Month: January 2026

‘Library Lion’ Is As Much a Delight for Grownups as It Is For Kids

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Ken Crossman as Kevin and Jayden Declet as Michelle play with the lion (puppeteer Amy Liou). Photo by Nile Scott Studios

By Shelley A. Sackett

Last Sunday, I was probably the only adult at the noon performance of Library Lion unaccompanied by kids and/or grandkids. For 70 uninterrupted minutes, I was treated to an uplifting, high quality production of one of the most delightful musical shows I’ve seen in a while. Plus, I had the dual luxuries of watching a room full of youngsters and eavesdropping on their comments without having to be “in charge” of any of them.

Before the curtain even comes up, there is enchantment in the air. Three “agents of magic” wearing khaki jumpsuits and matching hats mount the stairs to the stage and stand in front of the curtain. (They later double as puppeteers). One flicks her wrist and the music comes up (clarinet, cello, piano); another’s gesture turns down houselights and the third cups her hand and lifts it, raising the curtain on the most glorious library this side of Hogwarts.

The audience responds with squeals and applause — and those were the adults!

Mr. McBee (played with charm and a dose of OCD by Robert Saoud), the librarian, sings his introduction to the library and the all-important rules that must be obeyed while visiting — no shouting , no eating/drinking and no running. When he breaks the fourth wall and points to a child in the second row (“This means you — no candy”), he has the crowd eating out of his hand.

“Oh, library,” he rhapsodizes, “you are my shrine.”

The plot is fairly straightforward. Kevin (Aaron Mancaniello is a riot) and Michelle (Jayden Declet) have come to the library to work on an assignment. They are to find fables and report on them in their classrooms. Mr. McBee is all rules and stuffiness, reminding the youngsters that the library is a serious place. Kevin, exasperated, finally asks “But where’s the fun?”

On cue, head librarian Miss Merriweather (lithe and lovely Janis Hudson) arrives. She is as ethereal and playful as Mr. McBee is grumpy and earthbound. The most surprising thing about the stuffy Mr. McBee, in fact, is the passion igniting the flaming torch he carries for her.

With Miss Merriweather at the helm, the library takes on a different pallor. Books let you travel the world without leaving your chair, she tells them. Storybooks come to life, thanks to stagecraft special touches. Blue silk doubles as an ocean and books mounted on sticks open and shut like umbrellas. “Extraordinary things really happen when you read,” she explains.

Janis Hudson as Mrs. Merriweather confronts the Lion in Adam Theater’s 2025 production of LIBRARY LION.

Soon it’s story time with Storyteller (Clara Hevia), and the three puppeteers reappear with the star of the show — the lion. And what a lion it is.

Jim Henson Creature Shop has created a magnificent creature, all mane, tail and emotion. The slightest angle of head, the tilting of eyelids or the placement of paw or tail reveals a range of emotion that is deeper and more varied than Mr. McBee’s. Everyone is delighted — everyone except Mr. McBee, of course.

Miss Merriweather prevails when he complains, asking if the lion has broken any rules. Caught in his own web, he has to admit the lion is blameless. “Then let him be,” she chides.

Eventually, Mr. McBee finds a reason to banish the lion, but when he realizes he was wrong, he makes amends and counsels the children that “even adults can make mistakes.” Other life lessons follow. First impressions are not be trusted because fear of the unfamiliar might color them an incorrect hue. You can’t tell a book by its cover. Forgiveness and apologies are important for children and adults and sometimes, it’s O.K. to bend or even break rules depending on the situation.

Although the Adam Theater is a contemporary theater for young audiences, dedicated to making high quality theater accessible to all youngsters, Library Lion is a top-notch production as suitable for adults as their progeny. Skilled musicians, a perky score, a libretto full of rhyming couplets and double entendres, charming song and dance numbers, and a talented cast make for a thoroughly enjoyable and refreshing theatrical experience. Treat yourself to a vacation from the news and the weather and hi-tail it to see Library Lion while you still have time. You won’t regret it.

