Nancy Grossman News

After two previous appearances with the Celebrity Series of Boston in 2003 and 2011, the long overdue return of Patti LuPone to the stage at Symphony Hall on Tuesday night was an epic performance worth the wait. Enthusiastic entrance applause greeted Joseph Thalken (music direction and arrangements) and Brad Phillips (strings), but rose to Richter scale magnitude when Patti strode out.

It would take more than the fingers on two hands to count all of the holiday entertainment offerings in the Greater Boston area. But few can compete with Revels for staying power, now presenting its 53rd annual December production, Midwinter Revels: The Feast of Fools - A Medieval Celebration of the Solstice at Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre.

Despite its somewhat whimsical title, playwright Brenda Withers has crafted a taut story that is more dramatic cat-and-mouse game than comedic Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? Director Rebecca Bradshaw’s previous experience mounting the play at the Kitchen Theatre Company with this same trio of actors shows in their seamless chemistry and her nuanced pacing of the action.

Director Rosalind Bevan skillfully blends all the ingredients in this Boston premiere of Zora Howard’s 2021 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Drama.

Awards were presented last night to 34 outstanding actors, directors, designers, choreographers, musicians, and 5 visiting productions by the Boston Theater Critics Association (BTCA) at the 40th Anniversary Elliot Norton Awards ceremony, held at the Huntington Theatre in Boston.

Veteran Boston actor Bobbie Steinbach will receive the Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence at the 40th annual Elliot Norton Awards, presented by the Boston Theater Critics Association (BTCA) on May 8 at the Huntington Theatre.

What did our critic think of REVIEW: TORCH SONG at Moonbox Productions?

Have there ever been such devoted sisters as the four March girls, birthed by Louisa May Alcott in her postbellum semi-autobiographical novel LITTLE WOMEN? Director Ilyse Robbins shows her abiding affection for the story with her devotion to its heart and soul on display in the production of the 2005 Broadway Musical at Greater Boston Stage Company.

If you have yet to reach your fright limit for the Halloween season, you still have two chances to experience chills of the dramatic variety at THT Rep at the BrickBox Theater in Worcester. Reprising the production she created for small, socially-distanced audiences of 20 in the early days of the pandemic, Artistic Director Livy Scanlon is performing THE EDGAR ALLAN POE DOUBLEHEADER in front of 290 stadium-style seats.

Two hundred years after Washington Irving introduced the little hamlet of Sleepy Hollow and its superstitious denizens to the canon of American literature, the legend remains among the most enduring of stories that capture the imagination of adults and children alike, inspire questions about the supernatural realm, and scare the bejesus out of its audience.

JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE was the first Wilson play produced at the Huntington in 1986, the beginning of a 19-year relationship that saw all ten of his American Century Cycle plays chronicling the African American experience in the 20th century performed on the local stage.

The second and final production of Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston’s 2022 season is Stephen Schwartz’s PIPPIN, originally produced on the Broadway stage in 1972 with direction and choreography by Bob Fosse, and revived/reimagined in 2013 by Diane Paulus at the American Repertory Theater before going to Broadway. Undaunted by following in those two very large sets of footsteps, RMT Artistic Director Rachel Bertone forges her own path to stage a version that leads with an enlarged heart and a healthy helping of fun and whimsy.

What did our critic think of WEST SIDE STORY at Reagle Music Theatre Of Greater Boston: There's a new spring in the step of Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston in Waltham. Award-winning director and choreographer Rachel Bertone takes over as Artistic Director and opens the season with WEST SIDE STORY, with Dan Rodriguez by her side as music director.

Awards were announced tonight for more than two dozen outstanding actors, directors, designers, ensembles and productions by the Boston Theater Critics Association at The 39th Elliot Norton Awards. 

More than 60 nominations in over two dozen categories of outstanding actors, directors, designers, choreographers, musicians, and productions were announced today by the Boston Theater Critics Association (BTCA) for the 39th Elliot Norton Awards.

The Jewish Museum will present New York: 1962-1964 , an exhibition that explores a pivotal three-year period in the history of art and culture in New York City, examining how artists living and working in New York responded to their rapidly changing world.

THE CONJURORS' CLUB is an immersive virtual experience in which the audience gets to see their fellow patrons on the zoom screen, try their hand at sleight of hand, and have a close-up view of the tricks and illusions as the magicians ply their trade live. It may be the best opportunity you could ever have to “catch” how they do it, but here’s the one spoiler in my review: don’t count on it.

Fresh on the heels of a solid showing at the virtual 38th Annual Elliot Norton Awards, where the Boston Theater Critics Association recognized their achievements during the abbreviated 2019-2020 season with ten nominations and four wins, the Arlekin Players Theatre boldly launches a new production in cyberspace. STATE VS NATASHA BANINA is a live, interactive theater art experiment which manages to engage the audience as a collective and unified body, thanks to creative direction by Igor Golyak and Darya Denisova's uncanny portrayal of the adolescent title character.

Among tonight's winners was the pre-Broadway engagement of Six the Musical. which took home Outstanding Visiting Production for its run at ART, while David Byrne's American Utopia was honored with Best Visiting Performance, Musical.

Two dozen nominations of outstanding actors, directors, designers and ensembles were announced today by The Boston Theater Critics Association (BTCA) for the 38th Annual Elliot Norton Awards.