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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

HAPGOOD (Lantern): Rising to the challenge of a gleefully complicated spy story

Toby Zinman September 14, 2018 No Comments

Hapgood is not just a spy story, it’s also a physics story

View More HAPGOOD (Lantern): Rising to the challenge of a gleefully complicated spy story
Fringe Festival Fringe reviews Reviews Theater

THE ACCOUNTANT (Trey Lyford): 2018 Fringe review

Toby Zinman September 10, 2018 1 Comment

Do the math. That’s what accountants do, right? The show is 75 minutes long. I looked at my watch about ten times, from which we…

View More THE ACCOUNTANT (Trey Lyford): 2018 Fringe review
Fringe Festival Fringe reviews Reviews Theater

ECCENTRICITIES OF A NIGHTINGALE (Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium): 2018 Fringe review

Toby Zinman September 7, 2018 No Comments

ECCENTRICITIES is lush, loquacious and very typical Tennessee Williams: lonely, sex-starved women, men struggling against overbearing mothers, desperation everywhere.

View More ECCENTRICITIES OF A NIGHTINGALE (Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium): 2018 Fringe review
Fringe reviews Reviews

MARY ROSE (Philadelphia Artists’ Collective): 2018 Fringe review

Toby Zinman September 6, 2018 No Comments

However crammed your Fringe calendar may be, don’t miss this one.

View More MARY ROSE (Philadelphia Artists’ Collective): 2018 Fringe review
Arts Reviews Visual

A Dilettante at Large reviews two new shows at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Toby Zinman June 6, 2018 2 Comments

Toby Zinman considers “Rachel Rose: Wil-o-Wisp/The Future Fields Commission” and “Biting Wit and Brazen Folly: British Satirical Prints, 1780s–1830s”

View More A Dilettante at Large reviews two new shows at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Reviews

A Dilettante at Large: THE RESTAURANT SCHOOL AT WALNUT HILL COLLEGE

Toby Zinman May 6, 2018 No Comments

All this dilettanting around town can make a critic hungry

View More A Dilettante at Large: THE RESTAURANT SCHOOL AT WALNUT HILL COLLEGE
Reviews Theater

OUR FEW AND EVIL DAYS (Inis Nua): Tantalizing ambiguity

Toby Zinman April 30, 2018 No Comments

This is difficult review to write since almost anything I’d say would be a spoiler. I can say this much: Go see it.

View More OUR FEW AND EVIL DAYS (Inis Nua): Tantalizing ambiguity
Museums Reviews

A Dilettante at Large goes to Penn Museum

Toby Zinman April 17, 2018 No Comments

Toby Zinman gives her thoughts on the new Middle East galleries at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

View More A Dilettante at Large goes to Penn Museum
Reviews

THE TEMPEST (Lantern): Sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not

Toby Zinman March 23, 2018 No Comments

Lantern Theater’s production of THE TEMPEST, Shakespeare’s last play, is an enjoyable, modest show, full of comedy and romance and the gentle spirit of human forgiveness.

View More THE TEMPEST (Lantern): Sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not
Museums Music Reviews

A dilettante at large: LEONARD BERNSTEIN: THE POWER OF MUSIC (NMAJH)

Toby Zinman March 16, 2018 No Comments

If you’re a Leonard Bernstein fan, don’t miss the terrific new exhibit at the National Museum of American Jewish History.

View More A dilettante at large: LEONARD BERNSTEIN: THE POWER OF MUSIC (NMAJH)
Reviews Theater

SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS (Ars Nova/PTC): Hmmph

Toby Zinman March 15, 2018 1 Comment

As far as I can tell, this is a satire, although you know you’re on shaky ground when you’re not sure if the play knows it’s a satire.

View More SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS (Ars Nova/PTC): Hmmph
Music Reviews

A dilettante at large: A QUIET PLACE (Curtis Institute of Music)

Toby Zinman March 13, 2018 No Comments

The Curtis Institute of Music and Opera Philadelphia’s stunning production Leonard Bernstein’s opera, A Quiet Place, is one of many worldwide celebrations of his centennial;

View More A dilettante at large: A QUIET PLACE (Curtis Institute of Music)
Marc D. Donovan and Keith J. Conallen in A STEADY RAIN in Walnut Street Theatre's Independence Studio on 3. Photo by Mark Garvin
Reviews Theater

A STEADY RAIN (Walnut St): An intense and engrossing cop show

Toby Zinman February 24, 2018 No Comments

If you’re a fan of TV police procedurals this is the play for you.

View More A STEADY RAIN (Walnut St): An intense and engrossing cop show
Reviews Theater

A dilettante at large: WRITTEN ON SKIN (Opera Philadelphia)

Toby Zinman February 11, 2018 4 Comments

Philadelphia’s premiere drama critic, Toby Zinman knows her theater. Opera, not so much. Here’s her dilettante review of Opera Philadelphia’s WRITTEN ON SKIN.

View More A dilettante at large: WRITTEN ON SKIN (Opera Philadelphia)
Reviews Theater

REALLY (Theatre Exile): Camera obscura

Toby Zinman February 1, 2018 No Comments

Discomfort is the name of the game here, but to what purpose?

View More REALLY (Theatre Exile): Camera obscura
Sensitive Guys InterAct review
Reviews Theater

SENSITIVE GUYS (InterAct): Satirizing the dialectic of sex

Toby Zinman January 25, 2018 5 Comments

What’s being satirized in this social satire? Good question, with several answers.

View More SENSITIVE GUYS (InterAct): Satirizing the dialectic of sex
Reviews Theater

TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA (EgoPo): High-spirited and delightfully messy

Toby Zinman November 10, 2017 No Comments

This musical theater version of Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona, launches EgoPo’s season as a cabaret/fundraiser.

View More TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA (EgoPo): High-spirited and delightfully messy
Daniel Barland in BROKEN STONES at InterAct Theatre. Photo by Kathryn Raines
Reviews Theater

BROKEN STONES (InterAct): Searching through the meta rubble

Toby Zinman November 5, 2017 No Comments

What better theatrical vehicle for cynicism than “meta”: how many ways can the playwright fool an audience?

View More BROKEN STONES (InterAct): Searching through the meta rubble
Reviews Theater

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY (Walnut): A bell rings

Toby Zinman November 3, 2017 No Comments

If you’re in the mood for a misty-eyed, life-affirming moment, It’s a Wonderful Life is the show for you.

View More IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY (Walnut): A bell rings
Buyer & Cellar 1812 Productions
Reviews Theater

BUYER & CELLAR (1812 Productions): The way we are

Toby Zinman October 11, 2017 1 Comment

This is one of those truth-is-stranger-than-fiction moments. BUYER AND CELLAR is about Barbra Streisand’s basement.

View More BUYER & CELLAR (1812 Productions): The way we are

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