| The imam, the mosque and Ground Zero |
August 28 2010 |
The controversy about whether to build a huge Muslim study and worship center two blocks from Ground Zero in lower Manhattan isn’t about freedom of religion or constitutional rights. It’s about a decent respect for the dead.
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| Gérôme revival at the Getty in Los Angeles |
August 17 2010 |
Jean-Léon Gérôme, once perhaps the world’s most famous artist, plummeted into obscurity in the 20th Century, his work largely relegated to the domain of kitsch. The Getty Museum’s revival show hides no faults but reveals a painter of exceptional talent who produced some historically significant paintings amid the dross, and who never merely pandered to his public.
“The Spectacular Art of Jean-Léon Gérôme.” Through September 12, 2010 at the Getty Museum, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles. (310) 440-7330 or www.getty.edu/museum.
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| Michael Douglas as the 'Solitary Man’ |
July 03 2010 |
Sometimes it takes a bad film to draw out an extraordinary performance. So it is when Michael Douglas plays Ben Kalmen in Solitary Man, another in his gallery of self-destructive heroes. Kirk should be proud of Michael’s work here.
Solitary Man. A film directed by David Levien. At the Ritz East, Clearview’s Bala Theatre, the Hiway Theatre and the Bryn Mawr Film Institute.
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| Opera Company’s ‘Orphée et Eurydice’ (2nd review) |
June 19 2010 |
The Opera Company of Philadelphia’s Orphée et Eurydice offers a rare staging of Gluck’s opera, a work of great historical significance that has retained its freshness and loveliness after two and a half centuries. Robert B. Driver’s production has good singing and pacing to commend it, and fine scenic design. This version of the Orpheus legend has a happy ending, but not before going through its tragic paces too.
Orphée et Eurydice. Opera by Christof Willibald Gluck (Hector Berlioz adaptation) directed by Robert B. Driver; Corrado Rovaris, conductor. In French with English supertitles. Opera Company of Philadelphia production through June 25, 2010 at Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce Sts. (215) 732-8400 or www.operaphila.org.
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| SEPTA: The tragedy and the prevarication |
June 15 2010 |
SEPTA had a tragedy when a woman was killed on the tracks at the Bryn Mawr station. It compounded it by leaving stranded passengers to fend for themselves, and then lying about the mess it left them in.
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| Early Diebenkorn, Late Monet in New York |
June 15 2010 |
Richard Diebenkorn’s refinement of Matisse and other masters makes him a significant figure in 20th-Century art, and a show of his early work shows him working out a distinctive vocabulary that synthesizes both abstraction and representation. Claude Monet’s late paintings from Giverny show a similar process at work, and they rank among the glories of modern art.
“Richard Diebenkorn: Paintings & Drawings 1949-1955.” Through June 25, 2010 at Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, 730 Fifth Avenue (at 57th St.), New York. (212) 445-0444 or www.gvdgallery.com.
“Claude Monet: Late Paintings.” Through June 26, 2010 at Gagosian Gallery, 522 West 21st St., New York. (212) 741-1717 or www.gagosian.com.
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| On not pitying Palestinians |
June 12 2010 |
Nothing on earth seems more politically correct than pitying Palestinians. I have done my own share of it, but no more. Among stateless or secessionist peoples, they are the least deserving of sympathy, and if we actually want to do them good, we should tell them so.
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| Vaclav Havel’s ‘Leaving’ at the Wilma (2nd review) |
May 31 2010 |
Vaclav Havel’s Leaving, the first play in 20 years by the playwright-president, is well served by a cast led by David Strathairn, and well produced under Jiri Zizka’s energetic direction. But its importance lies less in its at-best fitful theatrical interest than as a testament of its author’s profound disillusionment with his career—and with that of capitalist modernity in general.
Leaving. By Vaclav Havel; translated by Paul Wilson; directed by Jiri Zizka. Through June 20, 2010 at Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St. (at Spruce). 215-546-7824 or www.WilmaTheater.org.
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| Double jeopardy: A Philadelphia scandal |
May 28 2010 |
The recent double jeopardy prosecution of William J. Barnes for a crime he’d already served his sentence for shows that the vengeful spirit of Lynne Abraham is still alive and well in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. Although Barnes was acquitted this time, the story, alas, doesn’t end there.
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| Utagawa Kuniyoshi works in New York |
May 15 2010 |
Utagawa Kuniyoshi is less well known in the West than his fellow artists of Japan’s “floating world,” Hokusai and Hiroshige, but the splendid exhibit currently on display at the Japan Society, culled from the Arthur R. Miller collection, should do much to remedy that. Few artists anywhere in the 19th Century had Kuniyoshi’s range of imagination and invention, and he touches our own modernity in fascinating and even startling ways.
“Graphic Heroes, Magic Monsters: Japanese Prints by Utagawa Kuniyoshi from the Arthur R. Miller Collection.” Through June 13, 2010 at the Japan Society, 333 East 47th St., New York. (212) 832-1155 or www.japansociety.org.
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| The forgotten MOVE victims |
May 15 2010 |
Twenty-five years after the Osage Avenue bombing and more than 30 years after the Powelton shootout, Philadelphia’s bizarre MOVE math remains clear: One police officer killed, nine life sentences; 11 men, women, and children killed, no indictment ever issued.
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| Robin Roberts: Gentle warrior |
May 07 2010 |
This was the great lesson I learned from Robin Roberts: Whether you’re mowing the lawn or writing a book, you finish what you start. On the field and off he remained the same unique symbol of baseball’s bygone integrity.
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| The vanishing Philadelphia Orchestra |
May 07 2010 |
Other orchestras go on tour, but few vanish for a month at a time as regularly as Philadelphia’s. You have to wonder if our great orchestra is considering a relocation to Tokyo.
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| Unindicted war criminal to play at Mann Center |
May 01 2010 |
No one seriously pretends that Condoleeza Rice is qualified to play the piano in public, much less with an orchestra that has played with Rubinstein and Horowitz. Her notoriety alone, as the Bush administration’s prime enabler, has attracted the Mann’s programmers.
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| McPherson’s ‘Shining City’ by Theatre Exile (3rd review) |
April 24 2010 |
Conor McPherson’s Shining City might more fittingly be titled Island of Lost Souls. Excellent performances, particularly by Scott Greer, can’t quite lift the play out of its existential funk, nor can a surprise ending that left the audience gasping.
Shining City. By Conor McPherson; directed by Matt Pfeiffer. Theatre Exile production through April 25, 2010 at Plays and Players Theatre, 1724 Delancey Pl. (215) 218-4022 or www.theatreexile.org.
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| Otto Dix at Neue Galerie in New York |
April 24 2010 |
Otto Dix (1891-1969), a pivotal figure in the revival of 20th-Century German art, receives the first American show dedicated solely to a major sampling of his work at New York’s Neue Galerie. It isn’t a full-blown retrospective, but it does focus undistracted attention on a man who created some of his century’s most iconic— and disturbing— images.
Otto Dix. Through August 30, 2010 at Neue Galerie New York, 1048 Fifth Avenue (at 86th St.), New York. (212) 288-0665 or www.neuegalerie.org.
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| Papadakis memorial concert at Drexel |
April 24 2010 |
Konstantinos Papadakis eulogizing Constantine Papadakis? That’s precisely what happened when the local Greek pianist performed a memorial recital in honor of Drexel’s late president and his own namesake. The program consisted of works by Chopin and Barber, and was finely performed by a musician of outstanding sensitivity and intelligence.
