On the Horizon: January

My school work has unfortunately (for me and you both) taken precedence the last few months, leaving this little blog to fend for itself during the cold winter months. Reviews will be popping up to fill you in on the details; saw Cymbeline in New York (Broadway does not always do it better), Streamers at the Huntington (did I ever expect to be shocked by a Huntington show?), and No Child at the ART (didn't catch it? don't worry- you've seen it all before).

This week I'll hopefully be getting up my reviews from the post-holiday fares from both aforementioned companies, with Michael Frayn's Copenhagen holding down Cambridge, and Wendy Wasserstein's Third starting off Boston's busy season. Looking ahead, it seems now that the glut of Christmas Carols and hip, counter-productions have dragged themselves back into hibernation for a year, all of the local companies are putting their best foot forward to start off the new calendar year with a mid-season boost.

Next weekend, our own Actor's Shakespeare Company returns yet again to Harvard Square's Garage with their five-actor adaptation of (drum roll, please) Henry V. I enjoyed their enthusiastically (but maybe too broadly) acted six-player Love's Labour's Lost, and wonder how this method will serve one of the Bard's histories. I would think that the cast would be dwarfed by the Garage (in the arena configuration they introduced with Titus Andronicus), but the ASP will undoubtedly pull out some design trick that I will undoubtedly fall for.

After that, Boston Theatre Work's continues their 10th anniversary season after a long break (the last we heard from them was their season opener, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) with both parts of Tony Kushner's Angels In America. This is more of a treat than it may seem; a sound designer I met this summer has seen Millenium Approaches (the first, and more tautly written, play) about six times, but Perestroika (its companion) only twice. It would seem that with the ridiculous cliff-hanger that Millennium leaves its audience with, Perestroika is a no-brainer. Or not, as it stands. I'll be seeing the two plays a week apart, and plan on reviewing them separately, as I consider them to be two different works, but also because they will be directed separately by Artistic Director Jason Southerland and Nancy Curran Willis (unless they are deciding to co-direct two plays...and that makes no sense to me). Although I generally enjoy BTW's shows, my expectations are (admittedly) obscenely high. Angels was the first play I read that really excited me about contemporary drama, and still surprises me with its depth. Mike Nichol's solid gold 2003 HBO miniseries adaptation (which offered engaging performances from Meryl Streep, Al Pacino, Jeffrey Wright, Mary-Louise Parker, blah, blah, blah) does no help, but BTW does seem to be stepping up its usual game. For Angels (as well as their upcoming Crucible), the company moves from their longtime home, the BCA Plaza Theatre, into Speakeasy's usual stomping grounds, the Roberts Studio Theatre. Hopefully the nearly doubled seating capacity (and rigging that is more than four feet above the audience's heads) will allow BTW to give Angels the showing that it deserves.

Bumped out of the Roberts Studio, Speakeasy Stage Company gets upgraded big time to the Virginia Wimberly Theatre just in time for the Boston premiere of last year's off-Broadway (and to a lesser extent, Broadway) hit,The Little Dog Laughed. Doulgas Carter Bean's showbiz comedy of manners pits a confused up-and-comer against his own dog-eat-dog agent in the show that earned Julie White a Tony. I do wonder if it will be able to stand on its own in the largest venue the company has worked in and without the J.W.-factor that seemed to garner so much praise in its big city run. All doubts aside, I am excited to see Maureen Keiller (with whom I have only been recently introduced to as Eunice in New Rep's Streetcar this fall) take a (stiletto-in hand) stab at a seemingly juicy role that will most likely find me using words like "divine" and "delicious".

Far, far away, in a land called Watertown, the New Repertory theatre will be opening their third mainstage show with a little mid-winter Moliere inThe Misanthrope. I've found I always leave New Rep shows with one too many bones to pick, but it seems that every production I see there improves upon the last. I have no idea how they handle classics, but am always down for tittering a matinee away at those naughty, naughty aristocrats


ps-As an aside, Zeitgeist's latest, Blowing Whistles (directed by the blogosphere's own Thomas Garvey) lands in the Plaza Black Box on January 18th, and completes a homo-tinged BCA trifecta with Angels and Dog that offers "mature" themes and nudity all around- think of the scandal ! It must be something in that South End water...

It looks like I won't be collecting them all (much to my dismay), but the gays on stage marathon takes over the Boston Center for the Arts (with unrelenting wit and self-deprecation, no doubt) for several weeks. Can you say quadruple-bill?