All stories by Alaina Johns on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Ten questions for everyone at this week’s Sixers arena press conference by Alaina Johns

After more than two years of painful controversy over a proposed arena on the edge of Philly’s Chinatown and a massive legislative package, the Philadelphia 76ers joined hands with Comcast…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 12:14PM
Monday, December 23, 2024

Looking for that next great book to read? Here are the editor's 2024 favorites. by Alaina Johns

Alaina Johns is not going to rate her favorite 2024 reads, but she will offer you some micro-reviews, so you can figure out if you’d like to read them, too! Everyone is different, and book…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 03:29PM

The 2024 BSR Year-end Recommend: books, films, TV, music, and more by Alaina Johns

The BSR Year-End Recommend is back for 2024! Our team shares their favorite movies, books, TV shows, podcasts, newsletters, music, and more.

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 03:08PM
Tuesday, November 12, 2024

At BSR, our values do not change based on elections. by Alaina Johns

We offer a huge range of opinions here at BSR, from journalists who know what they’re talking about. But this diversity of opinion is built on the value of respect for our shared humanity.…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 02:58PM
Wednesday, October 23, 2024

BSR's popular PR webinar for artists is happening again on November 21, 2024 by Alaina Johns

Everyone deserves a chance to learn the basics of good PR, especially artists and other independent creators and administrators. Join our November 21 HELP US HELP YOU webinar for tons of tip…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 03:56PM
Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Philly artists get out the vote with To the Polls 2024, now on view in Love Park by Alaina Johns

Prolific curator and Streets Dept blog founder Conrad Benner is back with To the Polls 2024, a bi-annual nonpartisan project from Mural Arts urging Philadelphians—who may decide this Presi…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 04:32PM
Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Philly Fringe 2024: Kaila Galinat presents ok, bye!: a show about rejection by Alaina Johns

New York solo artist Kaila Galinat made her Philly debut in this year’s Fringe with ok, bye!, a standout show that fearlessly explores the universally human experience of rejection. Alaina…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 08:34PM

Philly Fringe 2024: Interrobang Productions presents Katie Hileman’s I Will Eat You Alive by Alaina Johns

A Baltimore-based theater company makes its Philly debut with I Will Eat You Alive: A Play in the Form of a Dinner Party, a pro-fat manifesto tackling the cruelties of body discrimination. A…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 08:03PM
Tuesday, September 17, 2024

Philly Fringe 2024: Chris Davis presents The 40-Year-Old Ballerino by Alaina Johns

Chris Davis continues his tradition of audience-pleasing solo Fringe shows with The 40-Year-Old Ballerino, one of his most personal creations to date. Alaina Johns reviews.

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 04:40PM
Wednesday, September 4, 2024

The 2024 Philly Fringe Festival editor’s picks by Alaina Johns

The Fringe calendar is always a bit overwhelming: with hundreds of performances throughout the city, where should you begin? Alaina Johns helps out by sharing some of the shows that caught h…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 07:50AM

The 2024 Philly Fringe is heading to South Philly by Alaina Johns

The Philadelphia Fringe Festival happens in venues throughout the city, and this year, more shows are popping up in South Philly than ever before. Alaina Johns rounds up the ones she’s hop…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 07:40AM
Tuesday, August 20, 2024

A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy, by Tia Levings by Alaina Johns

A Well-Trained Wife, Tia Levings’s gripping new memoir about her path in and out of a high-control Christian religion, is also an urgent warning to US voters who care about women’s right…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 05:05PM
Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Disability Intimacy: Essays on Love, Care, and Desire, edited by Alice Wong by Alaina Johns

Disability Intimacy, the second essay collection from editor Alice Wong, dives into the ocean of human connection with a disability lens, from dating, sex, and kink to caregiving, parenting,…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 02:06PM
Wednesday, June 5, 2024

The best books I’ve read so far in 2024: BSR Book Week editor’s picks by Alaina Johns

Sometimes I think books are the only thing keeping me sane(ish). Fiction, nonfiction, memoir, a new lens on Jane Austen, anti-marriage manifestos, and more: here are top recommendations from…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 01:45PM
Tuesday, June 4, 2024

Discover books by BSR authors (2024 edition)! by Alaina Johns

BSR writers are also memoirists, poets, novelists, scholars, and so much more! Discover their books and order a copy to add to your shelves.

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 02:53PM
Sunday, June 2, 2024

Welcome to BSR Book Week 2024, running June 2-8 by Alaina Johns

Do you love books? We do, too! Philly's literary scene is an important part of our cultural scene, and we spotlight it in our annual BSR Book Week. Learn more here!

