Baritones Unbound Noted singers Nathan Gunn, Mark Delavan, and Marc Kudisch star in this informal celebration of the baritone in classical and popular music. The baritone range is located between tenor and bass—”between heaven and earth,” as Kudisch (who conceived and cocreated the show) notes. In story and song, the men trace the evolution of “the uncommon voice of the common man” in selections from opera (Mozart, Verdi, Wagner), operetta (Gilbert and Sullivan), American musical theater (Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, Porter, Sondheim, Jerry Herman), and the Great American Songbook (Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas”). There’s even a smidgen of rock ‘n’ roll: Elvis Presley’s “It’s Now or Never,” in a medley with the 1960 hit’s source, the 1898 Neapolitan song “‘O Sole Mio.” Gunn’s creamy, well-placed voice, connection to the lyrics, and casually charismatic stage presence set him apart from his colleagues at the opening matinee I attended. Kudisch’s upper-register nasality and Delavan’s sometimes foggy tone produced an uneven blend and some out-of-tune harmonies in the group numbers, and Delavan’s rendition of the great “Lonely Room” aria from Oklahoma! substituted a showoffy and dramatically unearned alternate ending for the one Richard Rodgers wrote, reminding me of Wagner’s famous phrase “effects without causes.” (But the audience ate it up.) Directed by David Dower, this Boston-born touring show features musical direction by pianist Timothy Splain. —Albert Williams
The Orchestra Finnish playwright Okko Leo’s 2013 comedy typifies Akvavit Theatre’s offerings over the past five years: droll, unmoored, unendingly peculiar. Five-piece rockers the Everlast had one hit 20 years ago. Now they play one wedding a month. Self-absorbed lead singer Jase makes one final, preposterous stab at success: he’s asked pop star Simone Butterfly, sister to one of his bandmates, to stop by the wedding in hopes she’ll join the band. Leo coyly sets the play in the band’s nondescript dressing room, a cruddy limbo where long-repressed dreams and longer-repressed resentments hold dominion. Director Brad Akin finds ample humor and pathos as the band bumbles toward rejuvenation, but when the play devolves into an unaccountable hostage situation, internal logic evaporates—along with most of the comedy. —Justin Hayford
Twist Your Dickens There are the reverent Christmas shows and the subversive ones. Goodman Theatre has had reverent covered since 1977, with its heirloom version of A Christmas Carol. Last year it expanded into subversion, presenting the Second City’s Twist Your Dickens—a profane, Bizarro World rendering of the Scrooge story, written by Colbert Report veterans Peter Gwinn and Bobby Mort. The first iteration had its nasty pleasures, including a holiday party hosted by Tiny Tim for his wee pals with rickets, dropsy, and advanced malnutrition. The second? Same pleasures, not quite so fresh. Inasmuch as almost nothing has changed, the show doesn’t reward annual viewings. Even the spectacle of Francis Guinan’s Scrooge attempting hip-hop moves bears only so much repetition. If you saw it last time, you’ve seen it. —Tony Adler
