Articles
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"Bring It On: The Musical,' on Broadway
Who needs the Olympics?
This new musical about competition between high school cheerleading squads contains many similarities to the Olympics and turns out to be more entertaining.
Articles
3 minute read
Joyce Carol Oates contemplates Emily Dickinson
Thelma and Louise? No, Emily and Joyce
Why is Joyce Carol Oates so fascinated by Emily Dickinson? It may be because the two have much in common. As women writers, both have suffered scorn and rejection.
Articles
4 minute read
An ancient computer, in Athens
How much the ancients knew, and how elegantly they displayed it
Around the time of Julius Caesar, a cargo ship in Greek waters sank with great treasure, including what has now been identified as the world's oldest surviving computer. The recovery of the treasure and the reconstruction of the mechanism form the subject of a fascinating and historically significant show.
Articles
7 minute read
Tempesta di Mare at the Barnes
What would Albert Barnes say? Better ask: What would Vivaldi say?
Tempesta di Mare's first appearance at the Barnes triggered ruminations on concert settings, amplification and, of course, the wisdom of moving the Barnes itself.
Articles
3 minute read
Carlin Romano's "America the Philosophical'
Who you calling a meliorist? Or: Romano contemplates the bust of Socrates
What's a former philosophy major to do when his favorite literary critic writes a 688-page book denigrating Socrates as an authoritarian wuss? Carlin Romano's America the Philosophical is a ragged grab-bag of ideas. But what enlightening disorder!
Articles
4 minute read
How to write a dance review
So you want to be a dance critic?
The New York Times Book Review's recent male-dominated issue on “How-To” books provoked an anguished plea for more “How-To” pieces by women. As a long-standing member of the shrinking society of professional American critics, I offer my modest contribution to the cause of gender balance.
Articles
3 minute read
"Visions of Arcadia': Now for the catalogue
Seen the show? Now read the catalogue
Few people who flock to a major art show buy the catalogue, and even fewer read it. That's their loss. The Art Museum's catalogue for “Visions of Arcadia,” for example, ventures far beyond the works and artists on display, and in much greater depth.
Articles
3 minute read
Met's "Tales of Hoffman' in HD-Live (3 years later)
What a difference three years make
Seeing the Met's 2009 Tales of Hoffman, I'm struck by the exceptional changes that three years have wrought. Since then, James Levine is gone, Anna Netrebko has declined, and other companies have done more justice to Offenbach's work.
Articles
3 minute read
"Beards Are For Shaving': 007 spoof at the Wilma
Bond gets bearded
The collaborative Bearded Ladies Cabaret has been around for a couple of years now, peppering Philadelphia theaters and hotel lobbies with snide remarks, grimacey glances and mimey antics worthy of silent film villains. James Bond is its latest victim.
Articles
2 minute read
Atzilut: Jews and Arabs at Bryn Mawr
A musical solution for the Middle East
How to prevent Jews and Arabs from fighting? Get them to start singing.
Articles
2 minute read