PHILADELPHIA THEATER REVIEWS

Media Theatre springs into the summer season with a surefire hit for all....

They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway, but nothing shines brighter than guest conductor Todd Ellison and Broadway stars Debbie Gravitte, Christopher Sieber, and Susan Egan as they join the Philly POPS for the Best of Broadway concert at The Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall....

There are many holiday traditions, from fruit cake to watching A Christmas Story over and over again to the neverending disagreement about opening gifts on Christmas Eve or morning. For those connected to dance, there is no greater tradition than seeing a performance of The Nutcracker. For many, tha...

Nicole Fonte's Beautiful Decay performed at the Wilma Theater on November 29th, 2017 for BalletX is a wonderful depiction of the contradiction of emotions that come with working through the processes that are the beginning of the end. Based off of Mark Golebiowski's 3-D photographs of decaying flowe...

With his signature Rocky entrance jog around Verizon Hall pumping up the crowd,well you know you're in for a unique musical experience....

Florence Foster Jenkins' life was a once in a lifetime phenomenon. Meryl played the part in the movie with Simon Helberg (better known as Howard in THE BIG BANG THEORY) portraying her accompanist Cosme McMoon....

Bart Shatto is a star performer. I first heard Bart with the famed theatrical-rock group The Trans-Siberian Orchestra. He's sung on a couple of their recordings, but toured the country with them for many years, notably singing the songs Old Town Bar seen below. Then I first saw Bart while he playe...

The Bee Gees won 5 Grammys, including Album of the Year in the late '70's with the album SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER. The brothers three, along with Donna Summer, ushered in the disco era, and 'Stayin' Alive' became its anthem....

The Independence Studio 3 at The Walnut is the ultimate black box, seating perhaps only over 100. It gives the audience a thrilling intimacy with performers. The Walnut, whatever the size of the audience, never relinquishes their high production standards....

Director Valerie Joyce takes on one of Broadway's trickier shows and makes it glow...

This particular production of TOMFOOLERY shines at Act II Playhouse due to director, Tony Braithwaite's treatment of the show. Where some of the musical numbers and lyrics can seem outdated, the show is treated as a history lesson based on the importance of Tom Lehrer and his music. In addition, the...

Philly celebrates the 50th Anniversary of The Beatles "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Album" with a special concert performance on Feb. 3, 4, 5....

Currently onstage at Act II Playhouse is the show I WILL NOT GO GENTLY, written and starring Jennifer Childs. This show, under the direction of Harriet Power, is a humorous and poignant exploration of getting older and how it affects everyone. This show premiered last spring at 1812 Productions and ...

BWW Review: AN EVENING WITH MAUREEN MCGOVERN at The RRazz Room At The Prince with video and images by DT Gramkee...

Frank Capra's holiday classic, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, is a movie that brings to mind so many cherished memories of the holiday season. People always seems to have a story about the first time they saw the movie, or how it is a holiday tradition. Currently at Act II Playhouse is the show THIS WONDERF...

THE CAROLS, the latest show onstage at 1812 Productions, is a delightful show that takes audiences back to the year 1944 in a small New Jersey town. Artistic Director, Jennifer Childs, wrote and directed this original play that is a heartfelt reminder of the importance of family and kindness. This p...

The Merry Old Land of Oz lands in Philly in time for the Holiday Season....

Passion, greed and danger play out in MAURITIUS, the current play onstage at Act II Playhouse. This intense show is about what one character calls "the crown jewel of philately," two rare stamps from the island of Mauritius that are worth many millions of dollars if sold. The play tells an action pa...

1812 Productions opens their 2016/17 season with the hilarious THIS IS THE WEEK THAT IS: THE ELECTION SPECIAL. This show provides a respite from the chaos of this current election season, and delivers the gift of laughter to the audience no matter which side of the political aisle you are on. Person...

Director David Cregan brings Frank McGuinness' adaptation of Sophocles' classic tragedy to electrifying life on the Villanova stage. Some things never change throughout history......

Jay and Cindy Gutterman bring a new comedy to the Wilmington Theatre Company in Wilmington, DE....

BREAKING THE WAVES, the stark, brutal new opera by Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek, had its premiere last week at Opera Philadelphia, with a thrilling score and a star-making turn by soprano Kiera Duffy. Directed by James Darrah, the gripping production doesn't let anyone off easy, including the aud...

Act II Playhouse opens their 2016/17 season with the uproariously funny ELECTILE DYSFUNCTION. This comedy pokes fun at all sides of the political spectrum this election season. Audiences can expect an evening full of political parodying, musical hijinks and rib-tickling political impersonations. ELE...

The Ritz Theater resurrects the ghouls dead and alive in a delightfully funny production....

Piecing together a new mythology is an audacious undertaking, and yet it is an act that is at the very heart of theatre-making: the building of a new world, with its own origins and order, that only becomes fully realised when an audience believes in it. THE FIREBIRD attempts just that, telling a po...