181 stories by "Howard Shapiro"
In Mount Holly, the 10-person audience sits around a séance table. In Society Hill, folks with beers and slices of pizza look on at dinnertime as little one-acts unfold.
The national tour of the Broadway revival of "West Side Story" works chiefly for its dancing, just like it did on Broadway. Inquirer theater critic Howard Shapiro reviews from the Academy of…
It's dated, and full of laugh-lines that sink (among some genuinely funny ones), but "Steel Magnolias" at Bristol Riverside Theatre is notable for its ensemble acting by an excellent cast. I…
A new space, three doors from the Arden Theatre Company in Old City, will become the focus of its programs for students and children, and will house an 80-seat theater, the Arden's third. Ho…
On Walnut Street Theatre's main stage, a funny, fluidly staged production of Yasmina Reza's study of acrimony.
At Princeton's McCarter Theatre, concrete evidence of Tom Stoppard's sprawling intelligence. Inquirer theater critic Howard Shapiro reviews.
Michael Holinger's sterling new translation and Aaron Posner's kinetic staging illuminate the great tale of a man with a bulbous nose who lived larger than life. Inquirer theater critic Howa…
Wednesday night, the Walnut Street Theatre's current production of the play had a new surprise ending when Dan Hodge, one of its actors, proposed to his unsuspecting girlfriend at the curtai…
It happened Wednesday night at the Walnut Street Theatre production, in front of an audience of about 1,100. Inquirer theater critic Howard Shapiro reports from the Walnut.
It happened Wednesday night at the Walnut Street Theatre production, in front of an audience of about 1,100. Inquirer theater critic Howard Shapiro reports from the Walnut.
Terry Burrell offers a girlish, often defiant Ethel Waters in the one-woman "Ethel!" at Walnut Street Theatre's third-stage Independence Studio. Inquirer theater critic Howard Shapiro review…
Slater, five other actors, and director Madi Distefano will be pulling an all-nighter beginning at 8 p.m. Friday at Plays & Players Theatre in Center City. There, they will stage 24 performa…
One of the region's pre-eminent comic talents, Tony Braitwaite, has been named producing artistic director of Act II Playhouse in Ambler, succeeding Bud Martin. Howard Shapiro reports.
The modern-day British take on "Pygmalion" opens in a crisp production at Hedgerow Theatre. Inquirer theater critic Howard Shapiro reviews from Rose Valley in Delaware County.
On, then off, now it looks as is "Clybourne Park" will be back on the Broadway schedule this season, again.
April's Broadway opening of "Clybourne Park" -- the new play that the Arden Theatre Company opened in its own production Wednesday night -- has been cancelled for now.
The Wilma plans a service for noon Monday.
The new play "Clybourne Park," last year's Pulitzer winner, opened in Los Angeles last week in a production that moves directly to Broadway in the spring. But not before the Arden Theatre Co…
Raunchy and real, "Bachelorette" does well in Luna Theatre Company's production at the Adrienne. Inquirer theater critic Howard Shapiro reviews.
Artistic directors say they believe that relegating plays about race or African Americans to one month a season minimizes not just the work but the talent pool of black theater artists. Inqu…
Jiri Zizka defected from Czechoslovakia, joined a small Philadelphia theater company, and, with his then-wife Blanka Zizka, transformed it into the Wilma Theater " one of the city's largest …
InterAct Theatre Company gives to wacky "Microcrisis" a once-over. Is this satire about the financial crisis as goofy as it seems? Inquirer theater critic Howard Shapiro reviews.
The cofounder of the modern Wilma has died, a banner across the site announces.
A deeply-felt "Time Stands Still," a success last season on Broadway, unfolds in a production at the Delaware Theatre Company in Wilmington. It's a co-production with Ambler's Act II Playhou…
Nicky Silver's Beautiful Child," a mish-mash of a play about a molester, is being done by Fever Dream Repertory at the Adrienne. Inquirer theater critic Howard Shapiro reviews.
