Articles
6207 results
Page 374
Lantern Theater's "The Liar'
A few kind words for deception
David Ives's breezy “translaptation” of Pierre Corneille's classic farce contends that, in human relations, lies are the coin of the realm. But isn't that the truth of comedy itself?
Articles
4 minute read
D'Annunzio's "Notturno,' rediscovered
The Italian patient
Yale University Press and Margellos World Republic of Letters Books have rescued yet another forgotten reputation. Gabriele D'Annunzio's Notturno, painstakingly written as he recovered from war wounds, is neither novel nor non-fiction memoir; instead, it's a prose poem.
Articles
3 minute read
AVA's "Barber of Seville' (1st review)
A bouncy and brassy Barber
Rossini's major operatic innovation was the expansion of brass in his orchestra and the writing of loud orchestral sections in his stage works. Those notions were honored in the Academy of Vocal Arts' season opener, an extroverted performance of Rossini's Barber of Seville.
Articles
3 minute read
"Pretty Fire' at Horizon in Norristown
Growing up black in the '50s
Norristown, once almost exclusively white, is today mostly African-American. Horizon's attractive new theater there has pitched its first production there to the new realities of the local audience.
Pretty Fire, By Charlayne Woodard; James Ijames directed. Through November 18, 2012 at Theatre Horizon, 401 DeKalb St., Norristown, Pa. (610) 283-2230 or www.theatrehorizon.org.
Articles
2 minute read
Chamber Orchestra's new face
Bach's secret formula
Some artists appeal to the mind, others to the heart— and then there's Bach. The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia made that distinction clear in the perceptive hands of guest violinist/conductor Adele Anthony.
Articles
4 minute read
Guggenheim's "Picasso Black and White'
Picasso sans color
“Picasso Black and White” displays yet another under-appreciated aspect of the great Spaniard's protean genius: his attraction to chiaroscuro and the uses he made of it at critical moments throughout his career.
Articles
6 minute read
"Freud's Last Session' at the Arden (1st review)
Christianity vs. psychiatry
When the Christian polemicist C.S. Lewis meets Sigmund Freud— who considered God an illusion— whom do you root for? Mark St. Germain's imagined meeting between two brilliant men crackles with the conflict of ideas and emotions and blessedly leaves us to decide where our sympathies lie.
Articles
3 minute read
Yannick's incomparable Brahms Fourth (3rd review)
Yannick: Surpassing Rattle, approaching Bernstein
Yannick Nézet-Séguin's interpretation of the Brahms Fourth Symphony was one of the most intense and profound performances of this work— or any work, for that matter— that I've ever witnessed.
Techno-orgy: "Science Per Forms' and "Fresh Juice'
When dancers meet machines
At its best, the new genre of “dance and technology” is a wonderfully realized integration— in which the viewer doesn't have to choose between watching the dance or the technological elements, but can experience both as a synthesized medium.
Articles
4 minute read
Yannick: The flair and (mostly) the subtlety (3rd review)
Yannick comes down to Earth
Yannick Nézet-Séguin may not be a messiah, but his first regular-season concerts indicate that he's the right person for the job at this turbulent moment in the Philadelphia Orchestra's history.
Articles
5 minute read