Articles

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'The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths' (neon, 1967): OK, but what are they?

Bruce Nauman at the Venice Biennale (1st review)

A few impertinent questions about the celebrated Bruce Nauman

The in-your-face multi-media artist Bruce Nauman has been much feted since his Venice Biennale entry won the Golden Lion Prize for best national pavilion early this month. Would it be churlish to ask what his work means?
AJ Sabatini

AJ Sabatini

Articles 6 minute read

Jaamil Kosoko's "Virus' at UArts

Love among the robots

Jaamil Kosoko's compelling but cluttered Virus purports to show how technology distorts identity and human interaction while leaving vestiges of our humanity intact. Call it a good idea in need of further development.
Jim Rutter

Jim Rutter

Articles 4 minute read
Nally: Quality, right down to the details.

The Crossing's unique niche

Class act

Donald Nally's choir, The Crossing, occupies a unique niche in the musical ecosystem: Its singers perform new and unfamiliar music for a small chamber choir. It presents novel, beautiful, complex music that requires precise coordination and first-class voices.
Tom Purdom

Tom Purdom

Articles 4 minute read
Love and death among the Sylphs, but what's the point?

Pennsylvania Ballet's "Sylphide' and "Barber Violin Concerto' (

And the moral of the story is....

The Pennsylvania Ballet's much-hyped restaging of Bournonville's La Sylphide floundered in comparison to the brilliantly executed company premiere of Peter Martins's Barber Violin Concerto.
Jim Rutter

Jim Rutter

Articles 4 minute read
Phelan: More vulnerable than Streep's dragon lady. (Photo: Mark Garvin.)

Shanley's 'Doubt' at People's Light

The courage to stand up (to Meryl Streep)

John Patrick Shanley's Doubt was inspired by the Catholic Church's sex scandals, but it's not a didactic work. People's Light offers a production that respects the play's subtleties and ambiguities.

Bill Murphy

Articles 2 minute read

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Nany Bean: Consider giving this group a try.

1807 & Friends season finale

The Archduke also rises

Three of the city's most active chamber musicians transmit a chronic infection to their audience.
Tom Purdom

Tom Purdom

Articles 4 minute read
Picasso's 'The Dream': What's that on her head?

"Cézanne and Beyond' post-mortem (4th review)

Picasso's languid penis, and other discoveries in ‘Cézanne and Beyond'

“Cézanne and Beyond,” the Philadelphia Museum of Art's major show of the year, was its best in some time, but could have been a great deal richer for collaboration with the Barnes Foundation and its matchless trove of the great French master. VIP guests got to take the 15-minute ride to Merion, but for the masses the PMA and its corporate masters still pretend that the Barnes is somewhere west of Cleveland.
Robert Zaller

Robert Zaller

Articles 5 minute read
Nagrin in his prime: The soloist's companion was his studio.

"Remembering Daniel Nagrin' at Susan Hess Modern Dance

The man who danced (almost) forever

No other dancer commanded all the characteristics of the soloist Daniel Nagrin, who died last December at 91. But two of his protégés, Shane O'Hara and Donald Laney, gave an astonishing little concert in tribute to their incomparable mentor.
Merilyn Jackson

Merilyn Jackson

Articles 6 minute read
Carson, Resnik: Appealing songs and players, but... (Photo: Mark Garvin.)

PTC's "Grey Gardens' (2nd review)

The lighter side of squalor

In Philadelphia Theatre Company's production of Grey Gardens, Joy Franz as the mother and Hollis Resnik as the daughter preen in such an exaggerated style that they lose our empathy. Theater is a different medium from the cult film on which this musical is based. They should show us, not tell us what we need to know.
Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen

Articles 4 minute read
Zlatkovski: Performer, scholar and impresario too.

Harp Music Festival's third edition

What Fellini and John Williams knew about the harp

Harpist Saul Davis Zlatkovski mounted the third edition of his welcome addition to the fading days of the Philadelphia music season. Zlatkovski has put some impressive organizational work into this project, but he can use help with the administrative details.
Tom Purdom

Tom Purdom

Articles 4 minute read