Library Lion’ —Adapted from the book “Library Lion” by Michelle Knudsen and illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. Directed by Ran Bechor. Book and Lyrics by Eli Bejaoui; Music by Yoni Rechter and Roy Friedman; Songs composed by Yoni Rechter; Puppet Design & Build by Jim Henson Creature Shop. Scenic Design by Cameron Anderson; Costume Design by Ula Shebchuv; Lighting Design by Daniel H. Jentzen; Sound Design by Irene Wang. Presented by Adam Theater at The Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont St., Boston through Jan. 25.

For more information, visit adamtheater.org/library-lion

A Therapy Session Becomes a Cat-and-Mouse Thriller in SpeakEasy’s ‘Job’

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Josephine Moshiri Elwood and Dennis Trainor Jr. in Speakeasy Stage’s ‘JOB’
Photos by Benjamin Rose Photography

By Shelley A. Sackett

Playwright Max Wolf Friedlich wastes no time establishing the life-or-death stakes in his two-person thriller, Job. The lights come up in media res. A woman holds a gun pointed directly at a man’s head. Jane (Josephine Moshiri Elwood) is shaking, enraged and desperate. Lloyd (Dennis Trainor, Jr.), clearly shaken, holds a clipboard and a pen. “Let’s just talk this through,” Lloyd entreats, right before the first of many, many abrupt blackouts, flashes and eerie sounds.

Seconds later, in the next tableau, Jane still holds the gun to Lloyd’s head, but he wears a cocky smirk. “You did it,” he spits at her. “You were right about everything.” Another blackout.

These staccato scenes repeat until the set and scene settle and hints at who/what/where and why are revealed. “… and whatever is happening in your life, I promise, we can talk about it, I will listen,” Lloyd coos. Jane, at last, relaxes and lowers her gun, seeming to come to her senses. In a flash, chameleon-like, she is terrified. “This is not who I am, I would never like -FUCK! Are you going to call the police?!” she shouts, followed soon by a compliant, “Can we keep going?”

All of this occurs within the first five minutes.

Lloyd, it turns out, is a therapist who specializes in work crises. He has been assigned to evaluate Jane’s mental fitness to return to work at a Bay Area tech company where she is a content moderator (which she calls “user care”). She spends all day watching and searching for violent, sexually perverse videos so she can report and block them. When she describes in graphic detail the ugliness she encounters, she drives home the toxic fungus of humanity that can thrive undetected in the dark underbelly of the Internet.

Like Jeanne d’Arc, she is a crusader, keeping the world safe for the billions who spend as much time in the virtual world as they do in the physical. “The internet isn’t some fringe ‘young people’ thing anymore – it’s where we live. It’s our home and I am the front line of defense − there’s nobody else,” she tells Lloyd.

What brought her to this mandated session was an in-office mental breakdown that included a screaming fit atop furniture, which a heartless co-worker recorded and posted to, ironically, the Internet. Unsurprisingly, the video went viral, reaching meme status. She is a one-woman Millennial vigilante, intelligent, combative, edgy, obsessed with the responsibility and power of her job, willing to “extract the darkness” of the online hellish landscape by sponging it. “It’s a privilege to suffer as much as I do,” she states. Her mission is ordained — to expose and root out Evil, “the kind God warns about.”

She’s also more than a little scary, even more so when holding a gun pointed at Lloyd’s head.

Lloyd, by contrast, is a sixty-something Boomer, an ex-hippie who hates big corporations and the type of technology Jane’s generation has foisted onto his previously crunchier environment. His office is a realistic hodge-podge of plants, posters and shabby chic. He is as calm as she is manic, as resentful of the Gen Z generation and how they have changed the global landscape as Jane is of his generation’s hypocrisy and the NIMBYism that created a housing shortage blamed on tech workers.

