All stories by Tim Dunleavy on BroadwayStars

Monday, January 29, 2018

Review: ‘Time Stands Still’ at Bristol Riverside Theatre by Tim Dunleavy

Time Stands Still, Donald Margulies’ fascinating drama at Bristol Riverside Theatre, seems at first as if it’s going to be a deep meditation on war and politics. But Margulies’ charact…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:59AM
Sunday, January 28, 2018

Review: ‘The Humans’ at the Walnut Street Theatre by Tim Dunleavy

The Blakes are not your ordinary dysfunctional family. As they gather for Thanksgiving dinner in an unfamiliar locale, everything seem fine, if a little off-kilter; they engage in their favo…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 06:03PM
Monday, January 22, 2018

Review: ‘Passing Strange’ at The Wilma Theater by Tim Dunleavy

“Life is a mistake that only art can correct.” That’s not a line you’d expect to hear at a rock and roll show, is it? But Passing Strange isn’t your typical rock show, or musical,…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:03PM
Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Review: ‘Morning’s at Seven’ at People’s Light by Tim Dunleavy

Morning’s at Seven fits the definition of “quaint.” With its elderly characters and its winsome setting – a Midwestern town in the 1930s, where everybody knows each other’s problem…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:34AM
Saturday, December 16, 2017

Review: ‘Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG Playhouse Christmas Show’ at Bucks County Playhouse by Tim Dunleavy

How many versions of A Christmas Carol have you seen? Probably too many to count. But I can guarantee you’ve never seen one that mentions Doylestown, Lambertville and Peddler’s Village b…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:49PM
Thursday, November 30, 2017

Review: ‘My Fair Lady’ at Quintessence Theatre by Tim Dunleavy

Quintessence Theatre has built a strong reputation as a home for classic drama. But now they’ve dived into the American Musical Theatre canon in a big way by staging one of the most popula…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 06:27PM
Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Review: ‘Disney’s Beauty and the Beast’ at The Media Theatre by Tim Dunleavy

“Tale as old as time”? If you’re the parent of a young child who has watched a certain Disney animated film on video over and over and over, it might seem that way. But when you take t…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 07:03PM
Saturday, November 25, 2017

Review: The Philadelphia Orchestra Gives a Haydn Masterpiece a Local Premiere by Tim Dunleavy

The programming of music by Haydn is unusual for The Philadelphia Orchestra. The choice is even more surprising coming from conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who is more associated with mode…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:07PM
Monday, November 20, 2017

Review: ‘Rasheeda Speaking’ at Allens Lane Theater by Tim Dunleavy

The setting is ordinary – an office with two desks side by side. The desks are covered with plants, knickknacks, and piles of paperwork. The sort of thing we see every day in corporate Ame…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:32PM
Friday, November 17, 2017

Review: ‘Every Brilliant Thing’ at Arden Theatre Company by Tim Dunleavy

The list began after her first attempt. A list of everything brilliant about the world. Everything worth fighting for. If I were to make a list of every brilliant thing about the world, audi…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:34PM
Monday, November 13, 2017

Review: ‘The Fantasticks’ at The Eagle Theatre by Tim Dunleavy

What’s not to like about The Fantasticks? It’s always been a modest, gentle show that goes down easy. The Eagle Theatre’s new production adds a few new wrinkles, putting its own stamp …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:10PM
Monday, November 6, 2017

Review: ‘It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play’ at Walnut Street Theatre Independence Studio on 3 by Tim Dunleavy

Is seeing a Christmas show in November too early for you? When I went to see this show during the first week of November, I couldn’t help thinking of the scene in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiv…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 05:42PM
Sunday, November 5, 2017

Review: ‘Blood Wedding’ at The Wilma Theater by Tim Dunleavy

The Wilma Theater’s Blood Wedding sets out to overpower you – and it succeeds. From its first moments, when the 11-member ensemble assembles on a long, bare, black platform, stares dire…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 12:14AM
Monday, October 30, 2017

Review: ‘Red Herring’ at Act II Playhouse by Tim Dunleavy

Red Herring is a parody of the tough film noir mysteries of the forties and fifties. But playwright Michael Hollinger has more on his mind than mere nostalgia: his play is also a romance, a …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:04PM
Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Review: ‘Wrestling Jerusalem’ at Philadelphia Theatre Company by Tim Dunleavy

It’s been said that one of the problems with politics these days is that people talk but don’t listen. Opposing political sides state their positions, but too many speak just to their su…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:32PM
Friday, October 20, 2017

