Project #1: Genres Academic Theatre in Boston: Emerson College Theatre

On the Town Music by Leonard Bernstein Book by Adolph Green and Betty Comden (4/19/2007-4/21/2007)

"On the Town was the first musical written by the then youthful Leonard Bernstein"

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/regional/nj/nj378.html

"If you are looking for the best musical comedy around, you might check out On the Town at the Paper Mill Playhouse."

http://www.curtainup.com/onthetownnj.html

A Midsummer Night’s Dream By William Shakespeare (11/9/2007-11/17/2007)

"For those who don't know, Midsummer is Shakespeare's magical classic comedy that involves two pairs of lovers who, after facing a romantic dilemma, flee into the woods only to become the playthings of a group of fairies who are having their own romantic challenges."

http://blogcritics.org/culture/article/theater-review-queens-ny-a-midsummer/

""A Midsummer Night's Dream," one of William Shakespeare's most popular romantic comedies, opens tonight at Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier."

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1N1-0EB770310F6BEA7A.html

Bat Boy Story & Book by Keythe Farley & Brian FlemmingMusic & Lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe (Author) (12/5/2007-12/9/2007)

"Bat Boy, The Musical is a one-of-a-kind musical comedy that tells the story of Edgar, a half-bat/half-boy who mysteriously appears in a small-minded town."

http://www.emerson.edu/emersonstage/shows/0708/batboy.cfm

"What is sad is that this musical should and could have been much better."

http://www.theatrereviews.com/batboy.html

The Philadelphia Story By Philip Barry (2/28/2008-3/1/2008)

"This classic comedy of manners finds that sometimes getting what you want means learning to let go.

http://www.theatreinchicago.com/playdetail.php?playID=1494

"This is a very enjoyable production, if you take it for what it is: a sparkling, fast paced and deliciously wordy comedy."

http://www.musicomh.com/theatre/philadelphia.htm

City of Angels Music by Cy Coleman Lyrics by David Zippel Book by Larry Gelbart (4/24/2008-4/26/2008)

"With the help of Detective Stone, Stine reclaims his self-respect in this musical comedy."

http://www.emerson.edu/emersonstage/shows/0708/city.cfm

"There's nothing novel about show-stopping songs and performances in Broadway musicals, but how long has it been since a musical was brought to a halt by riotous jokes?"

http://theater.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=950DE1DE1139F931A25751C1A96F948260

Lady Windermere's Fan By Oscar Wilde (10/16/2008-10/18/2008)

"Opening the Emerson Stage season is Oscar Wilde’s first comedy, Lady Windermere’s Fan"

http://www.emerson.edu/emersonstage/shows/0809/LWF.cfm

"There is a kind of echoey prologue during which disembodied voices quote the playwright on the subject of society. These nicely set the scene for the comedy of manners to come."

http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/ladywindermere-rev.htm

Pterodactyls By Nicky Silver (10/30/2008-11/1/2008)

"Pterodactyls by contemporary playwright Nicky Silver is a dark comedy about AIDS and the American Dream."

http://www.emerson.edu/emersonstage/shows/0809/Pterodactyls.cfm

"Nicky Silver's off-kilter tragicomedy is about an upper-crust family's dysfunctions of apocalyptic proportions; the script suggests that unless we find ways to adapt in an increasingly complex world, our species could go the way of the dinosaur."

http://www.athenatheatre.com/mt/archives/cat_pterodactyls.php

Little Women Music by Jason HollandLyrics by Mindi Dickstein, Book by Allan Knee (12/3/2008-12/6/2008)

"From the novel that holds a special place in the heart of American literature, comes a new musical which proves this timeless story is still relevant, funny, and heartbreaking today."

http://costamesa.broadwayworld.com/article/Orange_Countys_Chance_Theater_Shows_for_Dec_2009_May_2010_20091215

"At Boston's new Opera House is "Little Women " a musical play based on the beloved novel by Louisa May Alcott featuring Book by Allan Knee with Music by Jason Howland and Lyrics by Mindi Dickstein."

http://www.pmpnetwork.com/ReviewsData/theatre-recent5.htm

Incorriptible By Michael Hollinger (10/22/2009-10/25/2009)

"Black comedy is tricky to write because its nasty merriment is tricky to sustain, especially these days when the times are both tastefully correct and practically unshockable"

http://www.theatermirror.com/CRivt.htm

"At one point in Michael Hollinger's medieval comedy, Incorruptible, a young woman has to hide in a body bag in a monastery storeroom."

http://www.kera.org/artandseek/content/2009/08/04/review-incorruptible-at-circle-theatre/

Into The Woods Book by James Lapine Music by Stephen Sondheim (4/22/2010-4/24/2010)

