Articles
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Page 359
Beckett's "Endgame' at the Arden (2nd review)
The man with his heart in his head
Edward Sobel's production strives to make Beckett's Endgame more user-friendly without sacrificing its values. A strong performance by Scott Greer goes a long way toward validating his approach.
Articles
7 minute read
Alsbrooks and Mirkil: 'Kinship' at Painted Bride
Two definitions of kinship
Talk about polar opposites! Helen Mirkil does large oil paintings in an emotionally charged Expressionist style; Kim Alsbrooks does exquisitely rendered miniature portraits on flattened soda cans and drink cartons.
Articles
1 minute read
"Laramie Project Cycle' in Brooklyn
The dark side of ‘Our Town'
The courageous Tectonic Theatre Project has dedicated more than a decade of its artistic life to a single tragedy: the brutal murder of a gay college student in Wyoming in 1998. It's a demonstration of theater at its best, but it's also a reminder of theater's limitations.
Articles
6 minute read
"Surface as Signifier' at Crane Arts Center
The medium is the message
Cosmetic sponges, cheesecloth, linen panels, rag board, you name it: It's not the product but the process that matters most to the nine artists on view at the Crane Arts Center. Their show is the next best thing to participating in the creation of a work of art.
Articles
3 minute read
Orchestra's "Rite of Spring' (3rd review)
How to sacrifice a virgin? Let me count the ways
Let's not forget that Stravinsky's Rite of Spring was originally composed for a ballet. And there's no right or wrong way to imagine this work. Of the dozen interpretations I've seen, Dan Safer's fell somewhere in the middle— more exercising than engaging.
Articles
6 minute read
Yannick at cruising speed (2nd review)
Memo to Yannick: You're my man, but please skip the gimmicks
I now await Yannick's Philadelphia Orchestra concerts with the same anticipation I felt for Leonard Bernstein in 1960. But were those visuals and the trapeze act grafted on to Le Sacre du Printemps really necessary?
Across 500 years: Piffaro teams with Orchestra 2001 (1st review)
Old wine in new bottles (and vice versa)
Although five centuries separate their music, Piffaro and Orchestra 2001 mounted a joint concert that celebrated two of Philadelphia's happiest cultural developments of the last 40 years.
Articles
5 minute read
"Matisse and the Truth' in New York
Perception and emotion: Matisse's endless quest for pictorial form
Matisse approached both the mystery of his world and his own response to it through painting in series. It's a kind of sequential Cubism, in which each painting comments both on its subject and its predecessors, and the process matters more than the final product.
Articles
8 minute read
Philadelphia Orchestra's "Rite of Spring' (1st review)
Six degrees of separation
What are Bach, Ravel and Stravinsky doing together on the same program? Old Philadelphia Orchestra devotees know the answer. And so, apparently, does the Orchestra's new music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Articles
4 minute read
Theatre Exile's 'The North Plan'
When paranoids are realists
Who are our “enemies”? Who gets to decide? You could listen to diatribes on MSNBC or Fox News about these issues, or you could see this seriously funny, serious show.
Articles
4 minute read