Papadakis Memorial Concert: Works by Chopin and Barber. Konstantinos Papadakis, pianist. April 9, 2010 at Rensselaer Hall, 3320 Powelton St., Drexel University. www.drexel.edu.
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| Lee Blessing’s ‘When We Go Upon the Sea’ |
April 17 2010 |
Lee Blessing’s new play, When We Go Upon the Sea, imagines George W. Bush in a place liberals would love to see him: awaiting trial as a war criminal in The Hague. Blessing has plenty of fun with “George,” as he calls him, but he points a darker finger at the rest of us, Americans and Europeans alike.
When We Go Upon the Sea. By Lee Blessing; directed by Paul Meshejian. InterAct Theatre Company production through May 9, 2010 at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St. (215) 568-8077 or www.InterActTheatre.org.
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| Bronzino drawings at the Met in New York |
April 13 2010 |
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s show of all 60 of the extant drawings by the Florentine master Agnolo Bronzino (plus several by his teacher, Pontormo) is a treat for the scholar, the connoisseur, and the lay museum-goer alike. They contain some of the most splendid examples of the draughtsman’s art you’ll ever see.
“The Drawings of Agnolo Bronzino,” Through April 18, 2010 at Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street, New York. (212) 535-7710 or www.metmuseum.org.
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| Lantern Theater’s ‘Henry IV, Part I’ (1st review) |
April 10 2010 |
Shakespeare’s Henriad— the history plays that span the reigns of Henry IV and Henry VI— are hard to stage and rarely performed. They’re especially challenging in the confines of the Lantern Theater’s cramped space, with multiple roles being played by all cast members save one. Charles McMahon’s production brings off the first of these plays with kaleidoscopic vigor and intensity, abetted by brilliant staging.
Henry IV, Part I. By William Shakespeare; Charles McMahon directed. Lantern Theater production through May 9, 2010 at St. Stephen’s Theater, 923 Ludlow St (215) 829-0935 or www.lanterntheater.org.
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| Atom Egoyan’s ‘Chloe’ |
April 06 2010 |
Veteran filmmaker Atom Egoyan’s latest, Chloe, features a lethal sex triangle in which the victims are hard to tell from the victimizers— or is there a difference at all?
Chloe. A film directed by Atom Egoyan. At Clearview Bala Theatre, 157 Bala Ave., Bala Cynwyd, Pa. 610) 668-4695. Also Ritz Sixteen, 900 Berlin-Haddonfield Rd.,
Voorhees, N.J. (856) 770-0600. www.moviefone.com.
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| ‘Red Hot Patriot’: Kathleen Turner as Molly Ivins (3rd review) |
April 03 2010 |
Kathleen Turner does a star turn in Red Hot Patriot, a one-woman show about the maverick journalist and political iconoclast Molly Ivins. A more focused script would have served Molly better, but she’s welcome back.
Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins. By Margaret Engel and Allison Engel; directed by David Esbjornson. Philadelphia Theatre Co. world premiere through April 25, 2010 at Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad St. (at Lombard). (215) 985-0420 or www.philadelphiatheatrecompany.org.
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| Felix Vallotton’s working-class women in New York |
April 03 2010 |
Nine female portrait studies by the Franco-Swiss artist Felix Vallotton make for a small jewel of a show in Manhattan. Like Seurat’s Les Poseuses, Vallotton searches for the eternal feminine in working-class women, and rings his own variations on the theme.
“Paintings of Felix Vallotton.” Through April 10, 2010 at Michael Werner Gallery, 4 East 77 St., New York. (212) 988-1623 or www.michaelwerner.com.
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| Debating the Barnes move (sort of) |
March 27 2010 |
The Art of the Steal, still playing downtown, has also gone to the Bryn Mawr Film Institute, which is staging five panels dealing with the film and the move of the Barnes Foundation. It’s the first sustained public discussion of the biggest cultural issue in Philadelphia’s recent history.
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| San Francisco Symphony plays Mahler’s Second (1st review) |
March 27 2010 |
Michael Tilson Thomas, visiting Philadelphia for the first time in six years with his San Francisco Symphony, performed a Mahler Second Symphony thoughtfully conceived and transparently executed. With Mahler, attention to pacing and detail is what pays off. It did here, in one of the season's most satisfying performances.
San Francisco Symphony: Mahler Second Symphony. Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor; Katarina Karneus, mezzo-soprano; Laura Claycomb, soprano; Westminster Choir, Joe Miller, director. March 22, 2010 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce Sts. (215) 790-5800 or www.kimmelcenter.org.
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| ‘Language Rooms’ at the Wilma (2nd review) |
March 23 2010 |
Language Rooms takes place in the hermetic world of a private contractor whose job is to interrogate terrorist suspects, but which might be next door. The play invites us to ask Theater of the Absurd questions about ourselves but undercuts its own mise en scène with a drama-within-the-drama about immigrant acculturation that clearly belongs somewhere else.
Language Rooms. By Yussef El Guindi; directed by Blanka Zizka (world premiere). Through April 4, 2010 at Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St. (at Spruce). (215) 546-7824 or www.wilmatheater.org.
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| ‘The Ghost Writer’: Polanski’s revenge |
March 23 2010 |
Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer takes a swipe at imperial America and its far-reaching tentacles. Polanski, who still faces extradition to the U.S. on a decades-old rape charge, has an axe to grind, but he also holds up a mirror that reflects the way much of the world sees us.
The Ghost Writer. A film by Roman Polanski. At area theaters.
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| Barber’s ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ by Curtis |
March 20 2010 |
The Curtis Opera has revived the Edsel of American operas, Samuel Barber’s ill-fated Antony and Cleopatra. It’s a welcome opportunity to reconsider a work that, despite abiding flaws, has too much musical value to ignore.
Antony and Cleopatra. Opera by Samuel Barber; directed by Chas Rader-Schieber; conducted by George Manahan. Through March 21, 2010 at Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce Sts. (215) 893-7902 or www.curtis.edu.
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| Shostakovich’s ‘The Nose’ at the Met |
March 16 2010 |
After 80 years, Dmitri Shostakovich’s early satirical opera, The Nose, is at last getting its premiere at the Metropolitan Opera. The cast and orchestra perform with élan, but William Kentridge’s overbearing production threatens to hijack the proceedings.
The Nose. Opera by Dmitri Shostakovich; directed by William Kentridge; Valery Gergiev, conductor. Through March 25, 2010 at Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center, Broadway and 65th St., New York. (212) 362-6000 or www.metopera.org.
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| Man Ray: The undefined artist (in New York) |
March 16 2010 |
Philadelphia-born Man Ray was the Zelig of 20th-Century art, a man who knew everyone and did everything except define himself.
“Man Ray: The Art of Reinvention.” Ended March 14, 2010 at the Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Ave., New York. (212) 423-3200 or www.thejewishmuseum.org.
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| Three Finns and Liszt, by the Orchestra |
March 13 2010 |
The Sibelius Second Symphony is almost the Philadelphia Orchestra’s signature piece, but visiting conductor Osmo Vänskä brought a refreshing perspective. The program also included the local premiere of Kalevi Aho’s busy Minea, and a fine-tooled performance of the Liszt Second Piano Concerto by young French soloist Jean-Frédéric Neuburger.
Philadelphia Orchestra: Sibelius Second Symphony; Aho, Minea; Liszt, Second Piano Concerto. Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, piano; Osmo Vänskä, conductor. March 11-16, 2010 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce Sts. (215) 893-1955 or www.philorch.org.
