Reviews

Review: ‘I Call My Brothers’ at Forum Theatre

Forum Theatre has a knack for picking trenchant works of theater that buzz with relevance to hot-button topics. Its current offering is a perfect case in point. Given this nation’s rising tide of...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘I Fucking Dare You’ at The Berserker Residents

The Berserker Residents, a Philadelphia-based troupe, has been writing and performing inspired comedy for years. Their irreverent 2010 offering The Very Merry Xmas Carol Holiday Adventure Show remains...

In the Moment: An Interview with BalletNova’s Artistic Director Laveen Naidu

Area non-profit arts organizations continually develop fresh ideas to reach children who may not regularly have access to the wonders of the performing arts. One new such effort is by Northern...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Wroughtland’

From the first moment you enter the space Gunnar Montana’s Wroughtland transports you into another world. The stage and seating area are lush with greenery, some beautiful, with delicate leaves and...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘The Sincerity Project’ at Plays and Players

It’s back! After two years, Team Sunshine Performance Corporation’s The Sincerity Project, directed with much heart, and written and performed by actors/writers Aram Aghazarian, Benjamin Camp, Rachel...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Notes of a Native Song’

“This isn’t the Ken Burns musical documentary on James Baldwin,” said Stew about two-thirds of the way through his latest show, Notes of a Native Song. He was right. Notes of a Native Song may be many...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Cellophane’

Are we mindless technology zombies? Have we lost our human compassion? These are questions addressed in the Fringe show Cellophane, by Mac Wellman. Cellophane, put on by the duo jenny&john at the Boy...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Antihero’ at Tribe of Fools

In a theatre festival with a sometimes overwhelming number of shows, there’s only one show where you’ll see actors flipping off walls, a real-life Street Fighter battle, and show-downs with the...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Birdie’s Pit Stop (and the tribe of queers who fucked everything up)’ at On the Rocks

Camp and kitsch reign supreme in On the Rocks’ Birdie’s Pit Stop (and the tribe of queers who fucked everything up), an outrageously funny world-premiere parody of the horror genre and the second...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Then Athena’ at Allentown Public Theatre

Then Athena, a collective creation, directed by Troy Dwyer, and presented by Allentown Public Theatre, presents a tapestry of stories about a wide range of women, both fictional and historical. The...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Making the Fringe Great Again!’ at WaitStaff Sketch Comedy

If you’re a stickler for political correctness, lighten up, head over to L’Etage Cabaret, grab a drink, and laugh your *#@% off at all the irreverent humor in WaitStaff Sketch Comedy’s hilarious...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘One-Man Apocalypse Now’

The title tells you all you need to know about Chris Davis’ new show at the Fringe Festival. When you enter the performance space – a small room inside a Southwest Philly warehouse that’s seen better...

Review: ‘Cloud 9’ at The Studio Theatre

Caryl Churchill’s Cloud 9, now playing at Studio Theatre, is a fabulous, funny, smart, and ever more relevant vision of a world in the midst of upheaval. Director Michael Kahn, always the exquisite...

Review: Culture Club at The Music Center at Strathmore

Culture Club channels the 80s at Strathmore The UK pop-soul music group Culture Club has been grooving for over 30 years with hits like “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me”, “Time,” “Karma Chameleon,”...

Review: “Weird Al” Yankovic at Wolf Trap

“All bets are off,” says Wolf Trap’s website, when “Weird Al” Yankovic, King of Parody, takes over the concert hall. Absolutely anything can happen. 35 years on, the polka-dancing, accordion-playing...

Review: ‘One Gold Coin’ (‘Una Moneda de Oro’) at InterAct Story Theatre

Entertaining for children and parents alike, One Gold Coin – Una moneda de oro, is the current family-friendly presentation produced by InterAct Story Theatre. According to their press release: One...

