"Cabaret' at Villanova

Do academicians have more fun?

Villanova Theatre, which seems to enjoy a special flair for musicals, scores once again with a lively and enthusiastic revival of the Kander and Ebb perennial Cabaret.

Bill Murphy

Mar 28, 2009 · Articles · 2 minute read

PTC's "At Home At the Zoo'

East Side, West Side, or: When vegetables yearn to be animals

Fifty years ago Edward Albee's The Zoo Story exposed the fragility of the defenses that so-called “civilized” postwar Americans thought they had constructed. In At Home at the Zoo, Albee offers a prequel that shines some new light on his characters but also raises more questions than it answers. In effect, Albee is guilty of superimposing a 21st-Century sensibility on a '50s character.

Dan Rottenberg

Mar 27, 2009 · Articles · 6 minute read

Tempesta di Mare recreates Madame Levy's Salon

Bach resuscitated (with a little help from the Jews of Berlin)

Tempesta di Mare visits the salon of a musically sophisticated Berlin lady who helped revive Bach and launch the career of her grandnephew, Felix Mendelssohn.

Tom Purdom

Mar 24, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

"Long Day's Journey' and "Caucasian Chalk Circle'

The family, pro and con: O'Neill gets the better of Brecht

In two current productions, O'Neill and Brecht paint thoroughly distinct (and for Brecht, thoroughly surprising) views of the family. Thanks to Carol Laratonda's superbly intense direction, O'Neill's darker take is better served.

Jim Rutter

Mar 24, 2009 · Articles · 5 minute read

Reza's "God of Carnage' on Broadway

Delusions stripped bare

Yasmina Reza's venomous play about two modern couples, billed as “a comedy of manners without the manners,” gives us the kind of laughter that's about five seconds from just totally losing it. The Lord of Misrule is in fine form here, as is a cast that nails every line, every look, every gesture.

Toby Zinman

Mar 23, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read

"Women Forward' at Williamsburg Art Center

Can you tell that the artist is a woman?

Women Forward I, the first of a two-part show of women artists at the Williamsburg Art and Historical Center in Brooklyn, poses the question of whether there is such a thing as women's art apart from the work of individuals who happen to be women. The answer, I think, is yes: and vive la difference.

Robert Zaller

Mar 23, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read

Curtis Opera's "Wozzeck' (3rd review)

Who you calling atonal?

Alban Berg's opera, Wozzeck, gets a bad rap as being atonal, unmelodic and, therefore, inaccessible to most of the public. In fact Berg's passionate music matches the story perfectly.

Steve Cohen

Mar 23, 2009 · Articles · 6 minute read

Jade Simmons: Life after Miss America

Is there life after the Miss America pageant?

Must a beauty queen be shallow? As a pianist and a crusader for Classical music among urban youth, concerts for autistic audiences and teen suicide prevention, Jade Simmons is just getting started.

Maria Thompson Corley

Mar 23, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

"Born Yesterday' at the Walnut

From Billie Dawn to Bernie Madoff

Billie Dawn, the heroine of Garson Kanin's 1946 comedy Born Yesterday, is a “smart stupid person” whose faults are easily remedied by education. Today we face a tougher problem: “stupid smart people” who turn their millions over to avuncular swindlers like Bernie Madoff. Oh, for the good old days of transparent villains.

Dan Rottenberg

Mar 23, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

Curtis Opera's "Wozzeck' (2nd review)

A timeless world abandoned by God

The Curtis Opera production of Alban Berg's Wozzeck, the signature opera of German Expressionism, made the most of the cramped facilities of the Perelman Theater, with lead singers Shuler Henley and Karen Jesse in good voice and Mark Barton's lighting particularly accenting the brooding and anguished score. Georg Buchner's timeless story of a maddened soldier who kills the one thing he loves remains as relevant as ever.

Robert Zaller

Mar 21, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read