Bestselling historian who put the lives and experience of the people who built the US at the heart of his work
January 2021
Thornton Wilder's Our Town is America's answer to Shakespeare
The Pulitzer-winning drama, set in the small town of Grover’s Corners, has a beating heart that will resonate through the years
May 2019
Our Town review – Ellen McDougall's Wilder revival hits home with force
The classic snapshot of a community is given fresh life by a youthful production that stresses the story’s harsher moments
January 2019
Carol Channing: the sparky Broadway and film star with a husky comic drawl
Channing, who has died aged 97, starred in Hello Dolly! and Thoroughly Modern Millie, and had a genius for character
September 2017
Our Town review – Wilder's hymn to ordinary lives is remade for Manchester
Sarah Frankcom stages Thornton Wilder’s 1938 drama with tenderness, bleak honesty and a community choir
April 2017
Hello, Dolly! review – Bette Midler is irresistible in a riotous delight
Even if the shtick is predictable, Midler – paired with David Hyde Pierce – shines in an exhaustingly energetic revival of the 1964 musical comedy
September 2015
Hindemith: The Long Christmas Dinner CD review – preserves the subtlety of his last opera
The first recording using Thornton Wilder’s original English text works perfectly, with performances that gel and are, in a couple of cases, a bit special
December 2014
In praise of ...
Heroes of 2014: Thornton Wilder, writer and playwright
Deborah Orr
Deborah Orr: Wilder’s seminal work Our Town is a timeless and masterful meditation on the human condition
October 2014
Our Town review – cracker-barrel wisdom and quizzical narration
Our Town review – an unforgettable evocation of Everytown
May 2013
Classics corner
The Cabala by Thornton Wilder – review
Thornton Wilder's 1926 debut novel is a love song for individuals whose mystery is proportionate to their wealth, writes Lettie Ransley
June 2012
Our Town – review
The Guildhall students are excellent in a rarely performed Ned Rorem chamber opera, writes Andrew Clements
April 2011
Sue Arnold's audiobook choice
Sue Arnold's audiobook choice – reviews
Nighmare Alley by William Lindsay Gresham, The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder and Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
March 2004
The Skin of Our Teeth
Magic for a cynical age
September 2001
Why Thornton Wilder inspired Blair
Justine Jordan
Blair hints at early military strike
February 2001
The book I'd give...
It is a story of love and loyalty, pain and devotion and loss, and the price a famous singer, La Perichole, pays for her art.
