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Author: Toby Zinman

Toby Zinman is a recently retired professor of English at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was a Fulbright professor at Tel Aviv University and a visiting professor in China. She publishes widely and lectures internationally on American drama. Her fifth book, Replay: Classic Modern Drama Reimagined, was published by Methuen, and she published the essay, "Visions of Tragedy in Contemporary American Drama," in 2017. Zinman is also the chief theater critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer where she reviews New York and London as well as Philadelphia. She was named by American Theatre magazine as, “one of the 12 most influential critics in America.” Her travel writing has taken her all over the world, from dogsledding in the Yukon to hiking across England.
Reviews Theater

SIX (National Tour): The merry wives of Henry VIII

Toby Zinman March 24, 2023 No Comments

And now, “live in consort,” the six wives of Henry VIII: “divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.”

View More SIX (National Tour): The merry wives of Henry VIII
Reviews Theater

[NYC] PARADE (Bernard R. Jacobs Theatre): An all too familiar morality lesson

Toby Zinman March 23, 2023 No Comments

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…

View More [NYC] PARADE (Bernard R. Jacobs Theatre): An all too familiar morality lesson
culture

THE PHILADELPHIA FLOWER SHOW: A dilettante at large review

Toby Zinman March 4, 2023 No Comments

You’ll find much beauty in the vast halls of Convention Center. 

View More THE PHILADELPHIA FLOWER SHOW: A dilettante at large review
Reviews Theater

MEET ME AT DAWN (Inis Nua): Mysteries and satisfaction

Toby Zinman February 19, 2023 No Comments

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.…

View More MEET ME AT DAWN (Inis Nua): Mysteries and satisfaction
Reviews Theater

New York Theater Report: Reviews of PICTURES FROM HOME, ENDGAME, and CORNELIA STREET

Toby Zinman February 18, 2023 1 Comment

Toby Zinman looks at three plays now New York stages.

View More New York Theater Report: Reviews of PICTURES FROM HOME, ENDGAME, and CORNELIA STREET
Music Theater

DON PASQUALE (AVA): A Dilettante at Large review

Toby Zinman February 17, 2023 No Comments

Our dilettante at large reviews Academy of Vocal Arts’ South Philly themed production of Donizetti’s comic opera

View More DON PASQUALE (AVA): A Dilettante at Large review
Reviews Theater

THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT (Lantern): Conveying a larger truth

Toby Zinman February 10, 2023 No Comments

In the political news in the past few years, the concern has been not with the lifespan of facts, but the lifespan of lies

View More THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT (Lantern): Conveying a larger truth
Music Reviews

Carmina Burana + Credo (Opera Philly): A dilettante at large review

Toby Zinman February 6, 2023 No Comments

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…

View More Carmina Burana + Credo (Opera Philly): A dilettante at large review
Reviews Theater

CLYDE’S (Arden): All the ingredients are here

Toby Zinman February 5, 2023 No Comments

Terrific actors playing lovable characters, important issues, snappy dialogue, and plenty of comedy

View More CLYDE’S (Arden): All the ingredients are here
Reviews Theater

KISS (Wilma): What does it mean when someone else is representing you?

Toby Zinman February 4, 2023 No Comments

A play is about acting as well as the political act of making theater as well as about getting it wrong through cultural appropriation

View More KISS (Wilma): What does it mean when someone else is representing you?
Reviews Theater

BROADS (1812 Productions): A tip of the hat to the grand old dames of comedy

Toby Zinman February 3, 2023 No Comments

Take it from this old broad, Broads, 1812 Productions’ new show, is an entertaining 75 minutes—if you like funny songs and dirty jokes.

View More BROADS (1812 Productions): A tip of the hat to the grand old dames of comedy
Theater

BEOWULF (Benjamin Bagby): A rare theatrical experience

Toby Zinman January 28, 2023 No Comments

Benjamin Bagby takes on the role of the scop, the storyteller

View More BEOWULF (Benjamin Bagby): A rare theatrical experience
Theater

LAST OF THE RED HOT LOVERS (Walnut): Feeling nostalgic?

Toby Zinman January 21, 2023 No Comments

Are you missing those bad hairdos and baggy blue suits of 1969?

View More LAST OF THE RED HOT LOVERS (Walnut): Feeling nostalgic?
Theater

[NYC] OHIO STATE MURDERS: Still experimental, still challenging, and still exciting controversy

Toby Zinman December 16, 2022 No Comments

Adrienne Kennedy’s crushingly beautiful play, Ohio State Murders, is making a long overdue debut on Broadway.

View More [NYC] OHIO STATE MURDERS: Still experimental, still challenging, and still exciting controversy
Theater

[NYC] SOME LIKE IT HOT: Irony-free goodness

Toby Zinman December 16, 2022 No Comments

This new musical comedy, a Big Broadway rewrite of the 1959 classic movie, Some Like it Hot, offers fabulosity: huge production numbers, flashy costumes, marvelous…

View More [NYC] SOME LIKE IT HOT: Irony-free goodness
Theater

[NYC] BECKY NURSE OF SALEM (Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center)

Toby Zinman December 12, 2022 No Comments

The Crucible, has withstood all manner of productions, from starry Broadway to high school drama club, and it will withstand Sarah Ruhl’s crass replay, Becky Nurse of Salem

View More [NYC] BECKY NURSE OF SALEM (Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center)
Theater

BIG APPLE CIRCUS: A dilettante at large review

Toby Zinman November 21, 2022 No Comments

Where are the great acts I remembered? The trained cats? the galloping horses? the iron men? the Wheel of Death?

View More BIG APPLE CIRCUS: A dilettante at large review
Theater

DEATH OF A DRIVER (InterAct): Years pass, roads are built, potholes appear

Toby Zinman November 7, 2022 No Comments

“We are together.”  This line is an often-repeated refrain in Death of a Driver, a grim new play by Will Snider presented by InterAct at the Drake’s Proscenium…

View More DEATH OF A DRIVER (InterAct): Years pass, roads are built, potholes appear
Theater

LES MISERABLES (National Tour): How do you say schmaltz in French?

Toby Zinman November 7, 2022 No Comments

Q: How do you say schmaltz in French? A:  Les Miserables. This long musical melodrama, based on Victor Hugo’s long novelistic melodrama is currently wowing…

View More LES MISERABLES (National Tour): How do you say schmaltz in French?
Theater

10 DATES WITH MAD MARY (Inis Nua): Irish charm at Fergies Pub

Toby Zinman October 28, 2022 1 Comment

Anna Faye Lieberman gives us the raging, disappointed, self-indicting, violent, drunk, lonely, and altogether wild-hearted Mary

View More 10 DATES WITH MAD MARY (Inis Nua): Irish charm at Fergies Pub

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