All stories by Cogency on BroadwayStars

Saturday, February 1, 2020

The Children, a superb & troubling play by Cogency

The Children by Lucy Kirkwood. Directed by Abigail Adams, through February 9, 2020, at People’s Light, Malvern, PA   The Children is a beautifully written play that’s receiving stunning…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 08:07PM
Sunday, January 12, 2020

Looking back at Wozzeck by Cogency

Originally published in The Opera Critic, the international website for professional musicians.     The new production of Wozzeck at the Metropolitan Opera presents a stark contrast with t…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 04:10PM
Thursday, January 9, 2020

The Band’s Visit, musically memorable by Cogency

The Band’s Visit, music and lyrics by David Yazbek, book by Itamar Moses. Philadelphia Academy of Music through January 19, 2019.   The Band’s Visit is a delicate, intimate show about t…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 06:34PM
Sunday, December 22, 2019

Homer’s epic, re-imagined by Cogency

An Iliad by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare, directed by Rebecca Wright at the Arden Theatre, Philadelphia, through December 15, 2019.   One of Philadelphia’s best actors, Mary Tuomanen,…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 08:38AM
Saturday, December 21, 2019

Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill opens on Broadway by Cogency

Jagged Little Pill, music by Alanis Morissette. Broadhurst Theatre, New York City.   Jukebox musicals are everywhere, but very few create original stories focused not on an entire catalog b…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 11:48AM
Friday, November 22, 2019

Hip Hop on Broadway by Cogency

Upon entering the Booth Theater for a performance of Freestyle Love Supreme I overheard a passerby ask an employee what the show was about. The answer, or lack thereof, is one of the main dr…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 12:21PM
Tuesday, November 19, 2019

The Wrong Man is all right by Cogency

Concept albums are having a moment. Hamilton was originally intended to be a concept album and Hadestown was recorded as a concept album nine years before the Broadway album. In a similar pa…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 11:01PM
Saturday, November 2, 2019

Mandy Patinkin starts national tour by Cogency

Mandy Patinkin in concert: Diaries, at Verizon Hall in the Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, October 30, 2019.   Mandy Patinkin began a 30-city national tour in Philadelphia on October 30. The m…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 03:59PM
Friday, November 1, 2019

Shepard’s Buried Child by Cogency

Buried Child by Sam Shepard. EgoPo Classic Theater, through November 10, 2019 at the Latvian Society, 531 N 7th St, Philadelphia.   What’s happened to this family? That’s what these cha…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 02:26PM

National dog show is live in Philly by Cogency

The National Dog Show, the annual television tradition that airs on TV on Thanksgiving Day following the Macy’s parade, will be live in the Philadelphia suburbs this weekend. The two-hour …

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 11:46AM
Wednesday, October 30, 2019

A fire that only flickers by Cogency

A Small Fire by Adam Bock. Directed by Joanie Schultz. Philadelphia Theatre Company, through November 10, 2019, at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad Street in Philadelphia.   A smal…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 06:11PM
Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Falsettos in a boutique production by Cogency

Falsettos, music & lyrics by William Finn, presented by 11th Hour Theatre, October 2019 at Christ Church Neighborhood House in Philadelphia.   When I recall that William Finn started to…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 11:49AM
Thursday, October 24, 2019

Come From Away, the 9/11 musical by Cogency

Come from Away national touring production, at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music through November 3, 2019.   This unpretentious musical delighted me when it opened on Broadway early in 2017…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 09:04AM
Thursday, October 10, 2019

Height of the Storm by Cogency

The Height of the Storm by Florian Zeller. Manhattan Theatre Club production at the Samuel Friedman Theatre, 261 W. 47th Street, New York.   The essence of this play is ambiguity and uncert…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 05:20PM
Tuesday, October 8, 2019

The making of Ragtime by Cogency

In honor of the new production of Ragtime by Arden Theatre (with excellent cast, innovative staging and superb musical direction) we are reprinting this story about the making of Ragtime, fr…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 03:18PM
Sunday, October 6, 2019

