Lisa Panzer

Review: ‘A Billion Nights on Earth’ at FringeArts

Thaddeus Phillips’ and Steven Dufala’s spectacularly enjoyable, glowing world of far out, fantastical adventure unfolds and forms like theatrical origami within the FringeArts black box theater....

Review: ‘Buyer & Cellar’ at 1812 Productions

Jonathan Tolins’ captivating one-man play Buyer & Cellar is partly factual (or part truth, or partly true), in that there is indeed a mall of shops in the basement of one of Barbra Streisand’s Malibu...

2017 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘I, Peaseblossom’ by Curio Theatre Company at The Woodlands Cemetery

I, Peaseblossom, written by Tim Crouch and directed by Dan Hodge, is a fun, magical way to become more familiar with Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The dreams of the fairy Peaseblossom...

2017 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Alchemist’ at One Shot Coffee

Friendship finds its way to the Fringe by way of Mary Tuomanen and Chris Davis in the form of a felicitous commemorative play, and is heartily welcomed! Mary and Chris have been friends for around 16...

Review: ‘Aesop’s Fables’ at Quintessence Theatre Group

All of the characters in Lee Cortopassi’s colorful cartoon-like adaptation of Aesop’s Fables sparkle, and speak, just like the original ones drawn up way back circa 600 B.C. But they also snap,...

Review: ‘Appropriate’ at Princeton Summer Theater

In Appropriate, the 2014–2015 Obie Award winner for Best New American Play, playwright (and Princeton alumnus) Branden Jacobs-Jenkins boldly explores family relations, racism, religious bigotry, sex...

Review: ‘Hamlet’ at REV Theatre Company

Madness is unleashed among the stoic marble and stone memorial markers of iconic Laurel Hill Cemetery as REV Theatre Company, directed by Rosey Hay, lends life force to the language of Shakespeare’s...

Review: ‘Truth and Confessions’ at Standing Ovation Theatre Company

“Love is like a tree: it grows by itself, roots itself deeply in our being and continues to flourish over a heart in ruin. The inexplicable fact is that the blinder it is, the more tenacious it is. It...

Review: ‘Always… Patsy Cline’ at The Media Theatre

Anyone who has ever felt any heartfelt connection to another can hear a legendary Patsy Cline song and say “Oh yes, been there, seen, done that.” The lyrics are about much more than trucks, beer or...

Review: ‘Happy Birthday’ at 1812 Productions

Laughter broke out in the jam-packed theatre even before the first pratfall, which then only served to fan the funniness. Watching Beverly Cross’ adaption of Marc Camoletti’s Happy Birthday, as...

Review: ‘Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure’ at Beacon Theatre Productions

“You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.” ~ Sherlock Holmes Under the amber glow of gaslight, fog furls forth, a bobby blows his whistle, and conveyance to the world of Sherlock...

Interview: Steve Underwood, Director of ‘Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure’ at Beacon Theatre Productions

Steve Underwood earned his M.A. in Theatre at Villanova University, and holds B.A. in English from Temple University. As an active writer and actor, he completed his oral thesis at Villanova in...

Review: ‘Love’s Labor’s Lost’ at Quintessence Theatre Group

Quintessence Theatre Group brings William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labor’s Lost, as directed by Alexander Burns, vibrantly to life with spectacular staging, scintillating costumes and a sparkling cast....

Review: ‘Tomfoolery’ at Act II Playhouse

“Life is like a piano. What you get out of it depends on how you play it. “ ~ Tom Lehrer Tom Lehrer’s Tomfoolery, as directed by Tony Braithwaite, is a wickedly wonderful celebration of musical wit...

Review: ‘The Big’ at The Sedgwick Theater

Lee Cortopassi’s The Big offers a fun, farcical take on classic film noir, loaded with ludicrous, laugh-out-load moments of sheer, nearly surreal silliness. Set between 1939 and 1942, The Big follows...

Review: ‘Laughter on the 23rd Floor’ at Walnut Street Theatre

A special recipe for a belly full of laughter awaits at the Walnut Street Theatre. Take a bunch of madcap comedy show writers, mix with mayhem and a kooky secretary, add a tinge of McCarthyism, shake...

