Boston Lyric Opera has been pushing the excitement factor for their new production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for quite some time. I totally bought into it and have been holding my breath for the show that was to come. Not only did  BLO have their regular outreach programs at the Library and MFA, but they did something extraordinary for the public in anticipation of the premiere event. Working with Opera America, an organization that educates, promotes and works with the opera community, they created a 4 session online class for people to learn more about the background of the show, production and music. It was a great way for the company to get recognition in the outer opera world and to drum up excitement.

This year’s productions from BLO have consistently blown me away with their musicianship. This show was par for the course. David Angus was welcomed back to the podium as the official BLO music director and he had a superb ensemble to work with. The instrumentalists were flawless and created the mood Britten wrote beautifully for this Dream. I was very impressed with them as well as the singing, but, the ensemble of voices had very unclear diction that made me rely on the monitors flanking the stage to understand the words, which I consider shameful for a production sung in English.

The visual realm created by Stage Director, Tazewell Thompson left me feeling deceived. It was an unimagined, painstaking simple set that did not help create a mood, feeling of space or place in time. Moons of different sizes, shapes, colors and degrees of fullness adorned the height of the stage and were constantly changing which left me confused as the entire show traditionally takes place throughout one day. The lighting of Robert Wierzel was well done in the space, though. Inversely, the costumes of Kaye Voyce were tragically unfitted and amateur looking. The whole production seemed very amateur and I’m shocked that it was allowed to move forward without a crisp, finished and high end look to it. A metaphoric presentation combined with an already complex show is the wrong direction to take. Furthermore, the pacing of the show was extremely slow, to the point where my companion snoozed through the first act!

Despite my displeasure at the chorus’ lack of diction, several singers managed to catch my ear. Heather Johnson’s Hermia stole my heart. Her voice rang through the theater and her face and eyes had a consistent sparkle that stole my attention whenever she was on stage. John Gaston as Oberon was lovely as well. His countertenor voice rang crisp and cleanly, though a little soft at times. Chad A. Johnson as Lysander was very pretty to look at, but seemed a little unrehearsed as one could see on his face when he made a mistake in the music. Helena, portrayed by Susanna Phillips, seemed a little uncomfortable on stage, but paired with such an ill fitting and poorly colored dress, I can’t blame her. In the end, my favorites were Andrew Shore as Bottom – his acting and singing combined was consistent, happy and energetic and opposite him, Nadine Sierra’s Tytania was breathtakingly beautiful and accurate. The children’s chorus of fairies was charming, but I can’t stress diction enough in a professional production. I’ve saved Puck, Karim Sulayman, for last. He was entertaining to watch, was dressed the best of anyone on stage, and stole the show with his antics and tone. Though I found his antics a little too quick to follow at times, his performance left a smile on my face.

I cannot help but feel a little disappointed by the season that Boston Lyric Opera has offered this year. Though I know when I walk into the theater that the music is going to be exquisitely presented, my expectations of fantastic showmanship in production value have been consistently unmet. The BLO name has a high reputation in the city for having the best shows, but it seems they’ve tried to push themselves to be something they’re not this year with very contemporary presentations dressed up in avante garde costumes and sets. I have missed the sophisticated and nuanced productions I have come to look forward to from BLO, and I hope they come back to their classical roots in this upcoming season.

Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream  Photo by Erik Jacobs for the Boston Lyric Opera.

The Vokes Theatre is an intimate playhouse that evokes the feeling of an Italian Renaissance stage. Long and narrow, the play space is painfully close to the audience and the audience is painfully close to one another with barely enough room to sit without knees touching the seat in front of you.  While my companion and I joked about fire codes, I could not help but feel a little bit charmed by the classic feeling of the space, complete with its original hand-hewn gilded plaster ribbons and cherubs.  How well suited the space was for a production of Shakespeare’s arguably most famous of all tragedies, Hamlet.

The Vokes Players were a surprisingly energetic group with an excellent grasp of Elizabethan English, solid and well-developed character work, simple yet ornate costumes and a very professional set and light-scape.  It is clear to even the casual observer that this company has mastered the use of their space and the distribution of their resources in such a way that the whole production had a very polished and cohesive feel.

