Peacock presents Bel-Air

The Fresh Prince, reinvented

Starring UArts alum Jabari Banks, Peacock’s Bel-Air is a dramatic reimagining of the popular 90s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Blair Krassen reviews.

Blair Krassen

Mar 14, 2022 · Reviews · 4 minute read

The Kimmel Cultural Campus presents Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

A whole new darkness

The promoters of this revival of Oklahoma! promise it's like nothing you've ever seen, and they're right. Gail Obenreder reviews.

Gail Obenreder

Mar 11, 2022 · Reviews · 4 minute read

Arden Theatre Company presents R. Eric Thomas’s Backing Track

Family play

In Backing Track, a world premiere at the Arden, R. Eric Thomas offers a warm, witty portrait of a multigenerational Black queer family. Cameron Kelsall reviews.

Cameron Kelsall

Mar 11, 2022 · Reviews · 4 minute read

Delaware Theatre Company presents Hunter Bell’s Other World

A show for all worlds

Delaware Theatre Company’s world-premiere musical spans diverse digital and real-life communities with astounding visuals and sparkling songs. Helen Walsh reviews.

Helen Walsh

Mar 08, 2022 · Reviews · 3 minute read

Theatre Horizon presents James Ijames’s TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever

Rewriting the antebellum script

TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever, a regional premiere from James Ijames at Theatre Horizon, asks its characters, and its audience, to wrestle with the complicated concept of inheritance. Cameron Kelsall reviews.

Cameron Kelsall

Mar 08, 2022 · Reviews · 4 minute read

Azuka Theatre presents Val Dunn’s Carroll County Fix

A hometown transformed

Val Dunn’s world-premiere play reckons with changes to Carroll County, Maryland, amidst the opioid epidemic and the suburbanization of once-outlying small towns. Jill Ivey reviews.

Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Mar 08, 2022 · Reviews · 3 minute read

Isis Productions presents Marsha Norman’s ’Night, Mother

The long goodbye

Despite strong performances, Marsha Norman’s ’Night, Mother shows its age in a staging from Isis Productions. Cameron Kelsall reviews.

Cameron Kelsall

Mar 07, 2022 · Reviews · 3 minute read

Walnut Street Theatre presents Bill Van Horn's Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Speckled Band

Whatever remains is the truth

Following protests by a cohort of Philadelphia artists taking aim at the Walnut’s leadership, the theater produces a shlocky, self-indulgent, and sometimes cringeworthy adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. Jill Ivey reviews.

Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Mar 07, 2022 · Reviews · 4 minute read

Lyric Fest presents Yiddishe Nightingale, A Short History of the American Yiddish Theater

The stars of Yiddish song

Lyric Fest’s presentation of a musical history of American Yiddish Theater makes compelling and poignant listening, especially as all eyes are on Ukraine. Wendy Rosenfield reviews.

Wendy Rosenfield

Mar 04, 2022 · Reviews · 3 minute read

Dreadful Sorry: Essays on an American Nostalgia by Jennifer Niesslein

Chasing completeness

In Pennsylvania native Jennifer Niesslein’s deeply personal new essay collection, she grapples with the personal, political, and cultural myths of America today. Grace Kennedy reviews.

Grace Kennedy

Feb 28, 2022 · Reviews · 5 minute read