CAROUSEL
In perhaps the most charming performance of the evening, Erica Spyres delivers as Carrie Pipperidge. She is both comedic relief and concerned friend, and Spyres’ vocals float so effortlessly between lyric soprano and hearty mezzo, that it doesn’t even look like she’s trying.
---GLB Theatre Reviewers Circle
---GLB Theatre Reviewers Circle
PASSION
This is a Chatelet debut for American soprano Erica Spyres and maybe the lift-off for a great career. Playing handsome young Giorgio’s playfully glamorous married bit of fluff Carla, she more than holds her own with the two principals in the acting and singing stakes.
---Musical Theatre Review
And the young soprano Erica Spyres as Clara, as the married Milanese woman Clara, that Giorgio is having a long time affair with, she was brilliant.
---Kulturkompasset
The stunning Erica Spyres radiates.
---L'Oeil d'Olivier
---Musical Theatre Review
And the young soprano Erica Spyres as Clara, as the married Milanese woman Clara, that Giorgio is having a long time affair with, she was brilliant.
---Kulturkompasset
The stunning Erica Spyres radiates.
---L'Oeil d'Olivier
ONCE
The small cast is filled with enormously talented performers but the two violinists Erica Swindell and Erica Spyres are extraordinary. The enthusiasm they put into their music is wonderful to watch and magnificent to listen to.
---Broadwayworld.com
And the ensemble... moves with the precision of a year spent together on the road. Twin fiddlers Erica Spyres and Erica Swindell lead the ensemble with solos that can be fiery or yearning.
---Charlotte Observer
---Broadwayworld.com
And the ensemble... moves with the precision of a year spent together on the road. Twin fiddlers Erica Spyres and Erica Swindell lead the ensemble with solos that can be fiery or yearning.
---Charlotte Observer
WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?
Photo by Mark S. Howard
This, of course, does not stop them from trying to destroy each other before the frequently aghast gaze of a young married couple whose own secrets will spill out before the night is through: Nick, an amoral and opportunistic new faculty member (a superb Dan Whelton), and his forlornly lost and confused wife, Honey (Erica Spyres, excellent).
---The Boston Globe - Don Aucoin
Erica Spyres’ Honey, given to nimbly drunken flights of modern dance, is both precious and sad. Whether puzzling over a huge betrayal wrapped in a short story or sprawled on the rug like the rapt if befogged audience she’s meant to be, she draws more focus than you might think possible.
---WBUR The Artery - Carolyn Clay
---The Boston Globe - Don Aucoin
Erica Spyres’ Honey, given to nimbly drunken flights of modern dance, is both precious and sad. Whether puzzling over a huge betrayal wrapped in a short story or sprawled on the rug like the rapt if befogged audience she’s meant to be, she draws more focus than you might think possible.
---WBUR The Artery - Carolyn Clay
INTO THE WOODS
Photo by Mark S. Howard
Erica Spyres proves, yet again, she can do anything with her flawless portrayal of Cinderella and tear-inducing rendition of “No One Is Alone.”
---Boston Metro - Nick Dussault
“No One Is Alone,’’ performed with a shiver-down-your-spine delicacy by Spyres, who is joined by Ambrosino, Bostic, and Gregory Balla, as Jack.
---The Boston Globe - Don Aucoin
---Boston Metro - Nick Dussault
“No One Is Alone,’’ performed with a shiver-down-your-spine delicacy by Spyres, who is joined by Ambrosino, Bostic, and Gregory Balla, as Jack.
---The Boston Globe - Don Aucoin
CAMELOT
Photo by Andrew Brilliant
Erica Spyres, as Guenevere, knows exactly what’s required and delivers the first two with grace and simplicity. She also gives Guenevere a much-needed sense of mischief and humor, which makes her affection for both Arthur and Lancelot feel sincere. There seems to be nothing this actress cannot do, since at other points in the show she not only whistles, but whips out a violin and plays a musical interlude.
---The Boston Globe - Terry Byrne
Spyres as Guenevere has seemingly attained the status as being the “go-to” actress in the area whenever a juicy musical role is available, perhaps because of her versatility, consistency of performance, a lovely singing voice and stage presence.
---On Boston Stages - Rich Fahey
---The Boston Globe - Terry Byrne
Spyres as Guenevere has seemingly attained the status as being the “go-to” actress in the area whenever a juicy musical role is available, perhaps because of her versatility, consistency of performance, a lovely singing voice and stage presence.
