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REVIEW: Theater Uncorked’s ‘Sideman’ grapples with a dream

Posted on May 14 by The Sleepless Critic

Nothing comes between a man and his music, but maybe something should.

Directed with a stirring cadence by Russell R. Greene, Theater Uncorked presented Warren Leight’s Sideman for a limited engagement from May 3-7 live and in person at Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts. The show was two hours with one 15 minute intermission and is not for children. Click here for more information and what is next for Theater Uncorked.

Phil Thompson as Jonsey Leonard Chasse as Al and James Hunt as Ziggy Photo credit to Gary Ng

A ‘sideman’ in jazz terms refers to a member of a jazz or swing orchestra. The term not only applies to Brad Michael Pickett as trumpet player Gene, but his loyal sidemen which include Leonard Chasse as Al, James Hunt as Ziggy, and an impressive Phil Thompson as troubled Jonesy. Gene’s band mates demonstrate an easy rapport and an unshakable and stalwart camaraderie as they bond into the wee hours over music, love, and the unstable life of the musician. Accompanied by Jennifer Shotkin in an invigorating performance as warm and wisecracking waitress Patsy, they seem far more like family to the dismay of the rest of Gene’s actual family.

Jennifer Shotkin as Patsy Photo credit to Gary Ng

From the viewpoint of Ben Gold as Gene’s son Clifford, Sideman is a unique memoir about Clifford’s dysfunctional family that matured him far too early. It delves into the excitement, seeming glamour, and the alarming upheaval in the pursuit of music that can leave madness for many in its wake.

Sideman offers dark and humorous moments in a jazz style storyline that culminates in intensity as quickly as it mellows. Delivered with dry wit, some notable deadpan expressions, and occasional despondence by Ben Gold, this ambitious show covers a lot of territory during an over 30 year timeline that rides the height of NYC jazz to its gradual decline. Short sided and neglectful Gene is more impressed by an unemployment check than an actual job while Clifford’s fast talking, hotheaded, and unraveling mother Terry, a rich and scathing performance by Shana Dirik, would rather let her ambitions and heartaches override her responsibilities. Brad Michael Pickett as Gene and Shana Dirik as Terry deliver some stunning scenes together that zip between star struck and fed up. All Clifford wants is a sense of normalcy, but that might be a tall order.

Shana Dirik as Terry and Brad Michael Pickett as Gene Photo credit to Gary Ng

From a distinct black and white Marilyn Monroe poster, neon lights, wood paneled walls, afghan quilts, and authentic vintage furniture, Shana Dirik with lighting designer Erik Fox steeps the viewer into multiple eras with a wealth of retro charm. Warren Leight’s script delves into the jazz era harkening to epic musical heights from Sinatra at the Copa to Neon Leon to Elvis’s performance on the Ed Sullivan Show driven by Tim Rose’s lively and reflective sound design.

Ben Gold as Clifford Shana Dirik as Terry and Brad Michael Pickett as Gene Photo credit to Gary Ng

Sideman is in many ways a toast to jazz, but is also about family. To become great requires sacrifice and yet there is something amiss about this band’s journey. Warren Leight’s characters accomplish a great feat in that most of his characters are still likable even through their selfish and undeniable blind ambition. Sympathetic and compassionate, Gold’s Clifford is a character worth rooting for as he navigates through this musical journey full of wild predicaments.

Theater Uncorked presented Warren Leight’s Sideman for a limited engagement from May 3-7 live and in person at Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts. Click here for more information and what is next for Theater Uncorked.

REVIEW: SpeakEasy Stage Company’s searing and immersive ‘People, Places & Things’ makes an indelible impact

Posted on February 24, 2022 by The Sleepless Critic

Nina is in a nightmare.

Perhaps rock bottom is an unimaginable state until you learn how much further you can sink. People, Places & Things is a jarring and astounding portrait of a spiraling woman who must face that this nightmare she’s in can be stopped.

Masterfully directed by David R. Gammons, SpeakEasy Stage Company presents Duncan Macmillan’s People, Places, & Things live and in person at the Calderwood Pavilion in Boston, Massachusetts through Saturday, March 5. This show contains mature themes. Click here for more information and tickets.

People, Places, and Things is immediately gripping as it thrusts the audience into Nina’s (or whatever she calls herself at the moment) apparent breakdown onstage. Nina, brilliantly depicted by Marianna Bassham, is a struggling actress who has more than just forgotten her lines during a pivotal moment in a sophisticated play. The harried and frantic nature of Nina’s life emanates from the stage and you are engulfed in the deep chasm of an addict.

