Leonard Bernstein's Candide isn't performed often, and whenever it is, it's usually been given a completely new book. The songs remain the same, as they say, but the script is ever-changing. The version of the show running at the Arden through this Sunday features a new book by John Caird that seems, finally, to have captured the feel of the original Voltaire work from which it was adapted. Featuring most of Philadelphia's favorite musical......

I have to be honest here for a minute: I was pretty pessimistic about The Walnut's production of Les Miserables, more or less from the second it was announced as the season closer. It wasn't lack of faith in The Walnut that led to my lack of optimism. Rather, it was a familiarity: nothing about Les Mis—not the music, not the costumes, not the set*—is easy, and bad productions are far too common. Not......

Two literary characters and a historical figure walk into a bar... It's not a joke – it's the basic premise of Wittenberg, a world premiere play currently running at the Arden Theatre. Wittenberg is a play for smart people, full of historical and literary references used, often, in very funny ways. Not well-versed on your Elizabethan drama or your Sixteenth Century religious history? Well, you can still enjoy the play, but you won't get......

The Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia's December On Stage listings make note of four productions of A Christmas Carol (one of which, admittedly, I loved), plus productions of A Christmas Story, Christmas City Follies, Comet, the Fifth Reindeer, The Eight: Reindeer Monologues, The Holiday Goose - A Musical, Holiday Show at the Swing Club, The Nutcracker, O'Henry Christmas, The Santaland Diaries, Tiny Tim's Christmas, and Winter Musicale 2007. In short, the season is saturated......

One of the most common, and legitimate, criticisms of the music of Stephen Sondheim by performers and critics alike is that he's not tuneful enough. "Hummable," I think is the word most often used by these critics. And yet somehow, a week after seeing The Arden Theatre's production of Assassins, I simply can't get the music out of my head. It may not be hummable, but goddamn if it isn't memorable. That's a sure......

We don't ever include staged readings in the Wednesday theatre listings, but it's not because we don't like them. And that's why we've introduced "Staged Readings Are Fun!," a periodic feature that will enable us to tell you about said events when they come up. If you know about any staged readings you'd like us to mention, all you have to do is shoot us an email. What are you doing this afternoon? Working, you......