Theater
2727 results
Page 231
"Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' by PTC
Bigotry and its consequences
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom uses a blues band's 1927 recording session to illuminate the self-destructive black rage engendered by centuries of white oppression. This compelling revival by Philadelphia Theatre Company demonstrates that, like all works of art, August Wilson's modern classic succeeds at several other levels as well.
Articles
4 minute read
Katharine Gray's "516' by Philadelphia Theatre Workshop
Homage, or recycling?
Katharine Clark Gray's tedious and meandering 516 borrows heavily from Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things without much improvement.
Articles
2 minute read
Brecht's "Arturo Ui' in Delaware (2nd review)
Who stole my wallet?
I never understood Hitler's charismatic hold on the German people, but this adept ensemble performance provides a clue: It keeps us so astonished that we're blinded and immobilized from calling his bluff.
Articles
2 minute read
Quintessence Theatre's "Measure For Measure'
A Bard for the 21st Century
The new Quintessence Theatre Group seeks to update the classics for a mass audience. With Measure For Measure, they're off to a good start, even if its strengths lie more in strong acting than in novel concepts.
Articles
4 minute read
"Xanadu' in Wilmington
The good old days of disco
Xanadu, a knockoff of a 1980 movie about a goddess who helps a bunch of California kids open a disco, lacks a discernible point, other than a chance to hear some good disco music once again. That point alone may suffice.
Articles
3 minute read
Brecht's 'Arturo Ui' in Delaware (1st review)
Brecht dissects Hitler (with a little help from Looney Tunes)
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Bertolt Brecht's 1941 Hitler parable set within a fictionalized Chicago underworld, is easily resistible. But once we hear the all-American “Looney Tunes” soundtrack of our childhood, our defenses are disarmed.
Articles
4 minute read
1812's "Evening Without Woody Allen'
Don't play it again, Woody
Woody Allen's published stories from the 1970s can make you laugh out loud. So why shouldn't acting them out before an audience produce the same effect? For several good reasons, actually.
Articles
3 minute read
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Tracy Letts's "August: Osage County' on tour (2nd review)
Is this a comedy? Really?
The traveling cast played August: Osage County mostly as a comedy. But on Broadway, the cast expressed strong emotions when confronting suicide, addictions, infidelity, child molestation and incest. Wouldn't you, if this were your family?
Articles
3 minute read
"Shining City' post-mortem (4th review)
Shining City post-mortem: Of human redemption, right here on Earth
Conor McPherson's Shining City portrays a world of souls in torment. Why then the upbeat title? SaraKay Smullens, a family therapist, finds a message of hope in McPherson's desperation.
Articles
5 minute read
Lantern Theater's "Henry IV, Part I' (2nd review)
Shakespeare's royals, up close and personal
Lantern's Henry IV, Part I is well acted, but the most impressive thing about this production is the immediacy and the royalty of the set in such a small and intimate space.
Articles
3 minute read