Review: ‘Enter Laughing’ at The Players Club of Swarthmore

Enter the new year laughing out loud with the cast and crew of Enter Laughing at The Players Club of Swarthmore, directed by Paul Kerrigan! Joseph Stein’s tour de farce, inspired by Carl Reiner’s same...

Review: ‘Wilde Tales’ at Quintessence Theatre Group

Brightened by a beautiful glittering garden backdrop, several of Oscar Wilde’s fabled fairy tales, smartly adapted and directed by Jeremy Bloom, convey the childlike spirit to an enchanting world...

Review: ‘A Christmas Carol’ at Hedgerow Theatre

A Christmas Carol, written as a novella by Charles Dickens in 1843, has been widely adapted in many forms for television, radio, the big screen, opera and theater. It remains a powerful parable that...

Review: ‘The Wizard of Oz’ at Walnut Street Theatre

A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others. ~ The Wizard of Oz to The Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz There’s no place like Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theatre...

Review: ‘Angels in America Part Two: Perestroika’ at The Players Club of Swarthmore

…Worst thing about being sick in America is that you’re booted out of the parade. Americans have no use for sick… Roy Cohn, Angels in America, Part Two: Perestroika An outstanding production of Tony...

Review: ‘Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play’ at Pulley and Buttonhole Theatre Company in Jenkintown, PA

Aficionados of the TV hit The Simpsons, in particular, won’t want to miss the Philadelphia area premiere of Anne Washburn’s Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, directed by Bridget Reilly Beauchamp, at...

Review: ‘Angel Street’ at Hedgerow Theatre in Rose Valley, PA

Hedgerow Theatre captivatingly brings Patrick Hamilton’s Angel Street, directed by Cara Blouin, across the pond, into the year 1924 in Philadelphia where Bella Manningham (Jennifer Summerfield) and...

Review: ‘Vocalosity’ at Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, PA

Resounding applause met the awe inspiring, all a capella group, Vocalosity at the newly renovated Bucks County Playhouse opening night for their North American Tour Launch. Ten ultra-talented young...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Review: ‘Incredible Dreamz’

A comedy collective, referring to themselves as a “polyamorous quad couple” or “Incredible Dreamz” starring The Incredible Shrinking Matt & Jacquie (Matthew Schmid and Jacquie Baker) and The New...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Walk to Topaz’ by Brendan Tetsuo

Brendan Tetsuo began his evocative Walk to Topazas a solo dance journey to further explore his family’s heritage, developing into a fabulous Fringe offering. Traditional Japanese movements are...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Tales of the Grotesque and Mysterious: The Works of Edgar Allan Poe’ at The Phenomenal Animals

In several dimly lighted rooms within the walls of the brick tower atop the Shiloh Baptist Church, Edgar Allan Poe’s tales, adapted by Robert Cousins, are being reborn, as eerie as nevermore,...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Pangaea: A Folk Opera’ at The Hum’n’Bards

“I am not prepared to be isolated” ~ Anna Michael, Lead Artist The Hum’n’Bards, directed by the talented Jasmine Kojouri, in association with Van.Martin Productions, have produced a charming, and...

Review: ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ at Mauckingbird Theatre Company in Philadelphia

Mauckingbird Theatre Company twists the tides a bit while taking the audience on a fun-filled, thoroughly enjoyable trip on the high seas of hilarity, with its rollicking LGBT adaptation of Gilbert...

Review: ‘The Magnus Effect’ at The Greenfield Collective in Philadelphia

Take five folks with aviophobia, fear of flying, then multiply that by the individual’s various phobias and anxieties connected to flying, combine that with timely comedy plus intense drama, an...

Review: `Boeing Boeing’ at Hedgerow Theatre in Rose Valley, PA

Hedgerow Theatre revives Marc Camoletti’s farce Boeing Boeing, leaving its audience aloft with laughter! Set in Paris, circa the mod `60’s, Bernard (Andrew Parcell), a swinging archictect has built...