DARK BUT HOPEFUL Justin Scott Brown and Jenny Latimer play Marius and Cosette. |
Boston Playwrights' Theatre closes out its winter season with DEPORTED / A DREAM PLAY (March 8–April 1; bu.edu/bpt), Joyce Van Dyke's riveting story of the Armenian genocide as seen through the eyes of two women who survived it, staged in association with Suffolk University at the Modern Theatre with Judy Braha at the helm.That same weekend, SpeakEasy Stage takes on a dramatic musical-theater piece crafted by a pair of Pulitzer winners (Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey): NEXT TO NORMAL (March 9–April 7; speakeasystage.com). Paul Daigneault directs the cast, which features Kerry A. Dowling as Diana, a mother struggling with bipolar disorder.
The Boston Opera House hosts another dark but hopeful musical saga: the Broadway tour of LES MISERABLES (March 13–April 1; boston.broadway.com). James Powell and Laurence Connor co-direct.
Merrimack Rep stages a comedy version of a long-lost love story in MRS. WHITNEY (March 15–April 8; merrimackrep.org), in which a lonely 60-year-old woman decides to track down her irresponsible mess of an ex-husband.
With the ART, Molly Rice and César Alvarez present their indie-folk tour de force FUTURITY: A MUSICAL BY THE LISPS (March 16–April 15; americanrepertorytheater.org), featuring a score written and performed by Alvarez's band, the Lisps. In this steampunk sci-fi story, Alvarez plays Union soldier Julian Munro and Sammy Tunis plays Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron's daughter, who comes to his aid.
FOLKING UP AT ART Molly Rice and César Alvarez present the steampunkish indie-folk Futurity: A Musical by the Lisps. |
Apollinaire Theatre Company stages a darker-edged sci-fi piece: Rachel Axler's SMUDGE (March 23–April 28; apollinairetheatre.com), a black comedy one-act about a couple who learns that the baby they're expecting is severely deformed. Axler's play appears in tandem with Crystal Skillman's one-act CUT, a biting critique of reality TV.
Arts Emerson hosts Czech-born Tomáš Kubínek in his one-man vaudevillian spectacle, TOMÁŠ KUBÍNEK, CERTIFIED LUNATIC & MASTER OF THE IMPOSSIBLE (March 29–April 1; artsemerson.org). Kubínek fuses poetry and acrobatics in his family-friendly celebration of commonplace miracles.
Jeremy Johnson directs the Lyric Stage version of Jon Marans's play about a group of gay men in the 1950s who called themselves by the code word THE TEMPERAMENTALS (March 30–April 28; lyricstage.com). The story follows communist Harry Hay and fashion designer Rudi Gernreich; the two fall in love while forming America's first-ever gay rights organization.
Huntington Theatre takes on a different sort of 1950s-era civil-rights story in THE LUCK OF THE IRISH (March 30–April 29; huntingtontheatre.org), which follows an African-American couple hoping to buy a house in an all-white neighborhood. Melia Bensussen directs.
Central Square Theater presents a scientific mystery story about memory, written and directed by Wesley Savick: REMEMBERING H.M. (April 12–May 13; centralsquaretheater.org). The biographical tale describes Henry Molaison, who underwent brain surgery that prevented him from forming new memories.
The Bard's story of the Trojan War goes up with the Actors' Shakespeare Project, under the guiding hand of Tina Packer. The cast of TROILUS & CRESSIDA (April 25–May 20; actorsshakespeareproject.org) features company members Brooke Hardman, Maurice Emmanuel Parent, Bobbie Steinbach, Michael Forden Walker. and Robert Walsh.
New Rep closes out their spring season with Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's tragicomic musical about a man who discovers a paranormal talking plant that can make all his dreams come true. The catch? The plant dines on human flesh. Blake Pfeil stars in LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (April 29–May 20; newrep.org).
CORRECTION A previous version of this article mistakenly stated that Molly Rice, rather than Sammy Tunis, would play Ada Lovelace in the A.R.T.'s production of Futurity: A Musical by the Lisps.
