John TimpaneWhat I DoJohn Timpane is a freelance theater and fine arts reporter for the Inquirer. (215) 854-4406Review: ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ in Philly is a fresh, tightly paced show full of good performancesThe national touring show opened officially for Philly Wednesday before a packed crowd. It’s a musical that changed history, opening up the genre to new ideas and this production shows why.John Timpane Aug. 18, 2022Link copied to clipboardSteely Dan back in Philly at the Met, fierce and powerful“Nice to be out, isn’t it?” said Steely Dan front man Donald Fagen to the crowd at the Met Wednesday night. The band plays Friday and Saturday as well.John Timpane Oct. 28, 2021Link copied to clipboard‘Sin Eaters,’ a pitch-perfect noir from Theatre Exile, is now extended through March 7 | ReviewThe "sin eaters" in this crackling new noir are content moderators who gatekeep content for social-media platforms.John Timpane Feb. 18, 2021Link copied to clipboardInga Saffron’s new book, ‘Becoming Philadelphia,’ collects her columns into a story of our city, renewing itself"Becoming Philadelphia: How an Old American City Made Itself New Again" has a cast of characters you'll recognize and the liveliness of good column writing.John Timpane June 11, 2020Link copied to clipboard‘Wilmington’s Lie’: This little-known 1898 coup in North Carolina had an ugly legacy | Book review In the last years of the 19th century, a network of white extremists plotted, organized, and executed a plan to take over the state of North Carolina. They started in Wilmington.John Timpane Feb. 12, 2020Link copied to clipboardSteely Dan still beautiful, fresh and filthy at the Met PhillyWednesday, before a packed house, they did the masterpiece album Aja plus other hits. After a break Thursday, they’ll do Gaucho plus hits on Friday night (some tickets left), and on Saturday (sold out), it’s all hits.John Timpane Nov. 7, 2019Link copied to clipboardFall 2019′s biggest books include new titles from Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Stephen King, and Ann PatchettA flurry of fiction sequels, prequels, and remakes is rounded out by nonfiction works on country music, female Disney animators, 'Little Women', Harriet Tubman, and more.John Timpane Sept. 14, 2019Link copied to clipboardFrom 1999: How the Roosevelts shaped a century, together and separatelyA partnership with lasting ideals and ideas.John Timpane Feb. 21, 2022Link copied to clipboardWilma reopens with ‘Minor Character,’ a crazy remix of Chekhov’s ‘Uncle Vanya’ | ReviewWas the applause for Chekhov? Wilma? The all-Philly-star cast? Yes, and more.John Timpane Oct. 10, 2021Link copied to clipboardBeautifully acted ‘Molly Sweeney’ at Lantern Theater now extended through March 7 | ReviewBased on the Oliver Sacks article “To See and Not to See,” the play explores a blind woman's quandary, and how two men in her life are blind to her needs.John Timpane Feb. 5, 2021Link copied to clipboard ‘Renaissance in the Belly of a Killer Whale’ at the Wilma is too good to miss, so hurry | ReviewIt’s 70 minutes of passion, joy, tasty dance battles, slam-style spoken-word — and a complex look at gentrification.John Timpane Feb. 28, 2020Link copied to clipboard‘Mean Girls’ at the Academy of Music is as smart and delightful as Upper Darby’s own Tina FeyFey's musical is packed with great songs, sung by an impressive cast. The scenic design is breathtaking.John Timpane Nov. 20, 2019Link copied to clipboardHow Twitter added cred to Milton’s Shakespeare annotations | OpinionAn example of social media at their best: crowd-sourcing knowledge, pooling evidence, linking minds across the world, verifying.John Timpane Sept. 20, 2019Link copied to clipboard‘Hot, Cold, Heavy, Light’: Essays on art by a poet with a keen eyeWitty, engaging, without the hauteur assumed by so many art critics, this collection of essays on everyone from Bronzino to Picasso, as well as several modern and postmodern female artists, is an engaging, wondrous read, with attentive, sometimes thrilling accounts of what the artworks actually do.John Timpane July 19, 2019Link copied to clipboardThe Garbologists: The treasures hidden in the stuff we throw outThe Garbologists is a quirky, likeable, 90-minute two-character play.John Timpane Nov. 22, 2021Link copied to clipboardPhilly’s Inis Nua Theatre is putting on the exhilarating American premiere of ‘How to Be Brave’ | ReviewThe heart-busting, funny, profound one-woman show streams on-demand through April 25.John Timpane April 16, 2021Link copied to clipboardWilma Theater’s lacerating ‘Heroes of the Fourth Turning’ has been extended for an additional week online. Our review.Blanka Zizka directs Will Arbery's Pulitzer Finalist play, rehearsed and filmed in the Poconos in a quarantine bubble.John Timpane Dec. 1, 2020Link copied to clipboard‘Hello, Dolly!’ at the Academy of Music is a crowd-pleaser, and then someAlmost all of the creative team from the original Broadway show is involved. And the national tour's Dolly, Carolee Carmello, is a true force of nature.John Timpane Feb. 20, 2020Link copied to clipboard‘Sunset Baby’ at Azuka: A talent trove of acting in Dominique Morisseau’s small gemThe Tony-winning playwright braids together her two great themes: love and revolution.John Timpane Nov. 14, 2019Link copied to clipboardThe fall book tour circuit brings Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, Bill Bryson, Booker T. Jones to Philadelphia. Jon Dorenbos gives an author talk, too.Plus: Tom Perrotta, a marathon reading of 'Moby-Dick,' and the stories of South Philly's Palizzi Social Club.John Timpane Sept. 14, 2019Link copied to clipboardSee more stories
Review: ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ in Philly is a fresh, tightly paced show full of good performancesThe national touring show opened officially for Philly Wednesday before a packed crowd. It’s a musical that changed history, opening up the genre to new ideas and this production shows why.John Timpane Aug. 18, 2022Link copied to clipboard
Review: ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ in Philly is a fresh, tightly paced show full of good performancesThe national touring show opened officially for Philly Wednesday before a packed crowd. It’s a musical that changed history, opening up the genre to new ideas and this production shows why.John Timpane Aug. 18, 2022Link copied to clipboard
Steely Dan back in Philly at the Met, fierce and powerful“Nice to be out, isn’t it?” said Steely Dan front man Donald Fagen to the crowd at the Met Wednesday night. The band plays Friday and Saturday as well.John Timpane Oct. 28, 2021Link copied to clipboard
Steely Dan back in Philly at the Met, fierce and powerful“Nice to be out, isn’t it?” said Steely Dan front man Donald Fagen to the crowd at the Met Wednesday night. The band plays Friday and Saturday as well.John Timpane Oct. 28, 2021Link copied to clipboard
‘Sin Eaters,’ a pitch-perfect noir from Theatre Exile, is now extended through March 7 | ReviewThe "sin eaters" in this crackling new noir are content moderators who gatekeep content for social-media platforms.John Timpane Feb. 18, 2021Link copied to clipboard
‘Sin Eaters,’ a pitch-perfect noir from Theatre Exile, is now extended through March 7 | ReviewThe "sin eaters" in this crackling new noir are content moderators who gatekeep content for social-media platforms.John Timpane Feb. 18, 2021Link copied to clipboard
Inga Saffron’s new book, ‘Becoming Philadelphia,’ collects her columns into a story of our city, renewing itself"Becoming Philadelphia: How an Old American City Made Itself New Again" has a cast of characters you'll recognize and the liveliness of good column writing.John Timpane June 11, 2020Link copied to clipboard
Inga Saffron’s new book, ‘Becoming Philadelphia,’ collects her columns into a story of our city, renewing itself"Becoming Philadelphia: How an Old American City Made Itself New Again" has a cast of characters you'll recognize and the liveliness of good column writing.John Timpane June 11, 2020Link copied to clipboard
‘Wilmington’s Lie’: This little-known 1898 coup in North Carolina had an ugly legacy | Book review In the last years of the 19th century, a network of white extremists plotted, organized, and executed a plan to take over the state of North Carolina. They started in Wilmington.John Timpane Feb. 12, 2020Link copied to clipboard