I was delighted by the cast as a whole, from the statuesque Christina Petrillo who embodied Queen Gertrude with sophistication and grace, to the charming Miranda Cashman who spoke not a single line but made her “voice” known in her simple and engaging devotion to her character’s “station”.   Among the genuinely wonderful cast, there were a few stand out players that brought their characters to exquisite reality;  James Wilcox’s Horatio was wonderful, he was masculine and sexy, and a perfect compliment to the brooding dane.  Sara Jones was so affecting as Ophelia in the second act’s madness scene, that is was heartbreaking to watch her.  Her haunting voice was tugging at every heart string in the audience.  Tom Rimer and James Crosby as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, respectively, were a delightful duo that had a charmingly familiar “DeVito and Schwarzenegger” vibe to them.  Rimer had a particularly nice tone and cadence for the language of the time.  There is no question as to why Woody Gaul was cast as Hamlet.  With wonderfully natural stage presence, boyish good looks and charisma, he pouted his way through the production, giving nuance and thoughtfulness to each line.  Even the terribly over-played “To Be or Not To Be” speech felt fresh and “in the moment” under his attention.  His sword fight with Evan Bernstein as Laertes was spellbinding.  I don’t think I took a breath for three solid minutes.  I couldn’t believe how enraptured I was by the fight even after braving over two and a half prior hours of dialog!  I must note, though, that the stand out performance of the night, went to Brad Walters as the Gravedigger.  A relatively small role in the play as a whole, Walters was the most memorable character.  He was bawdy and “simple” and yet somehow was able to not only speak the Shakespearean lines, but actually flavor them and breathe into them a new life that I found refreshing and delightful.  All of this excellent acting work is a tribute to Chris Cardoni’s direction on the piece.  I’m extremely impressed.

Costumes were neat and simple with classic touches, and I liked some of the more modern pieces like sweat and yoga pants layered over with the more time-appropriate ones (though I didn’t like that I could see Claudius’ sportswear label on his pant leg!) and the wigging/hair styles on the women were really lovely, many props to Elizabeth Tustian for her work there.  I also thought the set was extremely well done and expertly designed.  Chris Cardoni and Sarah Rozene should be commended for putting it together with finesse.

I do not travel outside of the metro-Boston area to see many productions (the city proper keeps me busy enough!) but I must say that I would not hesitate to attend another show by the Vokes Players.  It was worth the car trip.  Making Shakespeare feel fresh and engaging is a feat unto itself, but Vokes also made it feel fun and charming.  I loved it.  One of my favorite regional productions this year.  Bravo, cast, crew et al!

Tom Rimer (Rosencrantz), James Crosby (Guildenstern),
Christina Petrillo (Gertrude), David Berti (Claudius)
Photograph by Donnie Baillargeon

At the initiation of the action on stage, what appeared to be a ragtag group of twenty-somethings magically evolved in front of the audiences’ eyes. These kids couldn’t possibly do Billy Shakes any justice. However, as Lady Capulet refers to “This precious book of love…only lacks a cover”, I realized that I, myself, had committed the fatal error- I had judged this book by it’s cover. These were not just a bunch of kids just putting on a play; these were artists, who presented stunning, three-dimensional products of their craft. Each and every character portrayed on stage had incredible depth that is rarely seen even among professional actors. Most actors portrayed several characters, even further enriching the performance.

To commend each outstanding performance would take pages. William Schuller’s unconventional Romeo was paralleled by Megan Cooper’s inspired Juliet. Alexa Ray Corriea’s Lady Capulet and Chris Larson’s Lord Capulet are a vile, yet somehow likeable coupling, which is contrasted by Adam Lauver’s tender and side-splitting Nurse. David N. Rogers’s Tybalt is the definitive embodiment of punk rock- a young angry man that you daren’t cross. The pairing of Rebbekah Vega-Romero’s Benvolio and Nicanor Campos’s Mercutio injected incredible energy and chemistry into the piece, cultivating the rich potential of Shakespeare’s prose. Each and every member of the cast was an integral portion of the story-telling, bringing this antiquated tale to contemporary life with stunning precision. Clearly, these artists were well-guided by the direction of Sarah Gazdowicz.

Each aspect of the production complimented the story telling without upstaging it. The set was quite minimal, with lights hanging about the space and a giant movable trunk. The pivotal balcony scene was achieved by the use of ladders. Juliet appeared to be floating, as she transformed from a girl to a woman through her interchange with Romeo. In spite of the paucity of a physical set, Matt Bretton’s lighting was able to transform the space as the story dictated- from a dark alley, to a festive party, to the cavernous catacombs. The audience could practically feel the cold and smell the decay of Juliet’s ancestors. The costuming accurately reflected the punk rock inspiration- from Tybalt’s A Clockwork Orange inspired garb to Capulet’s leather and Mohawk, these costumes served their purpose to enrich the characters.

