Do you like Broadway? How about Off Broadway? Or how about Off Off Broadway or Nowhere Near Broadway?
From the expected (and welcome) return of blockbuster musicals to avant garde dance performances, the spring theater season has Stephen Sondheim and Tony Kushner, brand new works and old favorites.
“K-I-S-S-I-N-G”
Now through April 2, The Calderwood Pavilion/BCA
Lala is busy making art on the back of pizza boxes when a broiling summer pushes her toward some K-I-S-S-I-N-G with Dani and Albert. Twins, Dani is a budding feminist while Albert is a sweet-talker. Somewhere between romance, love and lust, Lala looks for inspiration in this production from the always awesome Black theater company Front Porch Arts Collective.
“Curriculum II”
March 10 – 12, Institute of Contemporary Art
This dance work pulls inspiration from Cameroonian philosopher Achille Mbembe, Nigerian-born Afrofuturism scholar Louis Chude-Sokei, and Jamaican writer Sylvia Wynter. Choreographed by Tony-winner Bill T. Jones and Janet Wong, “Curriculum II” investigates race, technology and humanity through movement.
“Into the Woods”
March 21 – April 2, Emerson Colonial Theatre
With three Tony award wins, this 1987 (now) classic musical reimagines Brothers Grimm-inspired wickedness in revolutionary ways. Sondheim’s fractured fairy tale comes to Boston directly from Broadway. And the production brings along Broadway stars Montego Glover, Stephanie J. Block, Sebastian Arcelus and Gavin Creel from the NYC production.
“My Fair Lady”
April 18 – 30, Opera House
Can Eliza Doolittle be a champion instead of an experiment? Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of the classic thinks so. The Theater has had past success with thought-to-be-outdated musicals such as “The King & I” and “South Pacific” so why shouldn’t this tale of a lower-class London woman and a chauvinistic speech therapist be turned on its head?
“Angels in America”
April 20 – May 21, Central Square Theater
Bedlam Artistic Director Eric Tucker has reinvented a number of masterpieces for Cambridge audiences – see Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” and George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion.” Now Tucker takes on a modern masterpiece. “Angels in America” crosses the boundaries between heaven and New York City in the ’80s to explore the devastation of the AIDS crisis.
“Omar”
May 4-7, Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre
Never seen an opera? Let this be your first. Musical polymath Rhiannon Giddens and “Get Out” score composer Michael Abels tell the tale of Omar Ibn Said – sold into slavery in 1807 at the age of 37, Omar kept his Muslim faith alive despite the crushing evil of his captors.
“The Prom”
May 5 – June 3, Speakeasy Stage
If you love classic Broadway and love the idea of lampooning classic Broadway, check out “The Prom.” When a bunch of washed up theater stars land in a small-town during prom season, cultures clash in obvious-but-welcome and unexpected-and-silly ways.
