"Grease' at the Academy of Music

You can't deny he's greasy

Grease was not the word at the Academy of Music Tuesday night. Instead, the prime attraction was a bit-part “star”— the slimy “American Idol” crooner Taylor Hicks.

Jim Rutter

Jul 11, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read

Harrower's "Blackbird' revisited

The healing power of theater: Deconstructing Harrower's Blackbird

The playwright David Harrower refuses to discuss the meaning of Blackbird, his riveting drama about the long-term consequences of sexual abuse. Instead, since Blackbird's Philadelphia run in February, he has left that discussion to the rest of us. As a family therapist, I see dramatic parallels between my understanding what a client is trying to tell me and our attempts to grasp this playwright's clues to what his play is really about.

SaraKay Smullens

Jul 07, 2009 · Articles · 7 minute read

Brett Weston photos at Santa Barbara Museum

A photographer on a Platonic quest

“Brett Weston: Out of the Shadow” is a superb retrospective of the man who may have been, even more than his more famous father Edward, America's great photographer. The 146 images on display, taken as a whole, suggest a reconciliation between natural occurrence and human aspiration— that is, that we may have a place in the world after all.

Robert Zaller

Jul 07, 2009 · Articles · 5 minute read

Philadelphia Orchestra with Curtis soloists

Big names (of the future) at the Mann

Instead of big-name soloists at the Mann, last week the Philadelphia Orchestra spotlighted students from Curtis Institute. The collaboration must have looked like an attractive way to save money, but the product was by no means inferior.

Tom Purdom

Jul 07, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

Sidney Goodman at Pennsylvania Academy

The dark night of Sidney Goodman's soul

Like Munch and Goya before him, Sidney Goodman brilliantly combines a dark artistic vision with a masterful use of technique. In Goodman's work, ambiguity evokes as strong an emotional response as the obvious.

Jeanne Wrobleski

Jul 07, 2009 · Articles · 5 minute read

Concert Operetta's "A Waltz Dream'

The good old days of central Europe

Philadelphia's Concert Operetta Theater has evolved to the point where its offerings can be counted on for excellent singing and emotionally satisfying performances. This is quite an accomplishment for a genre once thought to have died with the monarchies of middle Europe.

Steve Cohen

Jul 07, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read

So you want to compose serious music?

Beyond 'grandma music': A guide for modern composers

This is an exciting time to be a composer— there are many directions to choose from. Not all of them are ridiculous. Here's one struggling young composer's attempt to make some sense of all the possibilities.

Be'eri Moalem

Jul 04, 2009 · Articles · 8 minute read

Opera Company's "Rape of Lucretia' (3rd review)

A good thing in a small package

The Opera Company's production of The Rape of Lucretia demonstrated how much can be done on a small stage with a modest budget. But the opera suffers from the insertion of religious Christian doctrine into a story that predated Christ by five centuries.

Steve Cohen

Jul 04, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read

Bruce Nauman at the Venice Biennale (2nd review)

What would Bruce Nauman say?

In which our critic appropriates Bruce Nauman's style to assess the multi-media artist's Golden Lion Awarding-winning pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

Victoria Skelly

Jul 04, 2009 · Articles · 1 minute read

Pina Bausch: a personal memory

She made dance theater out of life

Pina Bausch, who died June 30, changed our perception of ballet, modern dance and theater. Wherever she went, she soaked up the essences of a community and then held what she absorbed back up to it like a mirror— as I discovered firsthand when she visited Arizona.

Merilyn Jackson

Jul 04, 2009 · Articles · 6 minute read