Theatre

Updated July 23, 2010

Cirque du Soleil  newest production OVO will perform Now- Aug 27 under the blue-and-yellow Grand Chapiteau (Big Top) at Boston's Fan Pier
OVO is a headlong rush into a colorful ecosystem teeming with life, where insects work, eat, crawl, flutter, play, fight and look for love in a non-stop riot of energy and movement. The insects' home is a world of biodiversity and beauty filled with noisy action and moments of quiet emotion.

Trying
Gloucester Stage Company July 29 - August 8
Winner of the prestigious Jefferson Award for Best New Play, 2004.  A cross-generational tour de force ensues when Sarah, a young secretary from the Canadian prairie, finds herself working for the aging Francis Biddle , Attorney General during World War II and the primary American judge on the postwar Nuremberg Trials. This intimate and inspiring story, based on the playwright's own experience, has been acclaimed by audiences and critics in the United States and Canada.

"The Music Man"  at Waltham's Reagle Music Theatre  Now - July 25

Meredith Wilson's award-winning audience favorite makes a triumphant return to the Reagle stage this summer along with television personality Scott Wahle as Harold Hill and Broadway leading lady Sarah Pfisterer as Marian Paroo.  Traveling salesman and all around con-man Harold Hill finds himself in River City, Iowa trying to earn his fortune selling instruments and uniforms for a Boy's band.  His plan is to run away with the money before the townspeople find out that Harold's not a professor of music.  All of Professor Hill's plans are moving along smoothly until he falls in love with the local librarian and piano teacher, Marian Paroo. 

"Gypsy" at North Shore Music Theatre, Beverly, MA  Now - July 25

Julie Styne's classic musical fable about the definitive stage mother, Momma Rose, who pushes her two childfren into show business at any cost, to fulfill the dream of stardom she never achieved herself. Gypsy is a story of ambition, surpressed dreams, and sacrafice. The score is jam-packed with iconic songs like: "Let Me Entertain You", "Everythings Coming Up Roses", and "Rose's Turn". Vicky Lewis starring as Gypsy. 

"Always...Patsy Cline" at the Stoneham Theatre  July 8-25     Hanover Theatre, Worcester July 29-31

Based on a true story about the legendary country singer's friendship with a fan from Houston named Louise Seger, this rollicking musical tribute includes many of Patsy's unforgettable hits such as "Crazy," "I Fall to Pieces," "Sweet Dreams" and "Walking After Midnight."

"The Hound of the Baskervilles" at the Central Square Theatre  July 22 - August 22

The game is afoot! Master sleuth Sherlock Holmes and trusty Dr. Watson unlock the mystery of The Hound of the Baskervilles this summer at Central Square Theatre. Featuring three actors taking on more than a dozen roles, this laugh-out-loud farce by Steven Canny and John Nicholson was a hit in both London and Lenox (Shakespeare & Co.) Directed by American Repertory Theatre veteran Thomas Derrah.

Hairspray at The Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston - Robinson Theatre, 617 Lexington Street in Waltham.  8 performances only!  August 12-22

Reagle Music Theatre continues its 42nd consecutive season with Hairspray! with Broadway's Marissa Perry re creating her role  as Tracy Turnblad . A winner of 8 Tony Awards, including Best Musical,  the show is set in the city of Baltimore in 1962 in the time of John F. Kennedy’s presidency.
It is the tale of that chubby integrationist Tracy Turnblad and her dreams of dancing her way to the top on the local Corny Collins Show (a “Dick Clark-Bandstand” clone!), kissing the boy of her dancing dreams and changing the world while she is at it!  All of this, of course, is achieved without missing a beat or mussing her hair.
Joining busy Tracy as she transforms the world is her shy and plus sized Mom, Edna, portrayed by an actor doing a grand drag turn in the role.  Edna rises like the phoenix from the Baltimore doldrums in a delightful transformation from frump to fashionista!  Paris Hilton move over!   Laughter abounds as this unusual but heartwarming duo takes audiences on a roller coaster ride through the social mores of the sixties.  And all of it is set to a driving and insistent beat, inspiring energetic and memorable song-and-dance moments.  Many have called Hairspray one of the best musicals of the past decade.
In Hairspray - the 60’s milieu reigns with glimpses of beehive hairdos, backstage Bandstand antics, dance crazed TV show personalities, racial integration, raging teen hormones and lots of nostalgia!  It’s a feel-good trip back in time exploring where we have been and where we are going - all packaged neatly in a fulsome song-and-dance fest.   
 

Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant at the Oberon in Cambridge
Midsummer Sundays: July 11, 18, 25 and August 1
Featuring founding cast member of The Donkey Show Rachel Murdy!