The Independent Drama Society will certainly become an artistic force in the theatre community. If Romeo and Juliet is any indication, this company will continue to entertain audiences and take them on many emotional journeys through their future work. The energy and the charisma of the company cannot be denied, and will be a must-see for any small theatre enthusiast.

Romeo and Juliet.  Photo by Bridget Toner

A cool summer night kissed with a gentle breeze, the electric hum of thousands of excited audience members, and the clash of car horns mixed with the primal sounds of crickets chirping provided the perfect backdrop to one of Boston’s most anticipated summer events, the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s Shakespeare on the Common.  This year we are treated to Othello, arguably  Shakespeare’s most beautifully written tragedy.

What a fitting homage to the great William Shakespeare that the audience is able to see his plays performed in such an authentic and historical way.  While Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre had partial covering (much like today’s football stadiums) most of the stage and many of the seats were exposed to the elements and at the mercy of the weather.  Seeing Shakespeare outside is a rare peek into the historical significance of theatre through the ages, and The Commonwealth Shakespeare Company has kept that integrity while building a beautiful and professional venue to showcase their talented cast.

From curtain up, Patrick Lynch’s simple yet bold set design was well utilized throughout the five act play.  With a long wading pool, large revolving walls, and several balcony and staircase entrances, the audience was able to feel an essence of varied time and space with only minimal set dressings.  The design created the perfect backdrop for the performers, using the beauty of the park itself to provide perfect contrast.

Seth Gilliam, a celebrated stage and screen actor, embodied the Moor.  I was immediately taken by his countenance and stature.  Unlike many productions I have seen where Othello is portrayed by a football-player sized statue of a man, Gilliam is a less imposing character.  Rather than heft and mass, he has a graceful and stately air about him that immediately made me sit up and pay attention.  He gave a powerful performance.  Emotionally committed in every way, Gilliam created an Othello that is far more likable, more sympathetic than is often the depiction.  A perfect consort to Gilliam’s Othello is Marianna Bassham as Desdemona.  Bassham is statuesque, with more confidence than your traditional Desdemona.  In fact, the two provide us with a realistic depiction of this power couple- not an overbearing brute and his waifish, vapid bride, but a modern power couple who compliment each others sophistication and relish in each others success.  They provide a delicious chemistry on stage both in their union and in their undoing.  Unfortunately I was less than impressed by James Waterston as Iago.  His delivery lacked nuance, and his voice lacked range.  I was surprised to see someone flub so many lines in one production.  He stood out even more because of his excellent company, but regardless, more than a week into runs I  think that dropping a line or more every scene  is a bit too much.  I wouldn’t write him off completely though, his scenes with Gilliam are very good, and the man has endurance- he’s got the most lines in the show (even more of a reason to get them under control, I say).

The lead players are complimented by an excellent supporting cast, Dan Roach plays a handsome and sincere Cassio, and McCaela Donovan is an enchanting Bianca, I found myself wanting to see more of the character.  A standing ovation, though, is saved exclusively for Adrianne Krstansky who played Emilia.  Emilia is one of my favorite female Shakespeare characters and Krstansky played her to perfection.  A severe, ample, and passionate woman, I envision a strong and brooding woman in the roll, someone who finally has the courage and conviction to stand up to Iago’s treachery- and Krstansky gave me everything I wanted.  I was so glad that the bulk of her text was still in the show.  Often much of Emilia’s part gets cut from the show to save time, but this treatment of Othello celebrated her in all her glory, and I was delighted.  Each character was dressed in a beautiful contemporary twist on 1940′s fashion, and costume designer David Israel Reynoso put them together perfectly.  I loved the ladies’ head pieces.

The success of this production must be attributed to the hard work of director Steven Maler and his excellent production team.  Maler captured the intimacy of a great theatrical tragedy, and amplified it not only to suit a crowd of ten thousand, but made it carry weight and beauty across a very distracting urban setting, with food and drink, noise, and the elements of nature in stiff competition for audience member’s attention.  But each subtle joke, each famous line, each passionate battle was riveting and captured the huge audience.  I have never heard an outdoor space so silent as in the finale of act five, even the many children were completely focused on the stage.  It must have appeared eerie to an outside observer.

