Braque: The painter's painter, in New York

Braque: Out of Picasso's shadow

Georges Braque, Cubism's co-founder with Pablo Picasso, has long played Joe Frazier to Picasso's Muhammad Ali. But he's a master in his own right, as his first exhibition in New York since 1988 makes clear.

Robert Zaller

Nov 22, 2011 · Articles · 5 minute read

BalletX's Fall Series

Real life in dance? Well, why not?

BalletX founders Matthew Neenan and Christine Cox started with a dream of pursuing the new and the different in movement. Their extraordinary Fall Series demonstrated that they're not only changing dance, but also changing people's lives in the process.

Janet Anderson

Nov 22, 2011 · Articles · 3 minute read

Orchestre Révolutionnaire at Verizon Hall (1st review)

Another way to hear Beethoven

When this orchestra plays, the needle is always in the danger zone, lending a bracing, edgy quality to the performances that enhances the truly revolutionary spirit of Beethoven's music.

Nov 20, 2011 · Articles · 4 minute read

"Gruesome Playground Injuries' by Theatre Exile

Is this what Nietzsche had in mind?

Gruesome Playground Injuries is a small play with a large theme: Nietzsche's notion that “Whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger.” It's an edgy and ambitious two-person play that ultimately fails to live up to Theatre Exile's high production values.

Gresham Riley

Nov 19, 2011 · Articles · 5 minute read

AVA's "Tales of Hoffman'

With a little (posthumous) help from Offenbach's friends

The new and more authentic version of Offenbach's Tales of Hoffman resulted in a dramatically improved story as well as melodious music to replace those old bogus tunes that musicologists have expunged.

Steve Cohen

Nov 15, 2011 · Articles · 5 minute read

An encouraging trend: Theater for grownups

Here come the grownups, or: Theater for thinking people

Until recently Philadelphia's theater community seemed mired in edgy plays about alienated 30-somethings in dysfunctional families. But four recent productions— all intelligent, challenging, profound, even elitist— suggest an encouraging new direction.

Jim Rutter

Nov 15, 2011 · Articles · 4 minute read

Dolce Suono's Holocaust concert

What we lost in the Holocaust

Dolce Suono's Holocaust concert passed the ultimate test for a concert devoted to an emotionally charged historic event.

Tom Purdom

Nov 15, 2011 · Articles · 5 minute read

The fury of today's stage heroines

He had it coming: When stage heroines fight back

Today's revived stage heroines like Medea, Lady Macbeth, Desdemona and Hedda Gabler will clearly do anything”“ even the unspeakable, including infanticide and suicide— to preserve their dignity. Apparently the image of a powerless woman is one that we simply can't tolerate today.

Carol Rocamora

Nov 15, 2011 · Articles · 6 minute read

Two disparate shows at DaVinci and Cerulean

If not now, when?

The DaVinci Art Alliance exhibits varying responses by 18 artists to various forms of discrimination. At the Cerulean Arts Gallery, meanwhile, ten accomplished artists seek to answer the eternal question: Is the time now? To both I say: Go for it!

Anne R. Fabbri

Nov 15, 2011 · Articles · 3 minute read

Lesa Chittenden Lim at F.A.N.

She's getting bolder

Give Lesa Chittenden Lim two trees and a moon and she'll create an image to haunt your dreams.

Andrew Mangravite

Nov 15, 2011 · Articles · 1 minute read