Kadahj Bennett and Marianna Bassham in People, Places & Things. Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

While People, Places & Things has its share of harrowing moments, it is not without its doses of dark humor. It is a realistic depiction of an addict’s complex journey with its own share of twists, turns, and shocking revelations. Bassham is enigmatic and at times dreadfully unlikable in the way a guarded person who thinks they have all the answers might be. Her sporadic tics, vacant expression, shaking, low talking, and absent pauses are shocking yet enthralling to witness. Bassham’s disillusionment of the world gives the impression that she feels she is not in the chaos of her circumstances, but standing outside of them in her own judgment. With alarm, rage, and confusion flickering in her eyes, Bassham is absolutely riveting.

Adrianne Krstansky and Marianna Bassham in People, Places & Things. Photo by Anabel Rios Photography.

The show depicts a mix of lucid moments and unhinged visions manifested in part by the efforts of Jeff Adelberg’s transient lighting varying from creepy to downright alarming. Whether it is to demonstrate time freezing, time progression or revealing trauma with occasional strobe lights, Adelberg captures the striking and vivid chaos within and outside this woman.

Marianna Bassham and the cast of People, Places & Things. Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

Jeff Petersen’s open staging is a bold and clever choice where nothing is hidden from the front of the stage right through to what seems like dressing rooms. This quick-paced production makes some swift transitions meticulously done with purpose and meaning. The transparency lends a great deal to the piece as each character struggles with what they are hiding.

Marianna Bassham and Nael Nacer in People, Places & Things. Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

The dynamic cast includes members that take on dual or even multiple roles that are vastly different throughout the production. Kadahj Bennett’s direct, compassionate, and occasionally amusing turn as Foster is as harsh on Bassham as he has probably been on himself. Bennett, Bassam, and barely stable and complicated Nael Nacer as Mark share some significant and transcending moments as their outlooks on life make for some compelling dialogue. Nacer and Bassham also share some intriguing chemistry. At one point, Naser refers to Bassam as a ‘human hand grenade.’ Adrienne Krstansky and John Kuntz make some brilliant transitions in their multiple roles and it is easy to become invested in each of these unpredictable characters.

Nael Nacer, John Kuntz, and Marianna Bassham in People, Places & Things. Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

SpeakEasy Stage Company presents Duncan Macmillan’s People, Places, & Things live and in person at the Calderwood Pavilion in Boston, Massachusetts through Saturday, March 5. This show contains mature themes. Click here for more information, tickets, and upcoming productions.

REVIEW: SpeakEasy Stage Company’s intriguing ‘The Children’ explores resilience and buried secrets

Posted on March 19, 2020 by The Sleepless Critic

What would you do in the face of a disaster?

Under the roof of a shabby and antiquated seaside English cottage, Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children looks into the lives of three brilliant and possibly doomed people that may be more connected than they seem. Not without its dark sense of humor and charm, The Children is a gripping exploration into the meaning of survival in a crumbling landscape and what happens next has never been more important.

Paula Plum, Karen MacDonald, and Tyrees Allen in SpeakEasy Stage’s production. Photo by Maggie Hall Photography

Directed with profound insight by Bryn Boice, SpeakEasy Stage Company recently had to discontinue the remaining performances of The Children at the Calderwood Pavilion in Boston, Massachusetts due to COVID-19 concerns. This show contained adult themes and some smoking onstage. Click here to learn about the remaining shows of SpeakEasy Stage Company’s 2020 season.

Paula Plum as Hazel chillingly recalls the disaster, “It looked like the sea was boiling milk and it just kept boiling and boiling.” Married couple Hazel and Robin face day-to- day life in the aftermath of a disaster. With few resources, they attempt to build a new life when an old friend, one that Hazel thought was dead, arrives unexpectedly.

Technical Director Taylor Hansen and Master Electrician Becky Marsh launched some incredible special effects built into the stage. Rachel Padula-Shufelt’s colorful costumes flourish against Cristina Todesco’s bleak scenic design while lighting designer Jeff Adelberg and David Remedios’s sound design skillfully complete the show’s haunting seaside solitude.

The Children is steeped in as much looming sadness as engaging humor. That is in no small part due to its three stellar actors and sharp script that swings from humor to tragic in a single quip.

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With a thick, Yorkshire accent, Paula Plum embodies low key, practical, and increasing complex Hazel. Simply dressed in overalls and a turtleneck, Plum is as capable of leveling a room with her eyes as she is with her dry wit. Plum seems to relish cynical and stealthy characters behind a seemingly ordinary facade and Hazel holds her own surprises. She reconnects unexpectedly with enigmatic, free-spirited, and one-time confidant Rose, portrayed with gumption and gall by Karen MacDonald. Watching Plum and MacDonald spar and interact with each other is like watching a tense chess match where you are anxious to find out who will make the next move. They share stories, philosophize, and trade smiles while wondering what kind of secret the other one is hiding.