Review: ‘A Night with Janis Joplin’ at McCarter Theatre Center by Tim Dunleavy

Janis Joplin was a true original. But as the musical/tribute concert A Night with Janis Joplin proves, she didn’t just come out of nowhere. Joplin became a top star during the psychedelic…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:09AM
Friday, October 13, 2017

Review: ‘2.5 Minute Ride’ at Theatre Horizon by Tim Dunleavy

There’s a lot going on in Lisa Kron’s life. There’s her brother’s upcoming marriage, a ceremony that’s being held at a Jewish community center with “a wonderful design out of a 1…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:42PM
Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Review: ‘The Swallowing Dark’ at Inis Nua Theatre Company by Tim Dunleavy

“Your status has expired.” For Canaan Muponda, these are the most fearsome words imaginable. A refugee from Zimbabwe, Canaan has spent the last five years living in Liverpool with his yo…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 11:42AM
Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Review: ‘Next to Normal’ at Resident Theatre Company by Tim Dunleavy

Next to Normal isn’t your standard Broadway musical. But this offbeat Pulitzer Prize-winner, now receiving a solid production at West Chester’s Resident Theatre Company, shines a light o…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:13AM
Thursday, September 28, 2017

Review: ‘Godspell’ at Villanova Theatre by Tim Dunleavy

Godspell has always been a show filled with spirit. Ever since its New York debut in 1971, it’s been a vehicle for a lot more than a religious message. Its loose structure – John-Michael…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:07AM
Sunday, September 24, 2017

Review: ‘Rock and Roll Man: The Alan Freed Story’ at Bucks County Playhouse by Tim Dunleavy

Who was the first rock and roller? You could say it was Elvis Presley, the first rock and roll superstar. Or Bill Haley, the first rocker to have a number one hit. Or maybe it was Ray Charle…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:23PM
Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Review: ‘Ripcord’ at South Camden Theatre Company by Tim Dunleavy

Ripcord is the story of a cutthroat battle of practical jokes and dirty tricks between two women in an assisted-living residence for the elderly. Does that seem unlikely? Then you’ve neve…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 01:25PM
Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Review: ‘Simpatico’ at McCarter Theatre Center by Tim Dunleavy

“Do you want to talk, or do you want to be cryptic and weird?” Those words – which sound like they might belong in a lot of Sam Shepard’s plays – appear in the first scene of Shepa…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:23AM
Friday, September 15, 2017

Review: ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum’ at the Walnut Street Theatre by Tim Dunleavy

Want to make one of the zaniest shows of all time even zanier? Just add Frank Ferrante. Ferrante has directed the Walnut’s new production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:06PM

2017 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Airswimming’ by Half Key Theatre Company at Walnut Street Theatre Studio 5 by Tim Dunleavy

Airswimming, Charlotte Jones’ play about two Englishwomen stuck in a mental institution for no good reason, walks – or should that be swims? – a fine line between sly humor and sensiti…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 11:19AM
Tuesday, September 12, 2017

2017 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act’ by Blue Mercury Theatre at Independence Library by Tim Dunleavy

For the great South African playwright Athol Fugard, the personal is political. And nowhere is that more true than in Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act, a 1972 Fugard play,…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:33AM
Monday, September 11, 2017

2017 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘GATZ’ at The Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre by Tim Dunleavy

The program for GATZ claims that it is “A parody based on ‘The Great Gatsby’ Written by F. Scot. Fitzgerald.” (Note that Fitzgerald’s middle name is misspelled.) But a parody is, b…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:07PM
Sunday, September 10, 2017

2017 Philadelphia Fringe Festival Review: ‘Hello Blackout!’ by New Paradise Laboratories at The Drake by Tim Dunleavy

The cast of Hello Blackout! spends a lot of time in the dark. In the opening moments of the show, lights slowly fade up and we faintly see five people staggered across the stage. They’re …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:48PM
Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Review: ‘Storyboard Series: Treasure Island’ at Hedgerow Theatre by Tim Dunleavy

After seeing a group of onstage pirates repeatedly singing “Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum,” I went out to the lobby of the Hedgerow Theatre in search of refreshment. Alas, there was no ru…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 11:28AM
Monday, September 4, 2017

Review: ‘Which Reminds Me’ at Act II Playhouse by Tim Dunleavy

If you’re a fan of Tony Braithwaite and his one-person (or sometimes two-person) shows – often performed at Act II Playhouse, where he is the Artistic Director – you know what to expec…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:51PM
Sunday, August 27, 2017

Review: ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’ at Santa Fe Opera by Tim Dunleavy

Editor’s note: Our Steve Cohen continues his posts on the arts scene in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with a look at Santa Fe Opera’s production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. Lucia di La…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:21PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards