Reviews

Review: ‘Moxie: A Happenstance Vaudeville’ at Round House Theatre

Moxie: A Happenstance Vaudeville channels pre-radio\TV entertainment America’s Got Talent, The X Factor, Benny Hill, The Gong Show, and The Ed Sullivan Show are nothing new. The variety show has been...

Review: ‘Hadestown’ at The New York Theatre Workshop

You have until July 31st to treat yourself to a trip to the East Village where you will find Hadestown, a rich plum cake of a folk opera, happily ensconced at the New York Theatre Workshop. I came to...

A Report on ‘AFI DOCS’ Part 3: ‘The Dog’ and ‘Chicken People,’ Sonita,’ ‘The Road,’ and ‘in the shadow of the hill’

Final Day of the AFI DOCS and it ends with a nice and easy day, just two but sadly for you, I can only talk about the one (well, you won’t regret that in a moment, I promise). I saw two films today,...

Review: ‘The Little Mermaid’ at Imagination Stage

Imagination Stage, in collaboration with The Washington Ballet, presents the world premiere of The Little Mermaid. This creative partnership follows the highly acclaimed award-winning production The...

Review: ‘Chapter Two’ at Montgomery Theater in Souderton, PA

There’s more to enjoy than simple comedy in Montgomery Theater’s production of Neil Simon’s Chapter Two. Directed by Artistic Director Tom Quinn, this heartfelt tale of a widower and a divorcee set up...

A Report on ‘AFI DOCS’ Part 2: ‘Sonita,’ ‘The Road,’ and ‘in the shadow of the hill’

One of my favorite strategies for navigating the sheer volume of films in a packed festival is to, on at least one day, let the screening committee do my work for me and put myself in one theatre for...

Review: ‘Evita’ at Olney Theatre Center

Evita, the Tony Award-winning musical, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice, is now playing at Olney Theatre Center. The brilliance of the production is due to the collaborative...

Review: Dick Gregory: An Evening of Comedy & Jazz at The Kennedy Center

Internationally known comedian and civil rights activist, Dick Gregory, closed out the last of a series of five District of Comedy Festival performances along with a young all white jazz trio who...

Review: ‘Silk Road Stories’ at The Columbia Festival of the Arts

The Columbia Festival of the Arts under Executive Director, Todd Olson has created a wonderful idea for cultural immersion. They incorporated food and a musical theme night as part of their venue. The...

Review: ‘Million Dollar Quartet’ at Infinity Theatre Company

In addition to bringing Broadway to Annapolis on a more intimate scale, Infinity Theatre Company transported audience members to a magical moment in time, opening last night with the Tony...

Review: ‘Jumanji’ at Adventure Theatre MTC

Adventure Theatre MTC (ATMTC) finishes out its 2015-2016 Season with their fourth world premiere production, Jumanji. The adaptation was co-written by Sandra Eskin and ATMTC’s Artistic Director,...

Review: ‘The Bacchae: A Ritual Blood Sacrifice’ at The Phenomenal Animals in Philadelphia

With its production of Euripides’ The Bacchae: A Ritual Blood Sacrifice, The Phenomenal Animals presents a feminist spin on one of the classic works of Greek theatre. Seven of the cast’s eight...

Review: ‘Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story’ at Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, PA

As the world still mourns ‘The Day the Music Died,’ Bucks County Playhouse resurrects the amazing talent lost too soon. With book by Alan James and iconic songs by Buddy Holly such as, “That’ll Be the...

Meet The Cast of ‘Moon Over Buffalo’ at Vagabond Players: Part 6: Henry Reisinger, Jr.

In Part Six of a series of interviews with the cast of Vagabond Players’ Moon Over Buffalo, meet Henry Reisinger, Jr. Joel: Please introduce yourselves and tell me why you wanted to be in the cast of...

Review: ‘West Side Story’ at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival in Center Valley, PA

In one of the collections of his theatre lyrics, Stephen Sondheim writes that while most people regard West Side Story as being about “racial prejudice and urban violence,” its actual purpose was to...

