All stories by Cogency on BroadwayStars

Sunday, August 12, 2018

Tommy McDonald, football star, & his childhood fan turned sportswriter by Cogency

Tommy and Me, by Ray Didinger, directed by Joe Canuso. World premiere by Theatre Exile, Philadelphia, 2016; revived at Media Theater, Media PA, August 2018.   This successful theater pi…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 10:28AM
Thursday, August 2, 2018

On the Exhale: why some people love guns by Cogency

On the Exhale by Martin Zimmerman, Theater With a View, Pottstown PA, July 2018.   On the Exhale is a disturbing play. It’s a great vehicle for its solo performer, in this case Nina C…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 02:01PM
Sunday, July 15, 2018

Tuesdays with Morrie, on stage by Cogency

Tuesdays With Morrie. Act II Playhouse, Ambler Pennsylvania through July 29, 2018.   The memoir called Tuesdays With Morrie is famed for its portrait of a real-life inspirational profes…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 10:37PM
Friday, July 13, 2018

Volta, high-voltage return to the past by Cogency

Volta by Cirque du Soleil, Greater Philadelphia Expo Center at Oaks, Pennsylvania, through August 19, 2018.   The word volta means a turn in time, or a return. Cirque du Soleil says tha…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 06:03PM
Friday, June 29, 2018

Hammerstein recalled by Cogency

The transcendent talent of Oscar Hammerstein II was displayed in a one-night-only event June 23 at Bucks County Playhouse, near the farm where Hammerstein lived. This was a semi-staged conce…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 02:06PM
Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Factory workers in gripping drama by Cogency

Skeleton Crew, by Dominique Morisseau. Peoples Light Theater, Malvern, PA, through July 15, 2018.   Skeleton Crew takes an issue that’s normally associated with Trump supporters and s…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 03:18PM
Saturday, June 16, 2018

Old people dance in Half Time by Cogency

Half Time. Paper Mill Playhouse, June 2018.   The idea for this new musical seemed promising. New Jersey’s pro basketball team recruits old people to stage a halftime dance routine. T…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 03:46PM
Friday, June 15, 2018

Disney’s Aladdin on tour by Cogency

Disney’s Aladdin on tour. Academy of Music in Philadelphia, through July 1, 2018.   The most cheerful of all Disney theatrical properties is Aladdin. It’s a feel-good, smile-on-your…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 08:03PM
Monday, May 28, 2018

Fun Home in a fine new staging by Cogency

Fun Home. Music by Jeanine Tesori, book and lyrics by Lisa Kron, directed by Terrence J. Nolen. Through June 17, 2018.   Of the three productions I’ve seen of the provocative musical …

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 08:17PM
Saturday, May 19, 2018

Camelot remains compelling by Cogency

Camelot by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. Matt Pfeiffer directs at Act II Playhouse, Ambler PA through June 24, 2018   It’s good to see Camelot back on stage. Warts and all. “…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 05:01PM
Sunday, May 6, 2018

Peter & the Starcatcher, pure imagination by Cogency

Peter and the Starcatcher by Rick Elice, directed by Matthew Decker. Theatre Horizon in Norristown PA, May 2018.   The 2009 play Peter and the Starcatcher is, ostensibly, the story of h…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 06:23PM
Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Sing the Body Electric on stage by Cogency

Sing the Body Electric by Michael Hollinger, directed by Deborah Block. Theater Exile, Philadelphia, May 2018.   Michael Hollinger’s newest play, Sing the Body Electric, presents two …

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 12:49PM
Friday, April 20, 2018

Lydie Breeze trilogy concludes by Cogency

Lydie Breeze trilogy by John Guare. Directed by Lane Savadove. EgoPo Classic Theater. April 2018.   John Guare’s Lydie Breeze trilogy has now concluded with EgoPo’s production of th…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 09:57PM
Monday, March 12, 2018

Guare’s Lydie Breeze Trilogy continues by Cogency

Aipotu by John Guare. Directed by Lane Savadove. EgoPo Classic Theater. March 2018.   The major revelation of part two of the Lydie Breeze trilogy is how dramatically the characters cha…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 11:54AM
Thursday, March 1, 2018

Something’s delicious by Cogency

When I learned that Rob McClure was starring in the national your of Something Rotten!, I was pleased. This Philadelphia actor/singer was the best thing in the Broadway musical Honeymoon in …

