Results tagged “leahwalton”

Performance: (Martina Plag/Laureen Griffin/Leah Walton) (Future Performances—Post-Fringe)

You didn't think we'd forgotten about the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe, did you?

Let's just get this out on the table: producing Neil Simon's The Odd Couple is playing it safe. It's not that I don't love the play—I do—but so does everybody else. (Except for, I don't know, maybe August Strindberg, but he's dead and he doesn't count. On the other hand, Neil Simon might quite enjoy Strindberg and Helium.) And so just putting the play up on your marquee or season brochure is more or less a guarantee of your success, meaning I'm not entirely sure why Walnut Street Theatre invited me to review their production of the popular play.

I'd just like to say that there are other ways of conveying distress than hysterical crying, and that there are other ways of conveying fear than heavy breathing and uncontrollable pacing. I needed to get that out there because it seems to be a memo that a lot of people miss. And missing that memo can ruin what would otherwise be a really good play.

I would like to begin this review by strongly urging all those who believe in abstinence-only sex ed classes to see . There has never been a better defense of Joycelyn Elders' opinions on sex education—even though it was written over a hundred years before President Clinton appointed her to the office of the Surgeon General.