Sunday, December 3, 2023
Sondheim’s genius makes ambivalence gorgeously musical, but his ironic, subtle sophistication is in short supply in this production
The post COMPANY (Forrest Theater): Gorgeously musical i…
SOURCE: phindie.com at 03:15PMSunday, November 12, 2023
Madame Ovary is a staged memoir about a young woman who survived cancer; it is the fourth female solo show opening just this week:
The post MADAME OVARY (Inis Nua): Theater or therapy? appea…
SOURCE: phindie.com at 04:52PMFriday, November 10, 2023
The danger with a Brian Friel play is charm. No stage Irishmen here at Irish Rep’s production, no comical drunkenness. Another danger, especially in a…
The post [NYC] TRANSLATIONS (Iris…
SOURCE: phindie.com at 04:22PMMonday, November 6, 2023
In a world full of rooms which are full of elephants, a lot of sidestepping is required of us all.
The post THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM (Azuka): Impassioned and interesting sidestepping appea…
SOURCE: phindie.com at 12:31PMFriday, November 3, 2023
Even the most hallowed document is no match for a teenage girl, as Heidi Schreck reveals in her play, What the Constitutions Means to Me.…
The post WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME (Arde…
SOURCE: phindie.com at 11:12PMSunday, October 15, 2023
This is vintage Sondheim, the unimaginable flop now on Broadway again, restored to its dazzling, heart-wrenching brilliance. Merrily We Roll Along has been called his most personal,…
Th…
SOURCE: phindie.com at 03:16PMMonday, October 2, 2023
Ossie Davis’s brilliant and hilarious play is part vaudeville, part sermon. And if preaching is theater, theater is preaching. And the lesson is that “faith…
The post [NYC] PURLIE VIC…
SOURCE: phindie.com at 08:46AMSaturday, June 10, 2023
“Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun; it shines every where.” Leaving Copernicus aside, the Fool’s wry remark is an apt description…
The post TWELFTH NIGHT (Wilma): F…
SOURCE: phindie.com at 01:13PMMonday, May 29, 2023
“Shall we set about some revels?” Yes! The battle begins: Lantern Theater Company opened its excellent and enjoyable production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night; soon to…
The post T…
SOURCE: phindie.com at 11:57AMSaturday, May 20, 2023
The DAL is having quite a week! First the Orchestra and then the Museum: Philadelphia’s finest institutions providing much enjoyment. Philadelphia Museum of Art has…
The post OF GOD AND…
SOURCE: phindie.com at 07:11PMThursday, May 18, 2023
DAL is pleased to report that this gala was more fun than glam. Oh, there was the occasional gown and a sprinkling of black ties,…
The post THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA’S GREAT STAGES GAL…
SOURCE: phindie.com at 03:05PMMonday, May 8, 2023
James Ijames won the Pulitzer Prize for Fat Ham, which is now running on Broadway; his even newer play, Abandon, has just opened at Theatre Exile.
The post FAT HAM + ABANDON: Considering J…
SOURCE: phindie.com at 11:32AMSunday, May 7, 2023
A small town’s main business—tourism— dries up and bit by bit small businesses follow.
The post GALILEE (Azuka): A tale from down under appeared first on phindie.
SOURCE: phindie.com at 01:11PMSaturday, May 6, 2023
This is not the admiring smirk or a contemptuous Ha-ha!, but fall-off-your-chair, eye-mopping hilarity.
The post THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG (1812): Fall-off-your-chair hilarity appeared first …
SOURCE: phindie.com at 12:47PMMonday, May 1, 2023
Mozart’s Don Giovanni is the greatest opera ever written. Don’t take my word for it—what do I know, I’m a dilettante—but that was the opinion…
The post DON GIOVANNI (AVA): A dil…
SOURCE: phindie.com at 08:07AMWednesday, April 26, 2023
Take the trigger warnings seriously: This is ordeal by theater.
The post [NYC] PRIMA FACIE (John Golden Theater): Ordeal by theater appeared first on phindie.
SOURCE: phindie.com at 06:56PMSunday, April 23, 2023
This remarkable adaptation of a century-old novel concludes EgoPo’s Harlem Renaissance season
The post PLUM BUN (EgoPo): Passing on history appeared first on phindie.
SOURCE: phindie.com at 10:45AMTuesday, April 18, 2023
Sometimes cynical, ultra-cool critical disdain—much in evidence these days— just won’t do. I loved this show; it’s filled with wonderful songs and wonderful singers, an…
The pos…
SOURCE: phindie.com at 10:35AMFriday, April 14, 2023
At 15th & Bainbridge—only a few blocks from Philadelphia Theatre Company’s stage at Broad & Lombard—there stood a legendary dive bar called Emerson’s. Jazz greats—John…
…
SOURCE: phindie.com at 03:24PMTuesday, April 11, 2023
What a wackadoodle of a show! Part party, part pop musical, the Walnut Street Theatre’s production of Jimmy Buffett’s hit is an enjoyable evening, but…
The post ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVIL…
SOURCE: phindie.com at 03:02PMThursday, April 6, 2023
I should have such a problem all the time: how to review a show that is just about perfect.
The post [NYC] SWEENEY TODD (Lutt-Fontanne): How to review a show that is just about perfect? ap…
SOURCE: phindie.com at 01:35PMFriday, March 24, 2023
And now, “live in consort,” the six wives of Henry VIII: “divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.”
The post SIX (National Tour): The merry wives of Henry VIII appeare…
SOURCE: phindie.com at 12:17PMThursday, March 23, 2023
Well, of course I know they were clapping for the cast and not the characters, but there was something creepy about hundreds of people—some of…
The post [NYC] PARADE (Bernard R. Jacobs …
SOURCE: phindie.com at 11:51AMSaturday, March 4, 2023
You'll find much beauty in the vast halls of Convention Center.
The post THE PHILADELPHIA FLOWER SHOW: A dilettante at large review appeared first on phindie.
SOURCE: phindie.com at 09:17PMSunday, February 19, 2023
Leave it to Inis Nua, the theater company whose name means “New Island” and is dedicated to producing plays from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.…
The post MEET ME AT DAWN (Inis …
SOURCE: phindie.com at 09:58PMSaturday, February 18, 2023
Toby Zinman looks at three plays now New York stages.
The post New York Theater Report: Reviews of PICTURES FROM HOME, ENDGAME, and CORNELIA STREET appeared first on phindie.
SOURCE: phindie.com at 04:25AMFriday, February 17, 2023
Our dilettante at large reviews Academy of Vocal Arts' South Philly themed production of Donizetti’s comic opera
The post DON PASQUALE (AVA): A Dilettante at Large review appeared first on…
SOURCE: phindie.com at 10:26PMFriday, February 10, 2023
In the political news in the past few years, the concern has been not with the lifespan of facts, but the lifespan of lies
The post THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT (Lantern): Conveying a larger truth…
SOURCE: phindie.com at 08:58PMMonday, February 6, 2023
The Dilettante at Large is at large again, writing about the culture as an enjoyer rather than an expert. Her latest pleasure was Opera Philly’s…
The post Carmina Burana + Credo (Opera …
SOURCE: phindie.com at 01:25PMSunday, February 5, 2023
Terrific actors playing lovable characters, important issues, snappy dialogue, and plenty of comedy
The post CLYDE’S (Arden): All the ingredients are here appeared first on phindie.
SOURCE: phindie.com at 05:40PMSaturday, February 4, 2023
A play is about acting as well as the political act of making theater as well as about getting it wrong through cultural appropriation
The post KISS (Wilma): What does it mean when someone e…
SOURCE: phindie.com at 05:05PM 
