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Mirren: With a little help from her hair stylist. (Photo: Johan Persson.)

Peter Morgan's "The Audience' in HD-Live (2nd review)

A few elegant hours with the ultimate classy lady

Peter Morgan's The Audience provides a civilized speculation into the private conversations of Queen Elizabeth and eight of her prime ministers. Helen Mirren, regal yet refreshingly human and even funny, plays the queen between the ages of 25 and 87.

Steve Cohen

Jul 02, 2013 Articles 2 minute read

U.S. soldiers recover remains of comrades at Omaha Beach: War is always a mess.

"Guns at Last Light': Hitler's defeat

Hitler's defeat: The ultimate human drama

Rick Atkinson's humane insight and astute eye for detail produce an absorbing retelling of an oft-told tale: the final year of World War II in Europe.

Tom Purdom

Jul 02, 2013 Articles 4 minute read

Pennsylvania Ballet founder Barbara Weisberger (left) with Brown and Luckman: Can we get along? (Photo: Alexander Iziliaev.)

Dance/USA and the race issue

Dance and race: Confronting the elephant

At Dance/USA's annual conference, dancers and impresarios usually spend their time talking about dance and economics, but rarely about race. This year's gathering in Philadelphia confronted the issue head-on.

Merilyn Jackson

Jul 02, 2013 Articles 6 minute read

"Global Conscious, Local Artists' at Pentimenti Gallery

Beauty from trash (and other 21st-Century artistic challenges)

In Pentimenti's new show, six emerging artists find beauty in today's current issues: the environment, technology and politics.

Anne R. Fabbri

Jul 02, 2013 Articles 3 minute read

Ferguson (left), Linklater: Jitterbuggng dancers, too. (Photo: Joan Marcus.)

Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors' in Central Park

Improving on Shakespeare (in the Jazz Age, yet)

By deftly trimming the fat from Shakespeare's convoluted Comedy of Errors, Daniel Sullivan provides 90 minutes of exuberant theatrical mayhem. The lush Central Park backdrop doesn't hurt, either.

Carol Rocamora

Jul 02, 2013 Articles 5 minute read

"Wicked' returns to the Academy

A different kind of wickedness

Wicked, the musical back-story of what happened before Dorothy arrived in Oz, is about to observe its ten-year anniversary as a Broadway hit. Its current touring stars are a delight to eye and ear, but they lack the deviously deceptive charm of the originators. Wicked. Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz; book by Winnie Holzman, based on the novel by Gregory Maguire; Joe Mantello directed. Through August 4, 2013, at Academy of Music, Broad and Locust Sts. (877) 686-5366 or www.kimmelcenter.org.

Steve Cohen

Jun 29, 2013 Articles 2 minute read

Troiani's 'Three Medals': Reality in black and white.

Black military heroes at the Union League

Better late than never: Celebrating black military heroes, in art

Black soldiers were often at the front lines in wartime, but until recently you wouldn't have known it— even at the Union League, a prime recruiter of black troops during he Civil War. Two new art events in Philadelphia are correcting this oversight.

V Chapman Smith

Jun 29, 2013 Articles 3 minute read

Sukowa as Arendt: The sin of thinking independently.

The ordeal of "Hannah Arendt' (1st review)

Enemy of her people?

For the crime of trying to understand Nazi behavior and raising uncomfortable questions about how to cope with evil, the political theorist Hannah Arendt became a pariah among her fellow Jews.

Dan Rottenberg

Jun 27, 2013 Articles 7 minute read

Pitt in 'World War Z': Crisis of originality.

Brad Pitt's apocalypse: "World War Z'

Hands off my zombies, Brad!

The movie version of World War Z glosses over the zombies that made the book interesting and replaces them with derivative action sequences. It was almost painful to watch the bastardization of a genre so near and dear to my heart.