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| Barnes Day in the ‘Inquirer’ |
March 09 2010 |
With no less than four articles and columns last Sunday, the Inquirer finally got around to acknowledging the fracas over the Barnes Foundation’s proposed move. But Barnes chairman Bernard Watson’s op-ed defense of the move is replete with evasions and distortions.
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| ‘The Hurt Locker’ and the endless war |
March 09 2010 |
For its realistic portrait of a bomb squad in Iraq, The Hurt Locker won six Academy Awards, including “Best Picture.” Yet the small truths within this film implicitly condone the larger lies that took us into that war in the first place.
The Hurt Locker. A film directed by Kathryn Bigelow. At the Ritz at the Bourse, Fourth and Ludlow Sts. (215) 925-7900 or www.landmarktheatres.com.
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| Orchestra’s odd couple: Brahms and Shostakovich |
March 02 2010 |
There’s nothing wrong with hearing the Brahms Violin Concerto and Shostakovich’s 11th Symphony, as in last week’s Orchestra performances. They just don’t inhabit the same musical universe.
Philadelphia Orchestra: Brahms Violin Concerto; Shostakovich 11th Symphony. Janine Jansen, violin; Charles Dutoit, conductor. February 25-28, 2009 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce Sts. (215) 893-1999 or www.philorch.org.
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| The Barnes architects make their case |
February 23 2010 |
Three architects appeared at Penn recently to talk up their design for the Barnes Foundation’s new museum on the Parkway. The event, overlooked by the media, took special care to ignore the 800-pound gorilla in the room. It also raised a new question: Why abandon a building designed by Paul Cret for a project by Tod Williams, Billie Tsien and Laurie Olin?
The Art of the Steal, a documentary film about the Barnes Foundation directed by Don Argott, opens February 26, 2010 at the Ritz Five, 214 Walnut St. (215) 925-7900 or www.landmarktheatres.com.
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| Jason Reitman’s ‘Up in the Air’ (2nd review) |
February 22 2010 |
Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air is this year’s Hollywood morality tale. It’s a throwback to Preston Sturges and Howard Hawks— in short, a Depression-era film for our depressed times.
Up In the Air. A film directed by Jason Reitman, from the novel by Walter Kirn. At the Ritz Five, 214 Walnut St. (215) 925-7900 or www.landmarktheatres.com.
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| Villanova Theatre’s modernized ‘Medea’ |
February 09 2010 |
You wouldn’t want Medea for a nanny, but she’s always welcome on the boards if you know how to treat her. But the current Villanova production never does find a coherent way to project Euripides’s most famous drama onto a modern stage, and the result is an Oprahfied heroine with a knife in her waistband.
Medea. By Euripides; translation by Robin Robertson; directed by Shawn Kairschner. Villanova Theatre production through February 14, 2010 at Vasey Hall, Villanova University. (610) 519-7474 or www.theatre.villanova.edu.
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| The Pew confronts ‘The Art of the Steal’ |
February 02 2010 |
The Pew foundation has consistently ignored criticism of its de facto takeover of the Barnes Foundation. Now, confronted by a muckraking documentary, the Pew has deigned to post answers to “frequently asked questions” about its relationship to the Barnes. It’s a disingenuous exercise. Let us count the ways.
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| Egon Schiele exhibit in New York |
January 25 2010 |
Egon Schiele obsessively depicted the human form in the more than 3,000 works he produced in his all-too-brief 28 years. No one since Rembrandt captured its truth with greater honesty and penetration.
“Egon Schiele as Printmaker.” Closed January 23, 2010 at Galerie St. Etienne, 24 West 57th St., New York. (212) 245-6734 or www.gseart.com.
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| Orchestra tackles Mahler and Strauss |
January 19 2010 |
Replacement conductor Juanjo Maena performed the scheduled Adagio of Mahler’s great but incomplete Tenth Symphony and Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs, but substituted mid-period Beethoven for mid-period Martinu. The results were mixed, with Strauss faring best but sluggish tempos marring the Mahler and Beethoven.
Philadelphia Orchestra: Mahler, Adagio from Tenth Symphony; Strauss, Four Last Songs; Beethoven “Pastoral.” Juanjo Maena, conductor. January 14-16, 2010 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center at Broad and Spruce Sts. (215) 893-1999 or www.philorch.org.
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| Mark McGwire’s steroid confession |
January 14 2010 |
The disgraced ex-slugger Mark McGwire has confessed to taking steroids but still expects us to believe that a broken-down player in his 30s could achieve naturally not only what he couldn’t in his 20s, but things no player had ever achieved before him. And he’s hardly alone in his delusions.
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| New Acropolis Museum in Athens |
January 05 2010 |
The new Acropolis Museum in Athens now houses, in addition to the artifacts of the old one, the marbles and statuary removed from the Parthenon to save them from the city’s pollution. Unfortunately, the whole museum is a dud, and the tendentious display of the marbles only caps the fiasco.
Acropolis Museum. Athens, Greece. www.theacropolismuseum.gr.
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| Clint Eastwood’s 'Invictus' |
December 19 2009 |
Like the recent Precious, Clint Eastwood’s Invictus is a feel-good film about race that asks for a willing suspension of disbelief. Morgan Freeman is worthily dull as Nelson Mandela, but he’ll probably win an Oscar anyway. Eastwood owes us more, though.
Invictus. A film directed by Clint Eastwood. At area theaters.
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| Peter Serkin piano recital at Perelman |
December 15 2009 |
Peter Serkin’s recital at the Perelman Theater was a tutorial in the Western classical tradition, anchored in two seminal works of Arnold Schoenberg that began and ended the program. Chopin and Debussy were on hand too, but the evening’s highlight was a mesmerizing performance of Charles Wuorinen’s ferocious Scherzo, a work written for Serkin that few other pianists in the world could have played.
Peter Serkin: Piano recital. Works by Schoenberg, Chopin, Debussy, Kurtag, Wuorinen. Philadelphia Chamber Music Society presentation December 4, 2009 at Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce Sts. (215) 569-8080 or pcmsconcerts.org.
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| Nézet-Séguin conducts the Orchestra (1st review) |
December 08 2009 |
Let the auditions continue: Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the young music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic and principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic, made a return appearance with the Philadelphia Orchestra and brought fresh energy to two Romantics and a modern.
Philadelphia Orchestra: Vivier, Orion; Brahms First Piano Concerto; Franck, Symphony in D minor. December 3-5, 2009 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce Sts. 215.893.1999 or www.philorch.org.
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| Gorky retrospective at Art Museum (4th review) |
December 08 2009 |
The Art Museum’s fall blockbuster gives Arshile Gorky the full masterpiece treatment, in the process obscuring rather than illuminating Gorky’s genuine value as a painter. It also illustrates the fate worse than death being planned for the Barnes collection in its coffin on the Parkway.
Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective. Through January 10, 2010 at Philadelphia Museum of Art, Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th Street. (215) 763-8100 or www.philamuseum.org.
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| Mendelssohn Quartet’s farewell concert |
December 07 2009 |
The Mendelssohn String Quartet, disbanding after 30 years, played a program of early Mendelssohn, early middle Bartok, and late Beethoven to a capacity house. Whatever the reasons for the Quartet’s separation, they were in full communion for this finale. Their intimacy and feel for inner balances will be missed.
