Pig Iron’s ‘Twelfth Night’ (2nd review)

What would Shakespeare say?

Audiences at Twelfth Night laugh when Sir Toby Belch falls prey to Maria’s merry and deserving pranks. But nowadays, thousands of Internet surfers fall victim to not-so-merry pranksters hiding behind the cloak of anonymity. Oh, for the good old days.

Alaina Johns

Dec 17, 2013 · Articles · 5 minute read

Dolce Suono confronts totalitarianism

Up from tyranny

All the pieces on Dolce Suono’s “Return to Russia” program came with stories that connected them to the history of 20th Century totalitarianism.

Tom Purdom

Dec 17, 2013 · Articles · 5 minute read

‘Story of My Life’ in Wilmington

On re-connecting with an old friend

This sweet and unassuming musical about two friends drifting apart closed quickly on Broadway after a New York Times critic gave it the kiss of death. It deserved better, as two revivals have demonstrated.

Steve Cohen

Dec 17, 2013 · Articles · 2 minute read

The Met’s ‘Falstaff,’ set in the ’50s

Sir John orders room service

The Met’s new version of Verdi’s Falstaff brings that portly symbol of vice and gluttony from medieval morality plays into the 1950s. Verdi and Shakespeare alike would turn over in their graves.

Steve Cohen

Dec 17, 2013 · Articles · 4 minute read

Why so many Macbeths?

Hamlet vacillates, Macbeth kills (and guess which we prefer?)

All of a sudden, Macbeth has become “the new Hamlet,” with five high-profile productions in the past two years. What does this ruthless murderer’s new popularity tell us about ourselves?

Carol Rocamora

Dec 17, 2013 · Articles · 5 minute read

BodyVox’s ‘The Cutting Room’ at Annenberg

They lost it at the movies

BodyVox’s The Cutting Room is part ballet, part modern dance, part multi-media performance, but mostly hodgepodge.

Gary L. Day

Dec 17, 2013 · Articles · 2 minute read

Lantern’s ‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales’ (1st review)

An antidote to sugarplum treacle

A Child’s Christmas in Wales is a Christmas show for people like me who hate Christmas shows but love stage enchantment without cliché or trite sentimentality.

Gary L. Day

Dec 17, 2013 · Articles · 2 minute read

‘Così fan tutte’ goes back to the '60s

At last, a credible Così

Così fan tutte has confused operagoers for years. With the help of marijuana and hallucinogenics it suddenly became clearer. With that curious and mind-bending help, this concept by Nic Muni made sense. .

Steve Cohen

Dec 14, 2013 · Articles · 2 minute read

Concert Operetta salutes Eddy and MacDonald

‘America’s Sweethearts,’ off screen

Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald are remembered today as romantic movie stars, but they were flesh-and-blood people, as I can attest.

Steve Cohen

Dec 14, 2013 · Articles · 3 minute read

Derek Gillman departs

The Barnes confronts a rock and a hard place

Derek Gillman’s sudden exit as director of the Barnes Foundation and his replacement by a member of the Barnes board marks a new chapter in the Foundation’s unfolding saga in Center City— and a sign that it’s already in serious financial straits.

Robert Zaller

Dec 14, 2013 · Articles · 3 minute read