‘Story of My Life’ in Wilmington

On re-connecting with an old friend

This sweet and unassuming musical about two friends drifting apart closed quickly on Broadway after a New York Times critic gave it the kiss of death. It deserved better, as two revivals have demonstrated.

Steve Cohen

Dec 17, 2013 · Articles · 2 minute read

Why so many Macbeths?

Hamlet vacillates, Macbeth kills (and guess which we prefer?)

All of a sudden, Macbeth has become “the new Hamlet,” with five high-profile productions in the past two years. What does this ruthless murderer’s new popularity tell us about ourselves?

Carol Rocamora

Dec 17, 2013 · Articles · 5 minute read

Lantern’s ‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales’ (1st review)

An antidote to sugarplum treacle

A Child’s Christmas in Wales is a Christmas show for people like me who hate Christmas shows but love stage enchantment without cliché or trite sentimentality.

Gary L. Day

Dec 17, 2013 · Articles · 2 minute read

A real miracle (not on 34th Street)

Miracle in Bryn Athyn (such as it is)

For the last 60 years or so, no Christmas tale has bored people of all ages more than Miracle on 34th Street. Who could have imagined the genuine miracle this show produced last weekend at my conservative Christian high school alma mater?

Alaina Johns

Dec 10, 2013 · Articles · 4 minute read

Pig Iron’s ‘Twelfth Night’ (1st review)

A night of Shakespearean hits and misses

Pig Iron Theater attacked Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night with all the gusto and finesse of a bar brawl, to the audience’s delight, but not so much to mine. But check out that theater!

Gary L. Day

Dec 10, 2013 · Articles · 4 minute read

Beckett’s ‘All That Fall’ in New York

Two battered old souls, together for eternity

Nothing much happens in Beckett, just as nothing much happens in Chekhov. Except the passage of time… and a lifetime.

Carol Rocamora

Dec 10, 2013 · Articles · 5 minute read

Musical ‘Nerds’ at PTC (2nd review)

Gates vs. Jobs

This history of the high-tech rivalry between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs is wacky and ridiculous, but that’s the formula that worked for The Book of Mormon and The Producers.

Steve Cohen

Dec 07, 2013 · Articles · 4 minute read

‘Nerds’: A high-tech musical (1st review)

Revenge of the geeks

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates as nerds and then moguls really did change the world, and now we all have to “turn off our cell phones” when we go to see a musical comedy about how this state of affairs came about.

Naomi Orwin

Dec 07, 2013 · Articles · 3 minute read

Lydia Diamond’s ‘Stick Fly’ at the Arden

Guess who’s coming to dinner, with a twist

When two adult sons introduce their girlfriends to their parents on the same weekend, sibling rivalries flare, class distinctions divide and family secrets unravel. It’s a familiar story with a unique difference: This family is rich, well educated and black.

Steve Cohen

Dec 03, 2013 · Articles · 3 minute read

Brecht’s ‘Good Person of Szechwan’ at the Public Theater

A truly good life: My generation and yours

This irreverent, kitschy, politically incorrect version of Brecht’s cynical parable made me squirm. But my playwriting students loved it. Brecht probably would have loved it, too.

Carol Rocamora

Dec 03, 2013 · Articles · 4 minute read