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Boston Globe
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Two strangers carry a budding romance, and a cake, across New York
The musical, by Jim Barne and Kit Buchan, makes the most of Tutty's irresistible charm as the naïve fish-out-of-water, in contrast to Pitts's jaded Robin. Tutty and Pitts have terrific chemistry, and Tutty absolutely delivers on Robin's description of Dougal as 'a Golden Retriever with less boundaries.' His opening number, 'New York,' perfectly captures Dougal's childlike excitement about his 48-hour adventure in a city he expects to be defined by the cherished movies he's seen (including 'Taxi Driver,' 'Midnight Cowboy,' and 'Big'). Advertisement Despite her eye rolls, it's clear Robin finds his comically dorky impersonations more endearing than she'd like to admit. Tutty has impressive vocal chops and dance moves, both of which feel wild and free — when he lets them explode — even though we know they were precisely rehearsed and choreographed. Advertisement Pitts's character is explored in 'What'll It Be,' a heartfelt ballad set in the Bump and Grind, the coffee shop where Robin works, as she wonders what will be next for her. Pitts, too, is a stunning singer and actor, giving the audience a haunting tour of her childhood neighborhood in 'This Is the Place' with all the love and regret that can entail. Tutty and Pitts in "Two Strangers." Nile Scott Studios and Maggie Hall Director and choreographer Tim Jackson moves his two performers effortlessly up, down, and around Soutra Gilmour's inventive baggage claim area set. Gilmour's piles of suitcases turn to provide different scenes, even as an outer turntable allows the actors to cover a lot of ground — a visit to the ice rink at Rockefeller Center, a sumptuous Plaza hotel room, an Uber ride and a coffee shop, and even a Chinese restaurant. Gilmour's collection of seemingly nondescript luggage also provides a delightfully surprising array of closets and cabinets as needed. Every inch of the space is employed in a climactic booze-fueled spree through New York, courtesy of Dougal's estranged father's credit card. Despite the limitations of creating dance routines that can be safely executed on a narrow, moving turntable, the couple's fearless energy, whipped up lighting, and spot-on timing (watch for the appearance of his tux jacket) are perfectly combined. Barne and Buchan's musical numbers are pleasantly, sometimes humorously derivative, with a special nod to Stephen Sondheim's patter songs in 'The Hangover Duet.' Jeffrey Campos leads the crisp five-piece band (keyboards, guitar, bass, drums and percussion). Advertisement The magical moments emerge from the clever and funny banter between Dougal and Robin, which reveals more about their characters than the exposition-heavy phone calls and letters that slow the action down. This is perfectly summed up by a subplot in which Dougal helps Robin find a match on a dating app. His sweet understanding of what she's looking for could have been more deeply explored. 'Two Strangers' finishes with a big, heartwarming number, 'If I Believed' — spoiler alert, there is snow — leaning more into cliché than necessary. Like a Hallmark movie, 'Two Strangers' boasts enough humor and whimsy to be sweet and superficially appealing, but at the end, all we're left with is the superficial. TWO STRANGERS (CARRY A CAKE ACROSS NEW YORK) Musical by Jim Barne and Kit Buchan. Directed and choreographed by Tim Jackson. Music direction by Jeffrey Campos. A Kiln Theatre production, produced by the American Repertory Theater. Loeb Drama Center, Brattle Street, Cambridge, through July 13. Tickets from $35. 617-547-8300,
Boston Globe
20-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
A disjointed ‘Odyssey' can't find its way home
Advertisement 'The Odyssey' stars Wayne T. Carr as Odysseus, the king of Ithaca; Andrus Nichols as Penelope, his wife and queen; Carlo Albán as Telemachus, their callow son; and Hamill herself as Circe, a sorceress. Odysseus is heading home after the decade-long Trojan War — a journey that takes an additional 10 years, with sundry adventures along the way, including encounters with the Cyclops, the Sirens, and Circe, who turns Odysseus's band of not-so-merry men into pigs. Penelope, meanwhile, is waiting at home year after year, working on a tapestry of her husband, besieged by increasingly menacing suitors but growing in self-confidence. Hamill made her reputation with witty, contemporized stage adaptations of 19th-century novels, including Jane Austen's 'Sense and Sensibility,' The stakes are infinitely higher in 'The Odyssey,' obviously, than maneuvering for a higher social position or fending off a bloodsucking vampire. Andrus Nichols and Wayne T. Carr in "The Odyssey." Nile Scott Studios and Maggie Hall Hamill is more than capable of tackling weighty matters, but the marriage of her voice with Homer's voice just doesn't work. The strain shows in multiple ways, including the four-letter words Hamill has sprinkled throughout her script — often a sign of desperation in a writer. As to why she has a character in ancient Greece singing a tune to the melody of 'Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,' your guess is as good — and probably better — than mine. Advertisement In a program note, Hamill notes that her mission as a writer is to bring to literary classics 'a specifically feminist lens.' That's an invaluable perspective; if the experiences of women are ignored or muted, the story is incomplete. And Hamill does indeed foreground Penelope, as well as Circe. If only the playwright had given them more interesting things to say. Too much of the dialogue is stilted or predictable. You can see some lines coming down Brattle Street. When Odysseus's second-in-command Polites (Jason O'Connell) boasts: 'I have been a tool in the hands of the divine,' Circe retorts: 'You've been a tool, all right.' When Penelope remarks: 'The cock is crowing,' her young lover Amphinomus (Keshav Moodliar) responds with a grin: 'Oh, it is.' In fairness, Hamill does land a few well-aimed blows, as when, speaking of Helen of Troy, Penelope says bitingly: 'Men will blame whatever gods they wish, in pursuit of their own wants.' 'The Odyssey' doesn't really achieve its other goal: to explore the lasting trauma of war and the possibilities of healing from psychological wounds. Nichols does not quite seem at home in the role of Penelope, as if she's still trying to get a fix on her character (Albán, as Telemachus, seems engaged in a similar struggle). Odds are Nichols will figure it out as the run proceeds at the Loeb Drama Center. She's a talented actress who gave a memorably visceral performance in 2015 at the Central Square Theater as Joan of Arc in George Bernard Shaw's 'Saint Joan.' Advertisement Carr fares better as Odysseus. He's persuasive as a genuine man of action and a man of intellect, tormented by an awareness of his character flaws but more inclined to rue them than to fix them. In sardonic prophecy, Odysseus predicts: 'We'll all become [expletive] poetry, you wait.' And theater, too. And soon, film: It was announced this week that Cambridge's own Matt Damon will play Odysseus in Christopher Nolan's film adaptation of Homer's poem, due for release next year. THE ODYSSEY Play by Kate Hamill. Based on the epic poem by Homer. Directed by Shana Cooper. Presented by American Repertory Theater at Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge, through March 16. Tickets start at $35. 617-547-8300, Don Aucoin can be reached at