I would recommend seeing Shakespeare on the Common to anyone in Boston.  It’s free, it’s different, it’s cultural, and it’s fun.  But even more-so I would recommend that they see this excellent production of Othello regardless of where it was playing.  I caution would-be theatre goers to arrive early for good seats, and bring a chair of some sort rather than a blanket.  It’s hard to sit up for three hours in a small space without some kind of back support, so I was grateful for mine.  Also, bug spray.  It is one wonderful and worthwhile summer night in Bean Town.

Actors From Left: Seth Gilliam (Othello), Arthur Barlas (Senator), Brandon Drea (Ensemble), Fred Sullivan (Brabantio), Arthur Waldstein (Senator), Marianna Bassham (Desdemona), Mike Schadler (Ensemble), John McGinnis (Duke of Venice) © Photo by Andrew Brilliant/Brilliantpictures Inc

William Shakespeare would have rolled over in his grave if he had heard last night’s performance of Best Of Both Worlds at the A.R.T.- but only to get his ear closer to the magnificent sound! In the true spirit of the long dead king of writers, Randy Weiner, Diedre Murray and Diane Paulus have re-imagined The Winter’s Tale for a modern era- touching the audience like never before.  Mellow jazz, smooth R & B, passionate gospel and playful hip-hop combine and intertwine to imbue a centuries old story with new spirit.

Gone is the familiar, painful to follow text and predictable action.  The cast fills the stage with color and sound and vitality to rival the flashiest of Broadway shows.  Just as King Chamberlin’s Men would have, the company of players of Best of Both Worlds, arrive on a bare set- in a purple Cadillac no less- and instantly transform it into their playing space. Cleavant Derricks, as our narrator, sets the scene for the audience, and his tongue is planted firmly in his cheek as he introduces two R&B “Kings”, Ezekiel (Gregg Baker) and Maurice (Darius de Haas) whose pride and stubbornness lead to extremely dramatic circumstances for Ezekiel’s beloved wife Serena (Jeannette Bayardelle), his children Mamillius (Sebastien Lucien) and Rain (Brianna Horne), and the entire kingdom of lives they touch along the way.  It is Shakespeare undone and redone again (you should see the exit pursued by a bear!)

The axiom and essence of The Winters Tale live on in this neoteric, musical treatment.  Baker as Ezekiel is mesmerizing.  It is almost impossible to take your eyes off of him when he’s singing.  With a voice that floats to the very top row of seats, his emotions are palpable- from rage to anguish. De Hass is the perfect counterpoint as Maurice, his voice so warm and supple that there was not one person breathing in the entire auditorium when he hit his high notes.  All this vocal power was matched by Bayardelle’s Serena and Mary Bond Davis’ portrayal of Violetta, Queen Mother of Ezekiel.  Bayardelle garnered the loudest applause of the night after her heart-rending plea for mercy at the end of act one.  She was as beautiful and ethereal as any queen I could conjure.  Davis as Violetta had the vocal power to rival the entire ensemble, and as the company’s matriarch she filled her roll with a grace and dignity that has been unmatched by any single female I have seen perform this season.  A strong ensemble of players round out the rest of the extraordinary cast.  Nikkieli DeMone’s powerful celebration of love in the second act was a crowd pleaser, and Horne and Lawrence Stallings (as Tariq) deliver a sensational ballad- but the real show stopper came from Lucien, whose solo tribute to his mother is so beautiful that it brought the audience to tears.  He was sophisticated and mature enough to hold his own in a cast of exceptional talent.

I was so moved to be a part of this night of theatre.  Looking around the packed house, their was an even more pronounced rainbow of faces in the crowd- and that is an exciting feeling for someone who sees an average of three shows a week, often with the same, stuffy, blue-haired set.  I felt privileged to get to share this event with a crowd that isn’t necessarily your typical A.R.T. patron.  The feeling in the air was arresting- a current of excitement that revived and rejuvenated the entire audience.  The night flew by- and there was no need for the company to illicit a standing ovation at the curtain, the audience was already standing, clapping, shouting, and in some cases, singing along.  It just felt good.  The A.R.T. has made its name by offering us unconventional theatrical productions, and Best of Both Worlds is more than just a feather in the A.R.T cap, it’s a crowning jewel. Bravo, Bravo!

Jeannette Bayardelle and Sebastian Lucien. Photo: Marcus Stern.

A marriage proposal. Photo: Marcus Stern.