★★★☆☆ In a stage version of an indie horror hit, not the play but the tech’s the thing
About Bob Verini
From Maine: Hello, Dolly! Wow Wow Wow, Fellas
★★★★☆ The venerable Ogunquit Playhouse assembles a trio of Tony winners and a smashing ensemble to breathe new life into a classic
From Massachusetts: The Zionists, A Family Storm (And The World’s)
★★★☆☆ Amidst a hurricane, a Jewish family hashes out Israel and Palestine, solving little but revealing plenty
From Cambridge, MA: Black Swan, Tu-Tu Thrilling
★★★★☆ Classy musicalization of a psychosexual cinethriller uses human and technical legerdemain to spellbind
The Rocky Horror Show: Let’s Not (Do The Time Warp Again), And Say We Did
★★☆☆☆ Overproduced, underconceived, superfluous revival of a property long past its sell-by date
Beaches: Maudlin and Middling
★★☆☆☆ A beloved (in some quarters) movie weepie, set to music, can’t get past its threadbare plot
Schmigadoon!: Talent’s Bustin’ Out All Over
★★★★☆ A townful of creatives, working in easy harmony, fuels a warm homage to musicals and those who love them
From Boston, When Playwrights Kill: A Not Quite Dizzy-Enough Backstage Farce
★★★☆☆ A Broadway-hopeful laugh-fest is long on its players’ comedy chops, if a little light on grace
High Spirits: It Soars, It Scores
★★★★☆ Encores fulfills its mission by bringing an undeservedly forgotten musical triumphantly back from the dead
From Massachusetts: Wonder The Musical, Not So Wonderful
★★☆☆☆ Musicalization of a popular young adult novel about people’s cruelty toward human difference is too-thinly told and too-broadly played