Mary Martello's "Happily Ever After'

Sleeping Beauty snores!

The charming Mary Martello's cute idea— what happens to fairy-tale heroines after they find their charming princes?— is undermined by a weak script that's too often repetitive and obvious.

Dan Rottenberg

Mar 11, 2010 · Articles · 2 minute read

Barnes Day in the "Inquirer'

A few tidbits the Barnes chairman overlooked

With no less than four articles and columns last Sunday, the Inquirer finally got around to acknowledging the fracas over the Barnes Foundation's proposed move. But Barnes chairman Bernard Watson's op-ed defense of the move is replete with evasions and distortions.

Robert Zaller

Mar 10, 2010 · Articles · 4 minute read

"The Hurt Locker' and the endless war

The limits of unflinching realism: One nagging question
 about The Hurt Locker

For its realistic portrait of a bomb squad in Iraq, The Hurt Locker won six Academy Awards, including “Best Picture.” Yet the small truths within this film implicitly condone the larger lies that took us into that war in the first place.

Robert Zaller

Mar 09, 2010 · Articles · 7 minute read

"Romeo and Juliet' at the Arden (1st review)

Romeo and Juliet: The dream and the nightmare

Matt Pfeiffer's direction of the Arden's Romeo and Juliet bathes us in emotional intensity. He also strips the young lovers' tragedy of any romance in order to cast a disapproving glare on Shakespeare's text itself. Romeo and Juliet. By William Shakespeare; directed by Matt Pfeiffer. Through April 11, 2010 at Arden Theatre, 40 N. Second St. (215) 922-1122 or www.ardentheatre.org.

Jim Rutter

Mar 09, 2010 · Articles · 3 minute read

Jasmine Choi flute recital

Between East and West

The impressive young flutist Jasmine Choi explores the border between East and West and invades the empire of the Great Romantics.

Tom Purdom

Mar 09, 2010 · Articles · 4 minute read

Reich, Glass and Bryars at Annenberg

Steve Reich, forever young

The Zellerbach's dry acoustics and a battery of mirambas and xylophones almost swamped the Philadelphia Singers' delivery of Steve Reich's You Are. And I loved every minute of it.

Dan Coren

Mar 09, 2010 · Articles · 6 minute read

Pennsylvania Ballet's "Program II'

Mathew Neenan takes (too many) liberties

Pennsylvania Ballet's version of Balanchine's Four Temperaments demonstrates that artists know more about life than philosophers. Matthew Neenan's take on Carmina Burana, on the other hand, tells us more about the artist than about life.

Jim Rutter

Mar 09, 2010 · Articles · 4 minute read

Pink Hair Affair's "Take It Off!'

This was burlesque— or was it?

Pink Hair Affair's Take It Off! purports to blend burlesque and modern dance, although its pieces rarely achieve a mix of either.

Jim Rutter

Mar 09, 2010 · Articles · 3 minute read

Bill Cain's "Equivocation,' Off-Broadway

Playwright's predicament

No equivocating about Equivocation: This superb Off-Broadway production of Bill Cain's smart, complex play, directed by the brilliant Garry Hynes, satisfies on every level— emotional, intellectual, theatrical. It's funny, too.

Toby Zinman

Mar 09, 2010 · Articles · 3 minute read

Marcantonio Barone piano recital

Barone's cast of keyboard characters

Barone's exceptionally vivid and smart playing pulled a diverse program together, with music that sprang to life as if the composers were all vivacious and engaging guests at a really good party (even if one or two of them might have had too much to drink).

Mar 09, 2010 · Articles · 3 minute read