REVIEW: Majestic Theater, “Once”

Majestic Theater, West Springfield, MA  

www.majestictheater.com

through
October 19, 2025

by Simon Brighenti

The two-decade plus run of successful theatre experiences at the Majestic continues unabated with the 2025-2026 season opener “Once”.

 

A vibrant mélange of guitars, piano, violins, and fiddles; a mandolin and a cello; with an accordion and a couple of Cajon drums thrown in for good measure sets the scene for a thoroughly enjoyable performance.

 

Photo by Kate Rankins

The story is set in Dublin and much of the music throughout is definitely geographically appropriate for the Emerald Isle. The multi-talented Nick Anastasia and Kate Theis exude a flirtatious chemistry as the two principal characters:“Guy” and “Girl.” Guy is at a point in his musical journey where he is about to abandon his passion and return full time to his Da’s shop to fix vacuums (or “Hoovers” as the cast refers to them in several humorous passages). Girl materializes – in person as a Czech beauty temporarily residing in Ireland or perhaps as the embodiment of his muse – and together they help him rediscover and reignite his passion. Her persistent optimism and deadpan but hilarious wit are infectious and watching his confidence grow in her sunlight is entirely enjoyable.

Helping Guy (and the audience) mull over the ramifications of an artist following his passion(s) is a fully likeable gang of supporting characters. Director James Warwick’s technique of having this dozen or so masters of a range of instruments and vocal techniques remain quietly onstage until their turn to shine rolls around works exceedingly well. It is difficult to keep track of who plays what as they each seem to bring magical sounds from every instrument hanging on the wall or set on the floor of the spare but evocative set.

 

Each performer is a dual threat musician/actor (and at times adds solo or background vocals to their repertoire). Kevin Tracy portrays Billy, a gruff but tenderhearted Dubliner through and through. Patryck Mathieu and Omar Sandakly provide some riotous relief as two Czech roommates who evidently become multilingual via binging an Irish soap opera. Accomplished cellist Hillary Ekwall also shines as a kindred Corkonian spirit whose button-down job belies a passion and talent for playing, singing, and songwriting.

The rest of the cast, including Majestic frequent flyer Michael Devito, collude with the featured performers to bring the story to a musical life worth every accolade and award “Once” has received. “Once” seen is not enough.

Review: Shakespeare & Company, "Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions"

Shakespeare & Company, Lenox, MA

www.shakespeare.org

through October 5, 2025

by Jarice Hanson

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Paula Vogel, is a national treasure. “Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions,” her most recent work, is having its New England Premiere at Shakespeare & Company. The semi-autobiographical work is layered with meaning and goes beyond most memory plays to effectively chronicle 40-years of American history and culture as experienced by an American family. 

 

Tamara Hickey plays Phyllis, a single mother. She smokes and drinks to cope with her depression. She has a low-wage job and can only afford for rent of a caretaker’s basement quarters in an apartment building. Carl, played by Eddie Shields, is 16 and bright. He looks forward to a full scholarship in college, while daughter Martha, played by Zoya Martin, is instructed to study typing in high school so she’ll “always be able to support herself.” 

 

This is a family experiencing the dissolution of the nuclear family. Within the opening minutes of the 95-minute play, the audience is left to wonder if the children will ever succeed, or if they will repeat their mother’s “mistakes".

 

Photo by Nile Scott Studios

The subtitle of the play, “A Play in Five Evictions” is an important hint that signals the trio's development as each, in their own way, strives to become self-realized. Like every family, there are fun times, but there are painful times. The brother and sister form a tight bond, in part to support mother, but also to survive her. 

 

A challenge for the three actors in the play is for each of them to age four decades from the play’s beginning in 1962 to shortly after the beginning of the 21st century.

 

Beautifully communicated physically and emotionally by the actors with the aid of clever costumes by Arthur Wilson, delightful choreography by Susan Dibble, and a timeless set by Omid Akbari, the family shows that they may not be able to address honesty collectively, but that honesty, loneliness, and self-determination are values that one must negotiate to become a “whole person.” 

 

Director Ariel Bock keeps the story driving forward until the inevitable conclusion that is both heartbreaking and very real. 

 

This play is multi-layered with something to touch the hearts of every audience member. While there is undeniable sadness and survival portrayed, the trio become representative of changing times, social and economic unrest, and most of all, changing social norms. The audience can't help but feel sad, seeing this mother and her children try to support each other while destined to disappoint, but there is hope in realizing that even dysfunctional families can come to terms with fate. 

