Articles
6207 results
Page 544
Walnut's "Streetcar Named Desire' (1st review)
Reality and delusion in the French Quarter
Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski have been going at it for more than 60 years now— and for good reason, as the Walnut's riveting revival of A Streetcar Named Desire reminded me: Given the human capacity for self-delusion, few of us are likely to recognize ourselves in Blanche and Stanley— but we'll surely recognize others we know.
Articles
4 minute read
Clint Eastwood: Mellowing archetype
From killer to conciliator: Clint Eastwood's remarkable ride
Clint Eastwood, the nihilist gunslinger of Sergio Leone's spaghetti Westerns and the cop run nearly amok of the Dirty Harry series, has reversed gears in the last 20 years and— as his current Gran Torino shows— found ways to raise dark questions about American manhood and American nationhood while persuading us we're still being entertained.
Articles
8 minute read
Mauckingbird's lesbian "Hedda Gabler'
As if poor Hedda didn't have enough problems
Ibsen's reckless Hedda Gabler found herself shunned by proper 19th-Century society. In Mauckingbird's current adaptation, she's a lesbian as well— but strangely, nobody seems to mind.
Articles
4 minute read
Orchestra's biggest problem: Its board
The trouble with the Orchestra: It's the board, not the musicians
Why is the Philadelphia Orchestra stuck in its rut? One spoiler has been obvious over 30 years: a board that cares more about its sovereignty than about what will make the Orchestra the best in its field.
Articles
3 minute read
"Sextet Spectacular' by 1807 & Friends
Reviewing the unreviewable
The latest 1807 & Friends program did everything a good chamber music session is supposed to do. So what else can you say?
Articles
2 minute read
Diaz, Denk et al at the Perelman
A classical music lover's plea: Can we please try the road less taken?
We all love Brahms, Mozart and Dvorak. Especially for these seasoned musicians, it's much easier to put together a Mozart Piano Quartet that they've all played before than to learn a contemporary piece. But seriously, there are other composers out there.
Articles
5 minute read
Do happy musicians play better?
Do happy musicians play better? (A rejoinder to Dan Rottenberg)
Does it matter whether or not musicians”“ especially musicians in a classical orchestra”“ seem to be personally enjoying the music they're playing? Given a certain level of musical excellence, it's really a very simple question in the end.
Free speech vs. creativity at the Wilma
The ‘Wilma Papers': Free speech vs. the creative process
At the request of the Wilma Theater, Broad Street Review withdrew Jim Rutter's commentary about the reading of a work-in-progress. Did we do the right thing? Does a theater's need to control its creative product trump an audience's right to free expression? The full three-way correspondence file, reprinted here, may shed some light on these issues.
Articles
12 minute read
Philadelphia Orchestra: The old vs. the new
The 'old' Orchestra and the new
Was the old Ormandy Orchestra of blessed memory superior to today's? The question is really irrelevant. I've found sublime experiences in both. Consider, for example, the contrast between William de Pasquale (old) and Yumi Kendall (new).
Articles
3 minute read
"Freeway Philharmonic': California's freelance musicians
The life of a freelance musician: California vs. Philadelphia
In 55 well-edited minutes, an insightful documentary captures the challenging life style of California's freelance classical musicians. Philadelphia freelancers— who constitute the backbone of a dozen local musical groups— will find here a reflection of their own unpredictable lives.
Articles
3 minute read