Theater

Play by Play: April 24, 2009

Plays from A to Z

By CAROLYN CLAY | April 22, 2009

OPENING

THE BACCHAE | Whistler in the Dark theater company takes on Euripides's tragedy, in which a celebration of the wine god gets way out of hand. Meg Taintor directs a translation by Northeastern professor Francis Blessington. | Rehearsal Hall A, Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St, Boston | 617.933.8600 | May 1-17 | Curtain 7:30 pm Wed-Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 3 + 8 pm Sat | 3 pm Sun | $25; $15 students; two for one StageSource members Wed

BARE | The MIT Musical Guild takes on this show with book by Jon Hartmere and Damon Intrabartolo, music by Intrabartolo, and lyrics by Hartmere that's set in a Catholic boarding school and focuses on romantic entanglements, both gay and straight, of a group of friends during their senior year. | Kresge Little Theater, 48 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 617.253.6294 | April 25–May 2 | Curtain 8 pm Thurs-Sat | 2 pm Sun | $12; discounts students, seniors

BUNBURY: A SERIOUS PLAY FOR TRIVIAL PEOPLE | Tom Jacobson's "seriously clever metatheatrical comedy" goes all Stoppard on us by bringing minor (or imaginary) characters from classic drama to the forefront. "Tired of being swept to the sidelines of drama, Bunbury, Algernon's off-stage friend from The Importance of Being Earnest, and Rosaline, Romeo's off-stage first love, are determined to make an impact." Barlow Adamson and John Edward O'Brien are at the helm of this Mill 6 Collaborative production. | Factory Theater, 791 Tremont St, Boston | 866.811.4111 | May 1-17 | Curtain 8 pm Thurs-Sat | 3 pm Sun [no May 3] | $17 in advance; $20 at the door

CLIMACTS UNDER A BIG TOP! | The Theater Offensive celebrates its 20th anniversary by taking over the Big Apple Circus for the Boston purveyor of queer theater's annual benefit gala. The event will be held under the Big Top on City Hall Plaza, and the Ringmaster for the evening is Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls. With Palmer and TTO's earring-bedecked Abe Rybeck on hand, you can expect a circus, though it may not be suitable for kids. Also on the roster: exotic food and beverages, go-go boys and girls, a performance by acrobatic juggling duo the LaSalle Brothers, a tightwire act by Sarah Schwartz, and a live auction flogging such treats as a vacation on Mykonos and a garden party with Bob and Joan Parker. | Big Apple Circus Big Top, City Hall Plaza, Boston | 866.811.4111 | April 28 | Curtain 7:30 pm Tues | $175

JERRY SPRINGER: THE OPERA | Artistic director Paul Daigneault is at the helm of this SpeakEasy Stage Company area premiere of the 2004 Olivier Award-winning London sensation, a "fascinating mix of high art and low culture" featuring "some unusual characters, each desperate for their 'Jerry Springer' moment." | Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St, Boston | 617.933.8600 | May 1-30 | Curtain 7:30 pm Tues [May 26] | 7:30 pm Wed-Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 4 + 8 pm Sat | 3 pm Sun | $51-$54; $46-$49 students, seniors; $30 gallery seats; $14 student rush

THE LADY'S NOT FOR BURNING | Vokes Players take on English playwright Christopher Fry's 1948 verse drama set in the Middle Ages but reflective of post-WW2 angst. Chris Cardoni directs the work, which centers on a world-weary soldier who wants to die and a witch who doesn't think that's a good idea. | Beatrice Herford's Vokes Theatre, Rte 20, Wayland | 508.358.4034 | April 30–May 16 | Curtain 8 pm Thurs-Fri | 2 pm [no May 2] + 8 pm Sat | $15-$18

NINE | Longwood Players take on the 1982 Tony Award-winning musical with book by Arthur Kopit and music and lyrics by Maury Yeston. It's based on the Fellini film 8½, in which a famous film director is besieged by the women in his life. Kevin Mark Kline directs. | Cambridge Family YMCA Theatre, 820 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 800.595.4849 | April 24–May 2 | Curtain 8 pm Thurs-Fri | 2 pm [May 2] + 8 pm Sat | $16-$25; $3 discount students, seniors

NUNSENSE | All in the Family vet Sally Struthers stars as Mother Superior in this 25th-anniversary tour of Dan Goggin's musical revue starring the Little Sisters of Hoboken. Goggin directs the production, which is presented by Reagle Players. | Robinson Theatre, 617 Lexington St, Waltham | 781.891.5600 | April 24-26 | Curtain 7:30 pm Fri | 2 + 7 pm Sat | 2 pm Sun | $35-$49; $1 discount seniors; youth 5-18 $10 with each paid adult ticket

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Topics: Theater , Entertainment, Science and Technology, Boston Conservatory, More

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ARTICLES BY CAROLYN CLAY

TWIN PEAKS | August 12, 2009
The bay of Ephesus laps Collins Avenue in Commonwealth Shakespeare Company's Latin-tinged, frisky if over-frenetic The Comedy of Errors (at the Parkman Bandstand on Boston Common through August 16). It is not across sands of subtlety but through a spray of salsa that the perpetrators of this 1930s-South-Beach-set riff on Shakespeare's early comedy pratfall.

SEASONS' GREETINGS | August 04, 2009
It may not be December 1963, but oh what a night is Jersey Boys (at the Shubert Theatre through September 26) for boomers wishing to enjoy the soundtrack of their youth set against a mix of Forever Plaid and GoodFellas .

HARE BELLES | July 28, 2009
With apologies to Winston Churchill, The Breath of Life is a cliché wrapped in an enigma — or two. On the face of it, award-winning British writer David Hare's ruthless yet sentimental two-hander (at Gloucester Stage through August 2) is a standard confrontation between a betrayed wife and her husband's long-time mistress.

QUAKE AND SHAKE | July 22, 2009
A tenderhearted yarn spinner tells an anxious little girl a story about a talking bear hawking honey. A nerdy young debt collector comes home to find a six-foot amphibian bent on recruiting him to save Tokyo from a natural disaster. Both scenarios emanate from the brain of award-winning Japanese writer Haruki Murakami.

VIOLET HOUR | June 23, 2009
The color purple describes both kids' icon Barney and a bruise. And sure enough, both child-friendly uplift and florid abrasion are wound into the sprawling, heartfelt musical based on Alice Walker's Pulitzer-winning 1982 novel about a beaten-down young black woman learning to value herself over the course of 40 years in the first half of the 20th century.

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