Author Archives: burdreviews

William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” was written over 500 years ago. It consisted of five acts and 18 scenes, and a full production lasted about 2 ½ hours. The tragedy had over 50 characters. When I read it for class in junior high school, I was fortunate to have a great teacher as well as theContinue reading “Caesar at Philadelphia Theatre Company”

It is a backyard of neighboring South Philly row houses. In one lives Fran Geminiani and his son, Francis, a student at Harvard.  Bunny Weinberger and her son, Herschel, who seems to be on the spectrum of autism, live in the attached home and share the backyard. Both Fran and Bunny are single parents, eachContinue reading “Gemini at EgoPo Theater”

Sojourner Truth was born in Upstate New York around 1798, one of a dozen children of James and Elizabeth Bomefree. Her parents were slaves, and she was too. When she was an infant, two of her siblings were sold to different estates in what was once Dutch New York. Sojourner’s first language was Dutch. InContinue reading “Sojourner at Curio Theatre”

“Proof” is the story of Catherine, a gifted young mathematician, as she and her sister Claire, are dealing with the death of their recently deceased father, a brilliant mathematician himself, though a bit unstable. Catherine had given up her college and her plans for the future to return home five years earlier to care forContinue reading “Proof at Act II Playhouse”

Most people know about “Steel Magnolias” from the popular film made in 1988 and released a year later with Dolly Parton, Sally Field, Julia Roberts, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, and Daryl Hannah. The play from which it was based opened off-Broadway in 1987 and ran for three years. Robert Harling’s play, about six women inContinue reading “Steel Magnolias at People’s Light”

Act II Playhouse has been saving its December slot on the stage in Ambler lately for original performances of lighthearted comedy and music. They are continuing that tradition with the comedy cabaret, “Most Wonderful Time,” with its most creative Artistic Director, Tony Braithwaite, leading the cast of three. It is filled with improv sketches andContinue reading “Most Wonderful Time at Act II Playhouse”

I’ve known about Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance” since high school but had never seen it. Premiering in New York City in 1879, it is a comic opera that in many ways, was the forerunner of modern musical theater. It is about a band of pirates, a young man, and a major general withContinue reading “The Pirates of Penzance at Quintessence Theatre”

Twenty-nine-year-old Nick Cristano has faithfully visited his four grandparents every Sunday in New Jersey, where he grew up, for as long as he could remember. But now, the young man, who lives and works in New York City, has been offered a significant promotion in Seattle, across the country. Since Nick’s parents are in FloridaContinue reading “Over the River and Through The Woods at Montgomery Theater”

            A Korean-born woman, Amanda, adopted in the United States by white parents, returns home to Albany to assist her mother after the death of her father.  While cleaning up the house, since the mother wants to move out, Amanda is overwhelmed by memories of her life as a child, many of which deal withContinue reading “Wishing to Grow Up Brightly at Theatre Horizon”

It begins when a young woman comes into the office of a therapist and points a gun at him. The set turns dark for a moment, and we are not sure what is going on. Is it a flashback or maybe a flash forward? We soon see that the woman is a new patient thatContinue reading “Job at Theatre Exile”