Fantastick!

 

I played Mortimer in The Fantasticks at Rep Stage, which ran from April 30th thru May 18th. Reviews treated me very favorably, and as you'll see in the quotes I'm well paired with Nigel Reed. He and I have worked together a couple of times before.

"The show’s real delight is whenever Nigel Reed appears as the incorrigible ham actor Henry and Peter Boyer accompanies him as his dimwitted assistant Mortimer, who can’t act much but sure knows how to die. There is no over-the-top for these roles, but the two veteran actors squeeze every drop of foolishness conceivable from these characters, and achieve the ultimate in comic acting: the audience begins to laugh as soon as they appear on stage." - DC Theatre Scene

"Nigel Reed as Henry and Peter Boyer as Mortimer are perfectly cast."- MD Theatre Guide

"The show is all but stolen by the two kings of comedy, as Henry (Nigel Reed) and Mortimer (Peter Boyer) take to the stage. Climbing out of the prop box as if they were little more than decorative additions to the show, Reed and Boyer share a chemistry, playing exceptionally well off one another. From the moment Reed takes the stage by struggling to climb out of the box, the laughs are rolling. His Shakespearean recitations are a scream and are topped only by the hysterically exaggerated death scenes performed by Boyer .... Rep Stage’s production is indeed ‘fantastic’!" - DC Metro Theatre Art

"This musical's two plum assignments -- droll characters who pop out to help with El Gallo's schemes -- have been particularly well-filled. Peter Boyer has the right deadpan for The Man Who Dies. And Nigel Reed walks off with the show every time he clambers into view, and every time he makes one of his finely flourished exits. A masterful job." - Baltimore Sun

The entire cast was quite good, and a pleasure to work with.  Here's a 'fantastick' promotional video Rep Stage put together:

The 7 Reviews of Christmas

Washington Post - "It is a mighty jolly confection!"  "The show is stubbornly amusing!"

Broadway World - "A highly entertaining show!"

Maryland Theatre Guide - "A must see for the Broadway musical lover!"  "Peter Boyer is a boyish and funny John Cleese-type!"

DC Metro Theatre Arts - "Each actor has an amazing voice and personality to match, especially Peter Boyer [with a] beautiful tenor!"  "A joyous and wonderfully wrapped holiday treat!"

DC Theatre Scene - "The action comes to life thanks to three charismatic and gifted actors--Peter Boyer as Scrooge, Russell Sunday as The Man Who Isn't Scrooge and Tracey Stephens as The Woman Who Isn't Scrooge."  "A hilarious theatrical experience that's not to be missed!"

Alexandria News - "Frothy fun!"

Rich Massabny Reviews - "One show you should not miss!"

Broadway Christmas Carol.  Performing at Metro Stage thru Dec. 22.

Groucho

photo via John Westervelt

It's been a wild ride over the last month-and-a-half. In the last two weeks of Beyond Therapy at Bay Theatre in Annapolis, MD, I also rehearsed Groucho at Wayside Theatre in Middletown, VA, over a hundred miles away. Beyond Therapy closed on March 20th, and Groucho opened on the 27th, only a week later.

Groucho really got positive reviews in the Northern Virginia Daily, and particularly in the Winchester Star:
     "Peter Boyer is the perfect Groucho Marx." -- FC Lowe

And then another from the Warren County Report (p. 8):
     "Peter Boyer . . . IS Groucho." -- Malcolm Barr

And then there was an interview on "Talk of the Town with Barry Lee" on Winchester's ABC station. A very fun interview, with host Barry Lee, director Warner Crocker, and me in character as Groucho. The interview is the first 7 minutes of the program, and I hope you'll give it a look, HERE.

And I've received so many compliments from folks involved with the show and folks who've seen the show that I'm quite simply stunned by it all. And I have the great fortune to be working with a bunch of generous and talented folks.

We close on Saturday, April 23rd, and if I hope you'll see it if you have the chance. For more info and tix, go to Wayside Theatre's website. And if you'd like to see some of John Westervelt's excellent pictures from the show, go HERE.

photo via John Westervelt

Another Review

Another review has come out for Beyond Therapy at Bay Theatre. The writing is interesting . . . . reviewer Gerald Fischman of The Capital looks not only at how the play comes across today but also how it'll come across (or not) in a generation or two:

"It's Durang's bounciest and most accessible play, but it has also started to date . . . . Today's theater audience - mostly an older crowd - can cope with this. But in a few more decades, the play will not just be unperformable but will have to be footnoted as heavily as one of Shakespeare's comic scenes."

But he's generally favorable, saying some rather nice things about the cast. Here's my bit:

"Boyer injects enough intelligence and poise into Bob to compensate for the fact that the man usually acts like a baby."

Chewing the Scenery Again

I'm currently performing in Beyond Therapy at Bay Theatre. I play Bob, Bruce's gay lover. Some reviews just came out for the show, and here's a few tasty bits --

"Adding to the hilarity [is] Bruce’s jealous live-in lover Bob (Peter Boyer)" . . . . " Boyer is a master of facial expressions and mannerisms: petulant, bitchy, insecure, manipulative. He is brilliant in the Act I finale." -- Bay Weekly (writer not listed)

"Beyond Therapy is Christopher Durang’s best play, and in Annapolis, the Bay Theatre Company is showing us why" . . . . "These actors . . . play these characters beautifully." -- Tim Treanor, DC Theatre Scene
　
"Bay Theatre's current production of Christopher Durang's 1981 comedy Beyond Therapy is consistently beyond funny, often bordering on hysterical" . . . . "Peter Boyer, another Bay favorite, returns as Bob, investing his character with frustration, hurt and a strong will to survive, all with delightful comic undertones." -- Mary Johnson,The Baltimore Sun

This little show runs through March 20.

