Articles
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Brecht's "Arturo Ui' in Delaware (2nd review)
Who stole my wallet?
I never understood Hitler's charismatic hold on the German people, but this adept ensemble performance provides a clue: It keeps us so astonished that we're blinded and immobilized from calling his bluff.
Articles
2 minute read
Stuckey and Cope at Schmidt Dean Gallery
‘Dallas' on steroids
Tracy Stuckey offers a fantasy image of the New West, where the girls are curvier, the bikinis are briefer and the guns are bigger and shinier. Steve Cope paints gorgeous landscapes with a gimmick added.
Articles
2 minute read
When classical musicians play pops
Confessions of a classical pianist: Give me a funky beat now and then
What kind of music do classical musicians listen to when they want to let their hair down— especially if they're black?
Articles
3 minute read
Opera Company's "La Traviata' (2nd review)
If Violetta were 20 years older…..
The Opera Company's stunning production of La Traviata, updated to the Roaring ‘20s, shouldn't be discarded just because it's anachronistic. But how can we see the Violetta-Alfredo relationship as more upsetting in a sexually liberated age? Let me suggest a solution.
Articles
5 minute read
Stephen Miller's "Conversation'
Have a conversation (before we forget how)
Stephen Miller traces the art of conversation from ancient Sumer to its high point in 18th-Century British coffee houses to its terminal phase in the age of TV, rap artists and the Internet— a gloomy conclusion to an engaging book.
Articles
3 minute read
Quintessence Theatre's "Measure For Measure'
A Bard for the 21st Century
The new Quintessence Theatre Group seeks to update the classics for a mass audience. With Measure For Measure, they're off to a good start, even if its strengths lie more in strong acting than in novel concepts.
Articles
4 minute read
From Schubert to John Adams, in three days
Fascist music? Who cares?
Two concerts from the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society hop from the tried and true to the new and noisy. I enjoyed both.
Articles
5 minute read
"Xanadu' in Wilmington
The good old days of disco
Xanadu, a knockoff of a 1980 movie about a goddess who helps a bunch of California kids open a disco, lacks a discernible point, other than a chance to hear some good disco music once again. That point alone may suffice.
Articles
3 minute read
AVA's "La Bohème'
A Bohème you can believe in
Everyone in the cast of AVA's La Bohème displayed youthful fervor and sang at a level equal to or better than what one sees in professional opera houses. Watch especially for soprano Na Li Youm, whose large yet intimate voice will take her far (even if she's too healthy-looking to play the consumptive Mimi).
Articles
3 minute read
Opera Company's flapper 'Traviata' (1st review)
A flapper Traviata
The Opera Company of Philadelphia's latest production of La Traviata is set not in the repressed 1840s but in the Roaring 1920s. It's a first-rate production with two ideally cast new faces. But the anachronistic setting undermines the opera's timeless message about the individual's place in society.
Articles
6 minute read