---On Boston Stages - Rich Fahey
TRIBES
Craig Bailey/Perspective Photo
A typical – i.e. terrific – SpeakEasy production...[Erica] Spyres is out of this world.
---WBUR - Ed Siegel
Spyres adds to her growing portfolio of vividly memorable performances — and also to her reputation for uncommon versatility. The actress proved adept at heartfelt drama in Lyric Stage’s “Time Stands Still,’’ at puppetry and raunchy comedy in the Lyric’s “Avenue Q,’’ and at imbuing Sondheim ballads with the necessary ambivalent melancholy in New Repertory Theatre’s “Marry Me a Little.’’ Spyres did not know sign language before beginning rehearsals for “Tribes,’’ according to a SpeakEasy spokesman, but you’d never know it.
---The Boston Globe - Don Aucoin
Erica Spyres delivers an exceptional performance that serves as the cornerstone on which the entire production is built. Whether speaking or signing, she unearths the challenges of going deaf with heartbreaking authenticity. But it’s what she doesn’t speak or sign that puts the lump in your throat, and leaves you awestruck.
---Boston Metro - Nick Dussault
---WBUR - Ed Siegel
Spyres adds to her growing portfolio of vividly memorable performances — and also to her reputation for uncommon versatility. The actress proved adept at heartfelt drama in Lyric Stage’s “Time Stands Still,’’ at puppetry and raunchy comedy in the Lyric’s “Avenue Q,’’ and at imbuing Sondheim ballads with the necessary ambivalent melancholy in New Repertory Theatre’s “Marry Me a Little.’’ Spyres did not know sign language before beginning rehearsals for “Tribes,’’ according to a SpeakEasy spokesman, but you’d never know it.
---The Boston Globe - Don Aucoin
Erica Spyres delivers an exceptional performance that serves as the cornerstone on which the entire production is built. Whether speaking or signing, she unearths the challenges of going deaf with heartbreaking authenticity. But it’s what she doesn’t speak or sign that puts the lump in your throat, and leaves you awestruck.
---Boston Metro - Nick Dussault
MARRY ME A LITTLE
Photo: Andrew Brilliant
Watch the stage for Erica Spyres — she has an amazing voice, and in this production even plays the violin. She’s a local talent to keep your eye on.
---WGBG - Jared Bowen
...certifies her rising-star status with a magnetic performance
---The Boston Globe - Don Aucoin
Spyres who is a power-house of a performer also plays the violin to accompany a number of the songs.
---Patriot Ledger - Iris Fanger
---WGBG - Jared Bowen
...certifies her rising-star status with a magnetic performance
---The Boston Globe - Don Aucoin
Spyres who is a power-house of a performer also plays the violin to accompany a number of the songs.
---Patriot Ledger - Iris Fanger
OF MICE AND MEN
Spyres proves once again that she can do anything with her imposing presence as Curly’s Wife.
---Boston Metro - Nick Dussault
There's also strong work from the reliable Erica Spyres as that good-for-nothin' so-and-so who inadvertently brings about Lennie's (and her own) doom.
---Hub Review - Thomas Garvey
---Boston Metro - Nick Dussault
There's also strong work from the reliable Erica Spyres as that good-for-nothin' so-and-so who inadvertently brings about Lennie's (and her own) doom.
---Hub Review - Thomas Garvey
THE MIKADO
Once again, Spyres delivers the kind of nuanced performance that will leave you thinking the part was written for her. The soprano's glorious vocals and engaging presence make everyone fall in love with Yum-Yum, vanity notwithstanding.
---The Boston Metro - Nick Dussault
Erica Spyres as Yum-Yum, Davron S. Monroe as Nanki-Poo, Leigh Barrett as Katisha, and Timothy John Smith as the Mikado of Japan — give sparkling performances. Spyres and Monroe, who were part of the excellent cast for the Lyric’s recent “Avenue Q,’’ team up to appealing effect again in a work that could not be more different in subject and tone from that raunchy “Sesame Street’’ spoof. From the moment he strolls onstage, singing “A Wandering Minstrel I,’’ the supple-voiced Monroe demonstrates an easy fluency with the Gilbert and Sullivan style. Ditto for the versatile Spyres, who amusingly captures Yum-Yum’s vanity and showcases a crystalline soprano voice in such numbers as “The Sun, Whose Rays Are All Ablaze’’ and “The Flowers That Bloom in the Spring.’’