Mendelssohn String Quartet: Mendelssohn, Bartok, Beethoven. Presented by Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, December 2, 2009 at Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce Sts. (215) 569-8080 or www.pcmsconcerts.org.
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| Orchestra plays Mozart and Bruckner (1st review) |
December 01 2009 |
The Dutch-born conductor Jaap van Zweden performed Mozart’s 19th Piano Concerto and Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony in his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra, with soloist Horacio Gutierrez giving a fine account of the Mozart. Van Zweden knows what he wants and mostly got it from the Orchestra, though the last, dying notes of the Bruckner were almost predictably fluffed in the horns.
Philadelphia Orchestra: Mozart Piano Concerto in F, Bruckner Ninth Symphony. Horacio Gutierrez, piano; Jaap van Zweden, conductor. November 27-29, 2009 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center. (215) 893-1999 or www.philorch.org.
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| Guston miniatures, in New York |
November 28 2009 |
The McKee gallery’s latest show of the late work of Philip Guston displays a different but striking aspect of this American master’s genius: small oils that distill the remarkable imagery of his final decade in work of great power and originality. They are as well a portrait of the Nixon period, speaking truth to power in an era of lies.
“Philip Guston: Small Oils on Panel 1969-1973." Through December 31, 2009 at the McKee Gallery, 745 Fifth Ave., New York. (212) 688-5951 or www.mckeegallery.com.
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| Irving Penn’s 'Small Trades' at the Getty Museum |
November 24 2009 |
Irving Penn’s "Small Trades," an elegiac look at the independent contractors of yore by the famous Vogue fashion photographer, is no mere exercise in social slumming, but a catalogue of professions rendered obsolete by an economy that, increasingly now, no longer creates but rather devours work.
Irving Penn: “Small Trades.” Through January 10, 2010 at the Getty Museum, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles. (310) 440-7330 or www.getty.edu.
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| ‘Precious’: Ghetto fantasy film |
November 23 2009 |
Combining Horatio Alger and The Blackboard Jungle with a dash of Oprah, Precious examines the life of a desperately damaged black teenager in the Harlem of the 1980s. The message of moral uplift is as predictable as it is unconvincing.
Precious. A film directed by Lee Daniels. At UA Riverview Stadium 17, 1400 S. Columbus Blvd. (800) 326-3264, x. 650; The Bridge, 230 South 40th St. (215) 386-7971; Bryn Mawr Film Institute, 824 W. Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, Pa. (610) 527-9898.
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| Eschenbach conducts Mahler’s Seventh |
November 21 2009 |
Gustav Mahler’s seldom-performed Seventh Symphony lacks— or deliberately eschews— the narrative drive that makes his symphonies popular, but its appearance in Christoph Eschenbach’s assured performance was all the more welcome for its rarity. Make of it what you will, the music is glorious and the invention unflagging.
Philadelphia Orchestra: Mahler Seventh Symphony. Christoph Eschenbach, conductor. November 18, 20 & 21, 2009 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce Sts. (215) 893-1999 or www.philorch.org.
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| French landscapes at the Getty |
November 17 2009 |
“Capturing Nature’s Beauty,” a small but scintillating show, misled only in its title, for it was not so much about nature as man’s relation to it. In its Italian and French landscapes lay a tale, not of French subservience to Italian taste but of subtler forms of the imperial assertions that marked early modern France before Napoleon.
“Capturing Nature’s Beauty: Three Centuries of French Landscapes.” July 28-November 1, 2009 at the Getty Museum, Los Angeles. (310) 440-7330 or www.getty.edu.
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| Another Barnes groundbreaking |
November 16 2009 |
A year ago the Barnes Foundation’s movers and shakers staged an elaborate groundbreaking ceremony for their proposed new home on Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Last Friday they broke the same ground all over again. Methinks the bigwigs doth break ground too much.
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| Beckett’s ‘Endgame’ by EgoPo (2nd review) |
November 14 2009 |
EgoPo’s latest Beckett production, Endgame, succeeds despite itself, largely due to Ed Swidey’s stylized but finely judged performance as Hamm, the play’s principal. Director Lane Savadove has given the play an incongruous South Jersey setting, but the text, thank goodness, speaks for itself, and Swidey makes sure that its poetry gets through.
Endgame. By Samuel Beckett; directed by Lane Savadove. EgoPo Productions presentation through November 15, 2009 at St. Stephen’s Theater, 923 Ludlow St. (215) 552-8773 or www.egopo.org.
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| ‘Rabbit Hole’ at the Arden |
November 10 2009 |
In David Lindsay-Abaire’s Rabbit Hole, a decent husband and wife face the indecent horror of the loss of a child and try to deal with a grief that has left them in separate and opposed universes. Jim Christy’s thoughtful production respects the play’s bleak integrity and its message of chastened hope.
Rabbit Hole. By David Lindsay-Abaire; directed by Jim Christy. Through December 20, 2009 at the Arden Theatre, 40 N. Second St. (215) 922-1122 or www.ardentheatre.org.
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| Martha Clarke’s ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’ |
October 25 2009 |
Last winter's revival of Martha Clarke’s dance theater masterwork, Garden of Earthly Delights, freely adapted from Hieronymus Bosch’s Renaissance triptych, was a work of astonishing beauty and rare erotic candor in its revival production, the first in more than 20 years.
Garden of Earthly Delights. Choreography by Martha Clarke. November 2008-January 2009 at Minetta Lane Theatre, 18 Minetta Lane, New York. (212) 307-4100 or gardenofearthlydelightsnyc.com.
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| Michael Moore’s ‘Capitalism’ (2nd review) |
October 25 2009 |
Michael Moore’s latest film screed takes on the ultimate evildoer, capitalism itself. Slogging from scene to scene of the crime in his working-class version of The Tramp, Moore looks for a little truth and decency in all the mess. Good luck to him, and to all of us. But is the theology really so simple?
Capitalism: A Love Story. A film by Michael Moore. At the Ritz Five, 214 Walnut St. (215) 440-1184 or delaware.metromix.com.
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| ‘Krapp’s Last Tape’ by the Lantern |
October 15 2009 |
The Lantern’s mini-festival of Samuel Beckett, set against its mainstage production of Happy Days, featured Frank X in two performances of Krapp’s Last Tape, a tour de force for a male performer and, like all of Beckett’s work, a meditation on identity and time.
Krapp’s Last Tape. By Samuel Beckett. Lantern Theater production October 12, 2009 at St. Stephen’s Theatre, 923 Ludlow St. 829-0395 or www.lanterntheater.org
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| Opera Company’s ‘Madame Butterfly’ (1st review) |
October 12 2009 |
Director Cynthia Stokes evokes mythic resonances in the Opera Company’s Madame Butterfly, and soprano Ermonela Jaho gives a vocally and dramatically commanding performance in the title role. The striking set and lighting design complete this fresh and impressively conceived view of one of opera’s perennial classics.
Madame Butterfly. Opera by Giacomo Puccini; directed by Cynthia Stokes. Opera Company of Philadelphia production through October 18, 2009 at Academy of Music, Broad and Locust St. (215) 732 – 8400 or operaphila.org.
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| The Barnes unveils its design |
October 10 2009 |
The newly unveiled design for what would be (contrary to Albert Barnes’s express instruction) a “Barnes museum” is dreary, insipid, and banal— yet another reason to keep the Barnes Foundation exactly where it is in Merion.
