Howard Shapiro

Howard Shapiro joined The Inquirer in 1970 and has held many writing and editing positions, including cultural arts editor and travel editor. He now writes for The Inquirer’s features section.

His “On Travel” column appears occasionally on Sundays in Travel, and his theater reviews appear in the Daily Magazine and Weekend.

Find his podcasts with theater artists at http://go.philly.com/theater

Email Howard at [email protected]

Open or Closed for July Fourth Holiday on Monday
Philly celebrates July Fourth on Parkway
Betsy Ross House welcomes 13 children as new citizens

David Birney (left), as the ghost of John Barrymore, makes the evening his own, playing mentor to the unskilled actor portrayed by John Patrick Hayden in "I Hate Hamlet."

Airy comedy becomes a solid treat

By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer

Posted 06/22/2010

You can find cotton candy at lots of places down the Shore, but the theatrical cotton candy at Cape May Stage - in the form of Paul Rudnick's play called I Hate Hamlet - is different. Bite into it, and somewhere inside, a hidden lump of fine chocolate will surprise you.

Shakespeare Festival's 'The Playboy of the Western World' true to its roots - 06/21/2010: By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer

A young guy walks into a bar, sidles up to the barkeep, and blurts out that he's on the run for killing his rotten father. Today, we'd consider that ham-handed playwriting - let's at least get to know him so he can shock us powerfully.
InterAct takes a power trip Off-Broadway - 06/19/2010: By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer

NEW YORK - Philadelphia's InterAct Theatre Company production of When We Go Upon the Sea, an intriguing world premiere in Center City this spring, has avoided the sea but taken to the road - Off-Broadway, where it's arrived at full throttle.
An engaging 'Shirley Valentine' at the Hedgerow - 06/14/2010: By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer

And so it came to pass that one Shirley Valentine, a homemaker in Liverpool who talks constantly to her wall, decided to go far beyond her wall. Her recently divorced lady friend wanted company on a trip to Greece and offered stuck-at-home Shirley airplane tickets.
Understated tour de force - 06/09/2010: By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer

What a pity that electrical problems in Center City last week forced Amaryllis Theatre Company to cancel two performances of I Am My Own Wife at the Adrienne Theatre. That meant less time for actor Charlie DelMarcelle to strut his formidable stuff.
Life goes on, in the entertainingly Fringy 'Survive!' - 06/08/2010: By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer

Plenty of local talent emerges in risky, ditzy, edgy (and sometimes iffy) theater for the two late-summer weeks of the Live Arts Festival/Philly Fringe, after which - except for some established companies - Fringe-like experiments appear to go dormant.
A Sondheim classic gets a digital updating - 06/04/2010: By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer

The first thing to tell you about the Arden Theatre Company's graceful, intense new production of Sunday in the Park With George is, yes, the well-known tableau at the end of Act 1 works very nicely.
Jorge Cousineau, Philadelphia's theater magician - 05/28/2010: By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer

A tall, lanky guy spends long nights, sometimes past dawn, in the half-room he calls his workshop at his Northern Liberties home. He manipulates sound and light, gadgets and images, reality and illusion. Then he brings his effects, his video tricks and electronic magic, into a theater and takes your breath away.
A 'Fiddler' that plucks at the heartstrings - 05/28/2010: By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer

I was a teenager when my parents took me to see Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway with Zero Mostel and Beatrice Arthur in 1964. I didn't realize then that my relationship with this sweet, heartfelt, unsettling musical would become a lifelong affair.
'Fiddler' with resonance - 05/27/2010: By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer

This tale of a fiddle, a young man, and his bond with a beloved Broadway show goes way back - to Babruysk, Russia, when pogroms were destroying Jewish villages more than 100 years ago - and then swings forward, all the way to today, to a roof in Center City.
A song coming on - 05/08/2010: Twenty-year-old musical about love and connection feels smarter than ever.

By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer

A smart, sophisticated musical revue called Closer Than Ever opened Off-Broadway 20 years ago - and it's just as smart and sophisticated today, in the polished production at Bristol Riverside Theatre that marks its anniversary.

MORE STORIES

Better than Broadway - 05/04/2010: By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer
'American Mud' is a dud - 05/01/2010: By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer
A burnished 'Golden Age': How a play evolves - 04/14/2010: By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer
That which makes Estelle Parsons excel - 04/23/2010: By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer
Living a play in an unintentional way - 04/16/2010: By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer
Met on the Net; now they date - 04/17/2010: By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer
'Dream' is Shakespeare abridged, but it works - 04/16/2010: By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer
Scintillating 'Spelling Bee' - 04/13/2010: By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer