Critic unbound

The flooding disaster in the Hill Country of Texas early this month generated weeks of news coverage. Stories of tragic deaths and heroic rescues; investigations into the state’s early-warning system; backgrounders on Camp Mystic, the beloved local girls’ camp where 27 young lives were lost; questions about whether budget cuts at the National Weather Service … Continue reading Whatever Happened to Maps? →

The most acclaimed play of this Broadway season – winner of the Tony award for best play, as well as the Pulitzer Prize – was Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Purpose. I found the drama, about tensions in the family of a revered Civil Rights leader, workmanlike but unsatisfying —  packed with cumbersome back-story (much of it simply narrated to the … Continue reading Rediscovering a Black Masterpiece →

The spring rush of Broadway openings is over, the Tony nominations are out, and I have a lot of catching up to do. (I haven’t been idle: my Opinion piece on Broadway's championing of D.E.I. ran in the Washington Post last week. You can read it here.)    Too many shows to review, but here are a few … Continue reading A Random Look Back at the Broadway Season →

About a year ago, after a theatergoing trip to London, I wrote in praise of Operation Mincemeat, the delightful West End musical about a bizarre (but true) World War II espionage plot, in which British intelligence planted fake war plans on a corpse, disguised as a drowned British flyer, in an effort to deceive the Germans about the … Continue reading Is Broadway Souring on the Brits? →

Like so many legacy publications, Time Magazine — where I worked for more than 25 years — is struggling to survive in the digital age. As readers and advertisers move inexorably online, Time issues have grown thinner, less frequent (the “weekly newsmagazine” now comes out every two weeks), less newsy and relevant. Yet, in at least one respect, Time can still … Continue reading Smoke, Mirrors, and Time Magazine Covers →

On Tuesday, Jan. 7, in his first show back after a two-week holiday hiatus, Seth Meyers confessed a stark feeling of déjà vu. He and his writers had put together an entire script for his opening “A Closer Look” segment, recapping some of the big news they had missed during the vacation break, but had … Continue reading Can the Comedians Survive Four More Years of Trump? →

There wasn’t much talk of politics at my Thanksgiving dinner. Almost everyone there (like-minded Trump haters all) was simply too bummed out by the election to want to dwell on it. That left me to try to look at the (relatively) bright side. Yes, another four years of Trump madness is going to be awful … Continue reading 10 Reasons Not to Despair About Trump’s Second Term →

Like a lot of Democrats, I’m getting nervous, as the polls show the Presidential race tightening to a virtual dead heat, just a week away from the election.  What’s so dismaying is that Donald Trump is narrowing the gap even as his rhetoric grows more bizarre, delusional, and dangerous by the day — from Haitian immigrants … Continue reading Election Nerves: Could Kamala Have Done Better? →