Leonard Bernstein's Symphony No. 1 was the major undertaking at The Philadelphia Orchestra's concerts of May 3, 5 and 6, 2017. Yannick Nézet-Séguin led the piece as a prelude to a year-lon…
In 1982 a distinguished group of Broadway pros, including Hal Prince, Betty Comden and Aldolph Green, came up with what was then thought to be a misbegotten idea: what happened to Nora Helme…
Who’da thunk that our current administration’s dysfunction would prompt nostalgia for our eight years worth of W.? But that indeed is the curious takeaway from watching Lisa Hods…
Some plays are like peeping through your eye doctor's phoropter " layer upon layer of filters. Say, a playwright of the Roaring Twenties borrows a style of the 1660s English Restoration peri…
In the fall of 2010, the Philadelphia Artists' Collective " the city's critically-acclaimed purveyor of rarely-performed classics – burst onto the scene at the historic Broad Street Mi…
The classic musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Evita comes to live again with the latest production at St. Mark's Players. The revival comes at a perfect time, as the production delves into the…
The Cobweb "I'm really scared of forgetting things" When I was four or five years old, my brother climbed me up to a high branch in the apple tree in our back yard. Then he left me there. A …
H.M.S. Pinafore, Gilbert and Sullivan's famous operetta, directed by Michael Hartsfield and produced by Maureen Rogers, opened on April 28, 2017 at the Laurel Mill Playhouse on Main Street i…
Fairfax High School Theatre's production of Guys and Dolls had the audience roaring with laughter. Set in 1930's New York, the show was based on short stories by Damon Runyon about the gangs…
I held my breath in glorious anticipation at several instances during Almanac Dance Circus Theatre's captivating show Fronteras: A Door in the Desert. A Door in the Desert is the second part…
Laughter broke out in the jam-packed theatre even before the first pratfall, which then only served to fan the funniness. Watching Beverly Cross’ adaption of Marc Camoletti’s Hap…
The music of Abbey Lincoln was The Kennedy Center's choice for its 22nd Annual Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival. Showcasing the best in old and new jazz artistry, this year's tribute presente…
I remember thinking after I first saw Lydia R. Diamond's Smart People at Arena that the character Jaysen Wright plays, Jackson Moore, has an important and particular role in how whole …
Some plays invite audiences to ask themselves vexing questions: What is the meaning of life? How long is a life well-lived? As King Solomon wrote in the Old Testament: "I have seen all the t…
The latest offering in Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion's popular Victorian Theatre presentations is a new interpretation of Anne of Green Gables, playing for four performances this weekend in the 1…
Eleven new musicals have opened since War Paint and here comes the last before the April 30th deadline for Tony Nomination. It’s called Bandstand and it didn’t offer us Bette Mid…
If you're in the mood for some pure light-hearted entertainment, Marry Harry, now making its Off-Broadway debut in a limited engagement with The York Theatre Company, is a delightful new mus…
As the theatre season races to the end of its nomination deadline for the Tony Awards, musical shows are exploding all over the place. We’ve had half a dozen in the last two weeks, and…
Folks looking for a good cause and a night of show-stopping entertainment need look no further than CityDance's annual DREAMscape Gala. This Saturday, May 6, donors can expect performance…
Complex 20th century "classical music," or more properly serious art music as opposed to various forms of popular music, seems to be a gamble. It's never just as interesting to an audience a…
Wearing his heart on his sleeve throughout, entertainer extraordinaire Alan Cumming (Tony-award winner for Cabaret, regular on the hit television series The Good Wife, concert and recording …
Imagination Stage presents The Jungle Book, based on the classic story by Rudyard Kipling and adapted for the stage by Greg Banks. Janet Stanford directs a small cast of five in this product…
Blood will have blood"so go the grim words of Macbeth as it dawns on him that murder is not as simple as he once thought. When it comes to battling and bloodshed, Shakespeare Theatre Company…
The French and the Russians evoke very different images in the American mind, but they have one thing in common: an affinity for each other's culture. Many Russian writers and composers live…
I am very honored to receive the Gary Maker Award, and I want to thank the committee for this incredible Lifetime Award. Gary Maker was such a mensch and he fought a dreadful disease with su…