties I think . Anyway, a thought.
Dear Friends:
Some of you have seen me quite a bit this year. Some of you will be wondering, "Who the heck is David Costa?"
For those of you who don't know, I won the IRNE for "Best Actor in a Musical this year. It was without a doubt, the highlight of my year.
I wanted to send yopu all a quick note once again to thank you. 2009 has been a difficult year for me. Throughb it all, however, when something bad happened I could say "But I won the IRNE." I cannot tell you how many times winning the IRNE got me through a tough time.
I was driving today and thinking about the past year and feeling a little down. Then I remembered....the April 14th IRNE awards.
So rather than remembering it as the year I was "homeless," or the year the theatre closed, or the year I fractured 11 bones in my face, I will remember it as the year I won the IRNE. When I feel down because Boston theaters don't seem to want to hire me, I remember "I won the IRNE."
Thank you. You have no idea how much that has meant to me in so many ways. I greatly appreciate all of you.
Sincerely,
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:11:38 -0500
Hi,
Here are the details about the festival:
The Winter Festival runs from Thurs-Sat, Jan 21-23, starting each night at 7:30 pm at Turtle Lane Playhouse, Melrose Street, Auburndale (Newton), MA (near the Newton Mariott). All plays are performed the 3 nights. Tech rehearsals are January 19 and 20th. There is a stage manager, lighting person and audio person. These are the people who usually do productions at Turtle Lane. There will be full sound, with sound cues and music, if provided by the playwright/directors.
I think they may have actors lined up already for the play, but they may need assistance with that. And for those of you who are actors there may also be opportunities whether in my play or in others in the festival.
Anyone interested in this directing opp or in inquiring about open roles should contact Regina Ramsey as soon as possible at elram0416@comcast.net (my message is addressed to her). She can also answer any questions or respond to any concerns, as well as provide you a copy of the script to read.
Hi!
Please share this notice with women authors you know to get the word out about SWAN!
SWAN (Support Women Artists Now) DAY IS BACK. SAVE THE DATE Saturday, March 27th at the Boston Playwrights' Theatre, 949 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Time of performance 2:00-4:15 p.m. This year, I'm going to try to have a talkback session with the audience after the performance, if time permits. I also plan on handing out evaluation sheets to audience members. Feedback is important.
I will be accepting submissions of short plays (running time no longer than 10 minutes) and monologues (no longer than 5 minutes). A scene or scene(s) from a longer work can be submitted but it has to stand on it's own.
There will be no theme this year but the play must have a female antagonist or protagonist and there must be conflict. For monologues, there also should be conflict or tension of some kind going on and the speaker must be a woman. Humorous plays/monologues are encouraged.
Plays must be submitted in either Times Roman or Courier with a font size no smaller than 12 point. Samuel French submission style is preferred. Playwrights can submit only one play.
The submission must have been previously unproduced and unpublished. I want fresh material. It can and should have received a reading some place, either at the Platform, Write On, Shadow Boxing, or some other writing group.
These are readings, the level of staging is up to the playwright. We will have a stage manager and a lighting person but it's just lights up and down. There will be no audio or sound equipment. Please remember that. I also will not consider plays that require a lot of props or set pieces. Nor will I consider works that have too many actors. KEEP IT SIMPLE!!! There is no rehearsal space. Playwrights are responsible for finding their own directors and actors, as well as rehearsal space. We will run tech before the performance on Saturday morning, time to be determined.
The deadline for submissions is January 16, 2010. Please do not submit anything before January 4th, 2010. Selected playwrights will be notified by February 1, 2010.
Submissions can be sent to elram0416@comcast.net.
Happy Holidays to Everyone (and that includes the guys),
10:16 p m Wednesday 24 June '09
Who WAS it gave her the tip, Joanna wondered, carefully scraping the age-lines off her cheeks, staring into the dressing-room mirror. Was it Ted Kazanoff? "If you've got to think about a performance, spend as much time taking off your make-up as you did putting it on. Don't become yourself again until your character is completely gone." Would Ted have said that? Probably not. He was always insistent on Being the character, In the moment, REacting not Acting. Don't THINK before you Act.
Well, I blew that tonight, didn't I? And not ON stage but Backstage! Damn it, why did I listen to Meggan again, that damned air-head! "Where's my purse!" she said, "I've got to find my cell-phone in it, and it's not here!" And I was scouring the damn props-table when she ran on-stage, and of course there it was on her night-table, where it Always Is every ghoddamned night! And so I missed MY final entrance --- AGAIN!
