Author Archives

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

Museum Quality: DF Reviews Il Viaggio a Reims at Opera Philadelphia (for Parterre Box)

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.

Morley and Moore in a mixed program, brilliantly conceived and superbly performed.

Emma Griffin’s “Go big or go home” production scores a win for Bernstein’s musical/operetta.

The new musical starring Idina Menzel, ostensibly a paean to a back-to-nature life, could hardly feel more manufactured and synthetic.

Rebecca Frecknall’s gripping staging makes new a play many of us feel we know inside out.

The American debut of a truly great singer and recitalist is cause for rejoicing.