Boston area theater staged a welcome comeback in 2021—even if initially in zoom and live stream productions. Still, full production finally returned with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company's summer revival of "The Tempest" at the Boston Common. Gifted directors Igor Golyak and Bryn Boice dominated 2021 with multiple online and onstage efforts each. Local companies presented exciting and often thoughtful explorations of diversity, anti-Semitism, racism, women's empowerment, family solidarity and love. The following list includes the year' s best virtual and live performance efforts.
Virtual Theater:
Black Beans Project (Huntington Theater Company). Gifted actress-playwright Melinda Lopez whipped up a rich Hispanic sibling entrée.
chekhovOS/an Experimental Game (Arlekin Players). Mikhail Baryshnikov richly played the great Russian writer in artistic director Igor Golyak's interactive look at his greatest plays.
Much Ado about Nothing (Hub Theater Company of Boston). Veteran actor Arthur Waldstein was an expressive joy as this clever split-screen zoom—exuberantly directed by gifted Bryn Boice—turned Friar Francis into Rabbi Francis, complete with tallit and yarmulke.
Solitaire Suite (Hub Theater Company of Boston). Marital and parenting dynamics came together intriguingly in this Twilight Zonish odyssey with a wife-mother's perspective.
Witness (Arlekin Players,digitally through January 23). Is America different? This 90-minute,unflinchingly probing documentary theater work calls on actors and zoom participants to identify with the nearly 1000 Jewish passengers on the S.S. St. Louis who were refused haven in Cuba, America and many other countries in 1939. There are telling references to anti-Semitic acts in Pittsburgh and Brighton. Gene Ravvin is a standout as an initially cheery onboard talent show host and eventually despairing Jewish Everyman (the "Cabaret" Emcee may somewhat come to mind). Look for good work from Anne Gottlieb as a kipah-wearing rabbi looking for a coming together of Jews, Christians and Moslems and Lauren Elias as an American Zionist.
Honorable Mention:
TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever (SpeakEasy Stage Company and Boston Conservatory at Berklee).
Live Theater:
All Is Calm (Greater Boston Stage Company)—Inspired choreographer-director Ilyse Robbins helmed this moving history-based musical look at an all too brief World War I holiday ceasefire.
The Half Life of Marie Curie (Nora Theater at Central Square Theater)-Lauren Gunderson's stirring play paid tribute to both the title two-time Nobel Prize winner and her Jewish best friend Hertha Ayrton—a pioneer engineer and Curie's strongest supporter. Lee Mikeska Gardner captured Curie's insecurity, while Debra Wise caught Ayrton's feistiness.
The Importance of Being Earnest (Apollinaire Theatre Company). Four versatile actors played the parts in this delightful gender-bending revival of the greatest modern English language comedy—sharply helmed by artistic director Danielle Fauteux Jacques.
The Last Five Years (Lyric Stage Company of Boston)—Happily married Jared and Kyra Troilo very convincingly played a couple on marital rocks in this unusual Jason Robert Brown musical. Jared Troilo's portrayal of Jewish writer Jamie Wellerstein—in robust voice and nimble stage movement—was Broadway worthy.
Macbeth in Stride (American Repertory Theater)—Lady Macbeth took center stage in this bewitching musical riff on the Scottish play--created by powerhouse talent Whitney White, who will give voice to four other Shakespearean heroines in this A.R.T. series.
The Merchant of Venice (Actors' Shakespeare Project)—Was Shakespeare anti-Semitic and did plays like this one contribute in some way to the Holocaust? Igor Golyak turned this very different revival into a powerful if sometimes satiric commentary on these disturbing questions—with Nael Nacer brilliantly intense as Shylock.
Passing Strange (Moonbox Productions)--Stew and Heidi Rodewald shared a well-deserved Tony Award for the vivid book of this lively rite of passage musical. Under Arthur Gomez's strong direction, Ivan C. Walks smartly captures both the adventurous artistic impulses and the complex insecurities of hero Youth about love, life and family. Davron S. Monroe has the vocal power and acting chops of a young Ben Vereen as the pivotal Narrator in his best work thus far.
The Rocky Horror Show (Moonbox Productions)—A stellar cast brought Richard O'Brien's devilish musical to campy life—especially the iconic Time Warp ensemble.
The Sound Inside (SpeakEasy Stage)—Director Bryn Boice sharply voiced the professor-student dynamics of Adam Rapp's wise 2020 Tony-nominated drama. Nathan Malin was riveting as the conflicted budding novelist.
Teenage Dick (Huntington Theatre, available digitally through January 16.617-266-0800 or huntingtontheatre.org)—Gregg Mozgala, who actually has cerebral palsy, richly captures the vindictiveness and the pathos of CP-stricken Richard Gloucester, a bullied modern day high school student with similarities to Richard the Third. Playwright Mike Lew smartly laces his 2018 play-commission by Mozgala himself--with Shakespearean language and parallels. Moritz von Stuelpnagel directs tautly.
The Tempest (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company)—John Douglas Thompson was commandingly forceful and feeling as Prospero in one of the company's best revivals.
Honorable Mention:
Gone Nowhere (Boston Playwrights Theater)
Visiting Productions:
A Christmas Story: The Musical (National tour at Boch Center for the Arts) —Talented young actors stood out—especially in a tap dance ensemble. This affecting musical based on radio raconteur Jean Shepherd's reminiscence focused on spunky Ralphie with some attention to his good friend Schwartz.
Fiddler on the Roof (National tour at Emerson Colonial Theater)—Director Bartlett Sher (Oslo) gave this landmark celebration of Jewish tradition and universal family dynamics a special resonance for America by having Tevye seem to look back on life in Anatevka as an émigré. To borrow from activist Perchik, this fine revival had everything.
Hadestown (National tour presented by Broadway in Boston at Citizen Bank Opera House; March 7,2023 at Mortensen Hall, The Bushnell, Hartford, Connecticut; the original Broadway run continues at the Walter Kerr Theater)—The superb tour of this tuneful Tony Award-winning musical called Gershwin to mind and joined climate change subtext to its clever take on the Orpheus-Eurydice myth.
Special Theatrical Event:
Och & Oy! A Considered Cabaret (presented by Celebrity Series of Boston at Symphony Hall; tour includes March18, 2022 at Ridgefield Playhouse, Ridgefield, Connecticut) Tony Award winner Alan Cumming (Cabaret) and NPR journalist Ari Shapiro—who sings as well as he reports--were the top in a very entertaining and eclectic show mixing talk and song. Look for conversation about their respective comings out and marriages and their close friendship as well American songbook selections and an effecting duo on "Nowadays" ("Chicago").