by Clark Groome I’d love to report that the Quintessence Theatre Group’s “Oliver!,” Lionel Bart’s magnificent musical take on Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist,” is getting a smashing production at Mt. Airy’s Sedgwick Theater. The truth is that director Alex Burns’ mounting (running through Dec. 23) is a mixed bag. Some of the scenes and performances […]
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by Clark Groome I’d love to report that the Quintessence Theatre Group’s “Oliver!,” Lionel Bart’s magnificent musical take on Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist,” is getting a smashing production at Mt. Airy’s Sedgwick Theater. The truth is that director Alex Burns’ mounting (running through Dec. 23) is a mixed bag. Some of the scenes and performances […]
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by Clark Groome After 15 years there’s urgent pounding and doorbell ringing at the Helmer house. It is through that door that Nora Helmer so memorable left at the end of Henrik Ibsen’s incisive and, at the time of its 1879 premiere, controversial “A Doll’s House.” When Nora famously slammed that door, she did so […]
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by Clark Groome Gentle. Moving. Funny. Musically rich. Appealing. These are some of the descriptions applicable to “Once,” the multi-layered love story that is currently being given an impressive production at the Arden Theatre Company, 40 N. 2nd St. in Old City. Based on John Carney’s 2007 movie, “Once” tells the story of Guy (Ken […]
Read More > by Clark Groome To an old musical comedy lover who grew up in what is now known as “The Golden Age of the American Musical” (roughly 1943 to 1970), the Walnut Street Theatre Company’s energetic, entertaining and impressive production of “Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn” is a joy to behold. It’s not just nostalgia that makes […]
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by Clark Groome How appropriate it is that Ambler’s Act II Playhouse’s production of a Neil Simon play opened just a week after Simon, America’s most prolific and produced playwright, died Aug. 26 at age 91. It’s also appropriate that this is not just any Neil Simon play but “Biloxi Blues,” the second of his […]
Read More > By Clark Groome When “Gypsy” first appeared on the scene in 1959, it was widely acclaimed as an almost perfect musical. Subsequent Broadway productions — featuring Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters and Patti Lupone in the monster role of Mama Rose originally performed by Ethel Merman — confirmed that initial reaction. The Arden Theatre […]
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by Clark Groome Neil Simon has written some of the English-speaking theater’s most popular plays. The prolific author of “Come Blow Your Horn,” “Barefoot in the Park,” “The Odd Couple,” “Plaza Suite.” “The Prisoner of Second Avenue,” “Lost in Yonkers,” “Laughter on the 23rd Floor” and so many other plays and musicals has quite possibly […]
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by Hugh Hunter If Leo Durocher had not come up with “Nice guys finish last,” Philly playwright Bruce Graham would have had to invent it. A master of the one-liner himself, the aphorism sums up Graham’s point of view in the offbeat comedy, “Any Given Monday” (2010), now running at Stagecrafters. Directed by Barbara D. […]
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by Clark Groome “Stupid F&*king Bird,” Aaron Posner’s play with the media-unfriendly title, has been described as a “deconstruction” of Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull.” Should, therefore, the theatergoer have a familiarity with the original Chekhov piece? Ideally no. But on opening night I felt as though there might be references in Posner’s piece that would […]
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