Anita will kill me, she knew, as she re-applied a great gob of cold-cream to her forehead and grabbed up a handfull of kleenex. Or no. No, Madame La Stage Manageress just calls the show from the light-booth --- and keeps notes of every little mistake. She uses her Assistants as her hatchet-men --- and How many ASMs have we had, just since I joined the show alone? Three? Two? They're so eager to show they're ready to move up they just Love to draw blood with "notes" and leave at the drop of a hat whenever an SM slot opens anywhere. But damn it it's true! I lurched on-stage After my cue like a deer in the Leko's, and Harry gave me My line and answered with his. It was a nice cover --- you'd have to be one of those adoring idiot-fans who've seen the show half a dozen times to spot it. But Anita did, I'm sure, and noted it down with a pen-full of poison.
Meggan is Always dithering about her props, and they're Always right where they should be. The ASMs see to that; why can't she trust them? Why can't she trust Herself??
And why do I have to drop concentration to help her, when it's my own damn entrances I ought to be worried about. Joanna scrubbed at her eyes, which had spoiled her bows leaking tears of shame and anger, staining her cheeks, and damnit her costume, with mascara. This is the second --- no by Ghod the Third time something's thrown me off before that same damn entrance. Last time was Months ago, but it happened my first week in the show. I remember everyone was So supportive of the silly Newby: "We've All had a lapse or three over the years dear. Let us tell a few War-Stories on ourselves. You'll be Fine once it's Routine. Relax!"
Yes, routine. They all have routines. Like Harry rolling in drunk out of his mind for two nights right after payday, and so hung next night he can hardly see. Never loses a line though --- but so wooden it's like talking to a brick wall all night. And so sheepishly apologetic to everyone the rest of the week it's embarrassing even to talk to him. So he talks about A A, but never does anything about it, and next month Whoopsie! Off the wagon again. Routine.
We all adjust to everyone else's routines, don't we? I mean, at first I thought it was just I was the New Kid on the Block when Andre put the moves on me. Want a ride home in my Porsche? Want to stop for a little night-cap before hitting the sack? How'bout running lines at my place before the show? Need help with that zipper, gorgeous? Jeez! Come to find out he's that way with everyone in the cast --- even Meggan, who's old enough to be his Gradmother almost! Oh, I felt a little flattered at first --- I'm that insecure when it comes to men --- but "Don't shit where you eat." Who said that? Lenny Bruce? And Andre Never scores! First, he's so damn Obvious --- and I'll bet if any of us took him seriously he'd run screaming for the door.
Then there's Lori and Don, both of them leaping at every damn audition comes along, embarrassed to tell their friends they're Still in this pitiful commercial warhorse instead of doing anything Serious. They Hate the show, and the subtext in their every line is that We must be dunces or second-rate no-talents to stick with it as long as we have. Oh it's a good credit when you're young --- a few months in the longest-running show in town --- but it's not a Career, darlings, it's more a Sinecure! We're just here for the beer.
Well, maybe that's a little more realitsic than poor Myra. She's Method to the Eyelids, and always searching in herself for a new clue to her role, a new through-line to experiment with, a bit of backstory she's just discovered or found a new way to explore. It isn't Just a murder-mystery to her, there are motivations on motivations on sub-sub-subtextual nuances yet to try. It'd be a little easer to take if she wouldn't insist on talking them all to death with everyone else.
Joanna finally ran out of face. Even her ears emerged pale and pure and hiding not a fleck of obstinate greesepaint. She dabbed on a puff of powder and, before facing the outer-world, picked up her lipstick and made a mouth to smile at it with.
Of course (she sat back and contemplated her real face a moment) the true problem isn't the play --- it's trying to live with the other people in the cast! I mean, Gregory's gay, and Andre is Probably gay or would be if he'd admit it, and there are cat-fights and spats and insults and gangings-up and offense- takings and tears, and in a backstage this small it's easy to see all the invisible bloodstains on the walls. Didn't Sartre say "Hell is Other Actors!"? Or was it Hell is a Long Run? Are we all damned to stay in this show for all Eternity? What were our sins, I wonder...
Well, she sniffed, flinging on a coat and finding her Charlie-Card, if this is Hell, at least it pays Equity Minimum!
12:21 a m "Wednesday, 24 June, '09"
Spelling Bee For information call 781-871-2787
The Company
Theatre
A late review of "Harriet Jacobs" from Larry Stark
A late review of "I Am Hamlet" from Larry Stark
A review (of "Honk!") from Beverly Creasey
These Were The Months That Were
These Were The Fast-Forgotten Few
January 2010
21 jan INDULGENCES New Repertory Theatre WATERTOWN 10
24 jan HOCKEY MOM, HOCKEY DAD Stoneham Theatre 13
28 jan GATZ Part II Elevator Repair Service LOEB DRAMA CENTER 14
31 jan HALF-MARRIED f.u.d.g.e Theatre Company NEW REP BLACK BOX 18
FINALLY, A Reply:
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:51:13 -0500
From: Radio Boston radioboston@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Re-send Idea for story
Thank you for this email. I'll make sure Mark sees it when he gets back from vacation (he's off this week).
