Author Archives: burdreviews

“Torch Song Trilogy” by Harvey Fierstein premiered in New York in 1982. It consisted of three shorter plays performed in three acts. It revolved around Arnold Beckoff, a Jewish drag queen and torch singer in New York City.  It was four hours long. In 2018, Fierstein revised the play, cutting it to 2:45. 1812 ProductionsContinue reading “Torch Song at 1812 Productions”

This is a copy of the review that first appeared in Broad Street Review after opening night. After the first weekend, it was sold out for the entire run. Terence McNally was one of America’s greatest playwrights whose career spanned some six decades and who received Tony awards for “Master Class, Love, Valour, Compassion, KissContinue reading “It’s Only a Play at Act II Playhouse”

“The Good Person of Setzuan” is a drama written by German playwright Bertolt Brecht about a poor but kind prostitute in China in the 1940’s. Brecht was living in exile in the U.S. at the time, having fled from Nazi Germany, when he completed the play. It was first presented on the stage in SwitzerlandContinue reading “The Good Person of Setzuan at The Wilma Theater”

An old, Yiddish speaking woman, lands on the steps of the home of Mary and Paul in upstate New York. It is 2027, and they have fled from New York City in the wake of a successful January 6th rebellion that has brought a white supremacist regime into power. They are Jewish, passing as ChristiansContinue reading “The Last Yiddish Speaker at InterAct Theatre Company”

When I first read William Shakespeare’s “MacBeth” in high school, I was terrified. I had trouble understanding the English language of the times.  But I got through it with the aid of Cliff’s Notes. Had I seen the play instead of reading it, I might have understood it better. Now, the play, Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy,Continue reading “MacBeth at Quintessence Theatre”

From 1844 to 1850, three brothers emigrated from Bavaria to the U.S., settling in Montgomery, Alabama. From a dry goods store to one of the largest investment companies in the world, these brothers created an enterprise that invested in businesses throughout the U.S. and the world. “The Lehman Trilogy” traces the evolution of the companyContinue reading “The Lehman Trilogy at Arden Theatre Company”

            The play begins with Janice Collen, alone on stage, telling us that she hates water. She understands that it is necessary for life, that the body is made up of 60% water… but she still hates it. Janice, an African-American woman, grew up in landlocked Beacon, Kansas in the 1960’s and 70’s. She escapedContinue reading “the ripple, the wave that carried me home at People’s Light”

A man, Francis Hardy, the faith healer, comes out onto a nearly empty stage and talks to us. He does not preach. He does not try to convince us of his healing powers. He does the very opposite- he reveals all the phoniness of the profession, the acting, the bogus shamans. This is the firstContinue reading “Faith Healer at Lantern Theater Company”

A couple that has been together for 14 years has decided to tie the knot. On their way from Philadelphia to the Poconos where their marriage will take place in the company of a dozen friends, a snowstorm intrudes, and Michael (Scott Greer) crashes into a tree demolishing their car and only finds refuge afterContinue reading “The Flatlanders at 1812 Productions”

Sasha Denisova’s 82-year-old mother is living in Kyiv, Ukraine, when the Russians invade in 2022. She has lived her whole life there, and when her daughter, a successful playwright living in Russia flees that country and tries to get her mother out of the vulnerable Ukraine, her mother refuses to leave her home, even toContinue reading “My Mama and the Full-Scale Invasion at The Wilma Theater”