Hand to God (Booth Theatre, New York, April 2015)
In my innocent youth, puppets were loveable animal figures – Shari Lewis’s Charlie Horse, and the adorably coquettish (and carnivorously named) Lamb […]
Dorothea Röschmann and Mitsuko Uchida (Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, April 2015)
I had the good fortune this week to attend one of the finest Lieder recitals I’ve heard in many years, by soprano […]
Penelope (Inis Nua Theatre, April 2015)
Something magical happens 30 minutes into Penelope. It begins when Quinn, a middle-aged man, unflatteringly clad in a speedo, babbles on with […]
Hamlet (Wilma Theater, April 2015)
“All the world’s a stage,” Shakespeare tells us – and director Blanka Zizka seems to take it literally. Her busy, incohesive production of […]
The Chocolate Soldier (Concert Operetta Theater, March 2015)
By the time I was of listening age (that is, in my early teens, around 1970), operetta performances, at least in the […]
Paint Your Wagon (Encores Musicals in Concert, New York, March 2015)
By my count, Encores, now in its 22nd year, has produced 65 musicals (not counting some gala concert evenings, and a couple […]
Macbeth (Arden Theatre, March 2015)
Thou wouldst be great; Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it. Thus Shakespeare’s Lady pithily sums up her […]
I Want to Love Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt — But …
Is there a more fertile comic imagination today than Tina Fey’s? Collaborating on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt with co-creator Robert Carlock, the wit […]
Field Hockey Hot (11th Hour: Adrienne Theatre)
Remember that Robert Frost’s poem about the importance of taking the right road? Well, Monday night, I took the low road – and […]
Ariadne auf Naxos (Curtis Opera Theatre / Opera Philadelphia: Perelman Theater)
Every time I immerse myself in Strauss and Hofmannsthal’s Ariadne auf Naxos (and I do, often – decades ago, I even wrote […]
reclining standards 