Review: ‘Gypsy’ at Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children’s Theater

Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children’s Theater has just opened their new production of Gypsy, the classic 1959 musical. Often listed among the greatest musicals ever written, Gypsy...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Sword of the Unicorn’

Sword of the Unicorn is an intriguing show. Under the direction of Director, Writer, and Producer Harrison Stengle the play cleverly provides insight on the stress coming out in a new exciting way. I...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Dutch Masters’ at AMH Productions

Ostensibly, Dutch Masters is a trope we’ve seen enough times before. A young black man, Eric (James Whitfield) approaches a young white man, Steve (Robert Dondiego), on the subway. Eric is intent of...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘7 Person Chair Pyramid High Wire Act’ at Der Vorführeffekt Theatre

In Kingsessing, in the bare-bones exposed-brick performance spare Panorama, Der Vorführeffekt Theatre’s “The 7 Person Chair Pyramid High Wire Act” is a welcome oasis of imagination. Directed by Sarah...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ Deep Blue Theater Collective

A lost Blanche DuBois greets you at the door, as you make your way upstairs, live piano music plays loudly as the troupe of performers dances and lightly interacts with the audience, asking simple...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Exile 2588’ at Almanac Dance Circus Theatre

Inspired by the ancient Greek myth of Io, the principles of existential risk and human enhancement ethics considered by Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrum, and the popular genre of science fiction,...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Spherus’

Greg Kennedy bills himself as an “Innovative Juggler,” and he lives up to that billing in Spherus, his show now running as part of the 201 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Kennedy’s style is rooted in...

Review: ‘Lobby Hero’ at 1st Stage

The imposing lobby of a tony Manhattan apartment building—all sleek gray marble, glass, and stainless steel—commands the spacious 1st Stage stage. Sound Designer Neil McFadden has created a...

Review: ‘Dog Sees God’ at East Street Arts Center

We all have those childhood cartoons and characters we loved in our youth, whose innocence and wholesome comedy are branded in our memories and popular culture. But what happens if those wholesome...

Review: ‘Dinner With Friends’ at Peter’s Alley Theatre Productions

Peter’s Alley Theatre Productions opens its fifth season with Dinner With Friends, a 2000 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by Donald Margulies, directed by Kristofer Kauff. An intricate drama about the...

Review: ‘Catch Me If You Can’ at NextStop Theatre Company

The story of Frank Abegnale, Jr., was first brought to America’s attention in Steven Spielberg’s 2002 film Catch Me If You Can. It gained a new lease on life in 2011 with the Broadway musical version...

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 Hound of the Baskervilles’ at Hedgerow Theatre Company in Rose Valley, PA

Spooky moors, haunting noises in the night, one or two mysterious deaths, and a fabled homicidal hound make for a cozy evening of suspense in the The Hound of the Baskervilles. Adapted by Brock D....

Review: ‘The Cripple of Inishmaan’ at Colonial Players of Annapolis

This remarkable production of The Cripple of Inishmaan is a fantastic way to kick off Colonial Players’ new season, its 68th. Written by Martin McDonagh and directed by Dave Carter, it tells the story...

Review: ‘Wait Until Dark’ at Everyman Theatre

A policeman. A con man. An old friend. A blind woman. A lost doll. A murder. Everyman Theatre (“Everyman”) kicked off its 2016-17 season on Friday with the suspenseful thriller, Wait Until Dark, a...

Review: ‘Electile Dysfunction’ at Act II Playhouse in Ambler, PA

Electile Dysfunction is a very funny show. Act II Playhouse is performing quite a community service, since the current election news ranges from ridiculous to terrifying. Laughter is certainly called...

Review: Bryan Adams at Wolf Trap

If you’re looking for the fountain of youth, look no more, it’s called Rock ‘N Roll. Boyish and Renaissance man Bryan Adams transported through a time machine from the 1980s to grace Wolf Trap’s stage...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘In the Clearing’ at Birds on a Wire

Birds on a Wire takes Fringe-goers on an evocative journey into the woods in a short-run premiere of its newest modern dance piece In the Clearing. The full-length adventure, choreographed and...

