Set in Georgia between 1913 and 1915, PARADE examines the true story of Leo Frank, a transplanted Brooklyn-bred Jew accused of killing a thirteen-year-old girl…
View More PARADE (Arden): A Musical Tragedy of Bigotry and Injustice
Author: Debra Miller
Debra holds a PhD in Art History from the University of Delaware and teaches at Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ. She is a judge for the Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre, Philadelphia Arts and Culture Correspondent for Central Voice, and has served as a Commonwealth Speaker for the Pennsylvania Humanities Council and President of the Board of Directors of Da Vinci Art Alliance. Her publications include articles, books, and catalogues on Renaissance, Baroque, American, Pre-Columbian, and Contemporary Art, and feature articles on the Philadelphia theater scene.
EMMA (Lantern): Meddlesome Matchmaking and Regency Amusements
The Lantern opens its twentieth anniversary season with the Philadelphia premiere of Jane Austen’s class-conscious romantic comedy of manners, in which a young idle-rich heroine’s…
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THE RAINMAKER (People’s Light): The Promise of Hope in Times of Hardship
People’s Light & Theatre Company has enjoyed success with its past offerings of masterworks about life in America in the first half of the 20th…
View More THE RAINMAKER (People’s Light): The Promise of Hope in Times of Hardship
[66] HATCH (Birds on a Wire Dance Theatre): Fringe review
An exciting new company with a promising future, Birds on a Wire Dance Theatre presents a mini-festival of six short world-premiere performances in HATCH. Led…
View More [66] HATCH (Birds on a Wire Dance Theatre): Fringe review
[63] GLOW (Kaleid Theatre): Fringe review
Though we’re all connected 24/7 via cell phones, Facebook, email, texting, and blogging, there is a human disconnect in our current state of existence, in…
View More [63] GLOW (Kaleid Theatre): Fringe review
[53] THE PLAYDATERS (Matchbox Theatre Project): Fringe review
More bromance than rom-com, with an outrageously funny and scathing commentary on the lingering immaturity and adolescent fixations of America’s Gen Y, Neil Haven’s THE…
View More [53] THE PLAYDATERS (Matchbox Theatre Project): Fringe review
[5.2] THIS IS THE TWILIGHT KINGDOM (Found Theater Company): Fringe review
Devised and performed by Found Theater Company, and helmed by co-founder Sean Lally in an impressive directorial debut, THIS IS THE TWILIGHT KINGDOM takes a…
View More [5.2] THIS IS THE TWILIGHT KINGDOM (Found Theater Company): Fringe review
[46] ETERNAL GLAMNATION (Brat Productions): Fringe review
A remount of Jess Conda’s gloriously glitzy glam-rock musical that enjoyed a smash-hit world premiere at the 2012 Fringe, Brat Productions’ ETERNAL GLAMNATION invaded this…
View More [46] ETERNAL GLAMNATION (Brat Productions): Fringe review
[42] LEO (Y2D Productions, in association with Chamäleon Productions): Fringe review
Montreal-based performer William Bonnet (formerly of 7 Fingers, who delighted in last year’s Philadelphia Live Arts with Sequence 8) executes a seamless blend of dance,…
View More [42] LEO (Y2D Productions, in association with Chamäleon Productions): Fringe review
[35] OPERA MACABRE: EDGAR ALLAN POE (Philadelphia Opera Collective): Fringe review
An original chamber opera by the exciting young Philadelphia Opera Collective, OPERA MACABRE—which fittingly opened on Friday the 13th!—captures all the hair-raising suspense and psychological…
View More [35] OPERA MACABRE: EDGAR ALLAN POE (Philadelphia Opera Collective): Fringe review
THE SEA PLAYS (Philadelphia Artists’ Collective): 2013 Fringe review 32.2
Eugene O’Neill’s early maritime heart-wrenchers, Bound East for Cardiff and In the Zone, are brought to life in the Philadelphia Artists’ Collective’s devastatingly effective site-specific…
View More THE SEA PLAYS (Philadelphia Artists’ Collective): 2013 Fringe review 32.2
[31] TRAGIC EVENTS (Erik Ransom): Fringe review
One of the best bonuses of Philadelphia’s Fringe Festival is the nightly after-party at the Festival Bar (this year at Underground Arts), where everyone can…
View More [31] TRAGIC EVENTS (Erik Ransom): Fringe review
[26] LIFE AND TIMES: EPISODE 1 (Nature Theater of Oklahoma): Fringe review
From the supremely innovative New York company that brought the hilarious Romeo and Juliet to the 2011 Philly Fringe, LIFE AND TIMES: EPISODE 1 begins…
View More [26] LIFE AND TIMES: EPISODE 1 (Nature Theater of Oklahoma): Fringe review
[25] HUSH NOW SWEET HIGH HEELS AND OAK (Brian Sanders’ JUNK): Fringe review
Choreographer par excellence Brian Sanders creates a psycho-sexual dreamscape of children’s fairy tales and nursery rhymes morphing into adult erotic fantasies in HUSH NOW SWEET…
View More [25] HUSH NOW SWEET HIGH HEELS AND OAK (Brian Sanders’ JUNK): Fringe review
[14] THE CASTLE (Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium): Fringe review
Though Franz Kafka’s work is not categorized as theater of the absurd per se, his writings have been cited as important predecessors of the genre.…
View More [14] THE CASTLE (Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium): Fringe review
[1.2] BATHTUB MOBY-DICK (The Renegade Company): 2013 Fringe review
Renegade’s contemporary deconstruction of Herman Melville’s classic novel about one man’s vengeful obsession with an eponymous white whale features a tour-de-force solo performance by Ed…
View More [1.2] BATHTUB MOBY-DICK (The Renegade Company): 2013 Fringe review
[6] THE BALLAD OF JOE HILL (Swim Pony Performing Arts): Fringe review
The crumbling interior of Eastern State Penitentiary provides the perfect setting for Swim Pony’s sold-out remount of its 2006 Fringe hit THE BALLAD OF JOE…
View More [6] THE BALLAD OF JOE HILL (Swim Pony Performing Arts): Fringe review
Absolutely Fabulous Off-Broadway Rep: MY BIG GAY ITALIAN WEDDING and MY BIG GAY ITALIAN FUNERAL
There are few events in life as rife with the heightened emotions of love and loss as weddings and funerals. Add to them the unbridled…
View More Absolutely Fabulous Off-Broadway Rep: MY BIG GAY ITALIAN WEDDING and MY BIG GAY ITALIAN FUNERAL
It’s Still Happening at White Pines Productions
There’s a lot going on at White Pines Productions. Following a protracted legal battle between the Land Conservancy of Elkins Park and the Sisters of…
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Deb Miller’s Top Picks for FringeArts 2013
HUSH NOW SWEET HIGH HEELS AND OAK by Brian Sanders’ JUNK (Photo credit: Steve Belkowitz) This year’s FringeArts Festival has a new name, but the…
View More Deb Miller’s Top Picks for FringeArts 2013