Reviews

865 results
Page 54
Book cover. Title, in alternating black, yellow, & red text, over a vintage black & white photo of a political rally crowd.

If There Is No Struggle There Is No Progress: Black Politics in Twentieth-Century Philadelphia, edited by James Wolfinger

The rise of Philly’s Black political identity
A new book from editor James Wolfinger explores the rise of a Black political identity in Philadelphia, from the industrial influx of World War I to the Goode, Street, and Nutter administrations. Pamela J. Forsythe reviews.

Pamela J. Forsythe

Reviews 6 minute read
Scene from the play: the actors face each other with melancholy expressions, holding a cardboard U-Haul box between them.

People’s Light presents Bess Wohl’s Grand Horizons

Gray divorcees
Grand Horizons at People’s Light explores the fallout from the end of a long marriage, but Bess Wohl’s boulevard comedy chooses cheap laughs over high stakes. Cameron Kelsall reviews.
Cameron Kelsall

Cameron Kelsall

Reviews 3 minute read
Scene from Fences. All 5 adult cast members sit or stand on the back porch of a 2-story brick home, flanked by 2 large trees

Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival presents August Wilson’s Fences

Uneven ‘Fences’
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s Fences has been waiting in the wings since 2020. Josh Herren reviews.
Josh Herren

Josh Herren

Reviews 3 minute read
Dusk falls on a scene from the play depicting a protest with the whole cast on the green lawn. Set pieces evoke rowhouses.

Shakespeare in Clark Park presents The Taming!

It was the patriarchy all along
For its 16th production, Shakespeare in Clark Park presents one of Shakespeare’s most problematic plays … and a refreshing antidote. Jill Ivey reviews.
Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Reviews 4 minute read
Will Wilson’s How the West Is Won, described in the article text. Wilson’s expression in both profiles is engaged and serious

The Delaware Art Museum presents In Conversation: Will Wilson

A new Indigenous archive
An important new exhibition of portraits by Diné photographer Will Wilson at the Delaware Art Museum is both strongly historic and strikingly contemporary. Gail Obenreder reviews.
Gail Obenreder

Gail Obenreder

Reviews 4 minute read
Book cover. Title in pink at top left. Black & white drawing spoofs Julie Andrews singing in the mountains in Sound of Music

These Are a Few of My Least Favorite Things, by Shannon Frost Greenstein

The sound of my anxieties
Philadelphia writer Shannon Frost Greenstein’s new poetry collection, These Are a Few of My Least Favorite Things, chronicles a 21st-century life in which terror is part of daily existence. C.M. Crockford reviews.
C.M. Crockford

C.M. Crockford

Reviews 3 minute read
Book cover: illustration of a squirrel in a green park looking at a nut on a fishing rod, with the Philly skyline beyond

Exploring Philly Nature: A Guide for All Four Seasons, by Bernard S. Brown

The wild things are here
Philadelphians don’t have to leave the city—even its most urban corners—to enjoy a wealth of wildlife. Exploring Philly Nature, a new book by Bernard S. Brown, is an accessible and eye-opening guide. Pamela J. Forsythe reviews.

Pamela J. Forsythe

Reviews 4 minute read
5 ensemble members onstage after dark, in dynamic poses threatening a swordfight, bathed in pink and blue light.

Delaware Shakespeare presents The Tempest

Something rich and strange
Delaware Shakespeare celebrates its 20th year of the Bard in Rockwood Park with a strange and satisfying production of The Tempest. Gail Obenreder reviews.
Gail Obenreder

Gail Obenreder

Reviews 4 minute read
Atticus, with gray hair and a tan suit, speaks to Scout, with short brown hair and denim overalls. She looks worried.

The Kimmel Cultural Campus presents the national tour of Aaron Sorkin’s To Kill a Mockingbird

Shockingly relevant
A new, nonlinear retelling of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, stopping in Philly on its national tour, makes us face an America that never really changed. Marta Rusek reviews.
Marta Rusek

Marta Rusek

Reviews 4 minute read
A male & female dancer facing each other with hands joined, woman with one leg pointed up, both with their free arm extended

BalletX presents its 2022 Summer Series

Dancing from the heart
BalletX returns to the Wilma for world premieres by three star choreographers: New York City Ballet principal dancer Tiler Peck, TITOYAYA director Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, and Alvin Ailey resident choreographer Jamar Roberts. Melissa Strong reviews.
Melissa Strong

Melissa Strong

Reviews 5 minute read