Having last portrayed Pops in SpeakEasy Stage’s critically-acclaimed Between Riverside and Crazy, Tyrees Allen is a charismatic and often fun loving presence as Robin, Hazel’s dairy farmer husband. Allen and Plum have a seemingly effortless chemistry with an even mix of irritability and adoration illustrated in old married couples. A man of stubbornness and solutions, Allen’s seemingly carefree attitude cuts through Plum and MacDonald’s building tension before he creates some of his own. The deliberate unfolding of this story occurs in sharp, sequential pieces with hardly time to digest the last big revelation before the next one is unveiled.

Tyrees Allen, Paula Plum, and Karen MacDonald in SpeakEasy Stage Company’s ‘The Children’ Photo by Maggie Hall Photography

So why is this production called The Children? While Hazel is grounded by her three children, Rose is single and childless. Children are explored in multifaceted ways whether referring to Hazel’s children, the community children, the things we learn from children, and the things we wish we knew as children growing up. However, life begins and ends with children in this production and the very foundation in what holds them together is also what can tear them apart.

Click here to learn more about The Children and the remaining shows of SpeakEasy Stage Company’s season. Click here to learn about auditions, support, and how to get involved with SpeakEasy Stage Company.

REVIEW: Unpredictable, humorous, and insightful, Lyric Stage Company’s ‘The Roommate’ not your average odd couple

Posted on November 2, 2018 by The Sleepless Critic

Don’t underestimate Lyric Stage Company’s The Roommate as a frothy chick lit piece about middle aged women. The innocent splash of coffee on the promotional poster does not begin to describe this thrilling drama. With unexpected twists and two exceptional leads, Jen Silverman’s The Roommate is so much more than that. The Lyric Stage took the audience from an Argentinean prison in Kiss of the Spider Woman in September to the welcoming setting of a rural kitchen in Iowa for The Roommate, but both settings have their share of dark secrets. The Roommate features an odd coupling of one woman who is overwhelmed by life and the other who wants to change hers completely.

The Lyric Stage presents ‘The Roommate’ Photo courtesy of Lyric Stage Company

Directed by Spiro Veloudos and laden with funny, relatable moments, Jen Silverman’s The Roommate, a one act, 90 minute drama with no intermission, continues at 140 Clarendon Street in Boston, Massachusetts through November 18. Click here for more information and for tickets.

Surrounded by a little too cheerful, inviting Iowa kitchen decorated in mismatched floral décor and what looks like a working island stove, the setting, cleverly designed by Jenna McFarland Lord, could be an extension of Paula Plum as frenzied, relentlessly upbeat Sharon. Having never had a roommate before and in her mid 50s, it is easy to relate to her nervous twittering and chatter as she waits for her roommate to arrive.

The Roommate Adrianne Krystansky as Robyn as Paula Plum as Sharon at the table

Adrianne Krstansky as Robyn and Paula Plum as Sharon Photo courtesy of the Lyric Stage Company

Dressed in a floral blouse and apron, Sharon is the picture of country living, her hands always busy with an occasional nervous laugh masking melancholy and loneliness. Paula Plum steps seamlessly into the role of this complicated woman enhanced by her gasps, her excited utterances of glee, and her flicker of self awareness that brings Sharon to exuberant life.

When collected, quiet, and artistic Robyn arrives, Sharon considers how different their worlds are. The Roommate contains as many humorous moments as it does dark ones and a particularly amusing highlight surrounds the two women’s backgrounds. Sharon brows rise when Robyn describes her Bronx background while Robyn becomes startled over potential Iowa tornadoes while Sharon brushes them off. Their quirky, malleable chemistry has a life of its own and it evolves and transforms throughout the play.

The Roommate Paula Plum as Sharon and Adrianne Krystansky as Robyn smoking

Paula Plum as Sharon and Adrianne Krstansky as Robyn Photo courtesy of Lyric Stage Company

Dressed in dark colors and Doc Martins which match her black hair styled in a bob, Adrianne Krstansky portrays Robyn close to the chest, a mysterious, stealthy woman mature beyond her years where every personal detail is a painful revelation. Krstansky gives an understated performance which simmers as the play progresses. Each one of Krstansky and Plum’s conversations is a palpable tug of war, and one can’t help but hope that traditional, sheltered Sharon will somehow win. However guarded Sharon and Robyn are, both are longing to relate to one another and the end result reveals more about themselves than they could have possibly imagined.

The Roommate Paula Plum standing as Sharon and Adrianne Krystansky as Robyn

Paula Plum as Sharon and Adrianne Krstansky as Robyn Courtesy of the Lyric Stage Company

The Lyric Stage Company proudly presents The Roommate continuing through Sunday, November 18 at 140 Clarendon Street in Boston, Massachusetts. Click here for tickets and more information. Subscriptions and dinner packages are also available. Follow The Lyric Stage on Twitter and Facebook for their upcoming productions and more.

