Reviews

Review: ‘Assassins’ at Pallas Theatre Collective

This season for whatever reason—and far be it from me to speculate—three theater companies in the nation’s capital are presenting Stephen Sondheim’s tunefully insolent tribute to presidential...

Review: ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Annapolis Shakespeare Company’s production of Much Ado About Nothing is an amusing spectacle. Directed by Sally Boyett and set in the 1950’s, it is a visual and musical treat, with talented acting,...

Review: ‘Moon Over Buffalo’ at Providence Players

The play is set in 1953, and the Hays’ once-proud stage careers are fading due to the increasing popularity of television and cinema, and actors who haven’t been paid in a few weeks are quitting the...

Spine: Love and Menace in ‘The Lover’ and ‘The Collection’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

Early Pinter is marked by menace. The Room, The Birthday Party, and The Homecoming leave a chill in the air, and in the audience’s agitated brain. We are disturbed as much by what we don’t know as by...

Review: ‘Blood at the Root’ at Howard University’s Department of Theatre Arts

Hard to imagine a dramatic work more perfect for undergraduate actors or more pertinent to the racial tensions of our times than Dominique Morisseau’s trenchant Blood at the Root, now playing in a...

Celebrate Fall with Brauhaus Schmitz’ ‘Oktoberfest’ at the Armory

Enter the 23rd Street Armory this Columbus Day weekend and be transported to a Munich-style beer hall for the 2nd annual celebration of Oktoberfest, presented by Philadelphia’s own Brauhaus Schmitz....

Review: ‘The Cradle Will Rock’ at Iron Crow Theatre

It takes a lot of Joes to make a sound you can hear. Iron Crow Theatre is on fire right out of the gate with its fantastic season opener, The Cradle Will Rock. Under the expert direction of Artistic...

Review: ‘Kinky Boots’ at the Academy of Music

Drag queens save the day and light up the stage in Kinky Boots, making its return to Philadelphia for a limited run this week at the Academy of Music. Presented in the Broadway Philadelphia series by...

Review: ‘The Lover’ and ‘The Collection’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

The pairing of a director and a playwright is a mysterious thing. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. But sometimes, as here, it is a perfect marriage. The Lover and The Collection by Harold...

Review: ‘Love and Information’ at Forum Theatre

The vignette “Secret” encapsulates the ingenuity of Forum Theatre’s production of Caryl Churchill’s Love and Information. Two office workers sit at their computers, back to back. One (Samy El-Noury)...

Review: ‘Next to Normal’ at Resident Theatre Company

Next to Normal isn’t your standard Broadway musical. But this offbeat Pulitzer Prize-winner, now receiving a solid production at West Chester’s Resident Theatre Company, shines a light on a condition...

Review: ‘Julius Caesar’ at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

“Three or four wenches, where I stood, cried ‘Alas, good soul!’ and forgave him with all their hearts: but there’s no heed to be taken of them; if Caesar had stabbed their mothers, they would have...

Review: ‘The Judicial Murder of Mrs. Surratt’ at Aldersgate Church Community Theater

Aldersgate Church Community Theater presents the world premiere of local playwright Rich Amada’s The Judicial Murder of Mrs. Surratt, an award-winning historical drama about one of the most famous...

Review: ‘Sense and Sensibility’ at Aquila Theatre at the George Mason University Center for the Arts

Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility is the story of the two older Dashwood sisters. In a delightful Aquila Theatre production at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts, the two sisters –...

In the Moment: ‘Death of a Salesman’ at Ford’s Theatre

“There’s just no spot for you,” is the terse way that Willy Loman’s “snotnose” boss-man Howard tells Loman he is fired. Just go and don’t look back, “cause you gotta admit, business is business.” With...

Review: ‘Desperate Measures’ at the York Theatre Company in NYC

A small, amiable musical, very loosely based on Shakespeare’s Measure For Measure, has opened at the York Theatre Company on Manhattan’s Lexington Avenue. It’s called Desperate Measures and it offers...

Review: ‘Death of a Salesman’ at Ford’s Theatre

It’s hard to believe that nearly 70 years have passed since Arthur Miller penned his Pulitzer-winning masterpiece, Death of a Salesman; the perennially relevant social drama seems as timely as ever in...

