Boston Theater Reviews

Review: Central Square Theater and Front Porch Arts Collective's NEXT TO NORMAL is Heart-Rending and Hopeful
by R. Scott Reedy - June 10, 2024

What did our critic think of NEXT TO NORMAL at Central Square Theater?...

Review: Sullivan Rep's Strong Cast Shines in Sondheim's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
by R. Scott Reedy - June 04, 2024

Late in the second act of “A Little Night Music,” the Stephen Sondheim musical about love – and the amorous, sometimes adulterous, always complicated entanglements that accompany it – the opening lines of the plaintive ballad “Send in the Clowns” ask, “Isn’t it bliss? Don’t you approve?” When it com...

Review: Take Yourself Out to to the Huntington to See a Crackerjack TONI STONE
by R. Scott Reedy - May 28, 2024

It’s baseball season in a baseball town, Red Sox caps are sprouting like spring flowers, and the Huntington is getting in on the act, too, with a crackerjack production of “Toni Stone,” a play about the first woman to play professional baseball on a men’s team, which will run through June 16 at the ...

Review: 4000 MILES at Berkshire Theatre Group
by Marc Savitt - May 20, 2024

The production is well paced, charming, often funny, and yet another example of the fine, high quality theatre Berkshire audiences are fortunate to have available on a consistent basis....

Review: Actors' Shakespeare Project breathes new life into ROMEO AND JULIET
by R. Scott Reedy - May 19, 2024

What did our critic think of ROMEO AND JULIET at Roberts Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion At Boston Center For The Arts?...

Review: Opening Night at Pops Showcases George Gershwin, Harry Connick, Jr., and More
by R. Scott Reedy - May 15, 2024

There were three great pianists on the program when the Boston Pops recently opened its 138th season at Symphony Hall....

Review: JERSEY BOYS Works Its Way Back to Beverly
by R. Scott Reedy - May 14, 2024

What did our critic think of JERSEY BOYS at North Shore Music Theatre?...

Review: Leslie Odom, Jr. Delivers Wonderful Blend of Standards, Show-Tunes and New Music at Emerson Colonial Theatre
by R. Scott Reedy - May 12, 2024

What did our critic think of AN EVENING WITH LESLIE ODOM, JR. at Emerson Colonial Theatre?...

Review: Humor and heartache abound in SpeakEasy Stage and Front Porch Arts Collective co-production of A STRANGE LOOP
by R. Scott Reedy - May 08, 2024

Between its 2019 off-Broadway run, 2021 Washington, D.C., staging, and 2022–2023 Broadway engagement at the Lyceum Theatre, the musical “A Strange Loop” – with music, lyrics, and book by Michael R. Jackson – has won a much-deserved 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2022 Tony Awards for Best Musi...

Review: CLUE: A NEW COMEDY brings full out fun to Emerson Colonial Theatre
by R. Scott Reedy - May 02, 2024

What did our critic think of CLUE: A NEW COMEDY at Emerson Colonial Theatre?...

Review: Lyric Stage Company's THE DROWSY CHAPERONE is an Irresistible Delight
by R. Scott Reedy - April 22, 2024

Under Larry Sousa’s wonderfully imaginative direction and with his choreography, a 16-person company of some of Boston’s brightest, most versatile performers is bringing the Canadian musical, with music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Gregg Morrison and book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar, to dazzlin...

Review: Gender-Swapped COMPANY Cleverly Reimagines Sondheim Show
by R. Scott Reedy - April 08, 2024

More than 50 years after its original Broadway production, which had a Boston tryout at the Shubert Theatre, the Stephen Sondheim musical Company, with book by George Furth, had its third revival in 2021, in a sprightly, cleverly reimagined, gender-swapped production that won five Tony Awards includ...

Review: ANTHONY RAPP'S WITHOUT YOU Looks at the Joy and Sadness in RENT Star's Life
by R. Scott Reedy - April 06, 2024

What did our critic think of ANTHONY RAPP'S WITHOUT YOU at Calderwood Pavilion At Boston Center For The Arts?...

Review: Patti LuPone Splendidly Sings of A LIFE IN NOTES
by R. Scott Reedy - April 03, 2024

In the past few years, Patti LuPone has resigned from Actor’s Equity Association and suspended her legendary Broadway career, but as she proved with her Celebrity Series of Boston performance at Symphony Hall on April 2, the three-time Tony Award winner can still command a concert stage....

Review: ALAN CUMMING IS NOT ACTING HIS AGE delights Sanders Theatre audience
by R. Scott Reedy - March 27, 2024

What did our critic think of ALAN CUMMING IS NOT ACTING HIS AGE at Sanders Theatre? In his eponymous show Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age, the performer definitely lives up to the title....

Review: SpeakEasy Stage Company presents a deeply moving COST OF LIVING
by R. Scott Reedy - March 18, 2024

What did our critic think of COST OF LIVING at Roberts Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion At Boston Center For The Arts?...

Review: The Huntington's JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN Takes Fresh Look at Classic Play
by R. Scott Reedy - March 09, 2024

What did our critic think of JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN at The Huntington?...

Review: The Lyric Stage Company Of Boston Presents A First-Rate Production of THIRST
by R. Scott Reedy - March 04, 2024

What did our critic think of THIRST at The Lyric Stage Company Of Boston?...

Review: Annette Miller Triumphs Again in GOLDA'S BALCONY
by R. Scott Reedy - March 01, 2024

What did our critic think of GOLDA'S BALCONY at Shakespeare & Company? Golda Meir – Israel’s first, and so far only, female prime minister – was seen by some as the straight-talking grandmother of the Jewish people. In “Golda’s Balcony,” however, Tony Award-winning playwright William Gibson (1914–20...

Review: Compelling transitions abound in A.R.T.'s BECOMING A MAN
by R. Scott Reedy - March 01, 2024

What did our critic think of BECOMING A MAN at Loeb Drama Center?...

Review: 10X10 NEW PLAY FESTIVAL at Barrington Stage Company
by Marc Savitt - February 21, 2024

Many of the pieces provide laughs, some perspective. There is a bit of song, a bit of dance, absolutely no seltzer down any pants. Overall, the 10X10 NEW PLAY FESTIVAL offers a welcomed appetizer for the upcoming season in which BSC celebrates its 30th anniversary of bringing award winning theatre t...

Review: Boston Lyric Opera's THE ANONYMOUS LOVER is a Joyous Delight
by R. Scott Reedy - February 18, 2024

What did our critic think of THE ANONYMOUS LOVER at Boston Lyric Opera?...

Review: ALL THINGS EQUAL: THE LIFE & TRIALS OF RUTH BADER GINSBURG does justice to its subject at Emerson Colonial Theatre
by R. Scott Reedy - February 11, 2024

What did our critic think of ALL THINGS EQUAL: THE LIFE & TRIALS OF RUTH BADER GINSBURG at Emerson Colonial Theatre?...

Review: Renée Fleming Dazzles with VOICE OF NATURE: THE ANTHROPOCENE at Symphony Hall
by R. Scott Reedy - February 08, 2024

What did our critic think of VOICE OF NATURE: THE ANTHROPOCENE at Symphony Hall? With her sold-out Celebrity Series of Boston performance this past Sunday at Symphony Hall, Renée Fleming offered a splendid reminder, although none is needed, of why she is widely considered to be the preeminent Americ...

Review: SpeakEasy Stage Company presents compelling A CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
by R. Scott Reedy - February 05, 2024

What did our critic think of A CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD at SpeakEasy Stage Company?...