REVIEW: SpeakEasy Stage’s award-winning drama ‘Between Riverside and Crazy’, a powerful, darkly comical look at a family gone awry

Posted on October 20, 2018 by The Sleepless Critic

“Eat vegetables. Fiber is your best friend. Potassium combats blood pressure.” This sage, conventional advice was delivered in a humorous moment by Pops in an earnest attempt to be an average, conventional dad. Though wise in his own way, Walter “Pops” Washington is anything but conventional as an alcoholic widow, father, and head of a wildly dysfunctional household in the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Between Riverside and Crazy that recently completed its run at the SpeakEasy stage at the Calderwood Pavilion in Boston, Massachusetts. This production is not meant for children. Click here for more information on the SpeakEasy Stage, winner of the 2018 Boston’s Best by the Improper Bostonian, and its upcoming productions.

Directed by Tiffany Nichole Greene and written by Stephen Adly Guirgis, Between Riverside and Crazy takes an edgy, at times controversial look at a struggling family who is losing their connection to each other while trying to survive by any means necessary. With darkly humorous moments that delve into issues of racism, privilege, and deception, this message-driven production grows every bit as crazy as the title suggests. However, things are certainly not all that they seem and the show is all the better for it. The Washington family has a great deal of underlying heart and blunt honesty, but it takes some digging to get there.

Between Riverside and Crazy - Dinner with Audrey and Dave_083web

Lewis D. Wheeler, Maureen Keiller, Stewart Evan Smith, Tyrees Allen, and Octavia Chavez-Richmond in SpeakEasy Stage’s production of BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY. Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

The real strength in Between Riverside and Crazy is in its energetic, complex performances. With a gravelly voice, more than his fair share of obstinacy, and traces of Red Foxx from Sanford and Son, Tyrees Allen slips smoothly into Walter’s tough skin with an inner turmoil that is always brimming to the surface, at the brink of revealing itself. Every snarl, agitation, and sorrow flows eloquently, delivering a powerful punch to a performance that should not be missed. It is easy to spot his outspokenness brashness in his son Junior, portrayed with a tough exterior, but with charm and secretiveness by Stewart Evan Smith. Their exchanges, like most of the show, are quick paced and snappy, and if it wasn’t for the darker nature of this show, shows earmarks of any relatable American family.

Completing this family is Alejandro Simoes who delivers a quiet and sympathetic performance as Walter’s adopted son Oswaldo. A bit naïve and with a secret of his own, Simoes delivers a clever and at times shocking performance of a troubled individual who is not all that he seems.

Between Riverside and Crazy - Lulu and Junior Roof_207web

Octavia Chavez-Richmond and Stewart Evan Smith in SpeakEasy Stage’s production of BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY. Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

With over-sized gold earrings, a tiny outfit and a Puerto Rican accent, Octavia Chavez-Richmond portrays the mysterious and often humorous Lulu. Chavez-Richmond delves into this juicy, darkly comical role with gusto every time she takes the stage. She is particularly funny during an exchange with Junior about their future and during a subtle, fascinating scene with Oswaldo and Junior discussing Ring Dings, bologna, and grape soda.

Between Riverside and Crazy - Lulu Pops Caro Clash_355web

Octavia Chavez-Richmond, Tyrees Allen, Lewis D. Wheeler, and Maureen Keiller in SpeakEasy Stage’s production of BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY. Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

Maureen Keiller as warm, but complicated Detective O’Connor and Lewis D. Wheeler as brown nosing Lieutenant Caro are outspoken New York police officers who have a history with Walter. Some of the most memorable scenes of the show are between Keiller, Allen, and Wheeler, each exchange between them like a fascinating game of poker. Although brief, Celeste Oliva offers a bold, pivotal, and controversial performance as Church lady.

Between Riverside and Crazy - Pops Meets The Church Lady_272web

Celeste Oliva and Tyrees Allen in SpeakEasy’s production of BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY. Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

As a lit Christmas tree sits in the corner and what looks like a functioning kitchen, Eric D. Diaz and Wooden Kiwi do a wonderful job to portray a warm and inviting apartment equipped with a built in brick terrace, a set that is consistent throughout the entire show. The staging is also strong as simultaneous scenes play out throughout the household, not a moment of it distracting.

Though it is not a show for everyone, its underlying themes, powerful performances, and meaty, twist-filled story delivers its award-winning appeal. Between Riverside and Crazy kicked off Speakeasy Stage’s 28^th season. Next for the SpeakEasy Stage is the contemporary, Tony award-winning musical Fun Home, continuing through November 24. Click here for more information of their current season which includes the the Tony award-winning musical Once and The View Upstairs.