Review: ‘Everything’s Fine!’ at the SoLow Festival in Philadelphia

Directed by local theater artist Tommy Butler, #theaternow’s entry in Philadelphia’s 2016 SoLow Festival is New-York-based Alex Clothier’s delightfully eccentric reminiscences about his Midwestern...

Review: ‘Julius Caesar’ at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival in Center Valley, PA

For the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s current production of Julius Caesar, Director Patrick Mulcahy views the Bard’s ancient Roman history through a post-modern lens. Set in an imagined future,...

Review: ‘Get Used to It! A Musical Revue!’ at Rainbow Theatre Project

The current production being produced by the theatrically provocative and cutting-edge Rainbow Theatre Project —entitled Get Used To It! A Musical Revue!–may be a bit of a misleading title, for this...

A Report on ‘AFI DOCS’ Part 1: ‘Zero Days’, ‘Tempestad,’ and ‘Haveababy’

The Opening Night Gala which featured a new documentary from Alex Gibney on that Stuxnet virus you’ve probably forgotten about called Zero Days. That has a much more prosaic explanation: Zero Days has...

Review: ‘Forever Plaid’ at Totem Pole Playhouse in Fayetteville, PA

Picture this: Four resurrected deceased men, donning duplicated white tuxedo jackets, parade down the center aisle of Jean Stapleton’s, Totem Pole Playhouse. Chanting, “Deus Ex Plaid”, the Lazarus...

‘Happy Days’ by Samuel Beckett: An Interview with E. Ashley Izard Who is Playing Winnie at Quintessence Theatre Group Through this Sunday

The much talked about Quintessence Theatre Group, one of the few ensemble theaters in Philadelphia, under the direction of Alexander Burns, is featuring two of its actors—E. Ashley Izard as Winnie and...

Review: The District of Comedy Roast of James Carville at The Kennedy Center

How do you make fun of someone who always makes fun of himself? Well, last night, Roastmaster Bob Saget and The Kennedy Center’s District of Comedy Festival managed to do just that, roasting Chester...

Review: ‘Riverdance: The 20th Anniversary World Tour’ at Wolf Trap

Some members of the company weren’t even born when lines of dancers with arms at their sides first performed at a Eurovision competition in 1994. I’d say the rest was history but I don’t think anyone...

Review: ‘Shuffle Along’ at the Music Box in NYC

There is so much talent on stage at the Music Box that it’s difficult to know where to begin giving credit where its due. The first elements that deserve “Original! Exciting! Broadway at its best!”...

Review: “Celebrating Joan: A Tribute to Joan Rivers” at The Kennedy Center

Celebrating Joan: A Tribute to Joan Rivers, which left the audience of admirers howling last night at The Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater, was an evening for “mature audiences” and fans of the...

Review: ‘Chalk’ at We Happy Few Productions

There’s an ancient child-custody legend about two women who claim to be the mother of the same infant. In the well-known Hebrew Bible version, their dispute is resolved when King Solomon orders the...

Review: Musicians of National Orchestral Institute Perform Two Dances and a Titan

The lobby is packed. The line for ticket pick-up is a few dozen deep. The lobby is filled with plush lounge furniture and lit with low-hanging, contemporary chandeliers. While this could be a scene...

Review: ‘Aladdin and His Magic Lamp’ at Hope Garden Children’s Ballet Theatre

Aladdin and the Magic of Dance On June 4, 2016, in the Poolesville High School auditorium, Hope Garden Children’s Ballet Theatre staged a production of original ballet, Aladdin and His Magic Lamp....

‘Sometimes a House Is Much More Than a House: “Clybourne Park” Opens Friday at Silver Spring Stage’

Sometimes a house is just a house. Sometimes it’s a home. Sometimes it’s the bearer of secrets or of legacies. And sometimes it’s a stage where dreams, emotions, fears, and changes play out. A house,...

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 Good Devil (In Spite of Himself)’ at WSC Avant Bard

The Good Devil (In Spite of Himself) is a good and plenty retelling of the classic Faust tale and how art can imitate life. Well, let’s really say it is an entertaining satiric retelling that uses...

Review: ‘Next to Normal’ at The Keegan Theatre

‘Next to Normal’ Confronts Depression, and Anxiety Depression hurts. It deadens and dulls the edge of life and can even kill. With a Tony Award-winning score composed by Tom Kitt with lyrics and book...

