Silent Treatment: DF reviews Strauss’s Schweigsame Frau at Bard (for Parterre Box)
A lovingly restored version of Strauss’s opera reveals that sometimes cuts are for the best.
‘Big D’ Energy: David and Cameron Review Most Happy at Williamstown and Sound of Music at Glimmerglass
Two celebrated 1950s musicals get strikingly dissimilar festival productions this summer.
Either Less or More: Into the Woods at the Arden Theatre (for Parterre Box)
An elegantly streamlined makes the best case for the show I’ve yet seen.
Wet Blanket: David and Cameron Review Bedwetter at Atlantic Theater Company (for Parterre Box)
Sarah Silverman’s memoir-musical takes on a traumatic subject with an uneasy mix of crude comedy and serious themes.
A Faint Impression of the Genuine Article: DF & CK on Funny Girl (for Parterre Box)
Can we start by not using Barbra Streisand as a polestar here?
Grand Passion: Rigoletto at Opera Philadelphia (for Parterre Box)
The collective audience sigh of joy that greeted the opening chords signaled success from the start.
The End of This Play Isn’t Written Yet: The Skin of Our Teeth at Lincoln Center (for Parterre Box)
For all of the ingenuity and accomplishment of director Lileana Blain-Cruz and company, something here doesn’t add up.
Stained Class: Lucia di Lammermoor at the Met (for Parterre Box)
The undisputed cause célèbre here — for better or worse — is director Simon Stone.
Middle America In Caps: How I Learned to Drive Comes to Broadway (for Parterre Box)
More than just a revival—it’s a reinvigoration of one of the best works of the last 50 years.
Shining Hours: Kevin Puts’ New Opera at the Philadelphia Orchestra (for Parterre Box)
Dramaturgically, The Hours is a mixed bag: I wouldn’t discard it, but I would want to fix it. But simply as an evening of gorgeous music, it’s cordon bleu.
reclining standards 