Reviews Archives

Iconic Outings: “Sunday in the Park with George” at the Cape Rep Theatre

August 4, 2025

Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George won the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for drama, one of only 10 musicals to do so, and its current production—staged at the Cape Rep Theater in Brewster—should be award-winning as well: this is an evening of light and...

Brokenness Personified: Death of a Salesman at the Harbor Stage Company

July 18, 2025

When we left the theater after seeing Death of a Salesman, I turned to my companion and asked, “what did you think?” He thought for a moment and then said, “It’s not for the faint of heart, but that’s the way epic tales of woe often are.” I...

A Family Affair: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at the Provincetown Theater

July 17, 2025

I’m not going to bury the lede: this is a wonderful production of a brilliant play. Go see it, go see it, go see it! Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is an American farce written by masterful playwright Chistopher Durang that has, yes, some inane...

We Still Remember: Sacco & Vanzetti’s Divine Comedy at WHAT

June 29, 2025

I first heard the names Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti when I was thirteen years old, through the famous song Here’s to You, written by Ennio Morricone and Joan Baez for a 1971 film about the men. I heard it sung in French by Georges Moustaki (real...

Dream a Little Dream of Me: “Midsummer Dreamers” at the Cape Rep

June 21, 2025

Something unusual is happening to me here: I cannot find words adequate to communicate the feeling, the intensity, the sheer beauty of Midsummer Dreamers, now playing through July 13 at the Cape Rep Theatre in Brewster. Kirsten Peacock and Nick...

“Dinner and threshing”: The Bohemian at the Harbor Stage Company

June 21, 2025

Willa Cather is said to have written to a friend, in apparent surprise, “I have actually sold The Bohemian Girl. Isn’t that a jolt?” Yet many scholars see the story as the piece that honed her skills, the voice that would later develop My Antonia. What...

Family Dynamics and More: A Review of “Haven’t Killed in Years” by Amy K. Green

June 19, 2025

Numerous authors and filmmakers have created stories around our curiosity about the families of criminals—what did they know, how did they survive, all those questions. Amy K. Green’s new novel Haven’t Killed in Years takes up the question through her...

A “Barn-Raiser” of a Performance: Every Brilliant Thing at Cape Rep

May 12, 2025

It’s a play about depression and suicide. And you’ll leave the performance smiling. Sound daft? It could if you were talking about anything other than Every Brilliant Thing, a one-man production starring Lewis D. Wheeler, now playing in the beautiful...

A Heavenly Return: “Angels in America, Part II: Perestroika” at the Provincetown Theater

May 11, 2025

There is, it turns out, a formula for stage magic: ten impressive actors, an indescribable set design, a brilliant time-tested script, and an inspired director. That’s what you’ll see at the Provincetown Theater’s production of Angels in America, Part...

Mystery novel review: *I Only Read Murder*

December 8, 2024

Miranda Abbott, previously recognized for her role as a detective clergyperson on a major television series, finds herself in A Situation: a cryptic postcard calls her to a secluded town where she engages in a local theater’s amateur play. But when an...