What with James Ijames winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (bravo!) two days ago, the bar was set very high for his newest play
View More REVERIE (Azuka Theatre): Aiming for a high bar
Category: Theater
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Winning a Pulitzer, Directing a Pulitzer-winner
2022 Pulitzer Prize winner James Ijames directs the 2019 Pulitzer winner Fairview at the Wilma.
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Can’t Stop the Beat: Catching up with HAIRSPRAY’s Emmanuelle Zeesman and Helene Britany
Broadways’ Tony Award winning musical Hairspray makes its return to Philadelphia this month. Two of the tours cast members- Emmanuelle Zeesman (Prudy Pingleton/Gym Teacher/Matron) and Helene…
View More Can’t Stop the Beat: Catching up with HAIRSPRAY’s Emmanuelle Zeesman and Helene Britany
RIGOLETTO (Opera Philadelphia): A Dilettante at Large reviews
Dilettante at Large (Toby Zinman) has awakened from her long pandemic slumber, and is once again writing about stuff she knows little about but enjoys, unlike theater which she knows quite a lot about and doesn’t always enjoy.
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Philadelphia Theater Calendar May 2022
What’s onstage in Philadelphia this month?
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WHERE WE BELONG (PTC): A young woman’s earnest and confused identity crisis
An impressively credentialed show from The Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in association with the Folger Shakespeare Library is launching its national tour in Philadelphia.
View More WHERE WE BELONG (PTC): A young woman’s earnest and confused identity crisis
Actress Jenny Lee Stern is Always…Patsy Cline
Bucks County native Jenny Lee Stern is returning to the Walnut to reprise her role as Patsy Cline. The Broadway veteran says she’s found her niche playing the legendary singer. The musical, which follows the unlikely friendship between Cline and Louise Seger, includes 27 of Cline’s best- known classics. Stern talks about why she keeps coming back – both to the role and to the Walnut.
View More Actress Jenny Lee Stern is Always…Patsy Cline
April Roundup featuring Philly Theater Week
We’re welcoming April with the fifth annual Philadelphia Theater Week, and a roundup of other shows happening this month!
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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.
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Philadelphia Theater Calendar April 2022
What’s onstage in Philadelphia this month?
View More Philadelphia Theater Calendar April 2022
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
Order Up! Interview with Shawn W. Smith of WAITRESS
Shawn W. Smith returns to WAITRESS in the lead role of Earl. Smith joined the national touring cast of WAITRESS in 2019 after playing an ensemble role in the show. The musical is based on the 2007 film of the same name and features music by Sara Bareilles. Smith talks to Phindie about being back in the pie shop.
View More Order Up! Interview with Shawn W. Smith of WAITRESS
‘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.
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THE GIN GAME by Donald L. Coburn (1978): Chosen by Committee Episode 52
Two elderly people play cards and talk about their life in Donald L. Coburn’s quietly moving play The Gin Game, winner of the 1978 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
View More THE GIN GAME by Donald L. Coburn (1978): Chosen by Committee Episode 52
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
A Powerful Revival: Daniel Fish’s Oklahoma!
Walking into the Forrest Theatre, patrons are assaulted by the glaringly-bright light of the stage. This production of Oklahoma!, the lights seem to say, will hide nothing. In many ways, Daniel Fish’s revival lives up to this promise.
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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.
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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
The Shadow Box by actor Michael Cristofer (1977): Chosen by Committee Episode 51
The winner of the 1977 Pulitzer Prize for Drama gets the Chosen by Committee treatment this week. Michael Cristofer’s The Shadow Box got the nod…
View More The Shadow Box by actor Michael Cristofer (1977): Chosen by Committee Episode 51