The most recent revival of the 1987 Broadway musical “Into the Woods” featuring music and lyrics from the late, great Stephen Sondheim is now making its triumphant return, playing at the St. James Theatre. It is without a doubt a fitting tribute to this musical theatre giant. Director Lear deBessonet has assembled an unrivaled cast of astute actors, who are…
As children fishing together and hanging out at the hide they had built in the chicken house, Francie Brady (an emotive and troubled Nicholas Barasch) and Joe Purcell (the effervescent and spirited understudy Dan Macke at this performance) know they could “live this way forever.” But both boys live in Ireland’s troubling neocolonial times. The political violence and the economic…
The Lucille Lortel Theatre presents a solo play presentation of Four Saints in Three Acts, starring renowned actor David Greenspan (The Patsy, Strange Interlude) interpreting 66 unique roles. Four Saints in Three Acts is a culmination of Greenspan’s more than decade long journey into creating a tour de force trilogy of solo interpretations of plays from the 1920’s. These previous…
“Skipper and me had a clean, true thing between us!–had a clean friendship, practically all our lives, till Maggie got the idea you’re talking about. Normal? No!–It was too rare to be normal, any true thing between two people is too rare to be normal.” – Brick in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” It is Big Daddy’s (a scrappy…
“Fairy Tales” and “Happily Ever After” have been great fodder for musical theater usually targeting multi-generational audiences, being prudent to include visual and intellectual content that will entertain all ages. Disney has had remarkable success bringing their animated characters to the stage surrounding them with lavish sets, adorning them in gorgeous costumes, and infusing intricate stagecraft into the production that…
Under director Matt Pfeiffer’s helm, Akeem Davis (Benedick) and Brett Ashley Robinson (Beatrice) and the cast of “Much Ado About Nothing” bring Shakespeare’s late comedy (1598 or shortly thereafter) to a welcomed level of excellence at Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival 2022. This is a “Much Ado” not to be missed. In this pleasing production, Don Pedro (a likeable and energetic Lindsay…
In an email with several attachments (none of which any of the invitees bothered to read), Morkan (the incomparable Marylouise Burke) invites several friends to her “very big house, on the banks of a large river, just north of a big city” to celebrate Epiphany and meet the honored guest, Gabriel. This is the setting for one of the most…
Things are going as well as they can as Juicy (a pensive, smart, and gay Marcel Spears who is thicc, beautiful, and lonely) and his cousin and oldest friend Tio (a relaxed and clever Chris Herbie Holland who is a stoner) set up for what appears to be his mother’s wedding reception at her house in North Carolina. Earlier in…
Comedy is usually a successful way to approach any discussion about a difficult and awkward situation and often eases the tension surrounding the stigma that might be associated with the uncomfortable problem. Comedy writers have used this technique for years creating some of the most successful sitcoms that deal with controversial social issues. It may be more difficult to implement…
In “Exception to the Rule,” currently playing at the Black Box Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center, is playwright Dave Harris more concerned about what might be the exception to the rule in his play’s inner-city high school classroom or what is the rule that looms over classroom one eleven’s detainees on the last day of the week…