Review: ‘Muddled’ at The Drexel URBN Annex in Philadelphia

Following his 2013 hit No Reservations, best-selling author, humorist, and playwright Josh Piven brings a new work to the Philadelphia stage with the world premiere of Muddled, an original satire on...

Review: ‘What Men Don’t Say’ at Anacostia Arts Center

J Weeks Entertainment’s What Men Don’t Say, starring and directed by J the Actor and written by Mone’t Bradley, is a mini-tour de force that puts a new twist on an old theme about men and their love...

Review: ‘No-No Boy’ at Pan Asian Repertory Theatre

No-No Boy is an extraordinary and essential play. It’s about what happened to innocent people when this country demonized and incarcerated Japanese Americans during World War II. To witness it now—as...

Review: ‘The Servant of Two Masters’ at Hedgerow Theatre in Rose Valley, PA

It was in the opening moments of The Servant of Two Masters, as one of the performers stood in front of the curtain to introduce the show, that I realized this wasn’t your standard 18th century...

Review: ‘Mary Poppins’ at the Phoenix Festival Theater at Harford Community College

Everyone has a melody that brings them immediately flashing back to their childhood. For me, it’s the first few notes of “Chim Chim Cher-ee” from the movie Mary Poppins. Those notes bring about the...

Review: ‘Assassins’ at Princeton Summer Theater

Assassins is about people who lived out their dream – but it’s not the dream we ordinarily think of as “The American Dream.” This audacious musical by Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics) and John...

Review: The Arden Cabaret Series with Tony Braithwaite at Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia

At one point on opening night of his latest show, Tony Braithwaite asked if any of his fellow Georgetown University graduates were in the audience. One woman sitting up front announced that she went...

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: ‘Fidelio’ at The In Series

The In Series ends their season with Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, a surprisingly modern tale of faith – particularly between husband and wife. This is their biggest production ever and one of 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: Source Festival 2016: ‘Dreams and Discord: Six 10-Minute Plays

Ready for a night of unicorns and clowns? Sci-Fi and meth? Hipsters and hit men? Only have 80 minutes to spare? Then strap yourself in and get ready for Dreams and Discord: The Source Festival’s...

Review: ‘Kinky Boots’ at The Kennedy Center

In The Kennedy Center’s current production of the Tony Award-winning musical Kinky Boots, a cornucopia of vibrant color runs riot through this exuberant and defiant celebration of diversity and...

Kelli O’Hara in ‘Seth Rudetsky’s Broadway Concert Series’ at the Merriam Theater in Philadelphia

Closing out their Concert Series Season on Tuesday, the Kimmel Center welcomed Kelli O’Hara, one of Broadway’s brightest stars, to the Merriam stage along with Seth Rudetsky for a conversation with a...

Review: Source Festival 2016: ‘Crossroads’: Artistic Blind Date

Plunk yourself down upstairs at the Source Theatre to take in a state of mind; one of dreams and dissonance. Let yourself be open to three creative artists who bring forth dream states at the cusp of...

Review: ‘Make ’em Laugh’ at Signature Theatre

Signature Theatre finishes out their 2015-2016 cabaret series with the uproarious and uplifting Make ‘em Laugh Cabaret, featuring Happy McPartlin and Tracy Lynn Olivera. The duo brings new meaning to...

Review: ‘Parade’ at Drama Learning Center

Parade is a musical with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown and book by Alfred Uhry. Although the original Broadway production had a short-lived run. the show is now often remembered as a powerful...

Review: ‘The Judas Kiss’ at The Harvey Theatre in the Brooklyn Academy of Music in NYC

David Hare’s play about a very specific time in the life of Oscar Wilde first appeared in New York in 1998, with Liam Neeson playing the brilliant Irish playwright Wilde, thus establishing himself as...

Review: ‘Trouble in Mind’ at The Stagecrafters Theater in Philadelphia

In many ways, it’s startling to learn that Trouble in Mind was first performed in 1955. Alice Childress’ play was decades ahead of its time: it’s a satire of racial stereotypes in American...