The Larcom Theatre

I went to Men are From Mars, Women Are From Venus this w/​end and I must say it was rather disappointing. The theme of the entire show was very cliché’ and frankly rather dated — 1992 — and a lot has in fact changed. The majority of the audience that laughed were 70+ yo. I am not surprised that the theatre wasn’t even half full…
The format of the show — a monologue with some videos of the book’s author — were poor and unimaginative — didn’t anyone think of giving the woman’s point of view.
I would recommend the Larcom pay more attention when choosing their shows for next year — this one was boring and for $ 58 — wow — money NOT well spent!

The Larcom is a handsomely restored vintage theatre, perfect for music in a small intimate space. We were fortunate to see Booker T. Jones there last weekend. Booker did all his hits with the MG’s and more. The sound was excellent!
There is parking on the street and at a large municipal lot just around the corner. It’s a much better experience than driving into Boston.
We anticipate seeing many more shows there.

We bought tix on Goldstar to a show (Sister’s Catechism) — not exactly cheap even with the discount given the quality of the production, but it looked like fun so we figured — why not?
The theatre is OK — restored old building, chairs were comfortable. Finding parking on the street was a bit of a pain, but nothing we couldn’t handle. You can see they’re trying to gentrify the area (but the locked restrooms in the Dunks a block over from the theatre says they aren’t there yet!).
We show up about 10 minutes before the show is to start and wonder if we’re in the right place… it’s nearly empty! When the «will-​call» person looked us up and couldn’t find our tickets, we pulled up our email confirmation — turns out we had purchased tickets for the wrong Sunday! Ugh! So, I explained that we drove up from Hull (yeah, to Beverly — not exactly next door!) and asked if there was any way we could see it then, instead. I’m not an idiot — if they were sold out, then it’s not possible, but we could see into the theatre (very small) and they could have taken us (again — nearly empty!!) but noooooo… they said we had to come back the next week. Now, I could see putting us on a «standby» list until the show officially started, but why, if the place isn’t anywhere near capacity, would you send us away? We were so disappointed, and left… making a 90-​minute drive back home.
The whole thing left us with a nasty taste… but we returned the following week and did see the show. We had to give the other 2 tickets away (our original 2 friends who bought tix with us were going out of town on vacation). The show itself was fine but nothing special — and certainly NOT worth the full price tickets ($ 50). So I’d say, only go with a deal (Goldstar, etc.) and as long as you have reasonable expectations, it should be OK.

We visited this place for a classical performance last weekend. Located in an old brick building, the theatre was small but meticulously restored. The seats were clean and well padded while the restrooms were well kept. I liked the attention paid in restoring the décor and that includes the exit sign covers. The sound from the stage traveled well, even to the back of the theatre. It almost felt like going back in time to the 1900s.

If you have not yet gone to a performance at Larcom in Beverly you are missing great performances. I have been to 2, one in the fall and today 100 Years of Broadway. I have seen 100 years before in a larger venue and Larcom’ s was far superior. Broadway stars, a great drummer and an incredibly talented pianist who is also a great singer, showman and audience favorite. It rivals NOrth Shore Music Theatre, which we also frequent, and is far less commercial.