Review: Kennedy Center Local Dance Commissioning Project Performance of ‘EroSpace’ and ‘When Snails Collide’ at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

It’s often difficult to shake off the pre-conceived notions and expectations of what a particular dance concert is going to be like. I am not exactly clear on what I expected with from EroSpace and...

Fringe Encore Series 2017 Review: ‘6 Guitars’ at SoHo Playhouse

Despite the hiatus of FringeNYC in 2017, SoHo Playhouse is presenting a full line-up for its 12th annual Fringe Encore Series in September and October, giving New York audiences a chance to see a...

Review: ‘The Wild Party’ at Constellation Theater Company

In 1928, Joseph Moncure March wrote a racy narrative poem that was received quite successfully, despite a ban resulting from its controversial content, called “The Wild Party.” And in 2000, a musical...

Review: ‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’ at Bristol Riverside Theatre

“We are the slightest bit bizarre” may be quite an understatement when describing some of the delightfully strange tweens competing in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, now playing at...

Review: ‘Cabaret’ at Arden Theatre Company

“Why do we continue to allow destructive powers to gain control?” – Matthew Decker, Director of Cabaret This is the question that runs through Arden Theatre Company’s production of the musical...

Review: ‘A Clockwork Orange’ at New World Stages

Ranked among the greatest novels of the 20th century, A Clockwork Orange – British author Anthony Burgess’s alarming vision of a dystopian future fueled by ultra-violence, hyper-sexuality, and...

Review: ‘Shiloh Rules’ at Colonial Players of Annapolis – Final Weekend Starts TODAY

Colonial Players of Annapolis’ production of Shiloh Rules is a funny, yet thought-provoking play, a wonderful way to begin their 69th season. Written by Doris Baizley and directed by Beth Terranova,...

Review: ‘Godspell’ at Villanova Theatre

Godspell has always been a show filled with spirit. Ever since its New York debut in 1971, it’s been a vehicle for a lot more than a religious message. Its loose structure – John-Michael Tebelak’s...

Review: ‘Almost, Maine’ at Rockville Little Theatre

Oh, love! What a fickle proposition you are! In Rockville Little Theatre’s (RLT) production of John Cariani’s Almost, Maine, we witness a variety of romantic love dilemmas, with comical and heartfelt...

Review: ‘Mary Jane’ at The New York Theatre Workshop

The New York Theatre Workshop on East 4th Street in the East Village is a small but potent force in the theater community. Its mandate is to offer production of new works which deal with issues of the...

A Recap of The 2017 New York Innovative Theatre Awards at the Gerald W. Lynch Theatre

It was a night filled with excitement, laughs, and unbridled passion for indie theater as the New York Innovative Theatre Foundation celebrated the outstanding achievements of Off-Off-Broadway for its...

Review: ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’ at Delaware Theatre Company

What’s the most impressive technical production in the area? What’s just as astounding as Disney World or any show on Broadway? It’s Delaware Theatre Company’s Something Wicked This Way Comes, a world...

Review: ‘We Shall Not Be Moved’ by Opera Philadelphia

The sole Philadelphia-based offering in Opera Philadelphia’s O17 Festival is We Shall Not Be Moved. Its powerful message is that the city’s children, and particularly its black children, are deprived...

Review: ‘War Stories’ by Opera Philadelphia

War Stories is a clever pairing of two music dramas dealing with battles, presented by Opera Philadelphia as part of its O17 Festival. The two separate compositions are staged in adjacent areas of the...

Review: ‘The Liar’ at Compass Rose Theater

Compass Rose Theater’s production of The Liar is a hilarious farce with a great deal of charm. Written by acclaimed Restoration French playwright Pierre Corneille in 1642, it became his most famous...

Review: The In Series: Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute’ at the D.C. Scottish Rite Temple

If you’re a Mozart fan – and if you aren’t, you should be – you probably have your favorite ‘conspiracy theory’ about why the composer met his untimely death at the age of 35. Thanks to Peter...