Tra-la-la-la-Bah, Tra-la, Humbug

You have 2 weeks left to see A Broadway Christmas Carol at Metro Stage in Alexandria, VA. I play Ebeneezer Scrooge. Yeah! That guy! A Broadway Christmas Carol is "a delightful and unexpected mix of show tune song parodies and Charles Dickens’ classic tale."


We officially opened two weeks ago to rave reviews, like so --

"A Broadway Christmas Carol retells the Dickens story with the help of only three actors and one pianist, all of them extremely talented performers. Peter Boyer plays Ebenezer Scrooge, the perfect embodiment of the stingy old crank at the beginning of the show. Boyer is a talented, agile dancer as well as a powerful singer and his crisp performance is essential to the success of Christmas Carol." -- Barbara Mackay, Washington Examiner

"There's very little "bah humbug" as this high-wattage, all-star cast tackles a timeless tale and gives it new life in the perfect medium for a musical message of ultimate uplift. Three talented area performers bring their Broadway-big voices and broad comedic talent to the completely audience-friendly intimacy of MetroStage and pull it off with infectious hilarity and brio." -- David Hoffman, Fairfax Times

"It’s a Vaudevillian Christmas tale from Merry Olde England, mined gleefully from Charles Dickens." . . . "Peter Boyer gives us Ebenezer Scrooge . . . played with delicious aplomb" . . . "A tip-top cast . . . ." -- Jordan Wright, Alexandria Times

"Charles Dickens, Broadway, vaudeville and slapstick collide merrily in “A Broadway Christmas Carol”, an early gift from Alexandria’s Metro Stage." . . . "The sets are simple but effective, and the four-member cast is versatile and talented." . . . "[Peter Boyer's] musical range and comedic timing are superb." -- Carla Branch, Alexandria News

"The show’s strong suit is its zany quartet of a cast who milk the laughs out of the material in a manner reminiscent of the parodies which were a staple of 1950s and ‘60s comedy and variety television shows." . . . "Peter Boyer [has] a fine voice and an appealingly sly sense of humor." -- Gary McMillan, DC Theatre Scene

Another Good One

Another review has come out for BSF's The Comedy of Errors and Scapin! , this time on the radio -- 88.1, WYPR's Maryland Morning With Sheilah Kast.

Theatre Critic J. Wynne Rousuck says, "there's plenty of pleasure to be had from taking in both productions," and she calls Comedy of Errors "splendid."

Gratuitous self-promotion moment (@ ~2:00 in the review): "In a cast that nimbly handles Shakespeare's language and high jinks, acrobatic Peter Boyer is a stand out as Dromio of Syracuse."

To hear the review, click HERE .

On Stage Again, In Suit and Verse

In my time away from here, I've been doing the occasional commercial / industrial work.

Now I'm back on stage again, with the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival for their summer outdoor productions, because I couldn't resist the idea of playing a very physical role in a full suit in 90+ degrees F and high humidity. Sitting in a sauna always bored me to tears, this is much better. We're doing two shows in rep: The Comedy of Errors and Moliere's Scapine. Comedy opened last week, on June 23rd; Scapine opened yesterday.

A couple of reviews for The Comedy of Errors just came out. Links and a few quotes are below.
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From Tim Smith of the Baltimore Sun:

"This summer, the Baltimore troupe offers a breezy, polished staging of The Comedy of Errors, running in repertory with Moliere's equally farcical Scapin."

". . . a high-caliber, tightly-matched cast."

"Peter Boyer makes an amusing mark as Dromio of Syracuse, especially in the scene where the character compares a kitchen maid's body to various countries of the globe — one of Shakespeare's rudest, crudest and, of course, funniest passages, given extra zing here. "
_______________

From Mike Giuliano of the Howard County Times:

"The Baltimore Shakespeare Festival gets most things right with its outdoor staging of The Comedy of Errors. It's a relatively short, slapstick-oriented Shakespeare comedy that plays well on the pastoral grounds of Evergreen Museum and Library."

"This production's extroverted performances acknowledge that silliness is the way to go. [The actors'] manic spirit keeps things moving along."

"The most endearing performances are by [Peter] Boyer and [Mark] Krawczyk as the twin Dromios. Dark-suited and bowler-hat topped, they prove to be delightfully limber as they get kicked around by their irate bosses and seemingly everybody else. Their pratfalls make them seem like they've stumbled in from a slapstick film."

Booya, Baby!

Another review, this time in the Baltimore Sun. And they thought the show was "excellent."

The review also said, "Boyer is hilarious in his three roles."


So -- come see it -- Bay Theatre, Annapolis, playing through Nov. 8. Get tickets before they're gone!

Headline: Best In Show

According to the review from the Bay Weekly, Bay Theatre's production of Sylvia "is as puppylicious as Bil-Jac liver treats."

Also:

"Rounding out the cast is Peter Boyer . . . . He is Tom, a proud dog owner who brings the subtle one-upsmanship of the mommy wars to the dog park. He is Phyllis, Kate’s canine-phobic friend and confidante. He is Leslie, an androgynous therapist and marriage counselor. As all three, he is marvelous."

Our first review, from The Capital:

"The Bay Theatre Company kicked off its eighth season last weekend with a real dog of a play - and it's howling good."

"Peter Boyer, who has the challenging task of playing three roles - a dog park buddy of Greg's named Tom, Kate's friend Phyllis and an ambiguously gendered therapist the couple visits named Leslie - adds a deft hand to the comedic romp. He's funniest as Phyllis, whom he makes into a slightly off-kilter society maven. It reminded me a bit of Mrs. Drysdale in "The Beverly Hillbillies," only funnier."

Click either paragraph to read the whole thing . . . they liked the other actors, too . . . .