OBERON will present Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant for Midsummer Sundays beginning July 11, 2010.
Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant (a Time Out New York favorite and Village Voice Choice) is hailed as “devilish dinner theatre” by The New York Daily News, mixing the ingredients of fine food, wine, and ensemble theater together.  The audience follows the story of the company’s aging diva, Muffin Character Hanshake, played by Rachel Murdy, who created the roles of Mr. Oberon and Mia in The Donkey Show in New York.

Equally celebrated by New York City’s theater and local food community, Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant comes to Cambridge to transform the club theater space OBERON into a lush banquet hall.  Every Sunday night from July 11 to August 1, eighty guests are treated to a five-course, locally-sourced, seasonal dining experience, with food carefully prepared by the performers themselves and served with charismatic flourish by self-proclaimed geniuses of the avant-garde theater.

Sundays: July 11, 18, 25, and August 1 at 6:30PM (6PM doors)
OBERON, 2 Arrow Street at Mass. Ave in Harvard Square
Advance Tickets: $65 includes meal and complimentary table wine
For info and tickets visit www.cluboberon.com
For complete seasonal menu visit: www.avantgarderestaurant.com.Mi

"The Donkey Show" at American Repertory,  - Extended through  summer.
From its six-year run in New York City to a world tour from London to Seoul, the celebrated smash hit The Donkey Show now takes Boston by storm, bringing the ultimate disco experience – a crazy circus of mirror balls and feathered divas, of roller skaters and hustle queens. Come party on the dance floor to all the 70s disco hits you know by heart as the show unfolds around you. The Donkey Show tells the story of A Midsummer Night’s Dream through the great 70s anthems, including “We are Family,” “I Love the Nightlife,” “Car Wash,” “Ring My Bell,” and “Last Dance.” The enchanted forest of Shakespeare’s classic comedy becomes the glittered world of retro disco as the lovers escape from their real lives to experience a night of dream, abandon, and fantasy. Performances Friday and Saturday. at the Oberon, 2 Arrow St Cambridge.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.AmericanRepertoryTheater.org, by phone at 617-547-8300, or in person at the A.R.T. box office.

More Summer Theatre upcoming:

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat North Shore Music Theatre  Beverly Aug 3- 8
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's entertaining family musical retelling of the biblical story of Joseph, his devoted father, his jealous brothers, and his incredible series of adventures. Filled with spectacular costumes and high energy dance numbers, the story is told through a variety of musical styles - everything from country to calypso to rock'n'roll.

Many a prominent Boston actor heads up Route 128 every summer to the Gloucester Stage Company, and this year is no exception. Alan Ayckbourn’s dinner party comedy “Table Manners” features Jennie Israel and Richard Snee (June 17 to July 3), and later you can check out Oscar Wilde’s “An Ideal Husband” as directed by prominent local actress Karen MacDonald (Aug. 12-29).

 The Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, and the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

The Berkshire Theatre Festival presents classics (“Macbeth,” Albee’s “A Delicate Balance”) as well as newer works.

Williamstown Theatre Festival “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” (June 30 to July 11 “Our Town” (July 28 to Aug. 8).

Shakespeare & Company’s offerings are both of the Bard (“Richard III,” “The Winter’s Tale”) and the modern, including world-premiere “The Taster” starring Tina Packer (July 29 to Sept. 4).

Long-Running Hits

"Shear Madness"

Boston's and the country's longest-running non-musical has been playing to full houses ever since it opened in 1980. A murder mystery set in a unisex hair salon, it is a unique theatrical experience. It started in Boston and has played all over the world, including Budapest, Rome, and Mexico City. The audience gets involved in this interactive whodunit. The actors keep it fresh and topical and in the cozy atmosphere of the Charles Playhouse, it makes for a fun, lighthearted evening's entertainment. Through the years, it has developed a cult-like following, and many have seen it numerous times. The ending changes depending on the audience. In honor of its 20th anniversary here in Boston, there will be special fundraising activities to benefit Rosie's Place in its efforts to create a Wellness Center at its South End facility.

Tuesday - Friday 8 p.m.
Saturday 6:30 and 9:30 p.m.
Sunday 3 and 7 p.m.
Tickets: (617) 426-5225
Charles Playhouse, Warrenton Street, Boston

"Blue Man Group"

Upstairs at the Charles, this is another long-run hit that takes theatre to another level. It's a happening . . . ninety minutes of non-verbal mayhem. Actors painted blue from head to toe play drums, mime and most of all amuse. Their look at life is totally off the wall. The ultimate "theatre of the absurd." A must-see-to-believe event.

Tues.-Thurs. 8 p.m.
Fri-Sat 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Sun at 4 p.m.
Tickets: $35 and $45. (617) 426-6912
Upstairs at the Charles Playhouse, 74 Warrenton St., Boston