Every week, WGBH Arts Editor Jared Bowensums up the exhibitions, theater, movies and music you should check out in and around Boston.
THE LION, at Merrimack Repertory Theatre through Sept. 20
Synopsis: Benjamin Scheuer’s love of music, and the guitar in particular, came from his father. He sings about that inspiration in his show, "The Lion," a huge off-Broadway hit. Truth is though, his relationship with his father was much more complicated.
Jared says: "His story is so unbelievably resonant, so emotionally rich. … It surpassed all expectations."
MY FAIR LADY, at Lyric Stage Company of Boston through Oct. 11
Synopsis: This monumental musical by George Bernard Shaw brings commentary about social class in early 20th-century Britain to the forefront as phonetician Henry Higgins attempts to reform lower-class Eliza Doolittle’s cockney accent—motivated by a bet that he can pass off the flower girl as a lady in just six months.
Jared says: "The Lyric Stage Company of Boston has a very intimate space, and you might not necessarily think that a big, sprawling musical like this works—but it does because it gets you right to the heart."
BROKEN GLASS, presented by New Repertory Theatre Company at the Arsenal Center for the Arts through September 27
Synopsis: Sylvia Gellburg, an American living in Nazi Germany, is so heartbroken by the plight of the Jews that she becomes unable to walk. The title of the Arthur Miller's play refers to Kristallnacht ("Broken Glass"), a night of infamous violence against German and Austrian Jews. The New Repertory Theater’s production comes at the centennial of Miller’s birth.
Jared says: "This is Arthur Miller working through all these issues, and really it’s a fascinating piece."
BLACK CHRONICLES II, on view at Harvard’s Cooper Gallery through Dec. 11
Synopsis: A recently discovered trove of photographs in the UK gives us a much more comprehensive picture of black life in Victorian England. They are the stories of royalty, boxing champs and the everyman, all not seen in 125 years.
Jared says: "You see black men and women depicted as they wanted to be and … it’s such a stark contrast to what we know is happening in this country at the time, that it’s very, very poignant."
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