 

The ending of the show can be hard for some. While giving the talented actors a well deserved standing ovation, sobs could be heard in the audience. This is a tough emotional show, but well worth the effort to understand, and forgive family transgressions. 

REVIEW: Boston Pops Orchestra, "Keith Lockhart 30th Anniversary Celebration"

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA 

www.bso.org/tanglewood

August 22, 2025 

by Michael J. Moran 

Keith Lockhart, photo by Hilary Scott

Perfect Berkshire weather graced the opening evening of Tanglewood 2025’s closing weekend. Friday’s “Prelude” program featured internationally acclaimed pianist and Smith College music professor Jiayan Sun and four Boston Symphony Orchestra members in forceful accounts of Carl Reinecke’s romantic 1905 “Trio for clarinet, horn, and piano” and Ludwig van Beethoven’s sprightly 1797 “Quintet in E-flat for piano and winds.”  

The evening’s main event was a celebration of Keith Lockhart’s 30th anniversary as conductor of the Boston Pops. The program’s variety show for at showcased the broad repertoire of a typical Pops concert in guest appearances by artists from many musical genres. The Pops opened with lively takes on the overture to Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide” and “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” from Styne and Sondheim’s “Gypsy.” Next, jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli played and sang a soulful “The Nearness of You,” by Carmichael and Washington, and a virtuosic “I Got Rhythm,” by the Gershwins. 

Other performers included genre-bending string trio Time for Three, with a showy excerpt from a concerto by jazz composer Chris Brubeck. Broadway star Mandy Gonzalez sang a tender “Home,” from “The Wiz,” by Smalls. The ageless Bernadette Peters (who promised to return for Lockhart’s 60thanniversary) sang a rousing “Before the Parade Passes By,” from Jerry Herman’s “Hello, Dolly!” Broadway leading man Brian Stokes Mitchell sang a fervent “Impossible Dream,” from “Man of La Mancha,” by Leigh and Darion. Elegant Pops arrangements and lush support by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, prepared by their conductor, James Burton, enhanced many numbers. 

Two of the video sequences shown were particularly effective: excerpts from the documentary film “From Sea to Shining Sea,” about Massachusetts author Katharine Lee Bates, who wrote “America the Beautiful,” stirringly narrated by Boston actress Paula Plum; and a witty adaptation by David Chase of “I’m (He’s) Still Here,” from Sondheim’s “Follies,” with Lockhart-specific lyrics, and cameos by 30+ friends of the Maestro, from Leslie Odom, Jr. to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, toasting Lockhart's longevity. Seamless direction by Broadway veteran Jason Danieley moved everyone smoothly around the stage. 

Reflecting on the Tanglewood 2025 season, this frequent visitor (4 Shed concerts, 11 in Ozawa Hall) was impressed with the high levels of attendance by patrons of all ages, despite heat waves and rainy days, and with the continuing balance of traditions (like “Talks and Walks” by artists and “Tanglewood on Parade”) with new offerings (Linde Hall lectures, etc.). 

REVIEW: Berkshire Opera Festival, “La Traviata”

Berkshire Opera Festival, Great Barrington, MA

www.berkshireoperafestival.org

August 26 & 29, 2025

by Michael J. Moran

To celebrate its tenth season, the Berkshire Opera Festival presents its third Verdi opera (after “Rigoletto” in 2018 and “Falstaff” in 2021): a winning production of what BOF Artistic Director and Co-Founder Brian Garman calls in a program note the composer’s “most intimate opera:” “La Traviata.” After its 1853 premiere, Verdi never returned to this small-scale style, focusing instead on grand opera.

Photo by Ken Howard

In the libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the 1852 play The Lady of the Camellias, by Alexandre Dumas, Violetta, a Parisian escort, falls in love with Alfredo, a young nobleman. When his father, Giorgio, asks Violetta to give up Alfredo to protect his family’s reputation, she agrees. After Alfredo misunderstands her sacrifice and Giorgio realizes the depth of Violetta’s love for Alfredo, they reconcile with her just before she dies of tuberculosis.  

Soprano Vanessa Becerra is a sensational Violetta, singing and acting with passion and beauty of tone, portraying Violetta’s joy in finding love and her despair in losing it with total commitment. Tenor Joshua Blue is a volatile Alfredo, moving from brash defiance to tender affection with equal intensity. Baritone Weston Hurt plays Giorgio with dignity and command. Mezzo-soprano Erin Reppenhagen as Violetta’s friend Flora, baritone Yazid Gray as Baron Douphol, and mezzo-soprano Kalia Kellogg as Violetta’s maid Annina all make strong impressions in supporting roles.

Vocal highlights include: Blue’s hearty Act I toast to Becerra, “Let’s Drink from the Joyful Cup;” their ardent Act I love duet “One Day, Happy;” Becerra’s exuberant Act I aria “Always Free;” Hurt’s poignant Act II aria “The Sea and Soil of Provence;” and Becerra’s anguished Act III aria, “Farewell, Happy Dreams of the Past,” as she fears Alfredo won’t return before she dies.

Imaginative direction by BOF Co-Founder Jonathon Loy brings out the best in a uniformly excellent cast. Resourceful choreography by Sara Erde features a stunning flamenco solo by Glenda Sol Koeraus. Flexible scenic design by Hannah Postlethwaite, elegant costume design by Brooke Stanton, and subtle lighting design by Alex Jainchill and Alejandro Fajardo add vital support. Vibrant performances under Garman by the BOF orchestra and chorus (prepared by Chorus Master Luca Antonucci) bring Verdi’s powerful score to evocative life.

This marvelous “Traviata” shouldn’t be missed by lovers of Italian opera.

REVIEW: Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, "3 Season End Concerts"

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

www.bso.org/tanglewood

August 4, 11, & 18, 2025

by Michael J. Moran

The last three TMCO concerts gave the two 2025 TMC conducting fellows two more chances to share the podium with Boston Symphony Orchestra guest conductors and a unique opportunity to co-conduct a one-act opera.

Leonard Weiss, photo by Hilary Scott

That was a magical semi-staged TMC production of Maurice Ravel’s 1925 “The Child and the Spells," of which Leonard Weiss led the first half and Yiran Zhao, the second. In a pre-concert talk, renowned soprano Dawn Upshaw, the lead TMC faculty organizer of the event, called the opera “a series of life lessons.” A seven-year-old boy rebels against doing his homework by harming objects and animals around him, who realize, when he bandages a baby squirrel he’s wounded, that, in Colette’s libretto, “he is a good child after all.” TMC vocal fellows and instrumentalists responded with equal sensitivity and charm to Weiss’ suave, elegant leadership and to Zhao’s more overtly emotional conducting style.

Ravel, photo by Hilary Scott

A week later, Zhao opened the program with a soulful reading of BSO composer Carlos Simon’s BSO commission, “Four Black American Dances,” sharply differentiating the “Ring Shout,” “Waltz,” “Tap!,” and “Holy Dance.” Weiss followed with a lively account of Sergei Prokofiev’s “Classical” symphony, featuring a spacious “Allegro,” a warm “Larghetto,” a stately “Gavotte,” and a brisk “Finale.” Colombian-born conductor Andres Orozco-Estrada closed the concert with a colorful take on Ravel’s orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky’s piano suite “Pictures at an Exhibition.” Standout numbers included: a haunting “Old Castle;” a playful “Ballet of Chicks in Their Shells; and a majestic “Great Gate at Kiev.”

Weiss opened the August 18 concert with a carefully shaped “Chairman Dances: Foxtrot for Orchestra,” an “out-take” from John Adams’ 1987 opera “Nixon in China.” Zhao next led an exuberant rendition of Bartok’s Hungarian-flavored 1923 “Dance Suite.” Finnish conductor Dima Slobodeniouk closed the program with an electrifying performance of Tchaikovsky’s dramatic fourth symphony. The orchestra played an anguished “Andante-Moderato,” a melancholy “Andantino,” a sprightly “Scherzo,” and a whirlwind “Finale” with passion and poise.  

At the end of every 2025 TMCO concert with three conductors, the guest conductor has brought out the TMC conducting fellows for a group bow (and hug), a respectful gesture that literally embraces them as peers in the making.

REVIEW: Tanglewood, "AMOC/Brooklyn Rider/The Sixteen"

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

www.bso.org/tanglewood

August 7, 13 & 14, 2025

by Michael J. Moran

The last three concerts in Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall series broadened the range and repertoire offered in several earlier concerts during the 2025 season.

AMOC, photo by Hilary Scott

On August 7, the American Modern Opera Company, under composer/conductor Matthew Aucoin, presented Aucoin’s 2025 one-act opera “Music for New Bodies.” Set to poems by Jorie Graham and imaginatively staged by renowned director Peter Sellars, its five scenes reflect poignantly on surviving a cancer diagnosis and planetary destruction. The adventurous score makes protean demands on five singers, 18 instrumentalists, and electronics. High soprano Song Hee Lee, soprano Meryl Dominguez, mezzo-soprano Megan Moore, tenor Paul Appleby, and bass-baritone Evan Hughes met the challenge, though often singing in motion and sometimes lying prone on platforms across the stage. The stunning performance made a powerful impact.

Six days later, string quartet Brooklyn Rider celebrated their 20th anniversary in a concert that highlighted their eclectic programming taste. The group opened with ensemble violinist Colin Jacobson’s touching tribute to ethnomusicologist Ruth Crawford Seeger, “A Short While To Be Here…,” based on the American folk song “Little Birdie.” Next came Reena Esmail’s haunting “Zeher” (“Poison”), followed by Philip Glass’s hypnotic third string quartet. With special guest Yo-Yo Ma on second cello, they closed with a rhapsodic account of Schubert’s sublime last work, the 1828 String Quintet in C. Their heartfelt encore, an arrangement for quintet (with a juicy solo for Ma) of Osvaldo Golijov’s song “Lua Descolorida” (“Colorless Moon”) delighted the capacity audience, including the composer.

Sixteen, photo by Hilary Scott

The next evening, pioneering British choristers, the Sixteen, and the conductor who founded them in, Harry Christophers, offered a stimulating program of 12 choral works by 12th century Abbess Hildegard of Bingen, Tudor era English composers William Byrd and Thomas Tallis, and contemporary Estonian composer Arvo Part. In shifting combinations, the soprano, alto, tenor, and bass voices of the ensemble blended with perfect intonation, seamless balance, and ravishing warmth. Standout selections included: Hildegard’s stark “Ave, Generosa” (“Hail, high-born lady”); Part’s sonorous “Da pacem, Domine” (“Give Peace, Lord”); and Byrd’s resonant “Tribue, Domine” (“Grant, Lord”).

A gorgeous encore, Byrd’s motet “Diliges Dominum” (“You Shall Love the Lord”), in which two halves of the chorus sing the same music exactly in reverse, brought another varied Ozawa Hall season to a virtuosic close.

REVIEW: Chester Theatre Company, “Mr. Joy”

Town Hall Theater, Chester, MA

www.chestertheatre.org

through August 17, 2025

by C. L. Blacke

When Mr. Joy, a Chinese immigrant, fails to open his shoe repair shop one day, a stream of loyal customers reveals the tragic event that led to his sudden disappearance and how the saintly, elderly man touched each of their lives.

Written by Daniel Koa Beaty, “Mr. Joy” is a commentary on the struggles of a Harlem community with Mr. Joy providing the nexus. The play grapples with systemic racism, gang culture, homelessness, AIDS, and Black Lives Matter. That’s a lot to pack into one play while also offering levity and inspiration. What “Mr. Joy” does not do, however, is tackle the real issues of personal responsibility and social justice or offer any solutions. 

Despite the story’s flaws, Godfrey Simmons’ performance is powerful and riveting. In this one-actor play, nine characters are revealed through therapy sessions, group meetings, and direct engagement with the audience. With just small changes in gait and posture, vocal inflection, and the way he utilizes a messenger bag and black apron, Simmons effortlessly embodies each distinct character (a gangsta granny, an 11-year old girl with AIDS, a rich Black republican businessman, Mr. Joy’s Chinese-American son, a 15-year old revolutionary poet, and a nerdy teen opera singer).

Director Vernice Miller harnesses Simmons’ dynamic power and expansive acting skills and unleashes them in the most uncompromising way—with a presence that fills the theatre and demands attention.

The energy is palpable, but so is the discomfort.

It isn’t just because of stereotypical caricatures (blonde, white women with Kim Kardashian butts and transsexuals who act like drag queens), or that the house lights remain on through a good portion of the 100-minute play (better to see Simmons moving around the theatre by), or even that the shop windows and door of Mr. Joy’s store are mirrored to reflect the audience’s faces (Jeremy Winchester’s subtle insinuation that we, as a society, are to blame?). It’s because audience members are singled out by James, the intimidating homeless painter. Are they supposed to provide spare change or offer up their snacks when asked? And how are they supposed to feel when told to “F--- off” in front of everyone? Perhaps the predominantly white senior citizen audience is not the best fit for this dramatic technique.

Whatever inconsistencies “Mr. Joy” presents, Simmons, under Miller’s direction, closes out Chester Theatre Company’s 36th season with yet another powerhouse performance worthy of every standing ovation.