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 02:49PM
Tuesday, May 28, 2024

The Wilma’s Tony reminds us to keep fighting for Philly’s arts community by Alaina Johns

Philly’s theater community rejoiced at hearing that the Wilma will receive the 2024 Regional Theatre Tony Award at this year’s ceremony on Sunday, June 16. It’s a huge reason to keep f…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 08:50PM
Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Mural Arts and First Person Arts present Embracing the Light by Alaina Johns

Mural Arts and First Person Arts teamed up for a show tackling stigma around mental illness and suicide—unusual topics for public storytelling. In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, A…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 04:14PM
Tuesday, May 14, 2024

The BSR Podcast, Season 8, episode 5: Theatre Exile's PHILLY GRIT with Alaina Johns and Josh Herren by Alaina Johns

Editor-in-chief Alaina Johns joins forces with contributing critic Josh Herren for a conversation about Theatre Exile's PHILLY GRIT, an exciting trio of solo shows by Philly women artists.

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 03:31PM
Monday, May 13, 2024

Join Broad Street Review's virtual spring events for writers, readers, and arts-lovers! by Alaina Johns

Join us on Zoom for two exciting BSR events: our latest webinar about review-writing on May 29, and a Philly publishing panel with some of our region's top writers and editors on June 6.

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 08:42PM
Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Six tips for news and social-media sanity in the 2024 election cycle (you won’t believe #6) by Alaina Johns

Our democracy, our climate, our rights, our health, our wars and protests—it’s hard to look at any news at all without feeling like the world is ending. Spend seven minutes with Alaina J…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 04:33PM
Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Quintessence director Alex Burns addresses community concerns about his “all-male” Shakespeare productions by Alaina Johns

When Quintessence artistic director Alex Burns announced plans for his latest all-male Shakespeare production, he struck a nerve with the local theater community. He talks with Alaina Johns …

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 04:08PM
Tuesday, March 12, 2024

The man who called me an optimist: Remembering writer Tom Purdom by Alaina Johns

In January, the BSR community lost one of our founding members: science-fiction and music writer Tom Purdom. Near the end of his career, he never balked at having a youngster for his editor.…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 02:59PM
Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Philadelphia Theatre Company presents Martyna Majok’s Cost of Living by Alaina Johns

The Philly nonprofit Art-Reach, which connects our disability community to our cultural scene, partners with Philadelphia Theatre Company for Cost of Living, a show about the complexities of…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 02:19PM
Tuesday, January 9, 2024

I’m an editor, but I want 2024 to be the year we stop harping on typos by Alaina Johns

One drawback of working in the media is that your smallest mistakes are extremely visible to the public. Everyone loves to point out typos and errors, but only some of us are helping. Alaina…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 03:37PM
Monday, December 18, 2023

A look back at Philly's 2023 cultural scene through the eyes of local artist Chuck Schultz by Alaina Johns

Philly artist Chuck Schultz has been in the audience at concerts, plays, and dance performances throughout 2023. Now he shares the performances through his own eyes in this one-of-kind BSR g…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 12:19PM
Tuesday, December 5, 2023

BSR Behind the Scenes: An inside look at our editorial process by Alaina Johns

Did you know that BSR is Philly's top destination for professional arts journalism...and that we're a small, independent nonprofit made up entirely of remote-working part-timers? Here's how …

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 05:31PM
Tuesday, November 21, 2023

BSR Behind the Scenes: Why do we need arts criticism? by Alaina Johns

In our experience, some people opine that the critics are just dragging the cultural scene down—especially when a review is mixed or negative. But is that true? Not at all. Alaina Johns ex…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 04:11PM
Monday, November 13, 2023

BSR Behind the Scenes: what does public relations have to do with arts journalism? by Alaina Johns

What does arts journalism have to do with PR? As arts writers and editors, we often work closely with PR people. How do we collaborate? And what are the boundaries between our roles? Alaina …

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 04:10PM
Tuesday, November 7, 2023

As we close out 2023, BSR is taking you behind the scenes of our arts journalism by Alaina Johns

When we ask for your support, we want to be sure we’re stepping up to explain our work. But whether or not you can donate, if you’re a BSR reader, we bet you’ll enjoy this window on ho…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 03:57PM
Friday, October 6, 2023

The Kimmel Cultural Campus and the Shubert Organization present the national tour of Tina Fey’s Mean Girls by Alaina Johns

Mean Girls has been a sensation since the original film premiered in 2004—but it’s as funny as it is problematic. The Broadway musical, now on its national tour, is even more offensive, …

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 11:30AM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic
TBA: Ragtime