Archive for March, 2011

In the mid-1990s one of my favorite albums was a dark post-hip hop LP by British artist, Tricky, titled “Pre-Millennium Tension.” In retrospect, the title captures the zeitgeist in the years running up to “Y2K”: a fear that a carefree age might soon be destroyed. This anxiety is also evidenced [...]

Really… oh, this isn’t going to be easy. Please know, before I get started, that I’m all about supporting local theatre. We’re not talking about expecting perfection here, but if “it” happens, we ought to consider ourselves very lucky. In other words, occasionally we get way more than what we [...]

Noel Coward is one of the finest exemplars of the axiom, “With words we rule men”. There are so many of Aisle Say’s own personal enemies out there – some even reading this column – about whom I could say “You’ll never die….(unfortunately) you’re not the dying sort.” There is [...]

Death and marital strife have never been so funny. What starts out as an innocent séance becomes every married man’s nightmare. The Delaware Theatre Company’s production of Noël Coward’s BLITHE SPIRIT, directed by Domenick Scudera, is lively, witty and well-paced. Coward exploits every opportunity for humor: human frailty, physical comedy [...]

There is something comfortable and yet very icky when the audience enters The Milburn Stone Theater for their current production, The Odd Couple, by American theatrical legend, Neil Simon. For those of us who are familiar with this comic classic, seeing the disheveled furniture almost covered with discarded newspapers and [...]

Ever wondered what would happen if a bunch of self-important fairy tale characters got mixed up in the same story together? In Stephen Sondheim’s musical INTO THE WOODS, with the book by James Lapine, that’s exactly what happens. And it’s woven together in a most amusing and tuneful way. The [...]

For those who need a laugh after dealing with this winter’s weather, and are tired of watching Democrats and Republicans in Washington behaving badly, Rose Valley’s Hedgerow Theatre is a good place to be. Barrymore Award winner, Tony Braithwaite, who has been called “Philadelphia’s funniest comic actor,” is staging his [...]

Sitting on the banks of the Delaware river in the middle of a flood warning, the last thing Bucks County needed was a Rainmaker. However, with the magic of theater, the audience was transported to a drought ridden western town on a sweltering summer day in the 1920s. The energy [...]

I was in seventh grade, sitting in my social studies class when I found out that a plane had hit The World Trade Center. To be honest, I didn’t quite know what The World Trade Center was. To me it was just “another building” in New York City. It’s amazing [...]

What a pleasant surprise.  It has been my experience with “Dinner Theater” that either the meal or the show were lacking in some respect.  Methacton Community Theater hit the dining and the acting very well with their performance of local playwright Nancy Frick’s FOUR WEDDINGS AND AN ELVIS.   Once I [...]

The late Frederick Knott was a playwright who knew how to write a “boo!” play. He not only wrote WAIT UNTIL DARK, the Village Players of Hatboro’s current production, but he was also responsible for Dial M for Murder as well. It’s no coincidence that both successful plays also became [...]

In its almost 20 year history, Iron Age Theatre Company has not played it safe. They produce unique new works—always a gamble—and aren’t afraid to tackle difficult classics.  Their current production continues this mission. Written in the 1920s, THE EMPEROR JONES was O’Neill’s first major hit—unexpectedly so. The piece was [...]

EURYDICE, retold with a lyrical beauty by Sarah Ruhl, directed with love by Brian Boland, is the tale of Orpheus’s journey to the Underworld to recapture his wife, who has died on their wedding day. In Ruhl’s mellifluent retelling of this ancient Greek myth there is a strong focus on [...]

Like many people, I was introduced to THE CRUCIBLE in a high school English class. The teacher dutifully told us that it was a play about McCarthyism and the House Un-American Activities Committee. But it’s not. Though deeply allegorical, Arthur Miller’s classic is “about” the Salem witch trials of the [...]

STAGE Magazine News Reporter Jim Hilgen spent some time on the phone chatting with comedienne Paula Poundstone. Ms. Poundstone will be appearing in our region on Friday, March 11, 2011 at the Keswick Theater in Glenside, PA. For ticket information visit www.keswicktheater.com.  Click below to view Jim’s video interview! httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geOKEwKHiyA

Long before Marc Cherry created the hit ABC series, playwright Willy Russell mined the territory of a housewife wanting more out of life than which detergent gets your laundry whiter.   In the interest of full-disclosure, I have to admit to a huge soft spot for Russell’s characters; one of my [...]

I had fun tonight. There were moments I was filled with hysterical and historical laughter—if that’s even possible. I found myself laughing with many other audience members at the jokes and bits from Vaudeville long before my time and at jokes so old they shouldn’t have been funny today. And, [...]

If I inform you up front that this heart-wrenching drama, RABBIT HOLE, by David Lindsay-Abaire, won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2007, would that get your attention? It was nominated for several Tony awards in 2006 and won for Best Actress (Cynthia Nixon). How ‘bout that? Mr. Lindsay-Abaire’s adaptation [...]

On the border of Souderton, Caruso’s has become a local tradition. Executive Chef Gaetano Chiaro and his son Joseph have a wonderful Italian restaurant, offering classic Italian dishes as well as some terrific specials. I went to Caruso’s with a very large group of people, after the final performance of [...]

OK, readers, I must admit (shamefully, sort of) that I’m not into operas, not even operettas, but I’m trying to be open to “it”. As I was sitting through (please note my choice of words here) this amateur production, it was with pride that at least I could understand what [...]