An entertaining work about a compelling character, RIZZO displays pitfalls common to biographical drama.
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Tag: Philadelphia Theatre Company
News and reviews about the Philadelphia Theatre Company
Barrymore Awards Nominations
Industry insiders vote on their favorite shows and artists in their community from the preceding theater season. The resulting awards recognize the best that Philly stages have to offer, and also musicals.
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SEX WITH STRANGERS (PTC): Turn the page
Laura Eason’s play raises some interesting questions about love and art, but it is largely uninterested in exploring them.
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EXIT STRATEGY (PTC): Saving the bell
We get to experience the empty pathos around a building demolition in which the faculty come together ostensibly to mourn their old school but instead wind up mourning the people they once were.
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EXIT STRATEGY (PTC): All due respect
Holter’s play calls out and subverts the “inspirational white teacher” motif in popular culture because EXIT STRATEGY avoids the Hollywoodization of the decay of America’s public school system.
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K.O. DelMarcelle: Maintaining versatility with an eye on the future
Barrymore Award-nominated actress and choreographer K.O. DelMarcelle talks about her past experiences, current life, and future aspirations.
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Reflections on Playwriting: A personal interview with Walt Vail, one of Philadelphia’s most experienced playwrights
Part two of a multi-part interview with one of Philadelphia’s oldest and most prolific playwrights.
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Sixty Years of Philadelphia Theater: Interview with playwright Walt Vail
Tracing 60 years of theater history in Philadelphia through the eyes of one man.
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BASKERVILLE (PTC): The adventure of the omnipresent detective
Ken Ludwig’s idea of turning a Sherlock Holmes story into a comedy isn’t groundbreaking, which means the execution of the idea needs to be really good to stand out
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BASKERVILLE: A SHERLOCK HOLMES MYSTERY (PTC): A wacky spoof on a classic novel
An entertaining spoof of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Victorian classic injects humor and surprises into the well-known mystery.
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DISGRACED (PTC): Talking politics, religion, and culture
Ayad Akhtar’s Pulitzer-winning play is a conversational piece with a high-paced ending and plenty of thought-provoking ideas.
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BITTER HOMES AND GARDENS (Bearded Ladies at PHS Pop-Up)
The Bearded Ladies latest show is planted full of good ideas, some of which germinate, some of which reach farther than they can comically travel, and some of which die on the vine.
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MURDER FOR TWO (PTC): It’s all in the timing
Timing is everything in this 90-minute madcap whirlwind satire of Agatha-Christie-style whodunits.
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BROWNSVILLE SONG (B-SIDE FOR TRAY) (PTC/Long Wharf): Telling an urban tragedy
An admirable attempt to address the contemporary and timely tragedy of urban violence that doesn’t quite manage to ring true.
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Bill Irwin, Billy Porter, and Anna Deavere Smith: Theatre Masters at PTC
World-renowned comic actor Bill Irwin kicks off of on-stage interviews with some of the major theater artists this Monday, February 16
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ALWAYS… PATSY CLINE (Bristol Riverside): Sweet dreams of a country superstar
Cline is a natural subject for the theater. Although the sad facts of Patsy’s marriage and difficult personal life are alluded to, ALWAYS… PATSY CLINE is more about a relationship a star was able to form with a fan than a full biography of the singer.
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OUTSIDE MULLINGAR (PTC): Land, loss, and love in rural Ireland
John Patrick Shanley’s rom-com charmer is a play about feelings, expressed with an Irish lilt by two generations of neighbors in the Emerald Isle
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2013/14 Critics’ Awards: The best in Philadelphia theater
For the second year, Phindie asked local theater writers to vote on the best theatrical work produced in or near the city in the 2013/14 theater season.
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Sustainability and the Artist
Lately I’ve been thinking about that “worthwhile strategy” in regards to making a living as a theatre artist. Too many of my colleagues can’t afford to get sick, and certainly can’t afford to start a family. An interview with Charlotte Ford (revealing she’s stepping away from theater to go back to school for speech pathology) seems to have sparked a vigorous public debate about how difficult it is to make a living as an artist, and what can be done about it.
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Is there money in theater? Where does it come from? Who gets it?
Phindie looks at tax returns for local theaters to see how much they brought in from what sources. We also look at who the best paid employee was for each “non-profit”.
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