Luna Theatre's "Orange Flower Water'

Divorce, 21st-Century style

Divorce these days is a routine rite of passage that most Americans accept without revulsion. Luna Theatre's gut-wrenching production of Craig Wright's Orange Flower Water may change your mind.

Jim Rutter

Jan 27, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

A few words about adventurous programming

So you want adventurous programming? (A reply to Beeri Moalem)

BSR contributor Beeri Moalem has issued a plea for more performances of new music. But the Western art music repertoire is essentially a huge library containing more than six centuries of music that no one can explore all of in a single lifetime. Two recent concerts offer cases in point.

Tom Purdom

Jan 27, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

"My Name is Asher Lev' at the Arden

A battle between good and good

My Name Is Asher Lev is a gratifying play about father-son conflict. In this concentrated form, the play actually turns out to be more intense than the Chaim Potok novel on which it's based.

Steve Cohen

Jan 27, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read

"Compleat Shakespeare' in Norristown

A little nonsense with the Bard

A play called The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged) may sound pedantic or trivial. But neither is the case in this sparkling comedy, which respects the Bard but finds fun within his works.

Steve Cohen

Jan 27, 2009 · Articles · 1 minute read

AVA's "La fiamma' (1st review)

Oh, those sexually repressed women

Ottorino Respighi as an opera composer? Yes, he wrote ten of them, and La fiamma, in a 75th-anniversary concert revival by the Academy of Vocal Arts, showed itself worthy of a place on the international stage.

Robert Zaller

Jan 27, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

Walnut's "Streetcar Named Desire' (3rd review)

Blanche DuBois' worst nightmare: When the audience roots for Stanley

Streetcar remains a magical piece of theater. But it needs a vulnerable heroine with whom we can empathize. Susan Riley Stevens as Blanche was so robust that she had the audience rooting against her.

Steve Cohen

Jan 25, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read

Walnut's "Streetcar Named Desire' (2nd review)

A new standard of bare theatrical truth

Yes, Streetcar is dated: It addressed the social upheaval that followed World War II. But it's also timeless: It concerns what happens to human beings that can't be foreseen.

Anne R. Fabbri

Jan 24, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read

Peggy Lee and "Fever' at the Prince

The living, breathing sound of swing

Fever is a smart pairing of a tribute to the late Peggy Lee and a career retrospective for the 82-year-old jazz pianist/singer Buddy Greco. Other shows trade in nostalgia, but this one possesses a rare authenticity. Not only are all the songs from an earlier era, but so are Greco's arrangements.

Steve Cohen

Jan 24, 2009 · Articles · 2 minute read

Christoph Eschenbach returns

Eschenbach returns— twice, with no hard feelings

Christoph Eschenbach, the former and (by some) lamented music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, returned to take over the city's symphonic January in concerts with the Orchestra and the Curtis Symphony. If he was trying to suggest what Philadelphia has lost with his departure, he mostly made his case.

Robert Zaller

Jan 24, 2009 · Articles · 7 minute read

"O Captain, My Captain,' at Walnut Studio 3

Walt Whitman's hero

Walt Whitman made a shrewd career move when he hitched his poetic wagon to Abraham Lincoln's star. In O Captain, My Captain, Bill Van Horn hitches his wagon to both Lincoln and Whitman. It's a gimmick, but we're the better for it.

Dan Rottenberg

Jan 24, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read