Author Archives

University administrator and teacher by day, theater and arts critic by night.

Mahler Symphony #2 at the Philadelphia Orchestra Review (DF for Parterre Box)

A dazzling but deeply moving Mahler 2nd suggests that busier is better for our beloved YNS!

The dazzling Complications in Sue bodes well for Anthony Roth Costanzo‘s stewardship of Opera Philadelphia.

Global warming meets the cool factor in The Seasons.

A consideration of Anika Kildegaard’s extraordinary recital in Philadelphia—and the oddity of recitals themselves.

Sweet Smell of Success was strongly cast here, but the merits of this noir musical are hardly black or white.

Rossini’s relative rarity gets a splashy if not wholly coherent production at Opera Philadelphia.

The show has an adoring following, but it’s less edgy than its forty-year-old source material.

I’d never imagined spending 10 hours with TRISTAN UND ISOLDE, but such is the magic of this event.

A musically strong, theatrically questionable production closes the Opera Philadelphia season.

It’s not BOMBSHELL … It’s just a bomb.