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| Philadelphia Orchestra: Brahms and Bartok |
October 06 2009 |
The Philadelphia Orchestra offered a seasoned warhorse, the Brahms Second Piano Concerto, freshly realized by soloist Yefim Bronfman, and a rare performance of the entire score of Bartok’s ballet-pantomime, The Miraculous Mandarin. The specter of Wagner hung over both works, each of which rejected it in its own way.
Philadelphia Orchestra: Brahms Second Piano Concerto; Bartok, The Miraculous Mandarin. Yefim Bronfman, piano; Charles Dutoit, conductor. October 1- 3, 2009 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center. (215) 893.1999 or www.philorch.org.
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| Beckett’s ‘Happy Days’ by the Lantern (2nd review) |
October 03 2009 |
The Lantern Theater’s season is off to a good start with David O’Connor’s production of Beckett’s Happy Days, featuring Mary Elizabeth Scallen as Winnie. This inexhaustible role can never be fully realized in any performance, but Scallen projects her battered dignity and, in the play’s second act, creates a memorable picture of human consciousness at the end of its tether.
Happy Days. By Samuel Beckett; directed by David O’Connor. Lantern Theater Co. production through October 18, 2009 at St. Stephen’s Theatre, 923 Ludlow St. (215) 829-0395 or www.lanterntheater.org.
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| ‘The Art of the Steal’: The Barnes on film |
September 29 2009 |
The Art of the Steal is an ambitious attempt to relate the saga of the Barnes Foundation from its founding in Merion to its impending move to Center City Philadelphia. Don Argott has wisely chosen to tell it in terms of its principal personalities. It belongs on a short list of documentaries that have spoken truth to power.
The Art of the Steal. A film by Don Argott.
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| Albee’s ‘Zoo Story’ at Villanova |
September 26 2009 |
Edward Albee’s The Zoo Story may be historically important as the moment when American theater began to come out of the closet, but the play itself is dated, and difficult to perform convincingly unless played against the grain. In Joanna Rotté’s spacious direction, it reveals some forgotten strengths, but also exposes inherent weaknesses.
The Zoo Story. By Edward Albee; directed by Joanna Rotté. Villanova Theatre production through October 4, 2009 at Vasey Hall, Villanova University. (610) 519.7474 or www.theatre.villanova.edu.
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| James Ensor at Museum of Modern Art (2nd review) |
September 22 2009 |
The uncanny art of the proto-modernist James Ensor, in MoMA’s first substantial exhibition of his work since 1951, reveals a prophetic artist who anticipated many of the 20th Century’s horrors and who still speaks to the wired-up anomie of our present day.
“James Ensor.” Ended September 21, 2009 at the Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd St., New York. (212) 708-9400 or
www.moma.org.
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| Richard Long: Walking as an art form |
September 01 2009 |
The British artist Richard Long has made his country’s pastime, walking, into an art form for nearly half a century, and the Tate Britain’s retrospective of his work— graphic and photographic, textual and sculptural— is the record of a singular life’s journey.
“Richard Long: Heaven and Earth.” Through September 6, 2009 at the Tate Britain, north bank of Thames River at Millbank, London. www.tate.org.uk/britain.
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| Francis Bacon at the Met |
August 15 2009 |
Francis Bacon, Britain’s greatest modern painter, took the difficulty of modern perception as his subject, while heroically refusing to abandon the human image, as Abstract Expressionism had done. The result is, typically, an embattled figure on an ambiguous ground.
“Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective.” Through August 16, 2009 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street, New York. (212) 535-7710 or www.metmuseum.org.
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| Greek travesty: Euripides’s 'Helen' in London |
August 09 2009 |
The rarely performed Helen by Euripides is late Attic tragedy with a comic twist, as the beauty queen of ancient Greece is reunited with her husband Menelaus after the Trojan War. Deborah Bruce’s production misconceives its material, and the result, despite Penny Downie’s doughty performance in the title role, is neither comedy nor tragedy but travesty instead.
Helen. By Euripides; directed by Deborah Bruce. Through August 23, 2009 at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, 21 Bankside, London, United Kingdom. www.shakespeares-globe.org.
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| Brett Weston photos at Santa Barbara Museum |
July 07 2009 |
“Brett Weston: Out of the Shadow” is a superb retrospective of the man who may have been, even more than his more famous father Edward, America’s great photographer. The 146 images on display, taken as a whole, suggest a reconciliation between natural occurrence and human aspiration— that is, that we may have a place in the world after all.
“Brett Weston: Out of the Shadow.” Through August 16, 2009 at Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara, Calif. (805) 964-4364 or www.sbma.net.
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| Orchestra’s season finale |
June 18 2009 |
The Philadelphia Orchestra ended its season with a program that unprofitably yoked Debussy’s meandering composite, Images, with the Shostakovich Fifth Symphony. The latter, though unevenly played, sent the musicians home with a standing ovation that, one hopes, will leave them with a final good memory of what has been a difficult year.
Philadelphia Orchestra: Debussy, Images; Shostakovich Fifth Symphony. Charles Dutoit, conductor. June 12, 13, 16, 2009 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center. (215) 893-1999 or www.philorch.org.
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| Opera Company’s ‘Rape of Lucretia’ (1st review) |
June 15 2009 |
The Opera Company of Philadelphia’s deft staging of Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia is both a welcome revival of a pioneering work of chamber opera and, in the midst of our own current wars, a timely reminder of man’s inhumanity to man.
The Rape of Lucretia. Opera by Benjamin Britten; directed by William Kerley. June 5-14, 2009 at the Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center. (215) 893-1018 or www.operaphila.org.
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| ‘Cézanne and Beyond’ post-mortem (4th review) |
June 11 2009 |
“Cézanne and Beyond,” the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s major show of the year, was its best in some time, but could have been a great deal richer for collaboration with the Barnes Foundation and its matchless trove of the great French master. VIP guests got to take the 15-minute ride to Merion, but for the masses the PMA and its corporate masters still pretend that the Barnes is somewhere west of Cleveland.
“Cézanne and Beyond.” Through May 31, 2009 at Philadelphia Museum of Art, Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th St. (215) 763-8100 or www.philamuseum.org.
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| Philadelphia Orchestra’s eclectic program |
May 26 2009 |
Guest conductor David Robertson, in an eclectic Philadelphia Orchestra program, offered three works of a century ago, and one of our own moment: the Philadelphia premiere of Thomas Ades’s impressive new Violin Concerto, with Leila Josefowicz.
Philadelphia Orchestra: by Vaughan Williams, Sibelius, Scriabin and Ades. Leila Josefowicz, violin; David Robertson, conductor. May 22-23, 2009 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center. (215) 893-1999 or www.philorch.org.
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| McPherson’s ‘Seafarer’ at the Arden (1st review) |
May 22 2009 |
In Conor McPherson’s new play, The Seafarer, Humanity’s Oldest Friend visits four bibulous Dubliners on a Christmas Eve to collect an old debt from one of them. Though the play is flawed, the ensemble work of the all-male cast is as good as anything seen on local stages this season.
The Seafarer. By Conor McPherson; directed by David O’Connor. Through June 14, 2009 at the Arden Theatre, 40 N. Second St. (215) 922-1122 or ardentheatre.org.
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| Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio at the Perelman |
May 16 2009 |
A late cancellation turned what promised to be an unusual and intriguing program of trios— with clarinet, horn, and piano joining the strings— into more ordinary fare. But the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, with guest Ricardo Morales, performed with the aplomb of a fine veteran group in works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Tchaikovsky.
Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio: Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky. Joseph Kalichstein, piano; Jaime Laredo, violin; Sharon Robinson, cello; Ricardo Morales, clarinet. Philadelphia Chamber Music Society presentation May 12, 2009 at the Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center, May 12, 2009. (215) 569-8080 or pcmsconcerts.org.
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| Simon Rattle conducts Bruckner’s Eighth |
May 11 2009 |
Is Sir Simon Rattle still the One Who Got Away? In the second of his recent concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the flamboyant conductor offered a spacious and compelling reading of Bruckner’s sprawling Eighth Symphony that drew marvelous playing, especially from the strings.
Philadelphia Orchestra; Bruckner Symphony No. 8; Mozart Piano Concerto No. 25. Simon Rattle, conductor; Imogen Cooper, piano. May 7-9, 2009 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center. (215) 893-1999 or www.philorch.org.
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| Pennsylvania Ballet’s ‘Tango With Style’ (1st review) |
May 09 2009 |
The Pennsylvania Ballet’s penultimate performance of the season was a pleasing mixture of one of the company’s repertory works, Robert Weiss’s Octet for Strings; Keep, a world premiere by its resident choreographer, Matthew Neenan; and Hans van Manen’s Five Tangos, a company premiere of a work that’s achieved international status. The corps was in good form, though the live musical accompaniment was often ragged in tone.
Pennsylvania Ballet: “Tango With Style.” Robert Weiss, Octet For Strings; Matthew Neenan, Keep; Hans van Manen, Five Tangos. May 6-10, 2009 at Merriam Theatre, 250 S. Broad St. (215) 551-7000 or www.paballet.org.
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| Picasso’s last years, in New York |
May 05 2009 |
The late work of Pablo Picasso has received short shrift, but it’s the magnificent culmination of the greatest artistic career since Goya— or Rembrandt and Velazquez, the 17th-Century masters whose persona Picasso adopted for his own. Curated by John Richardson, who knows more about Picasso than any man living, the current show at the Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea is a triumph in every respect.
"Picasso: Mosqueteros." Through June 6, 2009 at the Gagosian Gallery, 522 West 21 St., New York. (212) 741-1717 or www.gagosian.com.
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| Curtis Orchestra plays Russian masterworks |
May 02 2009 |
Curtis Orchestra’s final concert of the season featured second thoughts on Russian masterworks by Prokofiev and Stravinsky. I’m not sure why Philadelphia couldn’t hear some of Valery Gergeiev’s recent traversal of the Prokofiev symphonies (which went to Washington), but the Curtis performances were at least a consolation prize. The caliber of this student orchestra, despite the annual changeovers of its graduation cycle, easily stands comparison with most professional groups anywhere.
Curtis Symphony Orchestra: Prokofiev, Suites from Romeo and Juliet; Prokofiev, Sinfonia Concertante; Stravinsky, Petrushka. Michael Stern, conductor; Carter Brey, cello. April 27, 2009 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center. (215) 893-7902 or www.curtis.edu.
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| Drawings in New York: Thaw and Bonna Collections |
April 23 2009 |
Drawing fanciers have had two exceptional shows to savor in New York: The Thaw collection at the Morgan Library and the Bonna hoard at the Met. Both will close soon, and shouldn’t be missed by anyone who savors the unique truth that lies in the perfectly executed line.
“The Thaw Collection of Master Drawings: Acquisitions since 2002.” Through May 9, 2009 at the Morgan Library, 225 Madison Ave., New York. (212) 685-0008) or www.themorgan.org/exhibitions.
“From Raphael to Renoir: Drawings from the Collection of Jean Bonna.” Through April 26, 2009 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue at 82nd St., New York. (212) 535-7710 or metmuseum.org.
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| Arden’s ‘Something Intangible’ (1st review) |
April 18 2009 |
Bruce Graham brings a Hollywood insider’s knowledge and a flair for dialogue to Something Intangible, now in its premiere production at the Arden. You can’t treat Tinseltown without a touch of schmaltz— a trap Graham doesn’t escape. But this play about Walt Disney and the making of Fantasia, though overwrought for its theme, provides a diverting two hours. Cast and production are excellent.
Something Intangible. By Bruce Graham; directed by Terrence J. Nolen. Through June 7, 2009 at the Arden Theatre, 40 N. Second St. (between Market and Arch). (215) 922.1122 or www.ardentheatre.org.
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| Theatre Exile’s ‘American Buffalo’ (1st review) |
April 16 2009 |
Theatre Exile’s revival of David Mamet’s breakthrough play, American Buffalo, is driven by Pete Pryor’s brilliant performance as the testosterone-laced Teach. But while Teach’s bullying behavior might have been considered borderline psychotic a generation ago, it’s a reflection of daily life today.
American Buffalo. By David Mamet; directed by Matt Pfeiffer. Theater Exile production through May 3, 2009 at Plays & Players, 1714 Delancey St. (215) 218-4022 or www.theatreexile.org.
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| Lantern Theater's hyperactive ‘Hamlet’ (1st review) |
April 14 2009 |
The question in Hamlet may be less why the play’s hero fails to avenge his father’s murder than why he fails to claim his crown. The Lantern Theater’s fast-paced production of the play treats it as an action drama but misses its darker drives and subtler shades of meaning.
Hamlet. By William Shakespeare; directed by Charles McMahon. Lantern Theater production through May 17, 2009 at St. Stephen’s Theater, Tenth and Ludlow St. (215) 829-0395 or www.lanterntheater.org.
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| Ysaÿe Quartet at Perelman Theater |
April 07 2009 |
The Ysaÿe Quartet, named for the Belgian violinist Eugene Ysaÿe, plays with exquisite refinement and sensitivity. Unlike the steak-and-eggs mishmash offered by so many concert programs, the Ysaÿe’s combination of late and last works by Fauré, Bartok and Franck was thoughtful and suggestive.
Ysaÿe Quartet: Works by Fauré, Bartok and Franck. Presented by Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, April 3, 2009, at the Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center. (215) 569-8080 or pcmsconcerts.org.
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| Art meets science: Ellen K. Levy at Rider U. |
April 04 2009 |
The maze and the void join in Ellen K. Levy’s challenging and complex paintings, which interrogate the juncture between science, art and a human imagination. Levy loves machines, but not the uses to which freebooting capitalism and the military-industrial complex threaten to put them.
“Ellen K. Levy: Decoding Metaphors for the 21st Century.” Through April 19, 2009 at Rider University Art Gallery, Luedeke Center, Top Floor,
2083 Lawrenceville Rd.,
Lawrenceville, N.J. 609) 895-5588 or www.rider.edu/888_1371.htm.
"Ellen K. Levy: Stealing Attention." Through April 18, 2009 at the Michael Steinberg Gallery, 526 West 26th St., Suite 215, New York. (212) 924-5770 or www.michaelsteinbergfineart.com.
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| Casinos and the Barnes: Perfect together |
March 31 2009 |
Philadelphia is about to get something it doesn’t want or need: a giant push toward municipal failure in the form of casino gambling and slots parlors. This heavy-handed movement shares much in common with another potential disaster: the effort to move the Barnes Foundation from Lower Merion to the Parkway.
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| ‘Women Forward’ at Williamsburg Art Center |
March 23 2009 |
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.
Women Forward I: Through April 25, 2009; Women Forward II (artists after 1950): April 12-May 31, 2009, at Williamsburg Art and Historical Center, 135 Broadway, Brooklyn, N.Y. (718) 486.6012 or www.wahcenter.net.
