Azuka Theatre presents Overwinter, an interesting new play by local playwright Mackenzie Raine Kirkman; it’s about important ideas, making it a welcome change from the…
View More OVERWINTER (Azuka): A laboratory for important ideasAuthor: Toby Zinman
2024 PHILADELPHIA FLOWER SHOW: A dilettante at large review
You don’t have to tend your own plot to enjoy the gorgeous colors and scents at the 2024 Flower Show at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
View More 2024 PHILADELPHIA FLOWER SHOW: A dilettante at large reviewTHE RAPE OF LUCRETIA (Academy of Vocal Arts): A dilettante at large review
DAL continues her musical education with this stunning chamber opera at the Academy of Vocal Arts.
View More THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA (Academy of Vocal Arts): A dilettante at large reviewLUNAR NEW YEAR AT PMA: A dilettante at large review
The Philadelphia Museum of Art celebrated the Chinese new year with some fascinating special events on Sunday
View More LUNAR NEW YEAR AT PMA: A dilettante at large reviewCOST OF LIVING (PTC): A compelling new play, diminished
Diminished or not, it’s worth seeing for the understanding of people living with disabilities and the people who care for them.
View More COST OF LIVING (PTC): A compelling new play, diminishedTHE FLATLANDERS (1812 Productions): Couples theater can be couples therapy
Real-life married couple Scott Greer and Jennifer Childs play a fictitious couple in Bruce Graham’s newest play.
View More THE FLATLANDERS (1812 Productions): Couples theater can be couples therapyAIN’T TOO PROUD: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TEMPTATIONS (National Tour): Songs, fun, and nostalgia
This is Motown, and this cast is up to the task: good voices, great moves.
View More AIN’T TOO PROUD: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TEMPTATIONS (National Tour): Songs, fun, and nostalgiaCOMPANY (Forrest Theater): Gorgeously musical if lacking in Sondheim’s subtlety
Sondheim’s genius makes ambivalence gorgeously musical, but his ironic, subtle sophistication is in short supply in this production
View More COMPANY (Forrest Theater): Gorgeously musical if lacking in Sondheim’s subtletyMADAME OVARY (Inis Nua): Theater or therapy?
Madame Ovary is a staged memoir about a young woman who survived cancer; it is the fourth female solo show opening just this week:
View More MADAME OVARY (Inis Nua): Theater or therapy?[NYC] TRANSLATIONS (Irish Rep): Searching for clues
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…
View More [NYC] TRANSLATIONS (Irish Rep): Searching for cluesTHE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM (Azuka): Impassioned and interesting sidestepping
In a world full of rooms which are full of elephants, a lot of sidestepping is required of us all.
View More THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM (Azuka): Impassioned and interesting sidesteppingWHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME (Arden): A witch’s cauldron of sometimes magic
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.…
View More WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME (Arden): A witch’s cauldron of sometimes magic[NYC] MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG (Hudson Theater)
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,…
View More [NYC] MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG (Hudson Theater)[NYC] PURLIE VICTORIOUS (Music Box Theatre): A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch
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…
View More [NYC] PURLIE VICTORIOUS (Music Box Theatre): A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton PatchTWELFTH NIGHT (Wilma): Foolery shines everywhere
“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…
View More TWELFTH NIGHT (Wilma): Foolery shines everywhereTWELFTH NIGHT (Lantern): Shall we set about some revels?
“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…
View More TWELFTH NIGHT (Lantern): Shall we set about some revels?OF GOD AND COUNTRY (PMA): A dilettante at large review
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…
View More OF GOD AND COUNTRY (PMA): A dilettante at large reviewTHE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA’S GREAT STAGES GALA: A Dilettante at Large review
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,…
View More THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA’S GREAT STAGES GALA: A Dilettante at Large reviewFAT HAM + ABANDON: Considering James Ijames’s new and newer work
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.
View More FAT HAM + ABANDON: Considering James Ijames’s new and newer workGALILEE (Azuka): A tale from down under
A small town’s main business—tourism— dries up and bit by bit small businesses follow.
View More GALILEE (Azuka): A tale from down under