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 hshapiro@phillynews.com

Jeremy Bobb (left) and Paul Gross in “Are You There, McPhee?” by John Guare at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre Center. It was directed by Sam Buntrock.

John Guare’s ‘Are You There, McPhee? at the McCarter in Princeton

By Howard Shapiro, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Posted 05/14/2012

PRINCETON — From the get-go, you know you’re into a bizarre tale with John Guare’s Are You There, McPhee?, a world premiere that opened Friday at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre. Its narrator, a playwright, tells acquaintances he has a story to tell, about an inexplicable event in his life involving abandoned children, a porn ring, a sea monster, and Walt Disney. And so he begins the narrative, which sounds compelling enough at its start. But the tiresome Are You There, McPhee? turns out to be a saga without substance, a piece that combines elements of the real and unreal with little effect.

Khalil Munir in his theatrical memoir, “1 pound, 4 ounces.”

Review: A life in tap at Freedom Theatre

By Howard Shapiro, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Posted 05/11/2012

The thought, sound, and rhythm of Khalil Munir’s hour-long theatrical memoir, 1 pound 4 ounces, are delivered not just in well-considered words but in the taps on his shoes. Munir, a Philadelphian in his late 20s, uses those taps to accentuate his story. You can hear them running, or making a heartbeat, or shooting a gun. His show through Sunday at New Freedom Theatre is an evolving version of the one he takes to schools and community groups, directed here by veteran theater artist Johnnie Hobbs Jr. and beautifully complemented by the cello work and side-stage dialogue of musician Monica McIntyre.

A merry 'Robin Hood' from the Arden Theatre Company - 05/11/2012: By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer

Robin Hood stands at the edge of Sherwood Forest, strumming what looks like a lute gone angular, and lamenting "Marian, I love you, girl!" For a second, he's a lounge lizard in the present while his 12th-century honey languishes in a tower run by the Sheriff of Nottingham, who has a modern flair for corruption and an old-fashioned snarl.
'Miss Julie': A Strindberg classic in a Philly townhouse - 05/03/2012: By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer

Into the mansion's kitchen the young servant barges, wearing a half-disgusted, half-bemused look and blurting out his take on his boss' dangerously flirty daughter, Miss Julie. "Tonight, she is wild again!" he declares in the first line of August Strindberg's classic, a line that defines her character throughout. But in this case, the servant is in the kitchen of a real Philadelphia townhouse that can hold about 40 audience members.
Acting for a cause, in opposition to a proposition - 05/02/2012: By Howard Shapiro, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

It’s not uncommon for theater companies to try out plays in readings — generally single-night affairs with invited audiences and a cast of actors who sit on the stage without props, costumes, lighting or set design, accompanied only by scripts. The reading of a new play called 8 at the Wilma Theater on Monday evening will be a little different. It will still be theater without the trimmings, but open to the public at $20 a ticket. The play has become a theatrical event in cities across the nation in the last few months, with 140 future bookings on professional, community, and college stages that stretch into 2013 and as far away as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Zimbabwe. It was written to be produced in a reading, and for a specific cause.
Downsized 'Fair Lady' is just small - 04/30/2012: By Howard Shapiro, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

‘And oh, that towering feeling! … that overpowering feeling,” sings the character Freddy in My Fair Lady, in one of the greatest songs of the American theater, “On the Street Where You Live.” He’s been hopelessly smitten by the transformed flower girl, Eliza Doolittle. Oh, that towering feeling — it’s what’s missing from the Act II Playhouse production of the classic musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. Overpowering? I’m afraid not.
Breadwinner is just one of versatile Grace Gonglewski’s many roles - 04/26/2012: By Howard Shapiro, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Grace Gonglewski, the tall, velvet-voiced actor Philadelphia theatergoers have been seeing on professional stages for two decades, was standing in front of a microphone the other day. At this moment, she was not being Hedda Gabler, or Shakespeare’s shrewish Kate, or a crackhead or a lesbian schoolteacher or George Bernard Shaw’s Major Barbara. A few hours later in rehearsal, she would become Claire, her current role in the 1812 Productions version of David Mamet’s comedy Boston Marriage.
Broadway review: 'Don’t Dress for Dinner' - 04/26/2012: By Howard Shapiro, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

You can see the smile creep into actress Patricia Kalember’s pretty face as her eyes widen in the role of a married woman named Jacqueline. She has just picked up the phone to hear the voice of Robert, an old friend and the best man at her wedding, and from that smile and those eyes, you know something’s going on. That little something turns out to be one of, oh, maybe 15 causes for deception in “Don’t Dress for Dinner,” a wholly amusing farce tied so frantically in knots that the plot would get lost in the retelling. The play, in a beautifully timed Roundabout Theatre production directed by Broadway veteran John Tillinger, opened Thursday on Broadway. A smoothed-out overview of the plot that ignores almost every detail goes like this: A British hubby and wife (Adam James and Kalember) are staying at their French country château, and the wife is off for the weekend to visit her mother.
Broadway review: ‘Leap of Faith’ - 04/26/2012: By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer

The new Broadway musical “Leap of Faith,” which opened Thursday night, is really “The Music Man” in a revival tent.
Broadway review: ‘The Columnist’ - 04/25/2012: By Howard Shapiro, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Howie Shapiro: Straightforward is the way “The Columnist” goes, in Daniel Sullivan’s sure-footed direction, David Auburn’s smooth narrative arc, and a sterling performance by John Lithgow, who makes a wonderfully nuanced Joseph Alsop.
Broadway review: ‘Nice Work If You Can Get It’ - 04/24/2012: By Howard Shapiro, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Howard Shapiro: Before we get too far, I need to tell you about the costumes in the new and wonderful Broadway musical comedy “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” which opened Tuesday night and may be settling in for a long run.
Broadway review: ‘Ghost’ - 04/23/2012: By Howard Shapiro, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Howie Shapiro: The new Broadway musical “Ghost the Musical,” modeled on the hit 1990 movie about a young banker who is murdered but whose spirit sticks around to keep his girlfriend from harm, is an astounding marriage of live theater and high-tech.