201 stories from theculturalcritic.com
Red Herring. A romantic comedy by Michael Hollinger. Act II Playhouse, Ambler PA. Extra performances have been added through November 19, 2017 Red Herring is Michael Hollinger's most …
Red Herring. A romantic comedy by Michael Hollinger. Act II Playhouse, Ambler PA. Red Herring is Michael Hollinger's most intricate play. His script juggles a spy drama, three romance…
Mindful of a new musical about Harold Prince's career, Prince of Broadway, I recall my first published story about him, for Inside magazine in 1996. While throngs of Philadelphians…
Lights Out: Nat "King" Cole, by Colman Domingo and Patricia McGregor, directed by McGregor. People's Light Theater, Malvern PA. Jukebox musicals have become a major genre in the theat…
Ideation, by Aaron Loeb, directed by Joe Canuso. Theatre Exile, Philadelphia PA. Playwright Aaron Loeb pulls off a neat trick with his play Ideation, which premiered in San Francisco …
2.5 Minute Ride by Lisa Kron. Theatre Horizon, Norristown PA. Buyer and Cellar by Jonathan Tollins. 1812 Productions, Philadelphia PA. Two one-person plays light up the Philadelphia t…
Desperate Measures by David Friedman & Peter Kellogg. York Theatre, New York. The most fun of the 2017-18 theater season, so far, is a new musical by David Friedman and Peter Kel…
Cabaret by John Kander, Fred Ebb and Joe Masteroff. Directed by Matthew Decker, Arden Theatre, September 2017. Never has Cabaret seemed so timely as in the new production by Matthew D…
Rock and Roll Man: The Alan Freed Story, a new musical at Bucks County Playhouse, New Hope, PA. Cleveland was picked to be the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because a Clevela…
Which Reminds Me. Written and directed by Tony Braithwaite. Through October 1, 2017, at the Act II Playhouse, Ambler, Pennsylvania. Tony Braithwaite can do a one-man show on almost an…
Azul. La Fábrica Theater, Philadelphia, August 2017. Did you ever wonder why Picasso chose to paint in blue? The earliest stage of his famous career is known as his Blue Period, an…
In 2018 the motion picture industry marks one hundred years since the demise of one of its important pioneering film studios. Every morning 60,000 cars come racing down Pennsylvania's route …
Angels in America at the National Theatre in London. Presented live in movie theaters by Fathom Events in July 2017. Encore dates to be announced. This article is based on two of my r…
The Hero. Film starring Sam Elliott. At the Ambler Theater. The Hero is an unpretentious movie that sneaks up on you. Just as time has snuck up on its protagonist, a man who has been …
Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire. Theater With a View, Pottstown PA, through July 29, 2017. Rabbit Hole is a provocative family drama about differing ways in which people deal with…
Falsettos is one of the most beautiful musicals in Broadway history. Its story is filled with a panoply of emotions and is, by turns, tender, sad, heart-warming, and hopeful. William Finn's …
Fun Home. Music by Jeanine Tesori, lyrics by Lisa Kron. National tour, Spring and Summer 2017. Fun Home doesn't attempt to be a fun experience. The musical is a serious play involving…
Indecent. Created by Paula Vogel & Rebecca Taichman. Written by Vogel, directed by Taichman. Cort Theatre, New York, through June 2017. Indecent is a daring play, in multiple ways…
Gypsy. Book by Arthur Laurents, music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Terrence J. Nolen directed at the Arden Theatre, May-June 2017. Gypsy and Mary Martello each are appre…
The Play That Goes Wrong. Written by Henry Lewis, directed by Mark Ball. Lyceum Theatre, New York. May 2017. You don't have to travel across the pond to see this superb presentation o…
Bandstand. Music by Richard Oberacker, book and lyrics by Oberacker and Rob Taylor. Directed & choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler. Bernard Jacobs Theatre, May 2017. Tis the seas…
What were the television heroes of your childhood like in real life? And what ever became of them? Those are the questions that were explored in the play, Music From a Sparkling Planet, in 2…
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, music & lyrics by Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman, and Anthony Newley & Leslie Bricusse. Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, New York, April 2017. Ch…
Anna, based on Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, adapted and directed by Brenna Geffers. EgoPo Classic Theater, April 2017. Ego Po's latest production uses an innovative approach to a Rus…
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. Arden Theatre, Philadelphia, March 2017. This Arden Theatre production is the funniest Midsummer Night's Dream of recent memory. Dire…
