EgoPo's "Something Cloudy, Something Clear'

Even the usually resourceful EgoPo stage company can’t rescue Tennessee Williams’s last, lugubrious play from its defects: wooden characters, a sluggish plot and— worst of all for one of the theater’s great modern poets— pedestrian dialogue.

Something Cloudy, Something Clear. By Tennessee Williams; directed by Brenna Geffers. EgoPo production through March 22, 2008 at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St. (215) 552-8773 or &nbsp

Robert Zaller

Mar 04, 2008 · Articles · 3 minute read

EgoPo's "Something Cloudy' (2nd review)

Something Cloudy, Something Clear is a dream-like memory play that was experimental for its time. Critics savaged it in 1981 and again during this revival. But pay attention. Williams still has something to tell us.

Something Cloudy, Something Clear. By Tennessee Williams; directed by Brenna Geffers. EgoPo production through March 22, 2008 at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St. (215) 552-8773 or

Steve Cohen

Mar 04, 2008 · Articles · 6 minute read

Vienna Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall

The Vienna Philharmonic is sold out at home for the next six years, and for good reason. It’s an orchestra of virtuosi, one by one, who together play with the best precision and passion that I’ve ever heard.

Vienna Philharmonic. Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Liszt. Valery Gergiev, conductor. March 1-2, 2008 at Carnegie Hall, 57th St. and Sixth Avenue check, New York. www.wienerphilharmoniker.at.

Be'eri Moalem

Mar 04, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

Merce Cunningham at Annenberg

Some choreographers work with composers; Merce Cunningham works with computers. However cerebral, his Biped presents a brave, fascinating new world of dance. And the conceptual experience of his eyeSpace is a triumph, even if the piece itself isn’t.

Merce Cunningham Dance Company: Biped and eyeSpace. February 28-29, 2008, at Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut St. (215) 898-6701 or www.p

Jim Rutter

Mar 01, 2008 · Articles · 5 minute read

Stoppard and the Wilma

Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n Roll represents his most ambitious effort to confront the Czech Communist suppression of free expression that he lived through in the 1970s. Next year this ultimate dissident's play will be brought to the Wilma Theater, whose founders lived through it too. I can’t wait to see how the Zizkas stage it.

Rock ‘n Roll. By Tom Stoppard. Royal Court Theatre London production through March 9, 2008 at Bernard Jacobs Thea

Jim Rutter

Mar 01, 2008 · Articles · 6 minute read

Shen Wei Dance Arts at Perelman Theater

Shen Wei, founder of China’s first modern dance company, is as much painter and designer as master choreographer. To watch his Map is to see the work of the artist under repressive regimes.

Shen Wei Dance Arts. February 15-17, 2008 at Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center. 215-893-1999 or www.kimmelcenter.org

Lewis Whittington

Mar 01, 2008 · Articles · 2 minute read

'Frida Kahlo' at Art Museum (3rd review)

My first exposure to The Two Fridas in Mexico City in 1975 was love, or more like witchcraft, at first sight. I became addicted to the work and imagery of this Champagne Communist Mexican virago. But the Art Museum’s current Kahlo show offers surprises even for a Fridaphile like me.

"Frida Kahlo." Through May 18, 2008 at Philadelphia Museum of Art, Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th St. (215) 763-8100 or

F. Lennox Campello

Mar 01, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

Chamber Orchestra plays the Moderns

The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia offered two works for brass by relative unknowns in its latest concert, and two for strings by recognized masters of the 20th Century. Both sections of the orchestra played their respective works with feeling and panache.

Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia: Gross,
Watchman, tell us of the night; Tomasi, Fanfares liturgiques; Berg, Lyric Suite: 3 Pieces; Bartók, Divertimento. Ignat Solzhenitsyn, co

Robert Zaller

Feb 26, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

Chelsea on the cheap

Eager to sample New York’s Chelsea art gallery scene? Why not take a tour? You may not learn much about art, but you will learn a great deal about what sort of work grabs gallery space in Manhattan.

Victoria Skelly

Feb 26, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

Chestnut Brass turns 30

The globetrotting Grammy winner that resurrected the special sound of 19th-Century brass instruments returns to the city of its origin for a 30th anniversary celebration.

Chestnut Brass Company: Works by Praetorius, Weber, Morton, Rossini, Clark, Conner, Foster, Gershwin, Berlin, Vierk, Schickele, Krzywicki, Higdon. Bruce Barrie and John Charles Thomas, trumpets; Marian Hesse, horn; Larry Zimmerman, trombone; Jay Krush, tuba. February 18, 2008 at Ethical Society, 1906 S. Ritte

Tom Purdom

Feb 26, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read