Articles
6207 results
Page 498
Elizabeth Streb's "Brave' at Annenberg (1st review)
The Evel Knievel of dance (but is it dance?)
Elizabeth Streb's take on dance and space has added danger, experimentation and a fascination with things mechanical that can propel the body beyond what it can achieve on its own, but not much in the way of dance moves.
Articles
4 minute read
The Orchestra's inane marketing
‘Unexpect yourself!' (And other inanities from the Orchestra's marketing department)
Against his better judgment, Dan Coren reads a mailing from the Philadelphia Orchestra. Looking for something new? Don't open this brochure!
The Pew confronts "The Art of the Steal'
The Pew, the Barnes and the art of sophistry
The Pew foundation has consistently ignored criticism of its de facto takeover of the Barnes Foundation. Now, confronted by a muckraking documentary, the Pew has deigned to post answers to “frequently asked questions” about its relationship to the Barnes. It's a disingenuous exercise. Let us count the ways.
Articles
6 minute read
McNally's "Golden Age' by PTC (2nd review)
The eternal Callas, somewhere offstage
Golden Age may be set in 1835, but it's actually Terrence McNally's latest paean to the obsession of his life, Maria Callas. Music lovers will relish hearing about vocal techniques, public tastes, jealousies and gossip about other singers and composers, but it goes on too long.
Golden Age. By Terrence McNally; directed by Austin Pendleton. Philadelphia Theatre Co., production through February 14, 2010 at Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad St. (at Lombard). (215) 985-0420 or www.philadelphiatheatrecompany.org.
Articles
5 minute read
AVA's "Norma' and "Trovatore' in concert
Bellini, Verdi and the difference
The recent Academy of Vocal Arts concert offered beautiful, professional-level singing with strong accompaniment by the AVA orchestra, conducted by the school's musical director, Christofer Macatsoris. It also provided inadvertent insight into the difference between Bellini and Verdi.
Articles
2 minute read
James Ellroy's "Blood's A Rover'
Through an American dream, darkly
James Ellroy's American dream is a high-definition nightmare of total political depravity that infects every character in his fiction, from presidents to bellhops. It is totally fascinating, perhaps because there is the sting of truth at its basis.
Blood's A Rover. By James Ellroy. Knopf, 2009. 656 pages; $28.95. www.amazon.com.
Articles
5 minute read
Jane Austen novels on DVD
Jane Austen is ready for her close-up (and always has been)
Jane Austen's impenetrable prose is difficult to slog through— but her novels translate marvelously to the screen, as two DVD adaptations remind us. This is no accident. Long before the invention of cinema, Austen understood— as, say, Dostoyevsky or Proust or Mailer did not— the power of visual imagery.
Articles
5 minute read
Howard Zinn and Mary Daly: Up the academy
They rattled our ivory towers
Howard Zinn and Mary Daly, who died last week, shared a penchant for challenging smug academic certainties. To college presidents and deans, they were perennial pests; to society's underdogs, they exemplified what a free society is all about.
Articles
3 minute read
Sign up for our newsletter
All of the week's new articles, all in one place. Sign up for the free weekly BSR newsletters, and don't miss a conversation.
Salinger's "Catcher,' then and now
The power to cut through cant
J.D. Salinger's fundamental resistance to adult delusions spoke powerfully to a high school freshman like me. But his message didn't resonate with everyone, even my age.
Articles
2 minute read
"Ragas and Rajas' at the Art Museum
Art and music, in harmony
As a new exhibit from India persuasively demonstrates, nothing enhances visual art like appropriate music, and vice versa. The courts of the rajas specialized in this kind of musical imagery for more than two centuries.
Articles
3 minute read