‘Wilmington’s Lie’: This little-known 1898 coup in North Carolina had an ugly legacy | Book review In the last years of the 19th century, a network of white extremists plotted, organized, and executed a plan to take over the state of North Carolina. They started in Wilmington.John Timpane Feb. 12, 2020Link copied to clipboard
Steely Dan still beautiful, fresh and filthy at the Met PhillyWednesday, before a packed house, they did the masterpiece album Aja plus other hits. After a break Thursday, they’ll do Gaucho plus hits on Friday night (some tickets left), and on Saturday (sold out), it’s all hits.John Timpane Nov. 7, 2019Link copied to clipboard
Steely Dan still beautiful, fresh and filthy at the Met PhillyWednesday, before a packed house, they did the masterpiece album Aja plus other hits. After a break Thursday, they’ll do Gaucho plus hits on Friday night (some tickets left), and on Saturday (sold out), it’s all hits.John Timpane Nov. 7, 2019Link copied to clipboard
Fall 2019′s biggest books include new titles from Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Stephen King, and Ann PatchettA flurry of fiction sequels, prequels, and remakes is rounded out by nonfiction works on country music, female Disney animators, 'Little Women', Harriet Tubman, and more.John Timpane Sept. 14, 2019Link copied to clipboard
Fall 2019′s biggest books include new titles from Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Stephen King, and Ann PatchettA flurry of fiction sequels, prequels, and remakes is rounded out by nonfiction works on country music, female Disney animators, 'Little Women', Harriet Tubman, and more.John Timpane Sept. 14, 2019Link copied to clipboard
From 1999: How the Roosevelts shaped a century, together and separatelyA partnership with lasting ideals and ideas.John Timpane Feb. 21, 2022Link copied to clipboard
From 1999: How the Roosevelts shaped a century, together and separatelyA partnership with lasting ideals and ideas.John Timpane Feb. 21, 2022Link copied to clipboard
Wilma reopens with ‘Minor Character,’ a crazy remix of Chekhov’s ‘Uncle Vanya’ | ReviewWas the applause for Chekhov? Wilma? The all-Philly-star cast? Yes, and more.John Timpane Oct. 10, 2021Link copied to clipboard
Wilma reopens with ‘Minor Character,’ a crazy remix of Chekhov’s ‘Uncle Vanya’ | ReviewWas the applause for Chekhov? Wilma? The all-Philly-star cast? Yes, and more.John Timpane Oct. 10, 2021Link copied to clipboard
Beautifully acted ‘Molly Sweeney’ at Lantern Theater now extended through March 7 | ReviewBased on the Oliver Sacks article “To See and Not to See,” the play explores a blind woman's quandary, and how two men in her life are blind to her needs.John Timpane Feb. 5, 2021Link copied to clipboard
Beautifully acted ‘Molly Sweeney’ at Lantern Theater now extended through March 7 | ReviewBased on the Oliver Sacks article “To See and Not to See,” the play explores a blind woman's quandary, and how two men in her life are blind to her needs.John Timpane Feb. 5, 2021Link copied to clipboard
‘Renaissance in the Belly of a Killer Whale’ at the Wilma is too good to miss, so hurry | ReviewIt’s 70 minutes of passion, joy, tasty dance battles, slam-style spoken-word — and a complex look at gentrification.John Timpane Feb. 28, 2020Link copied to clipboard
‘Renaissance in the Belly of a Killer Whale’ at the Wilma is too good to miss, so hurry | ReviewIt’s 70 minutes of passion, joy, tasty dance battles, slam-style spoken-word — and a complex look at gentrification.John Timpane Feb. 28, 2020Link copied to clipboard
‘Mean Girls’ at the Academy of Music is as smart and delightful as Upper Darby’s own Tina FeyFey's musical is packed with great songs, sung by an impressive cast. The scenic design is breathtaking.John Timpane Nov. 20, 2019Link copied to clipboard
‘Mean Girls’ at the Academy of Music is as smart and delightful as Upper Darby’s own Tina FeyFey's musical is packed with great songs, sung by an impressive cast. The scenic design is breathtaking.John Timpane Nov. 20, 2019Link copied to clipboard
How Twitter added cred to Milton’s Shakespeare annotations | OpinionAn example of social media at their best: crowd-sourcing knowledge, pooling evidence, linking minds across the world, verifying.John Timpane Sept. 20, 2019Link copied to clipboard
