Articles

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Page 490
Turner as Ivins: A dog named 'Shit.' (Photo: Mark Garvin.)

"Red Hot Patriot': Kathleen Turner as Molly Ivins (2nd review)

A crusader for our times

The impassioned portrayal of Molly Ivins by Kathleen Turner vividly brings to the stage the columnist's sharp political critiques and belly-laugh mockery of those in power.
Jonathan M. Stein

Jonathan M. Stein

Articles 4 minute read
Levy: Voice for the defense.

Debating the Barnes move (sort of)

Debating the Barnes move (sort of): The Art of the Steal on the Main Line

The Art of the Steal, still playing downtown, has also gone to the Bryn Mawr Film Institute, which is staging five panels dealing with the film and the move of the Barnes Foundation. It's the first sustained public discussion of the biggest cultural issue in Philadelphia's recent history.
Robert Zaller

Robert Zaller

Articles 7 minute read
Mkhize as the shaman: A feast for the eyes, thin gruel for the soul.

"The Lion King' gets the tour treatment

When gasps turn to giggles

In its touring production, The Lion King looks as fresh and gorgeous as ever. But it has undermined its original tone as a human drama.
Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen

Articles 2 minute read
Keenlyside: If Jude Law could sing...

Thomas's "Hamlet' at the Met

A happier Hamlet

Hamlet, the seldom-performed opera by the 19th-Century French composer Ambrose Thomas, departs significantly from Shakespeare. Yet it works as a drama.
Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen

Articles 3 minute read
Tilson Thomas: An outsider, like Mahler and Bernstein.

Lessons from Tilson Thomas (2nd review)

‘Are you glad you came?â€(And other questions raised by Michael Tilson Thomas)

The recent orchestral triumphs of Vladimir Jurowski and Michael Tilson Thomas offer further proof that orchestral excellence by itself doesn't suffice; audiences yearn as well for a conductor with personality.
Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen

Articles 4 minute read
Tilson Thomas: Conducting the audience, too.

San Francisco Symphony plays Mahler's Second (1st review)

Gustav in his glory

Michael Tilson Thomas, visiting Philadelphia for the first time in six years with his San Francisco Symphony, performed a Mahler Second Symphony thoughtfully conceived and transparently executed. With Mahler, attention to pacing and detail is what pays off. It did here, in one of the season's most satisfying performances.
Robert Zaller

Robert Zaller

Articles 4 minute read
Turner as Ivins: A liberal in oil country.

"Red Hot Patriot': Kathleen Turner as Molly Ivins (1st review)

Joan of Arc of the Pecos

The late spunky Texas journalist Molly Ivins makes an inspired and inspiring subject for a one-woman stage play. The problem with Red Hot Patriot lies in the two-dimensional nature of journalism, as opposed to drama or literature.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Articles 4 minute read
So reserved that he's almost introverted.

Jurowski conducts the Orchestra (3rd review)

Cellos on the left (and what they tell us about Jurowski)

Vladimir Jurowski's intensity made three of the most popular works in the repertoire sound fresh and immediate. His seating arrangements may seem like a minor matter, but they tell us something important about his attitude toward his craft.
Tom Purdom

Tom Purdom

Articles 4 minute read
Greene, Faris: To pray, or not to pray, at a shopping mall. (Photo: Jim Roese.)

"Language Rooms' at the Wilma (3rd review)

The fog of the war on terror

In this brilliant dark comedy, the Egyptian-American playwright Yussef El Guindi addresses American paranoia toward outsiders as perhaps only a talented outsider/immigrant artist could do, enhanced by Blanka Zizka's coherent direction and Wilma's dependable, high-quality production supports.
Jonathan M. Stein

Jonathan M. Stein

Articles 6 minute read
Nicholas (left), Greene: Two flavors of banality.

"Language Rooms' at the Wilma (2nd review)

The questioners and the questioned

Language Rooms takes place in the hermetic world of a private contractor whose job is to interrogate terrorist suspects, but which might be next door. The play invites us to ask Theater of the Absurd questions about ourselves but undercuts its own mise en scène with a drama-within-the-drama about immigrant acculturation that clearly belongs somewhere else. Language Rooms. By Yussef El Guindi; directed by Blanka Zizka (world premiere). Through April 4, 2010 at Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St. (at Spruce). (215) 546-7824 or www.wilmatheater.org.
Robert Zaller

Robert Zaller

Articles 5 minute read