A sit-com rather than a real comedy by Cogency

Dot, written and directed by Colman Domingo. Through October 20, 2019 at People’s Light, 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, PA.   A comedy about a person with Alzheimers may seem like an outrage…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 05:39PM
Monday, September 9, 2019

A sad song about the deaths of queens by Cogency

And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens, by Tennessee Williams; directed by Lane Savadove, September 2019 at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival.   The surprise hit of the 2019 Philadelph…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 05:59PM
Sunday, September 8, 2019

An Iliad for our time by Cogency

An Iliad, performed by Jason Greenfield at Millésimé, 33 North 2nd Street, Philadelphia, as part of the 2019 Fringe Festival.   This 2012 adaptation of Homer’s story came back to Philad…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 12:32PM
Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Our Town with music added by Cogency

Our Town by Thornton Wilder. Peoples Light, Malvern Pa through August 25, 2019.   The new production of Our Town by Peoples Light is unique. The company is using the talents of singer-actor…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 07:25PM
Thursday, July 25, 2019

Cirque du Soleil: Amaluna by Cogency

Amaluna by Cirque du Soleil, at Oaks, Pennsylvania, through August 25.   This Cirque du Soleil production is one of the best ever. It premiered in 2012 but this is its first visit to the Ph…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 04:41PM
Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Mud Row at Peoples Light by Cogency

Mud Row by Dominique Morisseau at Peoples Light Theater, Malvern, PA, through August 4, 2019.   Most critics have characterized this play’s subject as family legacies. That is true. I’d…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 01:15PM
Friday, July 5, 2019

Oklahoma! at 75 by Cogency

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s first collaboration is more than 75 years old—and it’s having a startling rebirth. A country-style production on Broadway just won a Tony as the best musica…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 05:20PM
Monday, July 1, 2019

Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish by Cogency

Fiddler on the Roof by Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick & Joseph Stein. National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene in New York City.   I regret that I waited so long before seeing this wonderful st…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 05:51PM
Friday, May 31, 2019

What’s Indecent? by Cogency

Indecent by Paula Vogel. Arden Theatre, Philadelphia, through June 23, 2019.   Indecent is a wide-ranging play that speaks to multiple issues. It covers many decades, moves across continent…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 01:05PM
Sunday, May 26, 2019

Maybe you’re a clone by Cogency

A Number by Caryl Churchill, through June 9, 2019, at People’s Light Theatre, Malvern, PA   A Pennsylvania political figure this month disclosed that he recently learned that he has a num…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 01:36PM
Saturday, May 25, 2019

Legally Blonde at the Walnut by Cogency

Legally Blonde the Musical, music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin; based on the novel by Amanda Brown and the M-G-M motion picture; through July 21, 2019 at the Walnut Str…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 08:29PM
Wednesday, May 8, 2019

The Temptations, Ain’t Too Proud by Cogency

The Temptations are one of the most popular music groups of all-time. They left a huge footprint on the industry, and now they’ve extended to Broadway. Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Time…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 07:44PM

Hadestown, a unique achievement by Cogency

One of the landmarks of Broadway is its constant innovation year after year, and the most innovative show of this season is Hadestown. This musical from composer Anaïs Mitchell started as a…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 07:09PM
Thursday, April 4, 2019

Apartheid revealed by EgoPo by Cogency

“Master Harold”… and the Boys by Athol Fugard. Lane Savadove directs for EgoPo Classic Theater through April 7, 2019, at the Latvian Society Theater, 531 N. 7th Street, Philadelphia. �…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 03:25PM
Saturday, March 23, 2019

The Few, facing loneliness by Cogency

The Few by Samuel D. Hunter, Matthew Decker directing through April 7, 2019, at Theatre Horizon, Norristown, PA   The Few starts slowly, and gradually unfolds to reveal an interesting chara…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 06:22PM
Friday, March 22, 2019

Miss Saigon proves its effectiveness by Cogency

Miss Saigon by Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil, and Richard Maltby Jr. Directed by Laurence Connor. Broadway Philadelphia through March 31, 2019, at the Academy of Music, 240 S. Bro…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 09:10PM

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 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic
TBA: Ragtime