‘Hitchcock’s 39 Steps’ in Norristown

What Broadway could learn from Norristown

Instead of patronizing its audience, Theatre Horizon’s production of Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps takes the 1935 film seriously — and even made me care about the outcome.

Steve Cohen

Jun 16, 2014 · Articles · 2 minute read

InterAct’s 'Ritu Comes Home'

How many offensive stereotypes can be squeezed into one play?

This is supposed to be a comedy, but if a writer has to get his laughs through cheap and easy stereotypes, well, it’s not a show of literary strength.

Gary L. Day

Jun 14, 2014 · Articles · 3 minute read

Lauren Weedman: Well I Think You're Beautiful, Philadelphia

A whirlwind tour of Philly

Lauren Weedman spends ten days in Philly and reintroduces us to the city we may have grown so accustomed to living in we can’t see it anymore. Along the way she has her own revelation about trust and surrender.

Naomi Orwin

Jun 12, 2014 · Articles · 3 minute read

Sartre’s ‘No Exit’ in Camden

Hell’s hotel

Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit is a classic of the modern stage that still tells its timeless truth: Hell is other people. It also marks the debut of a promising new company.

Robert Zaller

Jun 09, 2014 · Articles · 5 minute read

'The Screwtape Letters' at Lantern Theater

A not well-disguised sermon

Anthony Lawton creates a bravura modern theatrical presentation — but the message of The Screwtape Letters is distressingly conservative.

Gary L. Day

Jun 08, 2014 · Articles · 4 minute read

'How to Succeed in Business' at the Walnut Street Theatre

Celebrating hypocrisy

A true Broadway classic gets the exuberant revival it deserves. Many of the performers at the Walnut are as good or better than the originators of their roles.

Steve Cohen

Jun 08, 2014 · Articles · 3 minute read

Michael Hollinger's 'Incorruptible' at the Arden

A dark comedy of the Dark Ages

Playwright Michael Hollinger returns to the scene of his crime with this revival of one of his earliest and funniest scripts, Incorruptible .

Steve Cohen

Jun 03, 2014 · Articles · 3 minute read

James Lapine's staging of Moss Hart's 'Act One'

For love of the theater

Moss Hart’s dramatic journey from impoverished origins to one of the most successful Broadway writers and director of his time (1930s-1950s) has inspired countless theater artists — including Lapine — with its purpose and passion.

Carol Rocamora

Jun 03, 2014 · Articles · 6 minute read

Anthony Giardina's 'City of Conversation'

Politics, then and now

The City of Conversation joins the ranks of other deeply moving American family plays that conflate the political and the personal.

Carol Rocamora

May 26, 2014 · Articles · 4 minute read

David Rudkin’s 'The Lovesong of Alfred J Hitchcock'

An exploration of a haunted mind

Playwright David Rudkin's lifelong fascination with Alfred Hitchcock is transformed into a biographical black comedy that explores the sources of the master's macabre creations.

Carol Rocamora

May 20, 2014 · Articles · 5 minute read