He is also earnest and patronizing (“My only job is to help you”), manipulative and judgmental. And, like Jane, he believes no one can do his job as well as he can. “I was destined to be your doctor,” he says matter-of-factly.

They are well-matched intellectually, their conversations sometimes morphing into a strange recasting of My Dinner with André. You can almost imagine them, under other circumstances, calmly and deftly debating the merits and demerits attributable to Boomer and Millennial/Gen Z generations.

To describe Elwood’s portrayal of Jane as flawless is an understatement. She doesn’t just play the part; she embodies it. Likewise, Trainor, Jr. is splendid as the slippery Lloyd, shifting gears with finesse and competence. Bassham’s direction is crisp and well-paced. The scripted abrupt blackouts and flashes, while effective at revealing Jane’s overstimulated mind, unfortunately become increasingly ineffective as their use increases.

Friedlich has peppered his taut, edge-of-your-seat adventure with punchy dialogue and hard-hitting questions. When does a job take on the attributes of a divine summons? How much evil can one person absorb before succumbing to its toxicity? At what point does self-sacrifice become self-preservation, and is it worth it?

Describing the details of the plot any further would risk tripping the spoiler alert buzzer, but suffice it say that Job is hardly an 80-minute therapy session. Rather, the play has more in common with a hostage situation and generational duel (and the ending is indeed a quintessential — and literal — showstopper). Highly recommended for those looking for a timely production with stellar performances and a smart, edgy script.

‘Job’ — Written by Max Wolf Friedlich. Directed by Marianna Bassham. Scenic Design by Peyton Tavares; Lighting Design by Amanda E. Fallon; Sound Design by Lee Schuna; Costume Design by E. Rosser. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Co., Calderwood Pavilion, Boston, through Feb. 7.

For more information, visit https://speakeasystage.com/

Theater Mirror Reviewers ‘Best Of’ Lists for 2025

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Theater Mirror

Shelley A. Sackett

Caleb Levin, Odin Vega, Lyla Randall in ‘Fun Home’ at the Huntington. Photos by Marc J Franklin

While 2025 had its theatrical hits and misses, there was much to celebrate, especially among some smaller theaters presenting edgier and more provocative works. It was a varied year, with big, splashy musicals; sharp, intimate family dramas; and risk-taking, inventive productions that pushed the envelope on what we label “theater.” Once again, the vibrant greater Boston theater scene, with its stellar stable of directors, actors and creative production teams, blessed its patrons (and reviewers!) with an abundance of riches, for which we all should give thanks.

In descending order, my list is:

  1. Hamilton (Broadway in Boston)

A flawless production of the play that just keeps giving. Broadway in Boston’s production at Citizens Opera House was as good as it gets, from set design to actors to choreography and musical direction.

Adapted from Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel memoir, the storyline follows a family’s journey through sexual orientation, gender roles, suicide, emotional abuse, grief, loss, and lesbian Bechdel’s complicated relationship with her tightly closeted father. A brilliant script and score and superb production elevated this potentially gloomy tale to one of the year’s top performances.

Gloucester Stage effectively took the road less traveled in its presentation of the 80-year-old classic with an interesting and thought-provoking production that allowed the audience to experience Williams’ script anew through an exciting, hyper-focused and refractive lens.

There is so much to praise about SpeakEasy Stage Company’s ‘A Man of No Importance,’ director Paul Daigneault’s swansong production after leading the company he founded for 33 years, it’s hard to know where to begin. The ensemble of first-rate actors, musicians, choreography, set design, 20 songs, and brilliant directing were the shining constellation at the epicenter of this production that ends on an uplifting note, one that is as relevant and helpful today as it might have been in Oscar Wilde’s day..

