Articles
6207 results
Page 366
"Les Misérables': Stage vs. screen
Two faces of Les Miz
The new film version of Les Misérables reminds us of what the classic stage musical mostly forgets: that the theme of Victor Hugo's novel is poverty and suffering.
Articles
4 minute read
The search for an 'American culture' (a reply)
Good news for rootless Americans: The world is our birthright
Is America's mongrelized, fragmented culture a handicap for American artists? Or is it one of the special advantages of American birth?
Articles
3 minute read
Robert Richenburg in New York
He kept his finger on the pulse of urban life
Robert Richenburg's work can stand without apology beside the greatest Abstract Expressionist names of the New York School of the '40s and '50s. But wouldn't you love to see his “black paintings” side-by-side with Jackson Pollock's drips?
Articles
5 minute read
Sacha Gervasi's "Hitchcock'
The voyeur gets the keyhole treatment
Sacha Gervasi's Hitchcock depicts the making of Alfred Hitchcock's best-known (if not actually best) film, Psycho, and uses it as a vehicle to peer into the director's complex marriage. Gervasi's attempt to get behind Hitchcock's own carefully crafted persona is less successful, but co-stars Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren offer a master class in screen acting.
Articles
10 minute read
How good was Stanley Kubrick?
The ultimate 20th Century director: What made Stanley run?
Stanley Kubrick's films lacked a characteristic look; on the contrary, he seemed determined to explore every conceivable film genre. He may have been a genius, but precisely how?
Articles
10 minute read
The winning "Messiah': Vox Ama Deus
Who's the fairest Messiah of them all?
I heard four Messiahs during the recent holiday season. Three were respectably devout; only one was exciting. Vox Ama Deus focused on artistic concerns; three other major orchestras seemed preoccupied with cutting their overtime costs.
Articles
4 minute read
Lyric Fest, Astral Artists and a brief rant
Jack Kerouac didn't speak for me, but….
A few comments (and a brief rant) on three pieces by contemporary composers that didn't receive the attention they deserve.
Articles
3 minute read
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"Chaplin: The Musical,' on Broadway
You have the right to remain silent: The rise and fall of Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin thrived in the silent films and resisted “talkies” for years. Yet when he did speak, his career took a fatal turn.
Articles
5 minute read
Pynchon's "Mason & Dixon' revisited
Into the wild, then and now: Setting boundaries, and pushing them
In Mason & Dixon, Thomas Pynchon emulates his protagonists by pushing new boundaries and venturing into unknown realms, both loony and profound, in the process risking not his life but his reputation and his worshipful constituency. It's a great novel; and I say this without having understood any more than, oh, 10 percent of it.
"Winter Wonderettes' at Norristown
Was Santa Claus Jewish?
The 11th Hour Theatre Company's holiday-season show got me thinking: How come virtually all secular Christmas songs have been written by Jews?
Articles
1 minute read