My 15 minutes as Shakespeare

Bloomer boy, or: An actor in spite of myself

After years of devoted service as a Free Library petty bureaucrat, I got my mom

Kile Smith

Aug 14, 2011 · Articles · 5 minute read

Allen Krantz revives Wencelas Matiegka

Reviving the guitar (with a little help from the Internet)

Beethoven's contemporary Wencelas Matiegka wrote 11 solos for guitar that were forgotten after his death. Now, thanks to the Internet and the guitarist/arranger Allen Krantz, they've been resuscitated.

Tom Purdom

Aug 09, 2011 · Articles · 4 minute read

Crystal Palace Syndrome: Modern architecture's first booboo

All that glass (and other sins of modernist architects)

For ambitious modernist architects like Mies or Gropius or Le Corbusier, nothing launched one's reputation quite like a gleaming glass factory or a groundbreaking flat-roof residence. Living or working in one of these disasters was another story.

Patrick D. Hazard

Aug 07, 2011 · Articles · 5 minute read

Menotti's "The Consul' at Princeton

A Cold War surprise

I had begun to believe that Menotti's The Consul was an unworthy relic of an outdated era. In Princeton last month, to my astonishment, it demonstrated both dramatic and musical strength.

Steve Cohen

Aug 06, 2011 · Articles · 4 minute read

Jez Butterworth's "Jerusalem' on Broadway

Goodbye, ‘Masterpiece Theatre': Genteel Britain confronts its dark side

Jez Butterworth's pulsating, profane Jerusalem will shock Anglophiles who, like me, cling to a vision of England as a quintessentially gracious land. Even before last weekend's rampant riots and looting in London and Birmingham, Butterworth astutely perceived a darker Britain, peopled by the descendants of primitive Celts and Normans who persist today on the margins of English society.

Carol Rocamora

Aug 06, 2011 · Articles · 6 minute read

Russian National Orchestra with gymnasts at the Mann

Musical muscle

Cirque de La Symphonie is a troupe of aerialists, acrobats and tricksters who perform with classical orchestras. In our visual age, what better way to stimulate fresh interest in serious music?

Aug 02, 2011 · Articles · 3 minute read

"Rembrandt and Jesus' at the Art Museum (2nd review)

The sorrow of Jesus (and Rembrandt)

The appeal of “Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus” lies not so much in its religious subject as in the opportunity it provides us to see images from a turning point in a great artist's career: The moment when Rembrandt rejected traditional images of Christianity's founder.

Anne R. Fabbri

Jul 30, 2011 · Articles · 4 minute read

"Rembrandt and Jesus' at the Art Museum (1st review)

Rembrandt and Jesus: Two peas in a pod?

Was Rembrandt a rebel genius or a model of excess? You might find the answer in his paintings of Jesus. Like his subject, the great Dutch artist was simultaneously dated and timeless, defying easy categorization.

Andrew Mangravite

Jul 30, 2011 · Articles · 4 minute read

Wister Quartet's "Summer Bits and Pieces'

Shorthanded in Fairmount Park

The Wister Quartet, reduced to a trio, responded by showcasing the overlooked talents of its three remaining members.

Tom Purdom

Jul 26, 2011 · Articles · 3 minute read

BalletX Summer Series (2nd review)

Night of the dense metaphors

Where Roger Jeffrey employed dance to explore dense metaphors concerning individuals and crowds, Amy Seiwert displayed dance at its most powerful for distilling the essence of remembered pain.

Jim Rutter

Jul 26, 2011 · Articles · 5 minute read