Toby Zinman
Theater Critic at The Philadelphia Inquirer
Phila Inquirer theatre critic & Prof.at UArts. Named one of the twelve most influential critics in the U.S. by American Theatre mag.
Articles
-
1 month ago |
inquirer.com | Toby Zinman
“I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.”And we’re off. Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing looks a lot like all the rom-coms that have followed it in the past 400 or so years. The familiar setup gives us two longtime friends who will eventually discover they are so much more . The play opens just as a group of guys return from the war — it doesn’t matter which war, it’s just that the military establishes a masculine world of shoulder punches and horsing around.
-
Dec 5, 2024 |
inquirer.com | Toby Zinman
There are so many ways for a show to be funny — wit (Oscar Wilde), rhyme (Stephen Sondheim), snark (Saturday Night Live), stupid (America’s Funniest Home Videos) — which we respond to differently with smiles, smirks, snorts, the contemptuous “HA,” and the cute “Aww.”1812 Productions’ show, The Play that Goes Wrong, currently at Plays and Players through the holiday season, is ham on wry. It invites all kinds of laughter, especially the LOL kind.
-
Oct 17, 2024 |
inquirer.com | Toby Zinman
At Walnut Street Theatre, Jersey Boys opens with “Ces soirées-là,” the French version of “Oh, What a Night.” Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons’ Tommy DeVito tells us it was a huge hit when the band toured Paris in 2000. “I don’t want to seem ubiquitous, but we’re the guys who put Jersey on the map,” he adds.
-
May 17, 2024 |
phindie.com | Toby Zinman
No one says a word. This is a show—not a play, not musical theater—about bodies and the astonishing things this company of 23 dancers (led by Lukas McFarlane) can do with Kate Prince’s wildly energetic choreography. Mostly this is breakdance—much too much of a good thing in Act One, if you ask me— with glimpses in Act Two of jazz and ballet that let us see that these dancers can probably do anything. The two pas de deux are sensational.
-
May 5, 2024 |
phindie.com | Toby Zinman
Now this is what a collective can do: a huge cast all so attuned to each others’ idiosyncrasies that they might as well be the household they are portraying. The PAC (Philadelphia Artists’ Collective) production of Gorky’s Children of the Sun, directed by Megan Bellwoar, is a knockout.
Try JournoFinder For Free
Search and contact over 1M+ journalist profiles, browse 100M+ articles, and unlock powerful PR tools.
Start Your 7-Day Free Trial →Coverage map
X (formerly Twitter)
- Followers
- 890
- Tweets
- 988
- DMs Open
- No
I'M BACK AT THE INKY! https://t.co/GvCmiIcUj5
(to continue): Damien J. Wallace directs four actors—Craig McLaren, Tariq Kanu, Jai Surles, George McGriff—who deliver the goods. [South Camden Theatre Company at the Waterfront South Theatre, 400 Jasper Street, Camden, NJ] April 26-May 12, 2024; https://t.co/KmMB5PwS9b
My review of PAC's CHILDREN OF THE SUN is posted: https://t.co/Jtvxjcb6t5