‘Breakthrough,’ a new documentary from Bill Haney, follows Nobel laureate Jim Allison’s long search for a cancer cure, and his struggle to bring his discovery to the people who need it. Gary L. Day reviews.

Arden Theatre Company’s season-opening production of ‘Ragtime’ is the most intimate critic Cameron Kelsall has ever seen. It’s also the least successful.

Handel never intended for his oratorio ‘Semele’ to be staged as an opera. Opera Philadelphia’s muddled, inert production suggests why. Cameron Kelsall reviews.

Brittney Morris's debut YA novel tackles identity, online and off, as a canny teenager takes the online gaming world by storm, with unexpected consequences. Kyle V. Hiller reviews.

The Walnut’s production of Steve Martin’s darkly funny but too-neatly-resolved 'Meteor Shower' is good fun till the neck spasms kick in. Jill Ivey reviews.

A West Philly family comes home to learn that its matriarch is living with dementia, in the regional premiere of Colman Domingo's 'Dot' at People's Light. Frank Burd reviews.

Joseph Keckler’s ‘Let Me Die’ examines opera’s preoccupation with kicking the bucket. Cameron Kelsall reviews.

The striking ‘Denis and Katya,’ part of Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O19, captures the existential dread of the social-media generation. Cameron Kelsall reviews.

Orchestra 2001 salutes George Crumb on the Cherry Street Pier. Margaret Darby reviews.

Opera Philadelphia kicks off Festival O19 with a rare staging of Prokofiev’s ‘The Love for Three Oranges.’ Cameron Kelsall reviews.