How Twitter added cred to Milton’s Shakespeare annotations | OpinionAn example of social media at their best: crowd-sourcing knowledge, pooling evidence, linking minds across the world, verifying.John Timpane Sept. 20, 2019Link copied to clipboard
‘Hot, Cold, Heavy, Light’: Essays on art by a poet with a keen eyeWitty, engaging, without the hauteur assumed by so many art critics, this collection of essays on everyone from Bronzino to Picasso, as well as several modern and postmodern female artists, is an engaging, wondrous read, with attentive, sometimes thrilling accounts of what the artworks actually do.John Timpane July 19, 2019Link copied to clipboard
‘Hot, Cold, Heavy, Light’: Essays on art by a poet with a keen eyeWitty, engaging, without the hauteur assumed by so many art critics, this collection of essays on everyone from Bronzino to Picasso, as well as several modern and postmodern female artists, is an engaging, wondrous read, with attentive, sometimes thrilling accounts of what the artworks actually do.John Timpane July 19, 2019Link copied to clipboard
The Garbologists: The treasures hidden in the stuff we throw outThe Garbologists is a quirky, likeable, 90-minute two-character play.John Timpane Nov. 22, 2021Link copied to clipboard
The Garbologists: The treasures hidden in the stuff we throw outThe Garbologists is a quirky, likeable, 90-minute two-character play.John Timpane Nov. 22, 2021Link copied to clipboard
Philly’s Inis Nua Theatre is putting on the exhilarating American premiere of ‘How to Be Brave’ | ReviewThe heart-busting, funny, profound one-woman show streams on-demand through April 25.John Timpane April 16, 2021Link copied to clipboard
Philly’s Inis Nua Theatre is putting on the exhilarating American premiere of ‘How to Be Brave’ | ReviewThe heart-busting, funny, profound one-woman show streams on-demand through April 25.John Timpane April 16, 2021Link copied to clipboard
Wilma Theater’s lacerating ‘Heroes of the Fourth Turning’ has been extended for an additional week online. Our review.Blanka Zizka directs Will Arbery's Pulitzer Finalist play, rehearsed and filmed in the Poconos in a quarantine bubble.John Timpane Dec. 1, 2020Link copied to clipboard
Wilma Theater’s lacerating ‘Heroes of the Fourth Turning’ has been extended for an additional week online. Our review.Blanka Zizka directs Will Arbery's Pulitzer Finalist play, rehearsed and filmed in the Poconos in a quarantine bubble.John Timpane Dec. 1, 2020Link copied to clipboard
‘Hello, Dolly!’ at the Academy of Music is a crowd-pleaser, and then someAlmost all of the creative team from the original Broadway show is involved. And the national tour's Dolly, Carolee Carmello, is a true force of nature.John Timpane Feb. 20, 2020Link copied to clipboard
‘Hello, Dolly!’ at the Academy of Music is a crowd-pleaser, and then someAlmost all of the creative team from the original Broadway show is involved. And the national tour's Dolly, Carolee Carmello, is a true force of nature.John Timpane Feb. 20, 2020Link copied to clipboard
‘Sunset Baby’ at Azuka: A talent trove of acting in Dominique Morisseau’s small gemThe Tony-winning playwright braids together her two great themes: love and revolution.John Timpane Nov. 14, 2019Link copied to clipboard
‘Sunset Baby’ at Azuka: A talent trove of acting in Dominique Morisseau’s small gemThe Tony-winning playwright braids together her two great themes: love and revolution.John Timpane Nov. 14, 2019Link copied to clipboard
The fall book tour circuit brings Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, Bill Bryson, Booker T. Jones to Philadelphia. Jon Dorenbos gives an author talk, too.Plus: Tom Perrotta, a marathon reading of 'Moby-Dick,' and the stories of South Philly's Palizzi Social Club.John Timpane Sept. 14, 2019Link copied to clipboard
The fall book tour circuit brings Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, Bill Bryson, Booker T. Jones to Philadelphia. Jon Dorenbos gives an author talk, too.Plus: Tom Perrotta, a marathon reading of 'Moby-Dick,' and the stories of South Philly's Palizzi Social Club.John Timpane Sept. 14, 2019Link copied to clipboard