2009: The year in theater

Published Dec. 21, 2009 at 11:17 p.m.
Stage worthies
A quick look at this past year in Boston's theater scene...

THE SALT GIRL You couldn’t take your eyes off John Kuntz’s obsessive-compulsive loner — and that was before he put on the panda suit.

After an engagement of some 15 months (and a Best Revival Tony Award for her Broadway reprise of Hair), downtown New York theater star Diane Paulus finally became the bride of American Repertory Theater. And if the honeymoon dubbed "Shakespeare Exploded!" is any indication, it's a consummation devoutly to be wished. On the other side of the river, the divorce of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and Citi Performing Arts Center became final, with CSC independently producing a plucky Comedy of Errors on Boston Common that was seen, free of charge, by 80,000 persons. Not all beleaguered theaters survive economic freefall and the vigorous knotting of the arts purse strings, however. Last spring saw the near-death experience of North Shore Music Theatre, which canceled its 2009 season, stiffed its subscribers, and got put on the auction block, only to be purchased by mortgage-holding Citizens Bank for a song (if not a dance). That drama may yet have a happy ending: William Hanney, proprietor of Rhode Island's Theatre by the Sea, has the 1500-seat venue under agreement and hopes to be back in show business by spring. A quick look at this past year proves he'll be in good company.

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