Theater
2727 results
Page 236
Villanova Theatre's modernized "Medea'
Medea meets Oprah
You wouldn't want Medea for a nanny, but she's always welcome on the boards if you know how to treat her. But the current Villanova production never does find a coherent way to project Euripides's most famous drama onto a modern stage, and the result is an Oprahfied heroine with a knife in her waistband.
Articles
5 minute read
McNally's "Golden Age' by PTC (2nd review)
The eternal Callas, somewhere offstage
Golden Age may be set in 1835, but it's actually Terrence McNally's latest paean to the obsession of his life, Maria Callas. Music lovers will relish hearing about vocal techniques, public tastes, jealousies and gossip about other singers and composers, but it goes on too long.
Golden Age. By Terrence McNally; directed by Austin Pendleton. Philadelphia Theatre Co., production through February 14, 2010 at Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad St. (at Lombard). (215) 985-0420 or www.philadelphiatheatrecompany.org.
Articles
5 minute read
"Time Stands Still' in New York
Global terror, once over lightly
The playwright Donald Margulies likes to flirt with serious social issues. His trouble is, as Time Stands Still reminds us, that he isn't serious about any of it.
Articles
3 minute read
Sam Shepard's "Ages of the Moon' in New York
A coupla white dudes sitting around talking
Ages of the Moon finds Sam Shepard in a meditative mood, ruminating on life, hilariously and painfully. His reunion of two aging Western geezers is classic American dramatic metaphor— a long day's journey into night if ever was one.
Articles
3 minute read
McNally's "Golden Age' by PTC (1st review)
A very long night at the opera
In the backstage bickering of singers and composer during the opening night of Bellini's I Puritani, Terrence McNally has the raw materials for an intriguing drama. Unfortunately, McNally's Golden Age consists of more than three interminable hours of operatic name-dropping and hackneyed expository dialogue.
Articles
5 minute read
Gregory Burke's "Gagarin Way'
Which side are you on?
Despite the intoxicating power of this play about a labor-management standoff, Gagarin Way shrinks from addressing critical questions, like the use of violence on behalf of a just cause.
Articles
4 minute read
Mauckingbird's "Tru' and "The Threshing Floor'
Capote and Baldwin: Where's the beef?
Some one-person plays provide drama, but most devolve into lectures. Mauckingbird's current homages to Truman Capote and James Baldwin fall in the latter camp.
Articles
4 minute read
"Peter Pan' at the Arden
Is it true boys have more fun?
Douglas Irvine has apparently heard the Peter Pan story so often that he sees no need to dramatize the contrast between Edwardian London and the mythical Neverland. And without that conflict, the story loses its point.
Articles
2 minute read
"Becky Shaw' at the Wilma (2nd review)
Adults behaving like children, or: What would Oscar Wilde say?
If nothing else, Gina Gionfriddo's Becky Shaw demonstrates why a universal health care system shouldn't include free therapy— at least not for over-educated, uber-sensitive white people who've never faced a real problem in their lives and generate little in the way of taxable income.
Articles
6 minute read
"Becky Shaw' at the Wilma (1st review)
House of mirrors
This remarkably intelligent and moving play can't easily be pigeonholed as either a wicked comedy or a devastating psychodrama. Gina Gionfriddo's concern is the process by which human relationships change people for better or worse. Whether that makes you laugh or cry depends on your individual circumstances at a given moment.
Articles
5 minute read