Theater
2727 results
Page 242
"small metal objects' at Live Arts Festival
Grasping at intimacy on a city street
small metal objects ingeniously invites us to eavesdrop on an intimate personal conversation in the context of a crowded urban street.
Articles
2 minute read
Albee's "Zoo Story' at Villanova
The trouble with Edward Albee (and his characters, too)
Edward Albee's The Zoo Story may be historically important as the moment when American theater began to come out of the closet, but the play itself is dated, and difficult to perform convincingly unless played against the grain. In Joanna Rotté's spacious direction, it reveals some forgotten strengths, but also exposes inherent weaknesses.
Articles
8 minute read
Whit MacLaughlin's "Fatebook' at Live Arts Festival (2nd review)
Theater of the future
I approached Fatebook's pre-production preparation with a degree of curmudgeonly skepticism. But I must admit: This show's fashioning of original art out of the newest social media modes of communication is a groundbreaking step into a theater of the future.
Articles
4 minute read
Gombrowicz's "Operetta' at Live Arts Festival (2nd review)
1960s Polish bombast
This relic of the Soviet bloc seeks to detonate all ideologies, with uneven results for a contemporary audience that rarely sees such anarchic bombast on stage.
Articles
1 minute read
"Nathan the Wise' at People's Light (1st review)
A distant mirror in the Middle East
A modern translation of Gotthold Lessing's Nathan the Wise, an 18th-Century German fable about religious tolerance, receives a charming production at People's Light, with the noted stage and screen actor David Strathairn in the title role.
Articles
2 minute read
“Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” at the Walnut (2nd review)
Those misunderstood scoundrels
Dan Rottenberg's complaints notwithstanding, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is above all a rejection of serious theater and a spoof of old Broadway musicals. On that admittedly lightweight level, it succeeds amply.
Articles
2 minute read
"Little Shop of Horrors' in Norristown
Something new in a cult classic
The hero of Little Shop of Horrors always thought of his man-eating plant as female. So why has it taken 49 years for a theater company to cast a woman as the plant?
Articles
2 minute read
"Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' at the Walnut (1st review)
No country for old (con) men
This musical comedy about a pair of con men on the Riviera is plagued by a fatal flaw that no amount of sprightly performances, witty lyrics, energetic music and lavish sets can camouflage: Its characters lack character. There is simply no one to root for or empathize with here.
Articles
4 minute read
"Nuda Veritas' at Fringe Festival
When women just don't get it
Four women pose all the right questions in their quest to explain women's inexplicable behavior. But thanks to their obfuscations, I actually knew less about women when I left the theater than when I entered. Playwright Melissa James Gibson could learn a thing or two from Tennessee Williams, not to mention evolutionary psychology.
Articles
4 minute read
Gombrowicz's "Operetta' at Live Arts Festival (1st review)
Satirist without a country, in search of an audience
The Polish émigré satirist Witold Gombrowicz never lived to see the gleeful mayhem of his Operetta onstage. This is a fresh production with some priceless performances, although American audiences may not know what to make of much of it.
Articles
4 minute read