---The Boston Globe - Don Aucoin
---The Boston Metro - Nick Dussault
Erica Spyres as Yum-Yum, Davron S. Monroe as Nanki-Poo, Leigh Barrett as Katisha, and Timothy John Smith as the Mikado of Japan — give sparkling performances. Spyres and Monroe, who were part of the excellent cast for the Lyric’s recent “Avenue Q,’’ team up to appealing effect again in a work that could not be more different in subject and tone from that raunchy “Sesame Street’’ spoof. From the moment he strolls onstage, singing “A Wandering Minstrel I,’’ the supple-voiced Monroe demonstrates an easy fluency with the Gilbert and Sullivan style. Ditto for the versatile Spyres, who amusingly captures Yum-Yum’s vanity and showcases a crystalline soprano voice in such numbers as “The Sun, Whose Rays Are All Ablaze’’ and “The Flowers That Bloom in the Spring.’’
---The Boston Globe - Don Aucoin
AVENUE Q
Photo: Mark S. Howard
If you haven’t heard Erica Spyres sing — and I had not until last night — then scoop up one of the last available tickets and go see “Avenue Q” if only for that reason. And there are plenty of other reasons.
In the first act, Spyres completely steals the show puppeteering the female lead, Kate Monster, and the sexy foil character, “Lucy the Slut.” As Kate Monster, Spyres puts forward the perfect girl-next-door voice, both singing and acting. But Spyres really shows you something toward the end of the act, as the Lucy character comes on stage to wow all the gentlemen of Avenue Q with her singing and Muppet boobs. This is supposed to be the small, off-Broadway production, but Spyres shows she can hang with the best of’em. She croons a sultry, sexy melody — if you’ll pardon the sexy reference, knowing she has her hand up a Muppet’s ass. Then Spyres goes right back into “Kate mode” without missing a beat. She is something special, and if you’re new to the theater scene, you might want to highlight her name in the playbill and look for it in the future.
At the end of the act, during “There’s a Fine, Fine Line,” Spyres gets her solo and you almost believe she just got dumped and is going through the stages of depression that go along with it. If you look at her, you forget there’s a Muppet. If you look at the Muppet, you can’t forget about her, but you believe that Kate Monster is singing to you.
---John M. Guilfoil - Blast Magazine
In the first act, Spyres completely steals the show puppeteering the female lead, Kate Monster, and the sexy foil character, “Lucy the Slut.” As Kate Monster, Spyres puts forward the perfect girl-next-door voice, both singing and acting. But Spyres really shows you something toward the end of the act, as the Lucy character comes on stage to wow all the gentlemen of Avenue Q with her singing and Muppet boobs. This is supposed to be the small, off-Broadway production, but Spyres shows she can hang with the best of’em. She croons a sultry, sexy melody — if you’ll pardon the sexy reference, knowing she has her hand up a Muppet’s ass. Then Spyres goes right back into “Kate mode” without missing a beat. She is something special, and if you’re new to the theater scene, you might want to highlight her name in the playbill and look for it in the future.
At the end of the act, during “There’s a Fine, Fine Line,” Spyres gets her solo and you almost believe she just got dumped and is going through the stages of depression that go along with it. If you look at her, you forget there’s a Muppet. If you look at the Muppet, you can’t forget about her, but you believe that Kate Monster is singing to you.