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| Curtis Opera’s ‘Wozzeck’ (2nd review) |
March 21 2009 |
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.
Wozzeck. Opera by Alban Berg; directed by Emma Griffin; Corrado Rovaris, conductor. Curtis Opera Theatre production March 13-18, 2009 at Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center. (215) 893-7902 or www.curtis.edu.
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| ‘Iron Kisses’ at Act II Playhouse |
March 17 2009 |
James Still’s Iron Kisses— the kind that come with locked lips— details a small-town family’s reaction to an only son’s homosexuality. Well acted, with its two actors taking multiple roles, and skillfully directed by Harriet Power, this play transcends its well-worn genre and offers an affecting evening of theater.
Iron Kisses. By James Still; directed by Harriet Power. Through April 5, 2009 at Act II Playhouse, 56 E. Butler Ave., Ambler, Pa. (215) 654- 0200 or www.act2.org.
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| Matt Phillips monotypes at Drexel |
March 14 2009 |
Along with Jasper Johns and Richard Diebenkorn, Matt Phillips is one of America’s finest masters of that most difficult of all graphic art forms, the monotype. Even the most casual viewer will take pleasure in its light-drenched evocations of the Mediterranean and the fluency of its color and line.
“Monotypes by Matt Phillips.” Through March 20, 2009 at Rincliffe Gallery, Drexel University, Main Building at 32nd and Chestnut St., Third Floor. (215) 762-4114 or www.drexelcollection.edu.
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| Jurowski's latest Orchestra 'audition' |
March 13 2009 |
In a well-conceived and generally well-executed program of Berg and Mahler, Vladimir Jurowski once more dropped his card into the Philadelphia Orchestra’s conductor sweepstakes. The performance of Mahler’s rarely heard choral masterwork, Das klagende lied, should be remembered as one of the season’s highlights. But please can the condescending pre-concert talks.
Philadelphia Orchestra: Berg, Three Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6; Mahler, Das klagende lied. Vladimir Jurowski, conductor; with the Philadelphia Singers Chorale under David Hayes. Twyla Robinson, soprano; Iris Vermilion, mezzo-soprano; Michael Hendrick, tenor; Stephen Powell, baritone. March 10, 2009 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center. (215) 893-1999 or www.philorch.org.
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| ‘Vita Nuova’ at Alice Tully Hall (New York) |
March 03 2009 |
New York’s renovated and reopened Alice Tully Hall is buxom and Botoxed, and there’s padding too in one of its featured premieres, Vladimir Martynov’s oratorio-cum-opera Vita Nuova, though some payoff in the end.
Vita Nuova. Opera by Vladimir Martynov. London Philharmonic Orchestra; Vladimir Jurowski, conductor. February 28, 2009 at Alice Tully Hall, Broadway and 65th St., New York. new.lincolncenter.org.
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| Vienna Philharmonic at Verizon Hall (1st review) |
March 01 2009 |
The Vienna Philharmonic, in its first Philadelphia appearance in six years, showed again why it’s in a class by itself among the world’s orchestras in a program of Wagner, Chopin, and Schubert. Soloist Lang Lang, alternately brilliant and frustrating by turns, left a more mixed impression.
Vienna Philharmonic. Zubin Mehta, conductor; Lang Lang, piano. February 24, 2009 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center. (215) 790-5800 or www.kimmelcenter.org.
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| Vertigo String Quartet at Curtis Institute |
February 23 2009 |
The youthful Vertigo String Quartet, all Curtis graduates in their mid-20s, returned to give an alumni recital in Field Concert Hall with one of their teachers, Steven Tenenbom, in a program of late Brahms and Shostakovich, followed by compositions by two of their own members. Already accomplished, this group should, happily, be with us for some time to come.
Vertigo Quartet. February 22, 2009 at Curtis Institute of Music, (215) 893-7902 or www.curtis.edu.
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| 'Philip Guston: The '50s,' in New York |
February 21 2009 |
“Philip Guston: 1954-1958” occupies the ground floor of New York’s L & M gallery, and there is no more beautiful art space on display in that city. These Abstract Expressionist masterpieces reflect the haunting pressure of withheld images, but the sheer gorgeousness of their color and texture gives them a luminous splendor.
“Philip Guston: 1954-1958.” Through February 28, 2009 at L & M Arts, 45 East 78th St., New York. (212) 8610200 or www.lmgallery.com.
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| Public TV explains the Crash of ‘08 |
February 20 2009 |
Is a global economic meltdown about to consume the planet? Not to worry: Public TV is on the case, with cameras panning the glass canyons of Wall Street in between stints from talking heads and shots of an increasingly beleaguered-looking Henry Paulson.
“Inside the Meltdown”: Frontline documentary aired on PBS stations February 17, 2009. www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/meltdown.
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| ‘Blackbird’ by Theatre Exile (3rd review) |
February 17 2009 |
Scottish playwright David Harrower’s narrowly constructed Blackbird puts two former lovers in a tight place from which neither can escape. The truth, as he suggests, doesn’t always set one free, but sometimes only leaves people more hopelessly apart.
Blackbird. By David Harrower; directed by Joe Canuso. Theatre Exile production through March 1, 2009 at Plays & Players, 1724 Delancey St. (215) 218-4022 or www.theatreexile.org.
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| Cleveland Orchestra plays Mozart and Shostakovich |
February 10 2009 |
With the Philadelphia Orchestra AWOL for the month of February, the visiting Cleveland Orchestra came to the Kimmel Center to pick up some of the slack. Conductor Franz Welser-Most has a habit of rushing fast passages and clipping end-phrases, but his reading of the Shostakovich Leningrad Symphony proved a crowd-pleaser.
Cleveland Orchestra: Mozart 25th Symphony, Shostakovich Seventh Symphony. Franz Welser-Most, conductor. February 8, 2009 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center. (215) 893-1999 or www.kimmelcenter.org.
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| Isherwood dying, drawn by Don Bachardy |
February 10 2009 |
The writer Christopher Isherwood (1904-1986) arranged for his lover of more than 30 years, the artist Don Bachardy, to record his final months while dying of cancer in a sequence of candid drawings. The result was a very modern ars moriendi, and a very moving one.
“Christopher Isherwood: Last Drawings,” by Don Bachardy. January 6-February 7, 2009 at Cheim & Read gallery, 547 West 25th St., New York. (212) 242-7727 or www.cheimread.com.
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| AVA’s ‘La fiamma’ (1st review) |
January 27 2009 |
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.
La fiamma. Opera by Ottorino Respighi; Christofer Macatsoris, conductor. Academy of Vocal Arts production January 23-24, 2009 at Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center, January 27, 2009 at Centennial Hall, Haverford College. (215) 735.168 or www.avaopera.com.
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| Christoph Eschenbach returns |
January 24 2009 |
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.
Philadelphia Orchestra: Bartok Second Violin Concerto; Bruckner Sixth Symphony. Christoph Eschenbach, conductor; Leonidas Kavakos, violin. January 22-23, 2009 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center. (215) 893-1900 or www.philorch.org.
Curtis Symphony Orchestra: Dutilleux, Métaboles;
Barber, Piano Concerto;
Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique. Christoph Eschenbach, conductor; Meng-Chieh Liu, piano. January 20, 2009 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center. (215) 893-7902 or www.curtis.edu.
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| Clint Eastwood: Mellowing archetype |
January 19 2009 |
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.
