DELAWARE THEATER REVIEWS

I have been blessed with being involved in theatre for 64 years and have critiqued the arts for 35 years. Those of a certain age will remember News Journal theatre critics Phil Crossland and Otto Dekom of the 60’s through 90’s. Phil loved every show he ever saw and every actor on stage. We all w...

Candlelight Theatre opens their third show of the season with an economical inhouse production of BEST OF CANDLELIGHT, a prudent decision with live theatre the world over attempting to gain financial stasis. This show has no ‘book’, saving licensing money. The show takes us down Broadway; a smor...

Ain’t Misbehavin’: The Fats Waller Musical Show, is a different juke box show from Candlelight’s previous production of BEEHIVE. From the rock n’ roll of 60’s we time travel back 30- years to the American jazz pianist Waller. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid the groundwork f...

Like a family reunion, The Whitney Project - A Celebration of Black Joy brings together songs and stories, old and new, for a moment in time like no other....

A juke box collection of hits from the 60’s where pleasant memories were evocative from that less provocative era. The production was curated such that only ‘girl groups’ or female solo artists were featured. An ensemble of singers and dancers carefully cast by Director/Choreographer Jody Ande...

While scrolling on Facebook one day, I came across a post from a theater offering a streamed production of Spring Awakening. As I am a hardcore fan of the show, my interest was piqued. Then, I saw a post from a person involved with the theater asking if anyone in the Philly area would provide a revi...

For those of us who have visited Ireland and basked in the bountiful love and generosity of its people, the plays of its most famous authors are striking in contrast. There are no strangers when one visits the Emerald Isle. However, the plays of Brian Friel, Sean O'Casey and John Millington Synge ar...

For 11 years The Resident Ensemble Players of UD has produced plays of global renown. The majority of the actors have been there since the inception. Aisle Say has been privileged to attend most of them. Generally, the classics are performed; Shakespeare, Shaw, August Wilson, Alan Ayckbourn, Moliere...

Candlelight's stunning production on CABARET forces Aisle Say to ponder if he has ever seen a more polished and thoroughly professional production at this venerable Arden barn....

Founded in 1993 - and now under the artistic and musical leadership of Kerry Kristine and Joe Trainor a?" City-Theatre says close to its roots to take risks and eschew redundancy in staging PASSING STRANGE at Opera Delaware's Black Box on the Riverfront....

Resident Theatre Company of West Chester, in its 2nd year under the direction of Kristin McLaughlin Mitchell, staged a vibrant, harmonious and poignant rendition of one of Sondheim's most difficult to stage, INTO THE WOODS....

Candlelight welcomes in the season with CHRISTMAS BY CANDLELIGHT, showcasing a variety of familiar 'chestnuts' and some not frequently heard. It is a nostalgic look at Christmas, focusing on family, friendship, community, children, and loved ones who are especially missed during the holidays....

SHREK, THE MUSICAL may not be the (self-described) greatest fairy tale ever told, but it is one of the most joyous, cheerful and animated musicals I've seen in years. (I say animated for it is taken from the DreamWorks film SHREK). The cast, the costumes, the sets and the music make this #1 in my ye...

What has Sandy Robbins accomplished in two decades at UD? Our state has a theatre group equal to The Guthrie in Minneapolis, the Arena Stage in DC and the McCarter Stage in Princeton, among others; venues renown as the greatest of American performance stages....

Paula and George Wolkind's dream of a Delaware Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is now a bonafied institution. A sellout crowd at the baby grand on September 22 welcomed not only musical legends but also historians, DJ's and promoters who have had and continue to have a profound influence on the music scene...

Based on the hit film and the incredible true story, Candlelight's CATCH ME IF YOU CAN is the high-flying musical comedy about chasing your dreams and not getting caught. If you're gonna fake, fake til you make it!...

Delaware Theatre Co opens its season with THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES. For Arthur Conan Doyle adherents, this is pipedreams away from Benedict Cumberbatch OR in my case, Basil Rathbone (my favorite all time baddest of bad guys in the movies of the 50's)....

The Walnut Street Theatre opens its 211th season (no typo) with an uproarious YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. This venerable theatre has seen the likes of all the Barrymores, Katherine Hepburn and Edwin Booth, to name a few. (Although his brother's legacy probably tanked his career)....

Leslie Bricusse's book follows the basic outline of the often told tale. The good Dr. Henry Jekyll is a man with a mission - develop a serum that will separate mankind's innate dichotomy of good and evil to cure mental illness (mainly, his father). Dr. Jekyll's desire to test his formula is aggressi...

Such a serendipitous time to stage SOUTH PACIFIC at Candlelight; 1949 legendary musical theatre consciously plotted to speak to racial animosity; brown skins vs white skins. And now, 78 years later, we reside in a country riven by a racist president....

From a short 1976 New York Magazine article by Brit ex pat Nik Cohn (which he later admitted was fictional) was spawned a block buster film that made John Travolta a household name....

I understand why actors have a passive-aggressive relationship with critics. Over 30+ years of reviewing regional theatre, some don't make eye contact with me when they feel I have slighted or criticized them unfairly in a previous review…or worse yet…never mentioned them!...

A musical that is both charming and heartbreaking told by two actors in a very unique way....

A Nubian Princess and an Egyptian war hero Captain fall in love at the risk of their lives and the heartbreak of others....

Bono, friend to Troy the protagonist in UD Rep Ensemble's FENCES, comments 'Some people build fences to keep people out, some people build fences to keep people in'....