Neal Newman

Review: ‘If/Then’ at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia

Broadway today is the era of musical/cartoon/film/remakes. We should, therefore, be grateful for anything that attempts a reasonably adult theme: in this case, how our decisions will create our...

Review: ‘The Harassment of Iris Malloy’ at People’s Light in Malvern, PA

Feed the Beast! Money, power, fame! It’s all here, along with a touch of sleazy sex in the world premiere of The Harassment of Iris Malloy. Who exactly is being harassed becomes the mystery as the...

Review: ‘Jamaica’ at The New Freedom Theatre in Philadelphia

If you are a musical theatre fanatic, like me, with a mammoth record collection, then you have always wanted to see Jamaica. Well, cross that off my bucket list. Freedom Theatre has done it and I was...

Review: ‘Hillary and Clinton’ at The Philadelphia Theatre Company

Power. Election. Power. Primaries. Backroom Deals! Power! It’s election season again, and the media is overflowing with comment and analysis. After the surprise of the 2008 election and the disaster...

Review: ‘The Plough and the Stars’ at The Irish Heritage Theatre and Plays and Players in Philadelphia

Exactly 100 years ago, a group of Irish poets, musicians, writers and dreamers seized the Dublin Post Office, (yes, that’s right, the Post Office) in an ill conceived attempt to surprise the occupying...

Review: ‘Kiss Me Kate’ at Act II Playhouse in Ambler, PA

The Broadway Musical flowered in the years following World War II. Many of the musicals produced during this “golden age” remain treasures of our lyric theater. One of the best will always be Cole...

Review: ‘The Ballad of Trayvon Martin’ at The New Freedom Theatre in Philadelphia

A phoenix arises! The New Freedom Theatre is back with a solid professional production. After many seasons of darkness, except for their acclaimed theatre school, the lights are on again with a poetic...

Review: ‘Moth’ at Azuka Theatre in Philadelphia

School shootings are inexplicable. A high school used to be an open welcoming location. Today they are locked-down prisons, intently suspicious of any unusual activity. Any play that tries to...

Review: ‘Machinal’ at Ego Po Classic Theater in Philadelphia

“Crimes of Passion” have always stimulated audiences, and America in the 1920’s had one of the great ones. Ruth Synder killed her loathsome husband with the help of her boyfriend. Both were convicted...

Review: ‘Translations’ at Villanova University in Villanova, PA

One hundred years ago a group of Irish poets, musicians and classical scholars rebelled against English rule. The “Easter Uprising” was cruelly subdued by the occupying British, but this being...

Review: ‘The Country Girl’ at The Stagecrafters in Philadelphia

Bravo to the Stagecrafters of Chestnut Hill. Their production of Clifford Odets’ The Country Girl captures all the hidden complexity of this powerful and difficult to achieve drama. Odets tells the...

Review: ‘Doctor Faustus’ at Quintessence Theatre Group in Philadelphia

One thing was abundantly clear as the youthful Quintessence Theatre Group cast took its curtain call to the cheers of a packed house: these players had fun. Fun you ask? Isn’t this The Tragical...

Review: ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ At Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia

Walnut Street Theatre rocked with laughter tonight. The Pirate King, Black Stache, was arguing with his mate, Smee, concerning a severed. . .oh well you have to see it. It was like old time vaudeville...

Review: ‘Saint Joan’ at Quintessence Theatre Group in Philadelphia

Repertory Theatre has all but vanished in this country today. Fortunately, one can still travel to cities like DC and Philadelphia to see a company of actors enact a group of classic works, with a...

Review: ‘Red’ at Walnut Street Theatre Independence Studio 3 in Philadelphia

Mark Rothko, the acclaimed abstract expressionist painter returns to Philadelphia in Red, the Tony Award-winning play by John Logan, at the tiny Independence Studio black box of the Walnut Street...

Review: ‘I Love You Because’ at The Players Club of Swarthmore in Swartmore, PA

New York may have millions of people, but it can be a lonely place if you are searching for love and coming off a failed relationship. I Love You Because features 4 young people navigating these...