---John M. Guilfoil - Blast Magazine
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Erica Spyres, however, continues her strong work with
Lyric with her take on Kate Monster; her comfort with the material is evident. Kate Monster can believably go from cute to profane within the blink of an eye. ---Craig Idlebrook - New England Theatre Geek Constantly swapping puppets and changing their voices, four actors (John Ambrosino, Elise Arsenault, Erica Spyres and Phil Tayler) handle 10 characters with deceptive ease. ---Boston Herald – Jed Gottlieb Music director Catherine Stornetta gets lovely singing from the entire cast, with special mention to Erica Spyres for Kate Monster (the“fur” person who teaches tolerance for all sentient beings, including those with fur! ---Boston Arts Review – Beverly Creasey Ambrosino and Spyres are ridiculously charming as Princeton and Kate, with great pop voices to boot. ---Edge Boston – Jennifer Bubriski People are always asking me, "So what's the best show in town, Mr. Hub Review?" And sometimes the answer is hard, but sometimes it's easy - as it is right now: the best show in town is Avenue Q at the Lyric Stage.... The stand-outs of the cast are probably the sweet, poised Erica Spyres (who voices both the lovelorn Kate Monster and the love-addicted Lucy the Slut)…. ---The Hub Review - Thomas Garvey |
Spiro Veloudos's production, if a bit rambunctious, is also credible, hilarious, and soulful, its biggest charmer Erica Spyres as winsome if hirsute Kate Monster, and a Mae West of a Muppet named Lucy the Slut. ---Carolyn Clay from the Boston Phoenix It’s hard to believe the Lyric’s four puppet handlers… aren’t puppet professionals; they render their charges as complex and individual as the human actors. Kate Monster is particularly winsome, and Spyres gives her a bright, heroic singing voice. ---Boston Globe But perhaps the 'hood's most winning resident is Kate Monster…. Kate's puppeteer is the lovely Erica Spyres, who has a great voice and is so appealing herself that you have a hard time focusing on the monster and not her — she's that good, even though, like all the actors, she tries to stay in the background as she manipulates her alter-ego. When Kate, who falls in love with Princeton, sings "There's a Fine, Fine Line", it's a real "awww" moment. Seriously: People in the audience say "awww." Out loud. ---Cape Cod Times – Alicia Blaisdell-Bannon Kate Monster (played and sung wonderfully by Erica Spyres) has no boyfriend and little prospects of starting a school for little monsters. ---Berkshire Fine Arts – Mark Favermann |
TIME STANDS STILL
Photo: Mark S. Howard
Erica Spyres shines as Mandy, the youngest member of the group and the only one who hasn't been beaten down by life as a journalist. Spyres superbly transitions Mandy from ditz with a hint of gold-digger into warm, likable optimist.
---Nick Dussault from the Boston Metro
Although Sarah caustically dismisses Mandy as a “lightweight’’ at first, it is the artless newcomer who forces the others to confront the ethical implications of what they do for a living. Looking at a photo Sarah took of an Iraqi mother crying over her dying child, Richard murmurs, “Great shot,’’ in a tone of professional appraisal, but Mandy, the non-journalist, responds with a torrent of raw emotion. Even after Sarah points out that rescue workers were on the
scene, Mandy demands to know how she could possibly have taken that picture rather than try to help.
---Don Aucoin from The Boston Globe
Director Scott Edmiston has gathered terrific, talented Boston actors, and leads them effortlessly here. Erica Spyres as Mandy is fantastic, a youthful, idealistic foil who seems clueless but is instinctively wiser.... In today’s explosive international climate, “Time Stands Still” is a dramatic coup that shouldn’t be missed.
---Sheila Barth from The Theatre Mirror
As Mandy, the ebullient event planner, Spyres manages to be both simple and eloquent, infusing her down-home naïveté with a genuine humanity that is more direct and personal than that shared by her “betters.” While preferring to focus on the joy in life rather than the atrocities, her capacity to empathize is nonetheless more palpable, perhaps because she is yet to be desensitized or worn down by the prevalence of harsh reality.
---Jan Narji from BroadwayWorld.com
Spyres isn’t afraid to strike discordant notes as the nearly-unsinkable Mandy Bloom, who brings a nearly-insufferable brand of hope from the first moment she brings balloons to Laura, the battle-hardened photojournalist. It would have been easy to have used these two characters as vehicles to move along the plot for the lead couple, but the production allows them real space to stumble and grow in their own way.
---Craig Idlebrook from The New England Theatre Geek
The production is first-rate. Scott Edmiston is one of the city’s best directors and the ensemble is quite good....
---Ed Siegel from WBUR
When Richard (Jeremiah Kissel) and Mandy come to visit Sarah and James, Mandy (a wonderfully uber-cheerful Erica Spyres) brings balloons, and it's a miracle Sarah's look alone doesn't pop them. But Mandy, one of those women whose sentences end up an octave from where they began, proves herself to be both immune to Sarah's scorn and unafraid to be critical of her. When she and Richard look at Sarah's latest photos, Mandy is appalled at the picture of a dying child. Unable to understand how Sarah could shoot pictures instead of getting help for the child, she bursts into tears.
---Alicia Blaisdell-Bannon from Cape Cod Online
---Nick Dussault from the Boston Metro
Although Sarah caustically dismisses Mandy as a “lightweight’’ at first, it is the artless newcomer who forces the others to confront the ethical implications of what they do for a living. Looking at a photo Sarah took of an Iraqi mother crying over her dying child, Richard murmurs, “Great shot,’’ in a tone of professional appraisal, but Mandy, the non-journalist, responds with a torrent of raw emotion. Even after Sarah points out that rescue workers were on the
scene, Mandy demands to know how she could possibly have taken that picture rather than try to help.
---Don Aucoin from The Boston Globe
Director Scott Edmiston has gathered terrific, talented Boston actors, and leads them effortlessly here. Erica Spyres as Mandy is fantastic, a youthful, idealistic foil who seems clueless but is instinctively wiser.... In today’s explosive international climate, “Time Stands Still” is a dramatic coup that shouldn’t be missed.
---Sheila Barth from The Theatre Mirror
As Mandy, the ebullient event planner, Spyres manages to be both simple and eloquent, infusing her down-home naïveté with a genuine humanity that is more direct and personal than that shared by her “betters.” While preferring to focus on the joy in life rather than the atrocities, her capacity to empathize is nonetheless more palpable, perhaps because she is yet to be desensitized or worn down by the prevalence of harsh reality.
---Jan Narji from BroadwayWorld.com
Spyres isn’t afraid to strike discordant notes as the nearly-unsinkable Mandy Bloom, who brings a nearly-insufferable brand of hope from the first moment she brings balloons to Laura, the battle-hardened photojournalist. It would have been easy to have used these two characters as vehicles to move along the plot for the lead couple, but the production allows them real space to stumble and grow in their own way.
---Craig Idlebrook from The New England Theatre Geek
The production is first-rate. Scott Edmiston is one of the city’s best directors and the ensemble is quite good....
---Ed Siegel from WBUR
When Richard (Jeremiah Kissel) and Mandy come to visit Sarah and James, Mandy (a wonderfully uber-cheerful Erica Spyres) brings balloons, and it's a miracle Sarah's look alone doesn't pop them. But Mandy, one of those women whose sentences end up an octave from where they began, proves herself to be both immune to Sarah's scorn and unafraid to be critical of her. When she and Richard look at Sarah's latest photos, Mandy is appalled at the picture of a dying child. Unable to understand how Sarah could shoot pictures instead of getting help for the child, she bursts into tears.
---Alicia Blaisdell-Bannon from Cape Cod Online
THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA
Photo: Mike Lovett
Across the board, the performances are superb. If you thought no one could rival Clark and O'Hara's performances in Piazza, Amelia Broome and Erica Spyres immediately dispel that notion. The roles of Margaret and Clara Johnson are vocally taxing, dramatically difficult and (now that the show is available for professional productions) highly coveted by every actress with the talent to pull them off. Broome, who's on the faculty at Emerson College, is amazing in the role of Margaret, a mother struggling to decide whether to reveal the secret of her daughter's mental capacity or remain silent and allow her to marry. With her perfect Carolinian drawl and a lustrous soprano, Broome beautifully navigates Margaret's internal struggle while singing Guettel's sumptuous music; she is tailor-made for this role. Her performances of the two showstoppers, "Dividing Day" and "Fable" are master classes in how to underplay a song. Spyres, too, is ideal for Clara. Possessed with radiant beauty and a shimmering soprano, she astutely navigates that fine line in playing a young woman who is emotionally stunted with grace and innocence. Spyres sings "The Beauty Is" and "The Light in the Piazza" with impressive finesse and never seems to have an inauthentic moment on-stage.
---David Hurst from Broadwaystars.com
Spyres' heartbreakingly simple "The Light in the Piazza" elegantly expresses - to her mother and anyone else who would doubt her capabilities - her sexual and emotional awakening to the kind of love that only Fabrizio can give her. Bambery and Spyres' soaring duet, "Say It Somehow," uses notes instead of words to transcend the language barrier and convey with music the feelings that are in their hearts.
---Jan Narji from Broadwayworld.com
As Clara Erica Spyres is a wonder - masking her infirmity (which turns pivotal to the plot) with exuberant good spirits, making her performance a marvel of conflicting psychological insights. She also sings the role beautifully.
---Robert Nesti from Edge Boston
---David Hurst from Broadwaystars.com
Spyres' heartbreakingly simple "The Light in the Piazza" elegantly expresses - to her mother and anyone else who would doubt her capabilities - her sexual and emotional awakening to the kind of love that only Fabrizio can give her. Bambery and Spyres' soaring duet, "Say It Somehow," uses notes instead of words to transcend the language barrier and convey with music the feelings that are in their hearts.
---Jan Narji from Broadwayworld.com
As Clara Erica Spyres is a wonder - masking her infirmity (which turns pivotal to the plot) with exuberant good spirits, making her performance a marvel of conflicting psychological insights. She also sings the role beautifully.
---Robert Nesti from Edge Boston