"Big River' at the Arts Bank

And you thought the Civil War was over

Big River, an adaptation of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, paradoxically shows how Americans can be entertained while being completely humiliated by our nation's history.

Marshall A. Ledger

Feb 25, 2012 · Articles · 4 minute read

"Time Stands Still' in Ambler

Bearing witness vs. getting involved

What's a journalist's first duty— to report the atrocities she witnesses, or to try to prevent them? At a time when journalists are dying in Syria, it's a timely question. It's also relevant even for theater critics.

Steve Cohen

Feb 25, 2012 · Articles · 4 minute read

Opera Company's "Abduction From the Seraglio'

If you've seen one seraglio….

Mozart's Abduction From the Seraglio resonated at time when Europeans were obsessed with Middle East harems and slave traders. Robert Driver's attempt to set the opera in post-World War I Turkey is only partly successful. The Abduction From the Seraglio. Opera by Mozart; Robert B. Driver directed; Corrado Rovaris, conductor. Opera Company of Philadelphia production through February 26, 2012 at Academy of Music, Broad and Locust St. (215) 732-8400 or www.operaphila.org.

Steve Cohen

Feb 21, 2012 · Articles · 3 minute read

Buxtehude Consort plays Telemann and Handel

An 18th-Century treat for 21st-Century commoners

For us commoners whose living standards are slipping farther behind those of the super-rich, the Buxtehude Consort offered a rare chance to live like an 18th-Century aristocrat.

Tom Purdom

Feb 21, 2012 · Articles · 3 minute read

Brentano Quartet's three tough pieces

The audience deserves a hand, too

The Brentano Quartet programmed three challenging pieces, in the process reminding the audience that artists deal with their inner conflicts not by resolving them, but by portraying them.

Tom Purdom

Feb 21, 2012 · Articles · 5 minute read

"Of Mice and Men' at People's Light

Ties that bind

In this excellent revival, Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men reminds us again that there are worse things than poverty— loneliness, for example.

Bill Murphy

Feb 21, 2012 · Articles · 2 minute read

"In Material: Fiber 2012' at the Arthur Ross Gallery

Living in a material world

What can you do or say with fiber, aside from wearing it? Just about anything, as the Ross Gallery's breathtaking installation demonstrates.

Martha Ledger

Feb 21, 2012 · Articles · 5 minute read

Henry O. Tanner at Pennsylvania Academy (2nd review)

It's not the technique, it's the story

Henry Ossawa Tanner's work takes us back to a time when Art was expected to be readily accessible to the public and not a puzzle to be solved.

Andrew Mangravite

Feb 21, 2012 · Articles · 3 minute read

"After Tanner' at Pennsylvania Academy (2nd review)

Beyond racial messages

Why must Henry O. Tanner and other black artists be confined to Black History Month? What is the point, really, of categorizing art or artists according to skin color?

Anne R. Fabbri

Feb 19, 2012 · Articles · 2 minute read

Fugard's 'Blood Knot' in New York

Black and white, joined at the hip

After Athol Fugard's racial drama Blood Knot was first performed in South Africa in 1961, he was arrested and his play was banned. To revisit this seminal work today, 18 years after the end of apartheid, is a doubly moving and meaningful experience.

Carol Rocamora

Feb 19, 2012 · Articles · 4 minute read