Many thanks,
Jessica Alpert
Assistant Producer
CRICKET'S NOTEBOOK
Monday, 4 January, 2010 - 9:38 p m:
"Take Back Your City!"Boston Is A CITY OF THEATER
Open Letter
Radio Boston
c/o WBUR-FM
890 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
And how many do you think there are now?
2) THE FACTORY THEATRE only seats 50, but every single week-end has been book by "fringe" theater-companies through all of 2010 already.
3) THE FOOTLIGHT CLUB in Jamaica Plain long ago lost count when after 100 years it became the oldest continually producing Theatre Building in America.
4) COMPANY ONE, the youngest "resident company" at the BCA is starting it's TENth season; WHISTLER IN THE DARK, now using The Factory, it's FIFTH; IMAGINARY BEASTS and The F.U.D.G.E. THEATRE COMPANY are a little younger.
5) THE BOSTON PLAYWRIGHTS' THEATRE only does New Plays, but they have to have Two stages there to accommodate all of them every year.
6) THE TURTLE LANE PLAYHOUSE in Newton has been doing award-winning productions of musicals in an intimate setting since 1981. The atmosphere after the shows in the bar (inches from the auditorium) is sublime.
===Anon.
( a k a larry stark)
GREAT NEWS!
NORTH SHORE MUSIC THEATRE TO REOPEN IN 2010 UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP!
Mr. Hanney is currently putting together a new business plan and management team to reopen North Shore Music Theatre in the spring/summer of 2010.
Please, check back soon for more information about the new musical season, concerts, restaurant, and the return of A CHRISTMAS CAROL.
Bill Hanney has previously purchased closed or distressed properties and successfully revived them. Those projects include Theatre By the Sea, a summer-stock house in Matunuck, R.I.; Fresh Pond Cinema in Cambridge; and Falmouth Cinema Pub.
STILL IMPORTANT
A review (of "Dreamgirls") from Sheila Barth
A minority report (on "[ title of show ]" from Beverly Creasey
A review (of "Pack of Lies") from Tony Annicone
A review (of closed-production "Harriet Jacobs") from Larry Stark
A review (of closed-production "I Am Hamlet") from Larry Stark
A review (of "Honk!" from Beverly Creasey
A review (of "Comic Potential") from Tony Annicone
A review (of "Blackbeard's Booty") Reviewed by Tony Annicone
A review (of "[ title of show ]") from Larry Stark
A review, of sorts (of "The Donkey Show") from Larry Stark
A review (of Larry Stark's novel ARTIST IN RESIDENCE) from Christine Connor
CLICK BELOW TO GET TO:
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E M E R G E N C I E S !! !! !!
From: ronny pompeo ronnypompeo@gmail.com
Sent: Sat, Jan 2, 2010 3:38 pm
Subject: NEVERMORE revisited- F.U.D.G.E Theatre
Best
Ronny Pompeo Jr.
REVIEWED below
"Comic Potential"
"The Donkey Show"
"Dreamgirls"
"Honk!"
"Pack of Lies"
" [title of show] 2"
NEW REVIEWS
And check these other review sources:
The Hub ReviewThomas Garvey
THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS by Larry Stark
AISLE SAY
TheaterNewEngland
Norm Gross Reviews
And then I saw...
TheaterMania"Dreamgirls"
a vision of show biz glamor
Reviewed by Sheila Barth
More Than Nine People Now
A Minority Report by Beverly Creasey
" [title of show] "
Reviewed by Larry Stark
"Pack of Lies"
Reviewed by Tony Annicone
"Harriet Jacobs"
Reviewed by Larry Stark
Just Ducky at Wheelock
Reviewed by Beverly Creasey
"Comic Potential"
Reviewed by Tony Annicone
"Blackbeard's Booty"
Reviewed by Tony Annicone
"The Donkey Show"
Reviewed by Larry Stark
REVIEWS OF
Larry Stark's novel
"ARTIST IS RESIDENCE"
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 2009 11:05:08 -0500
From: Christine Connor
Subject: Your book
Just finished your book. It is amazing how the world has changed since
'82! Not just typewriters/computers but the liaison between professor
and nineteen year old, which once would scarcely raise an eyebrow, no
longer!
.
Thanks for the copy and keep writing!
C
A "Left Coast of Mass." Roundup
from
Berkshire Fine Arts"Ongoing Productions"
THE GREENROOM
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See the Trailer!
"Stark Review: The Heart of Boston Theater."
Is On The Internet in YOU TUBE! click to see
So are photos of people being interviewed!
CRICKET'S NOTEBOOK
THE GREENROOM
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LARRY STARK'S ADDRESS IS:
125 Amory Street #501
Roxbury MA 02119-1075
(And, as Azdak says in CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE:
"I Accept!")
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LARRY STARK REPLIES
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It Was The Best of Times...
It Was....
December 19, 2009
David Costa
From: Debra Wiess djwiess@msn.com
Subject: URGENT Call for Director !! Please Pass the Salt at Turtle Lane Playhouse Newton
I just found out that my short play PLEASE PASS THE SALT, which was selected to be presented in the Teen Play Winter Festival at Turtle Lane Playhouse this Jan, needs a director. I wanted to see if you might be interested or know of someone who would be able to take on the directing reins of this 4-character comedy that makes fun of our high-tech society now so dominated by the presence of cell phones and other conveniences that are to improve quality of life. The 10-min play is about a "typical" nuclear family (ie. father, mother, and teen-aged son and daughter) at dinner time. It is an award-winning play that has gotten a number of productions around the country. It is a fun piece that should pose some nice challenges tho there are minimal props and simple set up.
Thanks for your help!!
Happy Holidays!!
Debbie
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:48:30 -0500
From: Debra Wiess djwiess@msn.com
Subject: Call for submissions of short pieces by Boston-area Female Authors -
March Madness SWAN Day 2010!!!
Hot off the press attached below is the call for submissions for the 2010 SWAN Day Boston! Regina Ramsey is producing the event for 2010 and I am lending her a hand. All the details are outlined in her announcement notice. Submissions of short plays/scenes/monologues should be sent to her email address, noted in her message. She is asking that submissions be sent after Jan 4 and by the Jan 16 deadline. Only ONE submission per author. This year Regina is going to try to have a short talkback for authors after the readings with a party of light refreshments capping off the afternoon.
Best,
Debbie
Dear Female Authors (sorry guys!)
Regina
I wrote a book!
Yes I, Larry Stark, wrote a book* --- a little novel called
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
And you can BUY copies of that book
--- but Only At:
THE HARVARD BOOK STORE
1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Harvard Square, Cambridge
1(617) 661-1515
What you do is go to the bookstore, pay them $20.00, and then........
Watch while their "expresso-books machine"
Prints a copy before your astonished eyes in only four minutes!
(Honest!)
It will be a "perfect-bound" paperback
slightly warm to the touch
and will fit in your pocket.
You can talk to your friends about it
You can talk to MY friends about it!
Be The First On Your Block To.....
[To write Your Own REVIEW of his "new" book!]
THE FOREVER PLAY
larry@theatermirror.com
MERE OPINIONS
IDEAS FOR DISCUSSION
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February 10-14
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(781) 871-2787 (ARTS)
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February 10-14
Tony Award Winner!
30 Accord Park Dr.
Norwell, MA 02061
(781) 871-2787 (ARTS)
The Performance LAB
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" By promoting our work alongside other local artists and performers, we transform an audience into a community. Connecting the individual to the crowd around is good for society and good for the soul. "
Piano and Musical Direction … Janette Mason
Bass … Kendell Eddy
Drums … Austin McMann
Singer-comedienne Lea DeLaria brought her jazz and hilarity to the BCA’s Deane Hall for three evenings, kicking off the Huntington’s new cabaret series, “Upstairs at the Calderwood” --- the Old Girl, of all companies, is out to prove to Beantowners that, yes, there is life at an hour when most local theatergoers head home after applauding a curtain call and how wise, good and clever to begin with Ms. DeLaria who makes me laugh heartily as no one else can, onstage or off, and whose every note of scat is a well-hammered nail on the musical line. Twice have I seen Ms. DeLaria perform in Provincetown where she alternated in-your-face monologues with clear, sparkling vocals --- “Chords of steel!” she proclaimed to me, afterwards --- but Boston is not Provincetown and I wondered how this bull(dyke) would fare in our china shop. Happily, Ms. DeLaria is so layered an artist that, like a starfish cut in half, she could regenerate herself into a jolly big sister that the whole family could love, with just enough naughtiness to make her audience squirm with delight (i.e. walking amongst the women, with mistletoe, while singing “Christmas Kisses”) --- in Provincetown, Ms. DeLaria is a comedienne who sings; here, she was a singer who made us laugh which is comforting to know for not only will Boston always be Boston but the political winds are shifting to more hopeful, optimistic ones and Ms. Delaria, like many a stand-up comic, may find herself passing from Old Comedy to New (a year from now, who would want to be reminded of our outgoing President?). But even a Lea-Lite is better than no Lea, at all, and may Ms. DeLaria always find time for Boston within her busy-busy schedule and, of course, there is always Provincetown in the summer should you want to experience her in full, unleashed merriment.
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