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 02:17PM
Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Waitress the musical by Cogency

Waitress. Music by Sara Bareilles. Directed by Diane Paulus. National tour production at the Forrest Theater in Philadelphia, February 2018.   Waitress is a feminist fable with an indel…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 04:18PM
Monday, February 12, 2018

Revolutionists: liberté, égalité, sororité by Cogency

The Revolutionists by Lauren Gunderson; directed by Kathryn MacMillan at Theatre Horizon in Norristown, PA, February 2018.   This play, part of Theatre Horizon’s “Women Who Dare”�…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 09:47PM
Sunday, February 11, 2018

Cold Harbor — Guare’s journey begins by Cogency

Cold Harbor by John Guare. Directed by Lane Savadove. EgoPo Classic Theater in Philadelphia, February 2018   The first part of John Guare’s Lydie Breeze trilogy is unlike any work I�…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 12:46PM
Friday, February 2, 2018

Humans, on two levels by Cogency

The Humans by Stephen Karam. Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, January 2018.   The Humans is a warm-sad, interesting play. I am surely in the minority, however, in saying that I’m …

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 08:48PM
Tuesday, January 30, 2018

John Guare at a career summit by Cogency

The Lydie Breeze Trilogy is the pinnacle in the career of playwright John Guare, best known for The House of Blue Leaves and Six Degrees of Separation. Film director Louis Malle said that Gu…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 04:39PM
Saturday, December 23, 2017

Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn returns to movie screens by Cogency

Fathom Events is presenting Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn for Christmastime enjoyment on movie screens. Berlin conceived Holiday Inn as a live stage show, so the concept of adapting it as a …

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 04:04PM
Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Bernstein Centennial continues in Philadelphia by Cogency

Yannick Nézet-Séguin seems to be a logical leader of the celebration of Leonard Bernstein’s centennial, because he’s today’s most prominent conductor who straddles the worlds of conc…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 11:48AM
Monday, December 11, 2017

Spongebob Squarepants, the joy we need by Cogency

Spongebob Squarepants, The Broadway Musical. Palace Theatre, New York.   In a time & place as bleak as America 2017, we could all use the unbridled optimism of Spongebob. Adapted f…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 03:10PM
Saturday, December 9, 2017

Selling art treasures to the Nazis by Cogency

The Craftsman, a new play by Bruce Graham. World premiere at the Lantern Theatre, Philadelphia, November 2017.   No previous play by Bruce Graham has the seriousness of his latest, The …

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 12:06PM
Friday, December 1, 2017

1812 Productions reports on Trump’s first year by Cogency

This is the Week That Is. 1812 Productions, performing at Plays & Players Theatre in Philadelphia, December 2017.   This Is the Week That Is has returned, refreshed, this December. …

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 01:35PM
Monday, November 20, 2017

Finding Neverland on national tour by Cogency

Finding Neverland is one of a large number of spin-offs of J. M. Barrie’s play, Peter Pan. This musical had a year’s run on Broadway due to the popularity of Matthew Morrison in the role…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 06:51PM

Egyptians & Israelis: The Band’s Visit by Cogency

The Band’s Visit. Music & lyrics by David Yazbeck, book by Itamar Moses. Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York   The Band’s Visit feels more like an immersive experience than y…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 10:53AM
Thursday, November 16, 2017

A New World, premiering in Bucks County by Cogency

A New World, a new musical at Bucks County Playhouse, New Hope PA   It was a perfect way to spend a beautiful day in late November, attending the world premiere of a musical about Ameri…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 09:06PM
Sunday, November 12, 2017

TouchTones: the danger of phone sex by Cogency

TouchTones, a new musical comedy by Michael Hollinger and Robert Maggio. Arden Theater, Philadelphia PA.   TouchTones, the latest play by Michael Hollinger, deals with phone sex, and ho…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 06:58PM
Saturday, November 4, 2017

Phantom of the Opera re-imagined by Cogency

The Phantom of the Opera. Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Book by Richard Stilgoe and Andrew Lloyd Webber.   The Phantom …

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 03:27PM
Thursday, November 2, 2017

Russian spies in America, a ‘Red Herring’? by Cogency

Red Herring. A romantic comedy by Michael Hollinger. Act II Playhouse, Ambler PA. Extra performances have been added through November 19, 2017   Red Herring is Michael Hollinger’s mos…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 11:14AM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards