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 […]
DF Reviews The Whale (Theatre Exile, February 2015)
It hit me the minute the curtain went up on The Whale, Samuel D. Hunter’s marvelous, heartbreaking play, in an exceptionally fine […]
DF Reviews Mothers and Sons (Philadelphia Theatre Company, February 2015)
“Sometimes – there’s God – so quickly!,” Tennessee Williams famously wrote. Here, though, He doesn’t show up till 9:15. Roughly 70 minutes […]
DF Reviews Doubt (Lantern Theater, January 2015)
The great thing about Doubt, John Patrick Shanley’s slender but effective drama about child abuse in the church, is that our sympathies […]
DF’s Philadelphia Fall/Winter 2015 Theatre Preview
It’s been a strong Philadelphia theatre season so far, and the Winter/Spring has quite a few more promising events. I’ve compiled the […]
DF Reviews Outside Mullingar (Philadelphia Theatre Company, December 2014)
And God saw the light, that it was good… So the Bible tells us, but I’m not sure you’d know it to […]
DF Reviews The Matter of Frank Schaefer (Curio Theatre, November 2014)
The facts are fairly simple – “frocked, defrocked, refrocked!” might headline an article about Frank Schaefer, a Methodist minister in Eastern Pennsylvania. […]
Thoughts on Death of a Salesman — and EgoPo’s Production
This will seem an odd admission for a theatre critic, but here goes: I’ve never been entirely convinced by Death of a […]
DF Previews Soprano Kathleen Battle (Verizon Hall / Kimmel Center — 24 October 2014)
Make no mistake about it: A performance by Kathleen Battle is An Event. Anyone interested in hearing great music – and experiencing […]
DF Reviews Detroit (Philadelphia Theatre Company, October 2014)
Good things come to those who wait. Slow cooking yields the best flavor. You might want to keep these aphorisms in mind […]
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