'Beauty and the Beast' at the Arden

For love or money?

A play about overcoming fears shows that true love can overcome even a witch’s spell. Why then is everyone in the play so concerned about money and success?

Naomi Orwin

Dec 16, 2014 · Articles · 4 minute read

Team Sunshine's 'Sincerity Project'

The thin line between sincerity and artifice

The Sincerity Project takes the notion of sincerity as timeless, self-evident, decidedly apolitical, and fully accessible via performance, which makes the show feel a lot like a game of Truth or Dare at a sleepover: Amusing to an extent, if not slightly phony, and occasionally revealing of a juicy tidbit, but overall limited to the provided guidelines.

Samantha Maldonado

Dec 16, 2014 · Articles · 3 minute read

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s 'Cinderella'

A 21st-century fairy tale

The script of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella is barely recognizable in this new production, but the 1957 music is wonderful and augmented with other gems from those prolific songwriters.

Steve Cohen

Dec 12, 2014 · Articles · 3 minute read

Revival of David Rabe’s 'Sticks and Bones'

Vietnam: Look back in anguish

This timely revival of Sticks and Bones pours salt in open wounds, as we welcome scores of soldiers home from the recent Iraqi and Afghanistan Wars and then find, to our incomprehension, that they are suffering from PTSD. Are we as blind to their suffering as David’s family is to his?

Carol Rocamora

Dec 09, 2014 · Articles · 4 minute read

'Great Expectations' at the Arden Theatre (2nd review)

An unexpected hit at the Arden

For many readers, Great Expectations was an enthralling and transformative epic, while for others it was boring required reading that was filled with convenient coincidences. Whichever your opinion, the Arden’s production provides fast-moving entertainment.

Steve Cohen

Dec 09, 2014 · Articles · 2 minute read

‘The Matter of Frank Schaefer’ at Curio Theatre Company

God loves you — is that why the rest of us should?

Can we tackle contentious social justice issues through a lens that might itself feel exclusionary? The fervent Christians of Curio Theatre Company’s Matter of Frank Schaefer, on both sides of the gay marriage fight, make us wonder.

Alaina Johns

Dec 05, 2014 · Articles · 4 minute read

Shanley’s ‘Outside Mullingar,’ by PTC (1st review)

Humanity and nature on an Irish farm

The four characters in John Patrick Shanley’s Outside Mullingar offer an engaging opportunity to channel the inner Irish that lurks within many of us.

Dan Rottenberg

Dec 04, 2014 · Articles · 4 minute read

‘QED’ revived at Lantern Theater (second review)

Richard Feynman: Rock star of the science world

The first challenge in a one-person show is finding the right subject; the second is finding the right performer. The Lantern Theater Company succeeds on both counts.

Gary L. Day

Dec 02, 2014 · Articles · 2 minute read

‘The River’ and ‘The Real Thing’ on Broadway

Love, actually?

Two plays and a movie look at the search for love; oddly, the one based on a true story is the most optimistic.

Carol Rocamora

Dec 02, 2014 · Articles · 5 minute read

'Big Love' and 'Rapture, Blister, Burn'

Two feminist takes on marriage

Big Love at Villanova and Rapture, Blister, Burn at the Wilma have similar subjects: Both focus on choices for women, especially on conflicting views about marriage.

Steve Cohen

Nov 29, 2014 · Articles · 4 minute read