Theater

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Arnoldy (with Dibble, left, and Schaefer) gives Tracy a modern twist. (Photo by Mark Garvin)

'High Society' at Walnut Street Theatre (1st review)

High jinks amongst the very wealthy

Romantic comedies set to music have a way of transcending time, so prepare to enjoy High Society even if you can’t really sympathize with the problems of the very rich. But can a modern musical adaption of a popular film ever overcome our memories of the original?
Naomi Orwin

Naomi Orwin

Articles 3 minute read
Rosalind Franklin was marginalized by most of her male colleagues: Watermeier and Perrier. (Photo by Mark Garvin)

'Photograph 51' at the Lantern Theater

Science and personality

Smart people have become the latest species to be put under the microscope of dramatic interpretation. Are they really so different from the rest of us? Photograph 51 at the Lantern Theater shows us how personal insecurities can effect life-changing discoveries.
Naomi Orwin

Naomi Orwin

Articles 4 minute read
Charming, defensive, and ruthless: Michael Genet as Joe Keller. (Photo by Mark Garvin)

Arthur Miller's 'All My Sons' at People's Light

Fissures in the family

People's Light stages a solid, traditional production of All My Sons in which race is largely beside the point and the characters just happen to be black.

Bill Murphy

Articles 2 minute read
A Kafkaesque pas de deux in “The Border.”

Fringe 2015: Jo Strømgren's 'Border' and 'There'

When nonsense makes complete sense

The talented Jo Strømgren Kompani returns to the Fringe Festival with two 60-minute gems of political theater.

Carol Rocamora

Articles 4 minute read
Phillips: Pilot Seal/Mackenzie navigates a complicated double life.

Fringe 2015: 'Alias Ellis Mackenzie' by Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental

Telenovela or stage play?

Do gimmicks add to or detract from the success of a show? In Alias Ellis Mackenzie, the set and the out-of-sequence presentation challenge the audience to figure out what is going on.
Naomi Orwin

Naomi Orwin

Articles 3 minute read
German soldiers being mobilized in 1914.

Fringe 2015: Iron Age Theatre's 'A Great War'

What price heroism?

In A Great War, we have a courageous, compelling new play by James Christy Jr., a Philadelphia playwright, calling attention to a lesser known aspect of World War I: the participation of German Jewish soldiers.

Carol Rocamora

Articles 3 minute read
"A loathsome possibility" for Rachel Brodeur. (Photos by Ashley LaBonde and Wide Eyed Studios)

Fringe 2015: 'The Captive' by Philadelphia Artists' Collective (second review)

Is a 1920s shocker worth mounting today?

Who’s the captive here? A lady with a scandalous orientation? Or a whole society that is as obsessed with women’s sex lives now as it was in the 1920s?
Alaina Johns

Alaina Johns

Articles 5 minute read
Twombly and Rauschenberg / Patroclus and Achilles (Photo by Dave Sarrafian)

Fringe 2015: '50 Days at Iliam' by Hannah Van Sciver

Coming full circle

Hannah Van Sciver’s take on the creation of Cy Twombly's Fifty Days at Iliam was a sensual, rhythmic, playful, and thoughtful take on the inner workings of the artist.

Lauren Findlay

Articles 4 minute read
Frank Perri can control your reality. (Photo via frankperrientertainment.com)

Fringe 2015: 'Reimagine Your Reality' by Frank Perri

Slippery issues of self-will

The participants in Frank Perri's hypnotism show clearly experience no embarrassment, but does their lack of embarrassment — of, literally, self-consciousness — give us permission to laugh?
Judy Weightman

Judy Weightman

Articles 3 minute read
An unrelentingly cheerful Nora (Suli Holum).

Fringe 2015: Jo Strømgren's 'Doll's House'

Shrinking a classic down to size

What is there new to discover in Henrik Ibsen’s Doll's House? Jo Strømgren Kompani proposes a Nora who is much more enlightened than usual, a villainous Krogstad, and a set that is so confined the characters stumble over each other to get from place to place.
Naomi Orwin

Naomi Orwin

Articles 5 minute read