Israeli Jazz and Pierre Boulez

Jazz and Pierre Boulez— the perfect antidote for a classical musician’s malaise.

Anat Cohen Quintet. Israeli Jazz Festival 2008, January 24, 2008 at World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St. (215) 222-1400 or www.worldcafelive.com.

Orchestra 2001: Boulez, Le Marteau Sans Maitre. James Freeman, conductor. January 26, 2008 at Independence Seaport Museum, 211 S. Columbus Blvd.

Dan Coren

Jan 29, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

PTC's "M. Butterfly'

In many respects this production of M. Butterfly is a feast for eye, ear and mind alike. But maybe it’s a little too much of a feast. All those visual and aural goodies tend to conceal the shortage of intellectual protein at its center.

M. Butterfly. Drama by David Henry Hwang; directed by Joe Calarco. Philadelphia Theatre Co. production through February 24, 2008 at Suzanne Roberts Theatre, Broad and Lombard Sts. (215) 985-0420 or

Dan Rottenberg

Jan 29, 2008 · Articles · 7 minute read

Beckett's "Happy Days' in Brooklyn

The London production of Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days is soundingly heroic in Irish actress Fiona Shaw’s performance, but misses some of the play’s subtler notes of despair.

Happy Days. By Samuel Beckett; directed by Deborah Warner. National Theater of Great Britain production through February 2, 2008 at Harvey Theater, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn. (718) 636.4100 or www.bam.or

Robert Zaller

Jan 27, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

"Wittenberg' at the Arden (1st review)

Stir Martin Luther, Marlowe’s Faustus, and Shakespeare’s Hamlet together, and will a play come out of it? Not quite, in David Davalos’s Wittenberg, but there’s intermittent fun along the way, and also the larger question--not quite engaged--of our contemporary culture wars.

Wittenberg. By David Davalos; directed by J. R. Sullivan. Through March 16, 2008 at Arden Theatre, 40 N. Second St. (212) 922-1122 or

Robert Zaller

Jan 27, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

"The Price' at Walnut Street Theatre (1st revi

The premiere performance of Arthur Miller’s The Price took place at the Walnut in 1968, and now it's back, with Robert Prosky finally making his first stage appearance in Philadelphia. Let’s hope neither will keep us waiting again for such a long time.

The Price. Drama by Arthur Miller; directed by Michael Carleton. Through March 2, 2008 at Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut St. (215) 574-3550 or www.ws

Anne R. Fabbri

Jan 27, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

Jennifer Higdon Festival (third review)

Both Jennifer Higdon works premiered at the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Leonard Bernstein Festival were seriously flawed. Her song sequence Bentley Roses, on the other hand, was a pure delight.

Philadelphia Orchestra: Higdon, The Singing Rooms. Jennifer Koh, violin; Philadelphia Singers Chorale; Christoph Eschenbach, conductor. January 17 and 23, 2008 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center. (215) 893-1900

Tom Purdom

Jan 27, 2008 · Articles · 5 minute read

Mauckingbird's "The Misanthrope'

This Misanthrope works both as over-the-top gay soufflé and as a dishy Molière comedy that revels in character and literary satire. The nine-man cast conveys the airy tightness of ensemble playing.

The Misanthrope. Comedy by Molière; directed by Peter Reynolds. Mauckingbird Theatre Company production through February 2, 2008 at Adrienne Theatre Second Stage,
2030 Sansom St. (215) 563.4330 or

Lewis Whittington

Jan 27, 2008 · Articles · 3 minute read

Lee Miller photographs at Art Museum (1st review)

Lee Miller was not one of the world’s great photographic artists, but she was an artist capable of producing works of surprising resonance. Everyday life bored her; it took a world war to bring out her best work.

“The Art of Lee Miller.” Through April 27, 2008 at Philadelphia Museum of Art, Benjamin Franklin Parkway and 26th St. (215) 763-8100 or www.philamuseum.org.

Andrew Mangravite

Jan 27, 2008 · Articles · 6 minute read

What small galleries can do

Blockbuster art begets mediocrity, of which the Metropolitan Museum’s mammoth exhibition of Dutch art is a prime example. Many of the best-curated shows in New York are in the more intimate space of its galleries, as a swing along current offerings on Madison Avenue reveals.

“The Complexity of the Simple”: Through January 31, 2008 at L&M Arts, 45 East 78 St., New York. (212) 861-0020 or www.lmgallery.com

Robert Zaller

Jan 22, 2008 · Articles · 7 minute read

Higdon, Bernstein and the Orchestra (2nd review)

What was Jennifer Higdon thinking when she wrote The Singing Rooms? For that matter, what was Leonard Bernstein thinking when he wrote Jeremiah?

Philadelphia Orchestra: Bernstein Jeremiah Symphony, Schumann Second Symphony, Higdon The Singing Rooms. Christoph Eschenbach, conductor. January 17-19, 2008 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce Sts. (215.) 893-1900 or www.philorch.org.

Steve Cohen

Jan 22, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read