Waitress Goes Down Sweet As Pie

NETworks non-equity presentation of Waitress at the Kimmel Center delivers a production that is full of sweetness, laughs, and lovely music.

There is something so comforting about the American diner. The smell of bacon, the reliably hot coffee, the servers who’s brusk care is well-worn but personal. Likewise, Waitress, feels comforting, and certainly more filling than some other recent movie-to-musical broadway adaptations.

View More Waitress Goes Down Sweet As Pie

You Won’t Be Alone (dir. Goran Stolevski): Film Review

“You Won’t Be Alone,” Goran Stolevski’s writing-directing feature debut, is something special. More than just “arthouse horror,” Stolevski’s film is a haunting meditation on identity, humanity, and how everything is relative, but also a sensory experience with some bloody innards. It’s unsettling, yet challenging and magical, and if you just let it wash over you, the spell is rewarding.

View More You Won’t Be Alone (dir. Goran Stolevski): Film Review

Quintessence Breaking the Cycle with Tragi-Comedy The Winter’s Tale

As part of its Transformation Repertory, Quintessence Theatre Company presents one of Shakespeare’s most beguiling plays, The Winter’s Tale. Sometimes classified as a “late romance,” or a “tragi-comedy,” or simply “a problem play,” The Winter’s Tale spans two countries and 16 years.

View More Quintessence Breaking the Cycle with Tragi-Comedy The Winter’s Tale

‘Catholic Guilt’ Returns for the Fifth Annual Philadelphia Theatre Week

Catholic Guilt might sound like a title for a heavy, depressing show, but Kelly McCaughan leads audiences on an adventure that is much more than that. The show is McCaughan’s “playful and poignant” take on her experiences with Catholicism, a mix of stand-up, improv and what they describe as “sinful audience participation”. 

View More ‘Catholic Guilt’ Returns for the Fifth Annual Philadelphia Theatre Week

The Wilma Announces A Fundraiser Supporting Ukraine

As the world reaches out a hand to help the Ukrainian people amidst the Russian invasion, the local Philadelphia theater community is finding its own ways to contribute. In solidarity with Ukraine, the Wilma Theater presents a special event next week featuring the work of Ukrainian playwright Natal’ya Vorozhbit, raising money for those affected by the war.

View More The Wilma Announces A Fundraiser Supporting Ukraine

Lantern Theater’s Brave Return to Stage: A Man For All Seasons

What a brave return to live theater this production is!  Lantern Theater Company gives us old-time drama and powerful theater, full of big ideas and complex language, rather than a bit of fluff to amuse or console us. With a top-notch cast and clever direction by Peter DeLaurier, it’s a heady three hours.

View More Lantern Theater’s Brave Return to Stage: A Man For All Seasons

The Outfit (dir. Graham Moore): Film review

Author Graham Moore (who adapted his book The Imitation Game for the Benedict Cumberbatch-starrer of the same name) makes his writing-directing debut, and he decidedly shows a lot of skill in ratcheting up tension and claustrophobia in mostly one room for one long night. It’s a little like Hitchcock’s Rope in that way, but with more sharp objects. 

View More The Outfit (dir. Graham Moore): Film review

Philadelphia Ballet’s Charles Askegard on the Brilliance of Balanchine

Charles Askegard has spent his career perfecting the work of George Balanchine – first as a dancer with NYCB and now as the Philadelphia Ballet’s rehearsal director. The company will be presenting Bold Brilliant Balanchine as part of its commitment to honoring and celebrating its rich Balanchine roots. Askegard spoke about the upcoming program and his time with the Philadelphia Ballet.

View More Philadelphia Ballet’s Charles Askegard on the Brilliance of Balanchine

Emerging from the Dark: Sarah Knittel on MAKE A F@CKIN’ SHOW YOU POS

In a post-quarantine world, we often don’t know what to expect, and the same is true of Sarah Knittel and Bradley Kristian Wrenn’s upcoming experience/performance titled MAKE A F@CKIN’ SHOW YOU POS. Sarah Knittel, one half of the director/performer duo, received our smoke signals and exited her cave long enough to discuss her work and the show with Phindie.

View More Emerging from the Dark: Sarah Knittel on MAKE A F@CKIN’ SHOW YOU POS

The Return of Circa: Luke Thomas on Humans 2.0

Australia’s renowned Circa continues to defy the laws of gravity in their latest program, Humans 2.0. The contemporary circus troupe is returning to Philly with the follow-up to their 2018 performance Humans. The show promises to push the physical boundaries even further with their 10-member company. Performer Luke Thomas spoke with Phindie about the upcoming program at the Zellerbach Theatre. 

View More The Return of Circa: Luke Thomas on Humans 2.0

Seasons of RENT: A young cast helps an aging show

For millennial theater kids, it is hard to overstate the cultural importance of Rent. First produced in 1996, the contemporary retelling of Pucini’s La bohème introduced me and my peers to rock ballads, profanity, drug use, sex, homelessness, and AIDS. Presented in Philly as part of its “25th Anniversary Farewell” tour, this Rent feels adolescent, that is: young, passionate, loud, and slightly dumb.

View More Seasons of RENT: A young cast helps an aging show

Rich and Resonating: Neill Hartley on ’NIGHT, MOTHER from Isis Productions

Winner of the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Marsha Norman’s two-woman play ’night, Mother is a tragedy on an intimate, rather than epic, scale. Taking place over a single night, it looks at a widowed mother and her divorced daughter, who is epileptic, depressed, and at the end of her rope. Philadelphia audiences can catch Norman’s award-winner from March 4 to March 27, 2022, in a presentation by Isis Productions starring Kirsten Quinn and Renee Richman-Weisband. Phindie spoke to director Neill Hartley about what makes this such a fitting play for our times.  

View More Rich and Resonating: Neill Hartley on ’NIGHT, MOTHER from Isis Productions