All stories by Thomas Garvey on BroadwayStars

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Breath-taking Beethoven, and immature Mozart, from Egarr and H&H by Thomas Garvey

Beethoven at about the time of the First Symphony.Last weekend the Handel and Haydn Society performed a fascinating concert that may, in the end, have disproved its own thesis - but was ofte…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 01:47PM
Saturday, February 7, 2015

The Beasts hop to it in this year's panto by Thomas Garvey

Elizabeth Pearson, Erin Eva Butcher, and Michael Underhill get their panto on.  Hub Review readers know by now I'm a big fan of the Imaginary Beast's winter pantos - but I confess it's …

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 12:32PM
Thursday, February 5, 2015

A play close to Perfect by Thomas Garvey

A perfect cast for A Future Perect.  Photos: Cragi Bailey.Ken Urban's A Future Perfect (at SpeakEasy Stage through this weekend) comes saddled with some heavy baggage: its playwright is…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 09:52AM
Saturday, January 31, 2015

Ripped from the headlines at the New Rep by Thomas Garvey

Esme Allen and Lewis D. Wheeler in Muckrakers. Photo: Andrew Brilliant.I'd never argue that Muckrakers (at the New Rep through this weekend) is a perfect play - but it's still the kind …

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 03:10PM
Thursday, January 29, 2015

Durang and Disney and Chekhov at the Huntington by Thomas Garvey

The cast of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Photos: Jim CoxPlaywright Christopher Durang has protested that he didn't intend to write a commercial vehicle when he penned Vanya and Sonia…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 10:58PM
Saturday, January 24, 2015

Short cuts: Midsummer and The Best Brothers by Thomas Garvey

I'm late with comments on Apollinaire's Midsummer and Merrimack Rep's The Best Brothers - and alas, that's basically because I didn't have too much encouraging to say about either one.Courtl…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 01:20PM
Wednesday, January 21, 2015

The world according to Molly by Thomas Garvey

Photo: Mark S. HowardKaren MacDonald's evocation of celebrated Texas columnist Molly Ivins (in Red Hot Patriot, at the Lyric Stage through January 31) is so luminous and thoughtfully cr…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 10:37PM
Sunday, January 18, 2015

How the MFA got this giant wrong by Thomas Garvey

Seated Giant, 1818If you haven't had a chance to check out the MFA's Goya show, this is your last chance, as it closes tomorrow - and you owe it to yourself to try to catch it.But I only say…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 10:51AM
Tuesday, January 13, 2015

More best of Boston, 2014 by Thomas Garvey

What makes a production one of the best of the year?  I imagine there are as many answers to that as there are theatre-goers.But what makes a production one of the next best of the year…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 09:28AM
Wednesday, January 7, 2015

The best of Boston theatre, 2014 by Thomas Garvey

Yes, it's that time of year again - although I'm actually a bit late with my annual look in the cultural rearview. And to tell true, 2014 was not the most spectacular of theatrical years; st…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 10:40PM
Saturday, January 3, 2015

A mixed Bach set from H&H by Thomas Garvey

Scott Allen Jarrett, Sonja DuToit Tengblad, and the musicians of H&H. Photo: James DoyleIt's little known outside musical circles that Handel and Haydn offers a second Christmas concert …

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 02:27PM
Tuesday, December 30, 2014

A fond glance back at The Nutcracker by Thomas Garvey

Diana Albrecht, Kathryn Boren and Lauren Herfindahl.  Photos: Liza Voll.I never got a chance to treat Boston Ballet's The Nutcracker in depth this year - but that doesn't mean I di…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 08:49PM
Thursday, December 25, 2014

Happy Holidays from The Hub Review by Thomas Garvey

Thomas Nast, "Santa Claus," 1881The partner unit and I are now warmly ensconced with relatives in the Maine woods, far from the bustle of Boston - and hope that you, too, are with friends or…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 11:24AM
Wednesday, December 24, 2014

BEMF kicks up its heels with Pergolesi by Thomas Garvey

Erica Schuller and Jesse Blumberg as Livietta and Tracollo. Photos: Kathy WittmanAlmost a month has gone by since the curtain rose and fell on Boston Early Music Festival's pastiche of Pergo…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 07:29AM
Friday, December 19, 2014

Song of the spouse by Thomas Garvey

Paul Greenwood and Penny Fuller in 13 Things About Ed Carpolotti. Photo: Meghan Moore.I suppose anything that brings the luminous Penny Fuller back to town is some cause for celebration.&nbs…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 03:27PM
Thursday, December 18, 2014

Moonbox shines in their Musical of Musicals by Thomas Garvey

Kander & Ebb get theirs in The Musical of Musicals: The Musical!Parodying musical theatre on its own terms hardly counts as a new idea -  the Forbidden Broadway franchise ran for ye…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 06:14AM
Saturday, December 13, 2014

Messiah triumphant by Thomas Garvey

Harry Christophers conducts.  Photo: James Doyle.I was probably not alone in hoping that this year's Messiah at Handel and Haydn would be something special.And judging from the tumult t…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 12:35PM
Tuesday, December 9, 2014

A visually charming Little Prince by Thomas Garvey

Wil Moser, Laura Jo Trexler, and Andrew Barbato chart the stars in The Little Prince.  Photos: Andrew Brilliant.Whenever I hear that another composer and lyricist are adapting Antoine d…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 11:18AM
Sunday, December 7, 2014

Charles Busch loses his balance by Thomas Garvey

The talented cast of The Tale of the Allergist's Wife.  Photos: Mark S. HowardThere are almost too many reasons, I'm afraid, why the current Lyric Stage production of The Tale of the Al…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 11:01PM
Wednesday, December 3, 2014

The Huntington's Awake mostly sings by Thomas Garvey

Will Lebow exhorts his family to awake and sing.  Photos: T. Charles EricksonI can't think of the last time we've seen a play by Clifford Odets get a major production in the Hub.  …

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 12:31PM
Sunday, November 30, 2014

The theatrical bounty of Trip to Bountiful by Thomas Garvey

Cicely Tyson shines for Jurnee Smollett-Bell in The Trip to Bountiful. Photos: Craig Schwartz.I've been around long enough to know a theatrical Rolls when I see one, and trust me, The T…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 10:22PM
Thursday, November 27, 2014

Impressions old and new from Michael Tilson Thomas by Thomas Garvey

Tilson Thomas conducting at a previous performance.  Photo: Kristen LokenI'm very late with an appreciation of the San Francisco Symphony's visit to Celebrity Series last weekend, with …

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 10:14PM

Thoughts on Thanksgiving from The Hub Review by Thomas Garvey

At the left is J.C. Leyendecker's cover for the Saturday Evening Post on Thanksgiving 1924. And gazing at it this morning, I was struck by how it captured something essential to our vision o…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 10:55AM
Sunday, November 23, 2014

Italo Calvino meets Baron von Münchhausen at ArtsEmerson by Thomas Garvey

Rainy-day theatre on an epic scale - the talented men of PigPen Theatre.I know it's a bit late to be raving about The Old Man and the Old Moon (from PigPen Theatre Company at ArtsEmerso…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 01:08PM
Saturday, November 22, 2014

Love and death in Brookline with Boston Lyric Opera by Thomas Garvey

Isolt is forgiven by King Mark; Chelsea Basler and David McFerrin in The Love Potion. Photos: Eric AntoniouSometimes I wonder whether there isn't something in opera that hates the walls of t…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 12:22PM
Thursday, November 20, 2014

Israel Horovitz gives the Hub five hits - and one literal bomb - in "Six Hotels" by Thomas Garvey

Matthew Zahnzinger and Johnnie McQuarley trade war stories in "Speaking of Tushy".It comes about halfway through "Six Hotels," the Hub Theatre Company's kicky compendium of six Israel Horovi…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 10:34PM
Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Lost under the Ether Dome by Thomas Garvey

James Youmans' striking set for Ether Dome. Photos: T. Charles EricksonI suppose playwright Elizabeth Egloff makes no big mistakes in Ether Dome, her sprawling account of the discovery of an…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 11:11PM
Sunday, November 16, 2014

Good news about Bad Jews by Thomas Garvey

Daphna attacks! Alison McCartan, Victor Shopov, and Gillian Mariner Gordon in Bad Jews.  Photos: Craig BaileyI'm afraid anti-Semites will be disappointed with Bad Jews, Joshua Harmon's …

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 02:09PM
Thursday, November 13, 2014

Echoes of Laramie at Merrimack by Thomas Garvey

Todd Lawson and D'Arcy Dersham in Dusk Rings a Bell.  Photos: Meghan Moore.Not all the critics have been kind to Dusk Rings a Bell, the new script by Stephen Belber - who is perhaps bes…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 10:34AM
Monday, November 10, 2014

Boston Ballet's new Swan Lake by Thomas Garvey

Lakeside with the swan maidens. Photos: Rosalie O'ConnorExpectations were high on opening night of Boston Ballet's new version of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. Artistic Director Mikko Nissin…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 10:36PM
Thursday, November 6, 2014

Poems by post, and love at a distance by Thomas Garvey

I can't decide who's cuter, can you?Audiences seem to like the Lyric Stage's Dear Elizabeth, the love letter from Sarah Ruhl to two great American poets, Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell -…

SOURCE: The Hub Review at 09:35AM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards