The Fall Hubbies, Round 1

Ah, another day, another dirty picture on the Hub Review! (Why does Johnny Hamhocks say this isn't hard work?)  But I know you're all getting a little tired of seeing Michael Phelps as the inspiration for the Hubbie Award (which someday, I'm sure, will be carved in lucite and distributed at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion). So I thought I'd find another possible model - the hottie at right seems like a good choice, don't you think? (I know, Johnny, what I do on this blog is so wrong on so many levels!)

But anyway -

The fall season has generally been quite strong, especially in terms of acting.  In fact, we've had more high-quality ensembles operating on various stages than I can remember in the last, oh, thirty years.  Can the scene keep up the good work?  Let's hope so.  But in the meantime, the (many) Hubbies for Best Ensemble go to:

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Lyric Stage - Sam Simahk, Lexie Frare, Michael Borges, Daniel Vito Siefring, Lisa Yuen, Krista Buccellato, Kerri Jill Garbis, Will McGarrahan, De'Lon Grant, directed by Stephen Terrell.

Circle Mirror Transformation, Huntington Theatre - Betsy Aidem, Michael Hammond, Jeremiah Kissel, Nadia Bowers, Marie Polizzano, directed by Melia Bensussen.

Bus Stop, Huntington Theatre - Stephen Lee Anderson, Noah Bean, Will LeBow, Adam LeFevre, Ronete Levenson, Karen MacDonald, Nicole Rodenburg, Henry Stram, directed by Nicholas Martin.

Body Awareness, SpeakEasy Stage - Paula Plum, Adrianne Krstansky, Richard Snee, Gregory Pember, directed by Paul Daigneault.

Aftermath, New York Theatre Workshop, ArtsEmerson - Fajer Al-Kaisi, Barzin Akhavan, Rasha Zamamiri, Rufio Lerma, Maha Chehlaoui, Leila Buck, Ramsey Faragallah, Ryan Shams, Ted Sod, directed by Jessica Blank.

Four Places, Merrimack Rep - Kate Udall, Laura Latreille, Carole Monferdini, and John Wojda, directed by Charles Towers.

Perfect Harmony, Stoneham Theatre - Kelly McCreary, Clayton Apgar, Robbie Collier Sublett, Kobi Libii, Jarid Faubel, David Barlow, directed by Andrew Grosso.


Individual Performances (and another possible Hubbie model, left):

Mikéah Ernest Jennings, Douglas Scott Streater, Amelia Workman - The Shipment, ICA Theatre.

Shana Dirik, Tracy Nygard - A Little Night Music, Metro Stage Company.

Steven Barkhimer, Allyn Burrows - Henry IV, Part II, Actors' Shakespeare Project.

Peter Carey, Nigel Gore, Larry Coen - The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Part I, Lyric Stage.

Janice Duclos, Barbara Meek - Camelot, Trinity Rep.

Robert Lance Mooney, Julie Thomas, Daniel George - Sweeney Todd, Boston Conservatory.

D. B. Bonds, Jennifer Cody, Brynn O'Malley, Lynne Wintersteller - Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, North Shore Music Theatre.

Sheridan Thomas, Georgia Lyman - The Real Inspector Hound, Publick Theatre.

Design

Hard Headed Heart, sets and puppets designed by Blair Thomas, Charlestown Working Theater.

Cherry Docs, set design by Jenna McFarland Lord, New Rep.

Body Awareness, set design by Cristina Tedesco, SpeakEasy Stage.

Bus Stop, set design by James Noone, Huntington Theatre.

Well, that's it for right now - I have to run see a show, because I like to be mean! If I've forgotten anyone, I'll try to fit them into the season-end Hubbie round-up. Which will occur as soon as I find some more hot Speedo models!! ;-)

The 2009 Hubbies, Round One

Well, we're a little more than halfway through the season - and the IRNE awards are next week - so I thought now might be a good time for a quick round of Hubbies, my own virtual awards for acting, design and direction on the local theatre scene (someday to be presented in the shape of Michael Phelps, at left, sculpted in lucite).

Alas, unlike another local critic (who shall remain anonymous, because that's how he signs his reviews!) I can't opine that the current season has been better than ever, despite the recession. Because actually it has seemed pretty weak to me (indeed, the most exciting intellectual material on local stages has been in our dance and musical performances, not our theatrical ones). The ART and the Huntington have continued to stumble, and there have been subtle misfires - along with some very fine individual acting turns - from SpeakEasy, the New Rep and the Lyric.

In fact, the best theatrical news so far this year has been on the fringe, and probably the strongest productions I've seen have been:

Dark Play, or Stories for Boys, at the Apollinaire Theatre: Hubbies for director Danielle Fauteux Jacques, and the entire ensemble of actors: Mark Vashro and Erez Rose (at left), Christine Busler, Brian Quint and Lorna Nogueira.

And another "Best Ensemble" Hubbie must go the cast of The Pain and the Itch, at Company One: Nancy Carroll, Aimee Doherty, Philana Mia, Joe Lanza, Dennis Trainor, Jr., Cedric Lilly, and Rebecca Skye Hamberg, directed by M. Bevin O'Gara.

A runner-up Hubbie should go to the performers of Howard Zinn's Daughter of Venus at the Suffolk University and Boston Playwrights' Theatres: Paul Langton, Ken Cheeseman, Angie Jepson, and Stephen Russell, with a special citation to Alex Pollock. Directed by Wesley Savick.

And the cast of A View of the Harbor at Merrimack Rep deserves recognition as well: Stephanie Fieger, Kyle Fabel and Andrea Cirie, with a special citation to Anderson Matthews, all under the direction of Charles Towers.

