Dear BSR Subscriber,

June openings are in full swing.

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Pride Month 2023 had a great kickoff last weekend, with the biggest Pride flag in the whole state carried by dozens of festival-goers and cheered by hundreds more. We'll continue to spotlight Pride-themed cultural events in our region this month, and we're also looking toward Juneteenth and the annual SoLow Fest.

This week we have a stack of fresh reviews, including openings at the Arden, South Camden Theatre Company, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, and more. I'm loving Kyle's coverage of a new interdisciplinary performance from poet Ross Gay that premiered at Girard College last weekend. And yesterday, I enjoyed speaking with Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance CEO Patricia Wilson Aden about a cut to the Philadelphia Cultural Fund in the mayor's proposed Fiscal Year 2024 budget. Look out for that interview soon, and get ready to take action to protect our city's arts sector (again!).

Alaina Johns
BSR editor-in-chief

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Ross Gay’s ‘Be Holding’ takes over Girard College’s Armory gym. (Photo by Ryan Collerd.)

Poetry on breathing, basketball, and spectacle

Kyle V. Hiller

Ross Gay’s libretto poem Be Holding connects an iconic basketball play from Dr. J with one of the most disturbing award-winning photographs in American history. Kyle V. Hiller reviews.

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Replacing darkness with schmaltz: from left, Will Burton, Britney Coleman, Isabella Esler, and Justin Collette in the national Broadway tour of ‘Beetlejuice.’ (Photo by Matthew Murphy.)

Not so strange and unusual

C.M. Crockford

The national Broadway tour of Beetlejuice, the musical, stopping at the Academy of Music through Sunday, June 11, sands the dark edges off the original in favor of feel-good clichés. C.M. Crockford reviews.

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Juvenile humor: the cast of the Arden’s ‘25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.’ (Photo by Ashley Smith/Wide Eyed Studios.)

Not a winner

Cameron Kelsall

At the Arden, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee lingers on cheap jokes at the expense of adolescent self-discovery. Cameron Kelsall reviews.

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A standout duet: Jayla Anderson and Brandon Gray in Chocolate Ballerina’s ‘Black Swan.’ (Photo by Ray Valdez.)

Not your Petipa Swan Lake

Camille Bacon-Smith

Chocolate Ballerina Company, a contemporary community-based dance organization for artists of color in the Philly region, offered an impressive new take on Swan Lake with an all-ages ensemble. Camille Bacon-Smith reviews.

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An ideal setting for the ragtag spirit of Extreme Shakespeare: ensemble members of PSF’s ‘Henry IV, Part 2.’ (Photo by Kristy McKeever.)

The “Extreme Shakespeare” Henriad continues

Kiran Pandey

Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival opens its 2023 season with Henry IV, Part 2, a joyous restaging that succeeds in ragtag style, despite a few dramatic missteps. Kiran Pandey reviews.

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From left, Dana Lee Capanna as Callie and Lisa VillaMil as Sara in SCTC and Strides Collective’s ‘Stop Kiss.’ (Courtesy of John Craig Photography.)

A Pride month miss

Josh Herren

South Camden Theatre Company partners with the Strides Collective to produce Diane Son’s 1998 Stop Kiss for Pride month. But why do we need this story in 2023? Josh Herren reviews.

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