(Photo credit to Linda Johnson.) What do you think of when you hear the word “witch”? Do you think of Glinda, or the Wicked Witch of the West? Maybe three old ladies cackling over a cauldron, or riding on broomsticks. There have been so many portrayals of witches over time. And one of these portrayals is the outcast woman who is knowledgeable with herbs and ignores all the rumors everyone whispers about her. This is the type of “witch” we see in the show Witch. Just a w

I never thought I’d be sitting down to write a post about a musical about Siegfried & Roy. But here we are, now that I’ve seen Shangri-La-La. And yes, it was a musical about the famous pair of Las Vegas magicians. Honestly, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything like it. And I’ve seen a lot of musicals. This one fit the basic bill. It was bright and colorful. The songs were catchy and fit with the story that was being told. For a small show, the costumes, set, effects,

(Photo credit to Johanna Austin.) Horsegirl & Cowdaddy starts out right by having a super interesting title. When I first saw it, I was incredibly intrigued. You don’t get much from it outright. Just these two words that could mean absolutely anything. But then we start to move forward a little…a trans woman in her thirties and her father living in rural Pennsylvania. Well, I guess that’s a little more to go off of, but what I really love is that I still didn’t have much

There are a lot of types of humor in this world. There’s typical humor, of course, but so many little branches that grow from that. There’s self-deprecating humor. There’s sad humor. There’s Jewish humor (trust me on that one, okay?) There is just so much, and My Needy Letters to Keith Urban collects all of these different kinds of humors and puts them into one sixty minute show. There was a lot more to the show, of course, but that variety of types of humor is what rea

Want to read some pre-show questions with Michael Hagins? Check them out here! Shakespeare can be really hard for people. Elizabethan English can be hard to follow…twisted plots and relationships can be hard to grasp. But there are people out there (myself included) who love Shakespeare. Yeah, we’re Shakespeare nerds. And one of the most amazing ones I’ve ever met, and had the pleasure to see on stage, was Michael Hagins. He’s someone who has a firm grasp on Shakespeare

You know those shows that are completely not what you thought they were going to be? That’s what Show Pony was for me. I walked in expecting one thing, and not too sure about what we’d be seeing, and I walked out thoroughly impressed and, in a way, changed. I absolutely love when that happens, honestly…these are the types of shows where I have preconceived notions, and I’m ecstatic that I’m proved wrong. From the small description I got about Show Pony, I thought I was go

For me, there’s something about one-person shows that evokes so much in me. Especially when I’m watching something autobiographical. Some shows bring out more, and Is This Thing On? is one of those shows. Is This Thing On? is a one hour show by Adam Bradley, and one that was something completely eye opening and beautiful. There was so much to this play…there were moments to laugh, moments to cringe out, moments to cry, and so much more. I definitely ran the gamut of emot

(Photo credit to Ashley Smith with Wide Eyed Studios) Dear Evan Hansen is a show that I have wanted to see for a very long time. It had a good run on Broadway, and a good tour. At one point, I had a front row ticket for a performance on the tour stop in Philly, which was ultimately permanently canceled due to COVID. When I saw The Arden was doing it this season, I was ecstatic. I’ve seen a few musicals at the Arden, and they’ve all been phenomenal. I was entirely certain

There’s no way around it…in today’s world, we all need a good belly laugh. We get that from different places…movies, TV shows, books, and theatre. And you can’t get much funnier in theatre than anything you’re going to see from Molière. Molière was a French comedy playwright in the 1600s. Over the centuries, there have been many translations and adaptations of his plays, which brings us to Quintessence and their season closer…Molière’s The Hypochondriac. This show is als

(Photo credit to Ashley Smith with Wide Eyed Studios) One of the most important things that we carry with us is our ancestry. Our families that go back and back and back…where they came from, what we don’t know, and what we do know. Looking at America, some of our families have been here for a very long time, but some of our families are newer to this country. Seng’s Hair Salon is a play that looks at a family that falls into that latter category. We see a family made up