Individual performances that have given me particular pleasure over the last few months have included:

Paula Plum (right) and Robert Saoud, The New Century (SpeakEasy Stage);

Aimee Doherty, Cabaret (New Rep) (as well as The Pain and the Itch, Company One);

Stacy Fischer, Uncle Vanya (Boston Art Theatre) and Fool for Love (New Rep);

Will Lyman, Exits and Entrances (New Rep);

Nancy Carroll, The Year of Magical Thinking (Lyric Stage) as well as The Pain and the Itch, Company One;

Cheryl McMahon, Cabaret (New Rep) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (at left, with Spiro Veloudos, Lyric Stage);

Mark Peckham, The Cherry Orchard (Nora Theatre Co.);

Sirena Abalian, Seussical (Wheelock Family Theatre);

Michael Forden Walker, The Duchess of Malfi (Actors' Shakespeare Project);

Tracy Oliverio, The Random Caruso (CentaStage);

and Tim Ruddy, Swansong (Tir Na).

There have also already been enough outstanding designs on our stages to merit a round of Hubbies. Admittedly, in scope and depth, Francis O'Connor's work on Two Men of Florence stands alone - but companies with fewer resources than the Huntington have been working smaller-scaled miracles on their stages as well. So without further ado:

Francis O'Connor, Two Men of Florence, Huntington Theatre (set and costumes).

Campbell Baird, Tranced, Merrimack Rep;

Richard Wadsworth Chambers, A View of the Harbor, Merrimack Rep;

Cristina Todesco, The Pain and the Itch, Company One, and The New Century, SpeakEasy Stage; and

Gail Astrid Buckley, costumes, The New Century, SpeakEasy Stage;

Well, that's all for now; we'll have an update with more Hubbies - and hopefully another sexy shot of Michael - in June.

And the Hubbie goes to . . .

Yes, it's time for one of my periodic backward glances at the best of what's been on the Hub's boards, in which I bestow the "Hubbie," my personal award for artistic excellence, which is, of course, utterly free of the compromises and collusions which beset the processes of other awards (as well as the foolish imperative to limit the award to only one recipient). Therefore the "Hubbie" is totally accurate. Trust me. The only downside of the Hubbie, in fact, is that there isn't an actual Hubbie yet to hand out. But perhaps someday there will be - I'm thinking maybe of a sculpture of Michael Phelps in lucite, holding up something inspiring. But in the meantime . . .

Just to backtrack for a moment - earlier in the season I noted the following superb performances on the local scene:

Maureen Keiller (above), Angie Jepson, The Little Dog Laughed, SpeakEasy Stage;

John Judd, Shining City, Huntington Theatre Company;

Nancy E. Carroll, Paula Plum, and Bobbie Steinbach in The Clean House, the New Rep;

Will McGarrahan and Diego Arciniegas, Some Men, SpeakEasy Stage;

Jeff Gill, Love-Lies-Bleeding, Way Theatre; and

Georgia Lyman, Jeremiah Kissel, The Scene, Lyric Stage.

I'd like to add to that roster the following from later productions in the spring:


Tyler Reilly greets Elizabeth Aspenlieder in Angels in America.

Maurice Parent, Tyler Reilly and Bree Elrod, Angels in America, Boston Theatreworks;

Chelsea Cipolla, This Is Our Youth, Gurnet Theatre Project;

Jonathan Crombie, The Drowsy Chaperone, Broadway Across America;

Cigdem Onat, Amir Arison, The Cry of the Reed, Huntington Theatre Company;

Bhavesh Patel, The Four of Us, Merrimack Repertory Theatre;

Uzo Aduba, Dessa Rose, New Repertory Theatre;

Jennifer Harmon, A Delicate Balance, Merrimack Repertory Theatre;

Paula Plum (again, at left), Karl Baker Olson, The History Boys, SpeakEasy Stage;

Brooks Ashmanskas and Kate Baldwin, with a special citation for the entire cast, She Loves Me, Huntington Theatre Company;

Bianca Marroquin, Eric Ulloa, Bye Bye Birdie, North Shore Music Theatre; and

Georgia Lyman (again), Look Back in Anger, Orfeo Group.

But why limit the awards merely to actors? There was quite a bit of good directing going on this spring - and I think at least four directors deserve special mention:

Nicholas Martin, She Loves Me, Huntington Theatre Company;

Charles Towers, A Delicate Balance, Merrimack Repertory Theatre;

Diego Arciniegas, Travesties, The Publick Theatre; and

Michael Lichtefeld, Bye Bye Birdie, North Shore Music Theatre.

I'd also like to bestow some virtual statuettes on our talented local designers (actually, some are local, some not):

Janie E. Howland, set design, The History Boys, SpeakEasy Stage;



Eric Levenson, set design, and Christopher Fournier, lighting design, Some Men (above), SpeakEasy Stage;

Cristina Todesco, set design,and Jamie Whoolery, projections, The Clean House, New Repertory Theatre;

David R. Gammons, set design, The Tempest, Actors' Shakespeare Project;

John Malinowski, lighting design, King John, Actors' Shakespeare Project;

Cotton Talbot-Minkin, costume design, and Brent Sullivan, lighting design, Imaginary Things, or Treacle from the Well, Imaginary Beasts;

Bill Clarke, set design, and Martha Hally, costume design, A Delicate Balance, Merrimack Repertory Theatre;

Eugene Lee, set design, The Cry of the Reed, Huntington Theatre Company;

David Gallo, set design, The Drowsy Chaperone, Broadway Across America;

James Noone, set design, and Kenneth Posner and Philp Rosenberg, lighting design, She Loves Me, Huntington Theatre Company; and



Howard C. Jones, Bye Bye Birdie (above), North Shore Music Theatre.

There. I'm sure I've left somebody out, but no doubt they will occur to me in the next edition of Hubbies, which I hope to offer about midway through the fall season. Till then!