James Earl Jones, the typo wars, all-male Shakespeare, and more!

Before we close out 2024, we’ll be coming to you with our most-read articles of the year, but today we want to take a moment to highlight some of the editors’ favorites. Of course, we’re enthusiastic about every piece we publish and each of our writers is excellent in their own way, but some stories are extra special to us because of the topic, or the beautiful approach by the writer.

Once we publish a story, it’s impossible to know whether it will land quietly or make a big splash; whether it will get a typical amount of local traffic or draw tens of thousands of readers around the globe. That’s the nature of the job, and we give every story the same care, whether it’s read by a few hundred people, or 10,000+ in a single day.

But here are some of our favorites from the past year.

We’ll start with associate editor Kyle’s picks.

I’ve said it here before, but I want to be Anndee Hochman when I grow up. This is an elegant essay that captures the essence of an origin story, extracting a story from another story, while offering solace as to not just why we read and write and tell stories, but how it gets started in the first place. That history can tell you a lot.

As someone who has discovered the liberating practice of girl dinner over the last year (I often put too much pressure on myself to make big, complex meals on a regular basis; I blame my mother for this for being such an abundant cook), Margaret Eby’s book is a valuable addition to anyone’s bookshelf and in their kitchen. And hey, another pick by Anndee! What a surprise.

Let’s go all the way back to the beginning of 2024 and revisit a very important message: we need to stop being so rigid about language and grammar. There’s so much elitism within English (and other languages, for sure), and it’s toxic. Alaina Johns, our EIC and fearless leader, paves a great path towards easing up about typos. I hope we can soften up about things like this and carry that energy into 2025.

Here are editor-in-chief Alaina's picks:

For my first pick, I’m going to cheat a little, and instead of pointing out one article, I will point out a few pieces in the same series. Last spring, Quintessence Theatre Group artistic director Alex Burns launched his latest all-male Shakespeare production (Macbeth) and the local theater community had a strong response. I considered it in an editorial at the time, but what I really love are the multifaceted perspectives that came through in Kiran Pandey’s review of the show, a podcast conversation between Darnelle Radford and Burns himself, and an op-ed by local trans actor Bruce Baldini.

This coverage in BSR helped to shape, boost, and preserve this important conversation about art and who gets to make it and why and how. Philly’s cultural scene deserves this attention, and we are proud of the way so many different people lend their voices to BSR, and how many people tune in for the conversation.

What the heck, let’s do it again. I want to point out similar multifaceted coverage of another show: the Wilma’s Hilma in June.

Cameron Kelsall reviewed this ambitious world-premiere opera, and he did not like it. Melissa Strong followed up with her examination of the show in the context of a bigger theme: how the world treats women artists. She writes, “Unfortunately, women artists still receive inadequate credit, attention, and representation. What little they get tends to treat them differently than men. It’s hard to imagine a show about a male artist organized like Hilma, and that is a keen disappointment for lovers of af Klint’s art.” Finally, we hear directly from the show’s librettist, Kate Scelsa, in this BSR Podcast interview.

Ultimately, whether a given show is “good” or “bad” is not the point. The deep and lively conversation between many voices is the point. These days, it’s a challenge for most productions in Philly to get even one review. BSR is proud to go much further.

I want to highlight Emily B. Schilling’s February article about PAFA graduate Nasir Young, because she does so much more than introduce us to this worthy local artist and the gallery hosting him. She helps us see his work and understand why it’s important. She delves into his history and artistic process. And then she explains the context and effects of PAFA’s big announcement about a year ago: that it is giving up BFA and MFA accreditation, and will lay off 15 percent of its teachers and staff. It’s a lot of ground to cover, and Emily does it so well. We are proud to tell stories of this depth in BSR.

Crystal Sparrow's review of this show at The Clay Studio (open through the end of this month!) does so much. She brings you into the gallery with an eye for accessibility, she helps you see the art, considers how it is placed in the gallery, and makes important observations about the greater context of the art, including the weather outside. This is the kind of work BSR critics are doing every week, and BSR is one of the city's only homes for writing like this.

What are YOUR favorite BSR pieces from the last year? We would love to know.

If looking back on BSR’s 2024 coverage makes you realize that you want to keep reading us in 2025, what are you waiting for? Support us! We are a small organization, so even if you can’t afford a monthly gift (starting at $5), a one-time donation still makes a big difference. If you already do support us, we hope this roundup of BSR stories makes you proud. You made this work possible.