"Once upon a time, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine wrote a musical called Into the Woods, about what happened after "happily ever after.""

http://www.broadwaytalk.com/regional/la/la41.html

"St. Petersburg Opera production of Into the Woods, which had the first of four performances Friday night, is an opera."

http://blogs.tampabay.com/arts/2009/09/is-it-an-opera-or-a-musical-thats-a-question-stephen-sondheim-is-often-asked-much-to-his-irritation-and-he-usually-answers.html

Project #1: Genres Professional Theatre in Boston: The Huntington Theatre

What the Butler Saw by Joe Orton (3/5/2004 – 4/4/2004)

"But to settle for calling Orton's comedy funny is not to do it justice."

http://theater.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=950DE7D7163AF93AA35750C0A96F948260

"But his satire is as sharp as ever, and his prime targets - mendacity, official fatuousness and the rush to diagnose everything as a neurosis - are if anything even riper"

http://articles.sfgate.com/2009-06-13/entertainment/17210463_1_dr-rance-farce-butler

The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1/7/2005 – 2/6/2005)

"Set in eighteenth-centurion Bath, Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The Rivals is a romantic comedy based around two sets of young lovers and the complications caused by doubt and deception."

http://noordinaryfool.com/2009/07/27/the-rivals/

"In many ways, it’s a conventional comedy of manners."

http://www.listener.co.nz/issue/3457/artsbooks/6765/absolutely_.html

The Sisters Rosensweig by Wendy Wasserstein (11/4/2005 – 12/4/2005)

"perfect comedy-drama with solid acting on the part of the three sisters."

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/regional/sanfran/s765.html

"Wasserstein's hit comedy reunites three Jewish-American sisters"

http://www.goldstar.com/events/san-francisco-ca/the-sisters-rosensweig.html

The Hopper Collection by Mat Smart (2/14/2006 — 3/12/2006)

"This 80-minute, stylish drama reminds me of Edward Albee's Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf."

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/regional/sanfran/s721.html

"The Hopper Collection is not a suspenseful thriller but a quirky, stop-start comedy with the audience dropped smack dab in the middle of things."

http://www.theatermirror.com/CRhopperhuntington.htm

Brendan by Ronan Noone (10/12/2007 ­— 11/17/2007)

"“It’s a comedy,” Noone explains. “I know people expect profound, life-changing works.""

http://thephoenix.com/boston/arts/48350-brendan/

"Billed as a comedy, Brendan is more drama with a few comedic scenes thrown in."

http://www.theatermirror.com/RMGbhnoone.htm

She Loves Me by Masteroff, Harnick, & Bock (5/16/2008 — ­6/15/2008)

"For lush musical-comedy romanticism, it's hard to beat She Loves Me"

http://www.theatermania.com/new-jersey/reviews/11-2004/she-loves-me_5291.html

"a crown jewel of the Golden Age of the Broadway musical"

http://broadwaytalk.com/regional/nj/nj70.html

How Shakespeare Won the West by Richard Nelson (9/5/2008 ­— 10/5/2008)

"Nelson's new play also tends to ramble, sometimes veers jarringly between comedy and tragedy, and generally feels a little shaggy around the edges."

http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2008/09/16/shakespeare_strikes_gold/

"The comedy, receiving its world premiere, may be based on actual accounts, but it feels like a pastiche of Deadwood, the Bard, and jovial comic farce"

http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=entertainment&sc=theatre&sc2=reviews&sc3=performance&id=79089

The Miracle at Naples by David Grimm (4/3/2009 ­— 5/9/2009)

"A series of lovers romp through the town piazza seeking pleasure and finding love in this outrageously smart and bawdy comedy from David Grimm"

http://www.americantowns.com/ma/boston/events/the-miracle-at-naples-by-david-grimm-14

"David Grimm and Peter DuBois collaborate on a saucy period comedy"

http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2009/04/10/all_for_naughty/

All My Sons by by Arthur Miller (1/8/2010 — 2/7/2010)

"Sure it's a melodrama mounted on a soap box"

http://www.curtainup.com/allsons.html

"gripping look into the hearts of the characters in the drama"

http://www.patriotledger.com/entertainment/x1301080424/THEATER-REVIEW-All-My-Sons-has-a-secret-to-spill

Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo (3/5/2010 — 4/4/2010)

"Gina Gionfriddo’s comedy of bad manners, a tangled tale of love, sex and ethics among a quartet of men and women in their 30s, is as engrossing as it is ferociously funny, like a big box of fireworks fizzing and crackling across the stage from its first moments to its last."

http://theater.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/theater/reviews/09shaw.html

"Gina Gionfriddo’s “Becky Shaw,” an absorbing comedy-drama about a blind date that threatens to become a marriage-devouring black hole"

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/theater/01humana.html