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Not a nice fellow: Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs.

Danny Boyle's 'Steve Jobs'

The man behind the curtain

Michael Fassbender does a superb job portraying Jobs, but the director Boyle and screenwriter Sorkin go too far in trying to redeem the man's bad behavior.

Ryan Dellaquila

Articles 2 minute read
Startlingly enigmatic: Laia Costa in “Victoria” (© 2015 - Adopt Films)

Sebastian Schipper's 'Victoria'

More than a one-shot wonder

Shot in a single, breathless take, Victoria is a masterful display of cinematography. But this shouldn’t overshadow its successes as both a profound and unconventional character study and, in its second half, a nail-biting thriller.

Peter Myers

Articles 4 minute read
"Bullets over Broadway" is fun, but don't think about it too hard. (Photo by Matthew Murphy)

'Bullets over Broadway: The Musical'

Everyone cheats

Talent aside, I can’t disassociate Woody Allen from his work, and Bullets over Broadway: The Musical has enough misogynistic sentiment to infuriate me even while I laugh at the antics on stage.
Naomi Orwin

Naomi Orwin

Articles 4 minute read
Sondra Radvanovsky will be the Festival Artist at Opera Philly’s O17. (Photo by Pavel Antonov via operaphilly.org)

Opera Philadelphia's O17 announcement

An announcement of operatic scale

New plans by Opera Philadelphia are daring and forward-looking. There are aspects of concern, however.
Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen

Articles 4 minute read
Dawn or no, there is just the rooster. (A feral rooster on the Hawaiian island of Kauai: photo by jaybergesen via Creative Commons/Wikimedia)

On the importance of melody

Myth and melody

Music isn’t broken into the three parts of melody, harmony, and rhythm. It’s just melody.
Kile Smith

Kile Smith

Articles 5 minute read
A dignified gentleman — aside from that whole bloodsucking thing: Hernandez, Bloechl (photo by Kyle Cassidy)

'Dracula' at Hedgerow Theatre

An old vampire with a few new tricks

Hedgerow Theatre’s revival of the classic Dracula story succeeds through solid acting, without camp or excess.
Mark Cofta

Mark Cofta

Articles 2 minute read
A handmaid by "choice": Isa St. Clair. (Photo by Rebecca M. Gudelunas)

'The Handmaid's Tale' at Curio Theatre

A Tale both frightening and plausible

A feminist nightmare comes to life in a brilliant stage adaptation of Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale by Curio Theatre Company.
Mark Cofta

Mark Cofta

Articles 4 minute read
Kosky's 'Magic Flute': What do 21st-century audiences want?

In search of Philadelphia operas

Kitty Foyle and yellow fever, set to music?

With all this operatic creativity, money, and synergy in Philadelphia nowadays, how come no one past or present has written an opera that takes place in Philadelphia?
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Articles 6 minute read
Wailing, chants, and desperate moans: The Wilma/Attis “Antigone.” (Photo by Alexander Iziliaev)

'Antigone' and 'Metamorphoses'

A few words about dramatic language

When watching classic plays translated from other languages, consider what is lost and how much our contemporary mindset and values change meaning.
AJ Sabatini

AJ Sabatini

Articles 6 minute read
Greer (left) with Paul L. Nolan as Martin Weinberg: Remember Blaze Starr? (Photo: Paola Nogueras.)

Bruce Graham’s ‘Rizzo’ at Theatre Exile (third review)

The real Frank Rizzo, as I knew him

The good and the bad of Frank Rizzo the man are both there in Bruce Graham's Rizzo. But the play barely hints at the terrifying ugly of the man and some members of his police force, which I witnessed firsthand.
SaraKay Smullens

SaraKay Smullens

Articles 5 minute read