No one can take his audience on an emotional and artistic roller coaster like Igor Golyak, founder and artistic director of Arlekin Players Theatre & Zero Gravity (Zero-G) Theater Lab. With Our Class, he introduced us to characters we initially relate to and bond with, spun an artistically ingenious cocoon, and then told a tale that ripped our heart to shreds and left us too overwhelmed to even speak. The acting was indescribably sublime, each actor both a searing individual and a perfect ensemble member.

In substance, Life and Times of Michael K tells the extraordinary story of an ordinary man. Adapted from the 1983 Booker Prize winner, written by South African novelist J. M. Coetzee, it details the life of the eponymous Michael K and his ailing mother during a fictional civil war in South Africa.

As adapted and directed by Lara Foot in collaboration with the Tony award-winning Handspring Puppet Company, this simple tale becomes the captivating and transportive production. Michael K. (and a cast of many) also happens to be a three-foot-tall puppet made of wood, cane, and carbon. “Must see” hardly does it justice; this is a groundbreaking pilgrimage into the multisensorial world of out-of-the-box theater.

This sunny, upbeat two-hander musical romantic comedy was as beguiling as it was impeccably acted, directed and produced. Unlike too many musicals these days, Two Strangers has a complicated plot and fetching music with lyrics that are Sondheim-esque in their conversational fluency and relevance. Add to that a smart, slick set, superb band, impeccable direction, and perfectly matched and equally talented actors for a full-blown fabulous evening of musical theater at its finest.

  • Rent (North Shore Music Theatre)

NSMT is tailor-made for musicals with its theatre-in-the-round, signature creative set designs and talented casts. With Rent, the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical set in New York City’s East Village from 1989 to 1990, it managed to pay homage to a classic that defined an era while also spotlighting its relevance to today.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Hall spun his magic, culminating in a monologue set against a rapid montage of people, movements and events from 1968 to 2024. The effect was as spellbinding as the magical 90 minutes we just spent in the presence of greatness, from the acting, writing, and direction to witnessing the final hours in the life of a man whose legacy is deservedly legendary.

300 Paintings (A.R.T.)

In 2021, Aussie comedian Sam Kissajukian quit stand-up, rented an abandoned cake factory, and became a painter. Over the course of what turned out to be a six-month manic episode, he created three hundred large-scale paintings, documenting his mental state through the process. His Drama Desk Award-nominated solo performance brought the audience on an original and poignant ride exposing his most intimate moments. The opportunity to graze among the real art was after show icing on a delicious cake.

    Runners Up:

    1.  Is This A Room (Apollinaire Theater Company)

    A stunning production based on the F.B.I. interrogation of whistleblower Reality Winner.

    2. The 4th Witch (Manual Cinema)

    Hands down, the most wildly exciting and inventive production of the year. Manual Cinema pulled out all the stops, with shadow puppetry, live music, and actors in silhouette who redefined and reimagined theater. Inspired by Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a girl escapes the ravages of war and flees into the dark forest where she is rescued by a witch who adopts her as an apprentice. As she becomes more skilled in witchcraft, her grief and rage draw her into a nightmarish quest for vengeance against the warlord who killed her parents: Macbeth. Timely, relevant, and edge-of-your-seat engaging.

    3. Sweeney Claus (Gold Dust Orphans)

    Ryan Landry’s brilliant, irreverent, laugh-out-loud mash-up of Sweeney Todd and reindeer-randy Santa Claus brought camp to a new level. Terrific talent, costumes and choreography.

    4. My Dinner with André (Harbor Stage Company)

    A corner booth, fancy fare and tasty conversation — who doesn’t remember the cult frenzy caused by Louis Malle’s 1981 110-minute film that enchanted audiences, defied pigeon-holing and raised the bar on the “art” referred to as conversation? For those who found the film charmingly quirky, the splendid production at BCA Plaza Black Box Theatre was right up your alley.

    5. The Piano Lesson (Actors’ Shakespeare Project)

    Only stiff competition and the shadow of the high bar set by Seven Guitars in 2023 prevented ASP’s excellent production of Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama from being among this year’s top ten.