Review: ‘Into the Woods’ at Fredericktowne Players

Into the Woods, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine, is now playing at the JBK Theater at the Frederick Community College, presented by the Fredericktowne Players. Into...

2017 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Kink Haüs’ by Gunnar Montana at The Latvian Society

Sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll have long been the rallying cry of post-modern youth, and Gunnar Montana takes that hedonistic call to its most emphatic, explicit, and artistic extremes in Kink Haüs....

Report: Kelli O’Hara Performs at the ARTS by George Benefit at George Mason University

Kelli O’Hara’s concert last night was the culmination of a wonderful evening at George Mason University’s “ARTS by George” benefit. The concert hall at the Center for the Arts was full of an...

Review: ‘Carousel’ at The Media Theatre

Musical Heaven. Is there a better way to describe the production of Carousel at the Media Theatre? It would be hard to find a better-sung production than that given by the surpassingly youthful...

Review: ‘Rock and Roll Man: The Alan Freed Story’ at Bucks County Playhouse

Who was the first rock and roller? You could say it was Elvis Presley, the first rock and roll superstar. Or Bill Haley, the first rocker to have a number one hit. Or maybe it was Ray Charles, or Fats...

Review: ‘Nunsense’ at Potomac Playmakers

Something funny is going on at Potomac Playmakers in Hagerstown, Maryland! It’s a new production of Nunsense, an interactive musical with book, music, and lyrics by Dan Goggins. Anyone who grew up...

Review: ‘Bernstein on Broadway’ at The Kennedy Center

It was a glorious evening for Leonard Bernstein and musical theater fans at The Kennedy Center. It was the exceptional, one-night-only opening to the worldwide celebration of Leonard Bernstein’s...

Review: ‘How I Became a Pirate’ at Adventure Theatre MTC

A few days ago, you might have heard more than your fair share of “scallywags” and “lily-livered land lubbers” if an acquaintance or loved one elected to celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate...

Review: ‘Bridges of Madison County’ at Red Branch Theatre Company

The Bridges of Madison County turns out to be an ideal musical for an ambitious youth theater looking to build bridges to a wider audience of grown-up fans. A sensitive, artfully realized production...

Review: ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ at Port Tobacco Players

Sherlock Holmes is an enduring character in the annals of detective fiction. A master of deduction, Holmes has been the subject of countless movies and plays, one of the most famous of which was The...

2017 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘A Period of Animate Existence’ by Pig Iron Theatre Company

If you open the dictionary and look up the word ‘life,’ one entry reads: ‘a period of animate existence.’ Composer Troy Herion gives this explanation for the title of Pig Iron Theatre Company’s newest...

Review: World Premiere of ‘The Wake World’ by Opera Philadelphia

Inside a museum dedicated to art from the past, the O17 Festival has brought a new opera which celebrates musical and literary styles from the past. Composer/librettist David Hertzberg built upon...

2017 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Cymbeline’ by Revolution Shakespeare at Hawthorne Park

For its fourth annual Fringe offering, Revolution Shakespeare returns to South Philadelphia’s Hawthorne Park with another free outdoor selection from the Bard’s canon. This year’s production (and the...

2017 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Joan Crawford in Her Own Words’ by JC Productions at Tabu Lounge & Bar

Created by Michael McHugh, directed by Peter Tupitza, and starring the fabulous Eric Singel, JC Productions’ revival of Joan Crawford in Her Own Words reunites the show’s original team for a revamped...

2017 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Bind’ by Corinna Burns at The Drake

Corinna Burns is not just skilled at acting, she’s also a superb writer and an enthralling storyteller, and she’s proving it once again in this year’s Fringe Festival with Bind. Her latest original...

Review: Sondra Radvanovsky in Recital at Opera Philadelphia

Sondra Radvanovsky’s recital as part of Opera Philadelphia’s O17 Festival was a spectacular event. That may seem like an oxymoron to some readers, who expect singer/pianist recitals to be intimate...

Review: ‘Native Gardens’ at Arena Stage

Native Gardens is a bloomin’ hysterical comedy at Arena Stage Need something to boost you up? Perhaps something to make you, temporarily, forget the current political and social climate? Or, the...