This week, Jared Bowen brings the ballet with "Parts In Suite," then reviews "Bedlam's Hamlet & Saint Joan" presented by ArtsEmerson. Plus, a look at the Boch Center production of "The Humans."
"Parts In Suite," presented by Boston Ballet through April 7
Boston Ballet continues its season with "Parts In Suite," featuring works by three esteemed choreographers. The performance opens with Jorma Elo's "Bach Cello Suites," featuring live music from cellist Sergey Antonov. Making his Boston debut is New York City Ballet Resident Choreographer Justin Peck with "In Creases." Choreographer William Forsythe, now in his second year with Boston Ballet, closes the show with the company premiere of "Pas/Parts 2018."
Jared said "Parts In Suite" is "a program that reveals just how sharp, clean and aggressive Boston Ballet has become. The company is formidable, superbly translating the vision of this crop of talented and very exacting choreographers."
"Bedlam's Hamlet & Saint Joan," presented by ArtsEmerson through March 25
ArtsEmerson has teamed up with New York's Bedlam Theatre Company to present "Hamlet" and "Saint Joan," placing William Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw’s creations side by side. These stripped-down productions are performed in repertory on alternating nights at the Cutler Majestic Theatre, with just four actors playing 49 characters across both shows.
"There is glorious majesty in Bedlam’s Saint Joan," said Jared. "You in the audience feel not that you are in the theater, but that you are of it. And that makes for both an exhilarating and wrenching experience as you connect with the wide-eyed and undaunted Joan."
"The Humans," presented by the Boch Center at the Shubert Theatre through March 25
The 2016 Tony Award-winning play "The Humans" has arrived at the Boch Center. The story follows Erik Blake and his Pennsylvania family as they break tradition and spend Thanksgiving dinner in Lower Manhattan at his daughter's less-than-desirable new apartment. Here, the struggles of the middle class are scary enough to echo the things that go bump in the night. "In any family, the holidays are often not for the faint of heart," said Jared, "and in Stephen Karam’s deliciously rendered Blake family, there is the very identifiable family connection that forever bonds family regardless of the outside forces conspiring to rip it apart — especially in the confines of Thanksgiving dinner!"
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