Theater
2712 results
Page 222
Lantern Theatre's "Uncle Vanya' (3rd review)
Must boredom be boring?
When a play focuses on a family, great ensemble acting is required if the audience is to believe that the characters are related. This mishmash failed that test.
Articles
2 minute read
"25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee' by PTC
Kids acting like adults, and vice versa
Two secrets explain the success of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. This production adds some fresh ingredients to the mix.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Music and lyrics by William Finn; book by Rachel Sheinkin; Marc Bruni directed. Philadelphia Theatre Company production through December 12, 210 at Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad St. (at Lombard). (215) 985-0420 or www.philadelphiatheatrecompany.org.
Articles
3 minute read
"That Pretty Pretty: Or, the Rape Play,' by Theatre Exile
Less than meets the eye
That Pretty Pretty isn't a play; it's a play about writing a play. Playwright Sheila Callaghan introduced numerous big post-modernist ideas but fails to develop any of them into a coherent narrative.
That Pretty Pretty: Or, the Rape Play. By Sheila Callaghan; Joe Canuso directed. Theatre Exile production through December 5, 2010 at Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 N. American St. (between Second and Third Sts. and Market and Arch). (215) 218-4022 or www.theatreexile.org.
Articles
2 minute read
InterAct Theatre's "Silverhill'
Trouble in paradise
The InterAct's premiere of Silverhill, a canny drama about a 19th-Century utopian community, freshly poses perennial questions about who defines social justice and how much of it we really want. Christopher Coucill heads a fine ensemble cast, and Seth Rozin's direction is trenchant.
Articles
4 minute read
Plato's "Apology' by Quintessence Theatre Group
Socrates for the age of Obama
How should a community respond to someone who's the smartest fellow in town but also an obnoxious pain in the ass? That's the intriguing question posed by Quintessence Theatre Group's bold and entertaining adaptation of Plato's Apology.
Articles
3 minute read
"Rent' by 11th Hour Theatre Company
Let's put on a show! (But not necessarily Rent)
The promising 11th Hour ensemble steps outside its customary intimate comfort zone with its current production of Rent. The bad news: This troupe adds little to Jonathan Larson's overexposed musical, which is already beginning to show its age.
Articles
3 minute read
"The Scottsboro Boys' on Broadway (1st review)
Two cheers for the minstrel show
Those Broadway pickets who object to the minstrel format of The Scottsboro Boys miss the point. This musical tells a disturbing story of racism through a device that's racially charged, and also very entertaining.
Articles
5 minute read
Lantern Theater's "Uncle Vanya' (2nd review)
The landed gentry, awaiting extinction
Chekhov's Uncle Vanya is, like his other works on turn-of-the-20th-Century Russia, a comedy that breaks the heart. It's well served in the Lantern Theater's current production.
Articles
8 minute read
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F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Gatz' in New York
The power of many, many, many words
The entire Great Gatsby, read word for word on stage aloud, in the course of seven hours plus a dinner break? Yes— and it's one of the most valiant coups de théâtre I've ever seen: a stunning theatrical feat of virtuosity and sheer audacity.
Articles
5 minute read
Lantern Theater's "Uncle Vanya' (1st review)
Empty lives, up very close and personal
Lantern Theater's production of Uncle Vanya is unusually intimate, shining more focus than usual on the unheralded characters in Chekhov's tragicomedy of dissolute gentry. The cast rises to the challenge.
Articles
4 minute read