Performing arts

Based on Ensler’s 2013 memoir, “In the Body of the World” is getting its world premiere at ART under the direction of Diane Paulus.

Of course I had to go see “Hamilton.” My last name is Burr. I’ve been fighting this fight since I was a kid.

Seven performers began their cross-country trip in California three months ago, shedding scenery and other accoutrements as they went.

John Guare’s adaptation of “His Girl Friday” plays as a screwball comedy, but hints at darker themes.

If anything, “Kinky Boots’’ is not kinky enough.

When she was an undergraduate majoring in Russian studies at Brown University, Kate Burton had no intention of pursuing a career in the theater. She was going to be a diplomat. In her senior year, she had the choice of studying abroad at Leningrad State University or playing the tortured young actress Nina in a student production of “The Seagull.” She chose Chekhov, and she’s been acting in his plays ever since. “That began my love affair with Chekhov,’’ the auburn-haired actress says.

If anyone doubts Boston Ballet’s serious commitment to contemporary work, look no further than the current “Close to Chuck” program, which opened Thursday night at the Boston Opera House. It sports a newly commissioned world premiere by José Martinez, a work by resident choreographer Jorma Elo newly retooled for six of the company’s stellar dancers, and a reprise of Jiří Kylián’s provocative “Bella Figura,” giving audiences a welcome opportunity for yet another look at a major work by one of…

If José Mateo Ballet Theatre’s current “Unbridled” program is any indication, 1991 was a very good year for the choreographer. In addition to the 2002 “Still Waters,” set to the music of Debussy, the program features two Mateo works from 1991, and both are classical gems.

To an audience, “The Nutcracker” can be pure magic. Not so for many professional dancers. Just wait for the groans, eye-rolling and complaints of soul-sucking monotony from members of the corps de ballet who routinely dance several parts each evening in up to 50 shows a season. I know; I was one of them.

CAMBRIDGE — The role of Dr. Drosselmeyer, Clara’s godpapa, has always been central to José Mateo Ballet Theatre’s “Nutcracker.” In part, that’s surely because it’s usually been taken by Mateo himself.

It feels like opening Pandora’s box to offer words of praise for “I Love Lucy Live on Stage.’’ But praise it I must, even with qualifications, and even though I fear that favorable reviews of this improbably charming show might encourage future producers to turn the theater into a blasted hellscape littered with “Two and a Half Men Live on Stage’’ and other sitcom-to-stage atrocities. OK, perhaps I’m overthinking this. That’s certainly not a mistake made by adapters Kim Flagg and…

About 10 minutes into Thursday night’s much-hyped live performance of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music’’ on NBC, I started praying for a power outage to knock out my TV reception.

For many dance organizations, the annual production of “The Nutcracker” is the cash cow that helps fund projects throughout the rest of the year. For José Mateo Ballet Theatre, which has been presenting “The Nutcracker” for 26 seasons, the production provides an opportunity for the company to cultivate audiences and bond with communities. It’s currently performing the ballet through Dec. 15 at its home base, the Sanctuary Theatre in Cambridge, after dates earlier this month in Duxbury. And…

Half-price tickets to a total of 135 productions in the Greater Boston area will be available through the end of the year under a holiday arts initiative aimed at luring – and keeping — new audiences. A record 76 arts organizations are taking part in the initiative, newly renamed the “Mayor’s Holiday Spectacular.’’ They range from such heavy-hitters as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Ballet, and Broadway in Boston to smaller companies like Whistler in the Dark Theatre, Zeitgeist Stage…

There’s plenty in “Mies Julie” to get audiences talking. But for writer/director Yaël Farber, who has seen her production travel the world since its South African premiere last year, the surprising thing is how the topic of that conversation can change from country to country.

Tchaikovsky’s Overture to “The Nutcracker” is such a powerful scene setter that it’s odd, and refreshing, to see characters from the ballet appear on stage before the music even begins. At the outset of Boston Ballet’s production, a pair of street urchins seat themselves under a panel. Then Clara strolls by in a pale blue Empire-waisted coat and matching bonnet, looking like a very young Jane Austen.