Review: ‘The Other Place’ at Rep Stage

Today’s playgoers are used to solving puzzles in the theater. So perhaps Playwright Sharr White spends a bit longer than necessary to get us to The Other Place promised by the title of his 2011 drama....

Review: Angelique Kidjo at The Music Center at Strathmore

The raves never stop pouring in for Grammy Award-winning singer, composer, and humanitarian Angelique Kidjo – nor should they. Called by NPR “Africa’s greatest living diva,” Kidjo’s ample gifts – her...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Two Stories’ by Jillian Glace

Two Stories, choreographed by Jillian Glace, touts itself as a dance piece centered “on the concept of perspective and how intimately we experience relationships.” While the piece succeeds at the...

Review: ‘All My Sons’ at Vagabond Players

‘All My Sons’ highlights painful secrets from the past Vagabond Players’ All My Sons, expertly directed by Michael Byrne Zemarel, is a masterful staging of a classic work by one of the great American...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Room 21’ by Jace Clayton at The Barnes Foundation

The 2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival celebrated its official launch at the Barnes Foundation on Friday evening with an extraordinary one-night-only sold-out event in the Curated Fringe, as New York...

Review: ‘Come From Away’ at Ford’s Theatre

Nestled in the northwestern part of the island of Newfoundland, lies the small town of Gander. In 2001, the population of Gander was 9,651. On September 11, 2001, that population increased by over...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Animal Farm to Table’ at The Renegade Company

Animal Farm to Table isn’t like any other show in the Fringe Festival. The show, conceived and directed by Mike Durkin for The Renegade Company, is performed on an actual (but small) working farm just...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Eugène Ionesco’s The Chairs’ at Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium

Emptiness. Isolation. Boredom. Expectation. Emptiness. The Old Man and Old Woman over-react to the petty nuisance of mosquitoes flying around them, then yammer incessant inanities to fill up the void...

Review: ‘A Dream Within A Dream: Madness’ at Through The 4th Wall

Hats off to the totally nifty, quite intense, immersive production of A Dream Within A Dream: Madness at Alexandria’s Torpedo Factory Arts Center. Created by Through the 4th Wall Dreams is abundantly...

Review: ‘EDWIN, The Story of Edwin Booth’ at The Theatre at St. Clement’s in NYC

Renowned as the greatest American Shakespearean actor of his day, Edwin Booth (1833-93), the brother of Abraham Lincoln’s killer John Wilkes Booth, could have easily become the collateral damage of...

Review: Don Henley at Wolf Trap

Seeing American icon in concert Don Henley is a must! He is Americana at its best! A musician to the core, his musical craftsmanship holds up to the test of time. A founding member of one of the most...

2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Carried Away’ at Brian Sanders’ JUNK

Boldly erotic, seductively exuberant, and profoundly intimate, Carried Away, this year’s world-premiere Fringe piece by Brian Sanders’ JUNK, brings all the physicality, psychology, and emotional...

Review: ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ at The Goodspeed

I have been viscerally connected to this charming musical about teenage life during the mid-1950s, when pop music was surrendering to the hot wave of rock ‘n roll started more or less by icon of the...

Review: ‘Urinetown’ at Constellation Theatre Company

In the not too distant future there will be a drought so long and severe that water use will become strictly regulated. So regulated that even your right to pee will be in doubt. How will you handle...

Review: ‘Blackberry Daze’ at MetroStage

MetroStage’s Blackberry Daze adapted by novelist Ruth P. Watson and Director/Choreographer/Lyricist Thomas W. Jones II from Watson’s best-selling novel, and with a soulful, beautiful, and emotional...

Review: ‘Marx in Soho’ at Spotlighters Theatre

Have you ever wished you could return to a conversation after-the-fact to clarify a misunderstanding? So did Karl Marx, at least in the witty and poignant one-man show, Marx in Soho, which is playing...