For all of the plays written by Shakespeare, the comedies, tragedies and histories, I doubt any are as famous as Romeo and Juliet . It’s an age old tale of forbidden love, intense rivalries, and death. And although I don’t know why this play has been the Shakespeare forerunner for all this time, I must say, every time you see it, you’re going to see something different. From the numerous stagings of it, as well as movies, and even musicals (seriously, there’s a rendition

(Photo credit to Rebecca Gudelunas Photography.) A part of my very thorough theatre education definitely included Commedia dell’arte, a form of Italian comedic theatre that was popular between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was basically defined by set characters, such as Harlequin or Pantalone, and the masks that they wore. It’s super interesting, and was very well known and well formulated, and although you don’t see a lot of it in modern theatre (at least, not to my kno

(Photo credit to Johanna Austin) Some plays are plays…and some plays are also works of art. This can be shown through every aspect of it…the script, the sets, the costumes…and sometimes these types of shows can be found in the most bizarre places. The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington was, to me, a play that was a mind blowing play, and also a work of art. Every aspect of it topped the one before it, and it was presented in a show that was unlik

(Photo credit to Linda Johnson.) Next up on our Shakespeare tour, we have Quintessence’s Rare Accidents: Henry IV Parts 1 & 2 Abridged . This seems to be the season of Shakespeare, but I definitely would not have expected to see this one on the docket. But here we are, and what a ride. Rare Accidents clocked in at around three and a half hours, whittled down from five or so, and was something unlike I’ve ever experienced before. And I must say, for all of that, I absolut

Something that I think a lot of people take for granted is that time is linear. Unless you’re the Doctor (or some other time traveler), we live our lives linearly. However, the beautiful thing about art is that it can break the rules. Plantation Black is one of these art pieces, a stunning play that’s currently onstage at InterAct Theatre Company. This play takes place in two different time periods, the end of the Civil War and the present, in the same location. There a

(Photo credit to Mark Garvin) I know I’ve probably said this a million times, but I am a huge Shakespeare nerd. I’ve been studying his work since I was six years old. I’ve read a good chunk of his work (including some of the Histories, and those are super hard). I have my favorite quote from The Tempest (my favorite Shakespeare play) tattooed on me. Throughout the past thirty years, Shakespeare has been an inspiration to me, and I don’t know where I’d be, especially in

Photo credit to Mark Garvin. As a queer, trans non-binary person, I’m always on the lookout for representation. And while there’s a lot more of it now than throughout most of my twenty years being an out queer person, there’s still not a ton of it. Especially when it comes to the trans part. There’s a lot more awareness now, and it continues to rise, but we still don’t have a very loud voice. Draw the Circle presented some of the best trans awareness I’ve seen in a very

There are so many ways a play can be good. There are so many ways a play can be great. And it really just goes on from there. I’ve seen a lot of good plays, and great plays, and plays that completely blow me out of the water. The Mountaintop was in a category that I don’t get to see all the time…it completely took my breath away. Although the idea and setup were pretty simple, it was something that I haven’t seen in awhile, and I’m sure it’ll be awhile before I get to s

There are lots of stories that are passed down from generation to generation. These stories can present themselves in many ways. One of these ways is from books. Books are extremely important to sharing stories, especially the ones that transcend time. One of these stories that has been passed down in book form is A Wrinkle in Time . Published in 1962, this book has been read by millions…it’s been taught in schools, has been banned, has been adapted into so many forms, i

The holiday time is always a great time for theatre. We get a lot of cool stuff this time of year, whether it’s the traditional shows like A Christmas Carol or something different like A Christmas Carol Comedy (covered by me twice!) I started this blog around the holiday time (it will be exactly three years ago tomorrow!). There’s just so much cool stuff out there. I love that a lot of it is family friendly, or themed to the time of year, or even traditions found in oth