"This Is The Week That Is' by 1812 Productions (1st review)

Are politicians funny?

Once again, the 1812 troupe is trying to replicate the sort of political satire that Letterman, Leno, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert deliver so much better every night on TV.

Dan Rottenberg

Oct 04, 2012 · Articles · 2 minute read

Kingsley Amis's "The Old Devils'

Sympathy for reactionaries (including the author)

The Old Devils is a powerful example of a good writer's ability to render sympathetic those who seem nothing like us and who, if made flesh, would quite possibly loathe us. That goes for its misogynistic author, too.

Jake Blumgart

Oct 02, 2012 · Articles · 5 minute read

Opera Company's "La Bohème'

With a litle help from Van Gogh and Renoir

When computer programs bring Impressionist paintings to life, an old chestnut like La Bohème becomes a whole new experience without sacrificing its setting or story.

Steve Cohen

Oct 02, 2012 · Articles · 4 minute read

Chamber Orchestra: Brossé, Beethoven and Gatto

The Belgian connection

Dirk Brossé opened the Chamber Orchestra season with one of his own pieces and introduced Americans to a high-powered fellow Belgian violinist.

Tom Purdom

Oct 02, 2012 · Articles · 3 minute read

Choral Arts' Rachmaninov "Vespers'

Cossacks in the cathedral

Choral Arts Philadelphia presented Rachmaninov's Vespers in an ideal setting, even if the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul rests on a slightly different religious tradition.

Tom Purdom

Oct 02, 2012 · Articles · 3 minute read

A Yom Kippur question for Spinoza

Did Spinoza fast on Yom Kippur?

On Yom Kippur, I couldn't help wondering: How did Spinoza feel about being barred from the observation of this day, the most holy in the Jewish calendar?

Steve Cohen

Oct 02, 2012 · Articles · 3 minute read

"Marwencol': The Outsider as artist

The reluctant artist, or: Whose world is it, anyway?

The emotionally damaged Mark Hogancamp never claimed to be an artist; his scale-model town is a therapeutic project, not an artistic one. Is his celebration in New York galleries good for him? Is it good for art?

Judy Weightman

Oct 02, 2012 · Articles · 5 minute read

William Trost Richards at Pennsylvania Academy (1st review)

One man's personal artist

What was life really like in the 19th Century? The William Trost Richards exhibit at Pennsylvania Academy re-opens doors to that lost world, through the brush of a Philadelphia artist blessed with an indulgent patron.

Anne R. Fabbri

Oct 02, 2012 · Articles · 3 minute read

Jumatatu Poe's "Private Places' at Live Arts Festival

What we can learn from airline stewardesses

Jumatatu Poe's provocative if uneven Private Places ultimately delivers a prescient message: that dehumanizing, societal and capitalist controls on our lives contain the seeds of their own disintegration.

Jonathan M. Stein

Oct 01, 2012 · Articles · 4 minute read

Idiopathic's "Ivona' at the Fringe Festival

I kiss your hand (and other Polish delusions of the '30s)

With Ivona, Witold Gombrowicz courageously lampooned the pretentiousness of Poland's upper class just before the Nazis took over. Ivona, Princess of Burgundia. By Witold Gombrowicz; Tina Brock directed. Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium production September 5-23, 2012 at Walnut Street Theatre's Studio 5, 825 Walnut St. (215) 285-0472 or www.idiopathicridiculopathyconsortium.org.

Steve Cohen

Oct 01, 2012 · Articles · 3 minute read