Author Archives: Philip

“I’m Revolting” Is Far From It

As much as I admire and am entertained by fine classical acting – at Stratford and in Central Park, for instance – and by complete-package musicals (“The Prom” and “Into the Woods” come to mind), one less grand theatrical genre … Continue reading

Blog, NY Theater, Off Broadway

Odds and Ends on “Death of a Salesman”

This piece is prompted by the current Broadway revival of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” which I am scheduled to see on October 12. Neither a review nor an analysis, it is just some thoughts on time spent with … Continue reading

Blog, Broadway, NY Theater

String Theory, Quarks, and the Big Bang, Oh My: “Strings Attached” Off-Broadway

“Strings Attached” is about three physicists, an American woman and two British men, on their way by train from Cambridge to London to see Michael Frayn’s science-based play “Copenhagen.” June (Robyne Parrish) is married to George (Paul Schoeffler) while also … Continue reading

Blog, NY Theater, Off Broadway

A “Godot” Worth Waiting For at Barrington Stage Company

An esteemed scholar once wrote about “Waiting for Godot” that “We all bring to Samuel Beckett’s play whatever is uppermost in our minds.” As tidy as that seems, my “Godot” experience has been the opposite…or reverse: I leave performances with … Continue reading

Blog, Professional, Regional

Sure and it’s “The Butcher Boy” at Irish Rep

Mrs. Nugent should have quit while she was ahead. When she went to the Brady home to complain that her son Philip was being bullied by Francie Brady, Francie’s ma was ready to punish him. Yes yes I know I … Continue reading

Blog, NY Theater, Off Broadway

Fortunately, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” Has Eight More Lives

Tennessee Williams’s “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” reportedly his own personal favorite, has weathered so many revivals and revisions since its 1955 Pulitzer Prize-winning premiere that allusions to a feline’s nine lives is pretty much unavoidable. So there it … Continue reading

Blog, NY Theater, Off Broadway