“Reviewing a Play”
Writing a play review, a brief critical account of an actual performance, involves making an evaluation.
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SATCHMO AT THE WALDORF (Wilma): A genius performance by John Douglas Thompson
For some time I’ve read effusive descriptions of John Douglas Thompson’s acting. They are all true—he is an incredible talent. In SATCHMO AT THE WALDORF, now in a brief run at the Wilma Theater, Thompson brilliantly portrays Louis Armstrong, the musician’s hard-nosed talent manager, and other characters, switching diction and mannerism so completely that he seems to inhabit different bodies with each change.
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POOKIE GOES GRENADING (Azuka): The filling for your existential doughnut hole
Behind a thick veneer of such entertainingly hilarious absurdity, Azuka Theatre’s world premiere production of J.C. Lee’s POOKIE GOES GRENADING explores the self-serious commitment necessary to produce any works of artistic expression. Lee’s script is theatrical comedy at its best, fast-paced fun with seriously smart dialog and perceptive underpinnings.
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Walking Fish’s PROBLEM CHILD is One To Love
Kensington’s Walking Fish Theatre continues its presentation of George F. Walker’s Suburban Motel series with PROBLEM CHILD. Walker’s cycle features six plays set in the…
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Fever Dream’s BEYOND THERAPY Is No Couch Potato
There is something appealing about short theater. A ten to thirty minute play can be unapologetically funny, without aiming for emotional depth or bothering with character…
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Divided By Faith: Curio Theatre’s THE RUNNER STUMBLES
“At night I wonder how you are feeling, what you think, if you’re happy, if you can sleep. Even when I pray, I wonder what…
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ALP D’HUEZ (Hella Fresh): One couple’s twisting mountain stage
Kensington cops may ask why you’re on rundown Ormes Street, but don’t get rattled: the play happening inside the Papermill Theater satisfies like mom’s chicken…
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RFK (New City Stage): Remembering the Turmoil and Ideals of the Sixties
With all the mud-slinging in the current American presidential campaign and negativity about the state of our nation, it is an appropriate time, before the…
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Experience an Original Sonic Happening at the Fringe with Found Theater Company’s ELECTRIC JUNGLE
Found Theater Company’s latest foray into the Fringe Festival is everything the Fringe should be: experimental, inventive, boundary-breaking, and thoroughly engaging. Devised by Found’s young…
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This House Is Made of Waste Products Only: Thinking about Kyohei Sakaguchi
Though Sakaguchi is relatively unheard-of in the United States, his Zero Yen House project has traveled as close as Canada, and with the sustainability movement in full force here, heʼs a figure who bears extensive discussion.
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Treats of the 2012 Philly Fringe: THE GHOST SONATA and THE MAIDS
One of the great things about the Fringe Festival is the opportunity to see independent companies perform works unlikely to be attempted by more established…
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RED-EYE to HAVRE de GRACE (Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental): 2012 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival
An early version of this show lit up the Live Arts Festival in ’05, and I couldn’t wait to see the latest manifestation of the collaboration between Thaddeus Phillips’ Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental and Wilhelm Bros. music. The production has grown up over the intervening years. It’s bigger, wider, and deeper, and just as amazing and magical.
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CREDITORS (Philadelphia Artists’ Collective): Everything Great Theater Should Be
August Strindberg’s CREDITORS is a revenge tragedy of classic proportions, a modern descendant of the ancient Greeks and Shakespeare. His unnerving story of a love…
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Fringe Festival Takes Flight with Nichole Canuso Dance Company at the APS Museum
RETURN RETURN DEPARTURE considers the fleeting nature of time and the human compulsion to capture it, and there can be few more poignant examples than an ephemeral dance duet at sunset, videotaped for posterity by the performers themselves.
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Neighborhood Treats of the 2012 Philly Fringe: Fishtown, Kensington, Northern Liberties
The annual Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe showcases dozens of local and international performing artists at venues all across the city, but you…
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Philadelphia FringeArts Unveils Plans for its New Headquarters
The historic High Pressure Fire Service Building on the corner of Race Street and Columbus Boulevard will have a new life as the permanent headquarters…
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Best of Philadelphia Theater, 2011-12
Here are my annual picks for the best of Philadelphia theater: Best Play: August: Osage County (Arden) Honorable mention: The Island (Lantern) Best Actor, Male: Frank…
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A Rare and Satisfying CYMBELINE at Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre
CYMBELINE is one of Shakespeare’s later and lesser-known works, not often performed and hard to classify. Though inspired by legends about an ancient British king…
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Plenty of Pulp: THE END OF CIVILIZATION at the Walking Fish
Some of the best entertainments are plot-heavy pulp mysteries: the film Double Indemnity, Raymond Chandler’s stories, Agatha Christie’s plays. With unemployment, serial killing, prostitution, addiction, and…
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“Don’t ask me what happened. It’s best not to know!”: A DYBBUK, or Between two worlds
Review of A DYBBUCK from EgoPo Classic Theatre
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