Gran Torino. A film directed by Clint Eastwood. www.imdb.com/title/tt1205489
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| ‘Baroque Painting in Bologna’ at the Getty |
January 06 2009 |
Renaissance art made its last stand in late 16th- and 17th-Century Bologna, a backwater transformed by the talent of a single family, the Carracci, and the school of painting it produced. The Getty Museum’s current exhibit is welcome despite its misleading title: The Baroque influence is actually quite muted here.
"Captured Emotions: Baroque Painting in Bologna, 1575-1725." Through May 3, 2009 at the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles. (310) 440-7300 or www.getty.edu.
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| Joan Mitchell’s Sunflowers in Chelsea |
December 30 2008 |
The Abstract Expressionist Joan Mitchell returned periodically to the subject of sunflowers over the last quarter-century of her life, finding in them much the same moral that Van Gogh did, and the same capacity to serve as a filter for emotion.
Joan Mitchell: Sunflowers: November 4-December 20, 2008 at Cheim & Read Gallery, 547 West 25th St., New York. (212) 242-7727 or gallery@cheimread.com.
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| Miro’s radical decade, at MOMA in New York |
December 20 2008 |
In 1927, Joan Miro set out to reinvent art, reducing it to its simplest elements and exploring its most radical possibilities. In the process he reinvented himself, and produced in the next decade the finest art of a long career.
“Joan Miro: Painting and Anti-Painting, 1927-1937.” Through January 12, 2009 at the Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd St., New York. (212) 708-9400 or www.moma.org.
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| 'Frost/Nixon' at the Ritz 5. |
December 16 2008 |
Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon, adapted from the London stage play, pits a ferrety David Frost (Michael Sheen) against a hulking Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) in the modern media’s version of Gunfight at the OK Corral. Both men won and both men lost; but Langella’s Nixon, a tour de force, is the real reason to see the film.
Frost/Nixon. A film directed by Ron Howard, from the play by Peter Morgan. At the Ritz 5, 214 Walnut St. (215) 925-7900 or www.landmarktheatres.com.
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| Daniel Barenboim’s all-Liszt piano recital |
December 14 2008 |
Daniel Barenboim’s all-Liszt recital of Italian-themed works combined scholarship, musicianship and technical brilliance in equal measure to make a forceful case for the problematic Hungarian master. I still can’t tell you how Barenboim does it, but his performance was astonishing, and, for me, revelatory.
Daniel Barenboim, pianist. Master Musicians recital Series, December 8, 2008 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center. (215) 893-1999 or www.kimmelcenter.org.
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| Lantern’s ‘The Government Inspector’ |
December 14 2008 |
Nikolai Gogol’s 1836 farce, The Government Inspector, was the first satire of modern bureaucracy— a precursor of Kafka and Beckett. David O’Connor’s edgy production, with a fine cast headed by a rather astonishing Luigi Sottile, keeps the laughter coming while chills tug at the spine too.
The Government Inspector. Comedy by Nikolai Gogol; directed by David O’Connor. Lantern Theater production through December 28, 2008 at St. Stephen’s Theater, Tenth and Ludlow St. (215) 829-0395 or www.lanterntheater.org.
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| Oliver Stone’s ‘W’ |
November 26 2008 |
Oliver Stone is no Shakespeare but an amusing cartoonist who paints in broad strokes and loves a good villain. That leaves him at a loss in dealing with George W. Bush, who seems to have wrought far more evil than he was intellectually capable of.
W. A film directed by Oliver Stone. www.wthefilm.com/
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| Tilson Thomas conducts Mahler’s Fifth |
November 10 2008 |
Visiting conductor Michael Tilson Thomas gave full measure with a concert consisting of Copland’s robust early Symphony for Organ and Orchestra, and Mahler’s Fifth. The latter is one of the signal works of the 20th Century, although its rich detail is not served by Verizon Hall’s acoustics, and its musical material was too often distended by Tilson Thomas’s erratically stretched tempos.
Philadelphia Orchestra: Mahler Fifth Symphony; Copland Symphony for Organ and Orchestra. Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor; Paul Jacobs, organ. November 6-9, 2008 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center. (215) 893-1900 or www.philorch.org.
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| Bush: The final days |
November 04 2008 |
Most Americans have forgotten George W. Bush as his administration winds down. Yet the pace of its destructiveness has accelerated as January 20th approaches. The case for impeachment still needs to be made, if only for America’s self-protection between now and the inauguration.
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| Adras Schiff plays Beethoven at Perelman |
November 02 2008 |
Four out of five isn’t bad usually, even in a piano recital, but when it’s the Appassionata you miss, that’s a problem. An exemplary performance of the Les Adieux sonata did make substantial amends in the second half of Andras Schiff’s all-Beethoven recital, but the major work on his program suffered from a studied underplaying that robbed it of its force, and even made parts of it sound dull.
Andras Schiff: All-Beethoven piano recital. Presented by Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, October 31, 2008 at Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center. 215) 569-8080 or www.pcmsconcerts.org.
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| Kirchner’s Berlin street scenes at MOMA in New York |
October 28 2008 |
The Berlin Street Scene series of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, assembled for the first time in New York and presented with a generous selection of early work and sketches, is one of the great achievements of German art, and a prophecy no less relevant to our time than to its own.
“Kirchner and the Berlin Street.” Through November 10, 2008 at Museum of Modern Art, Fifth Avenue and 53rd St., New York. (212) 708) 9400 or www.moma.org.
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| The New Barnes: Our Potemkin Village (2nd comment) |
October 21 2008 |
Last week’s “groundbreaking” notwithstanding, there’s still no plan, and no money up-front, for the Barnes Foundation’s proposed new home on the Parkway. At this rate, Michelangelo would yet be painting the Sistine Chapel.
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| Jon Schueler paintings in New York |
October 14 2008 |
"Jon Schueler: Paintings from the 1950s and ’60s" displays work from the prime years of a neglected master of second-generation Abstract Expressionism who must be reckoned with in any accounting of what remains the most significant movement in modern American art.
Jon Schueler: Paintings from the 1950s and ’60s. Through October 25, 2008, at David Findlay Jr. Fine Art, 41 East 57th St., New York. (212) 486-7660 or www.davidfindlayjr.com.
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| ‘The Persians’ at People’s Light (2nd review) |
October 07 2008 |
Ellen McLaughlin’s version of Aeschylus’s The Persians is both timely and dated (it foretold our current quagmire in Iraq). Excellent staging sets this production apart, but the text partly weakens the original play, and the performers, while adequate, aren’t up to the tragic standard.
The Persians. By Ellen McLaughlin; directed by Jade King Carroll. Through October 19, 2008 at People's Light and Theatre Company, 39 Conestoga Rd, Malvern, Pa. (610) 644-3500 or www.peopleslight.org.
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| ‘Long Day’s Journey’ at Villanova |
October 07 2008 |
Villanova has opened its 50th drama season with a new production of Eugene O’Neill’s masterpiece, Long Day’s Journey into Night. The play opened the Vasey Hall stage forty years ago under Robert Hedley’s direction, and Hedley returned to bring it richly to life again.
Long Day’s Journey Into Night. By Eugene O’Neill; directed by Robert Hedley. Villanova Theatre production September 23-October 5, 2008 at Vasey Hall, Dougherty Drive, Villanova U. (610) 519-7474 or www.theatre.villanova.edu.
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| Turner and Morandi at the Met in N.Y. |
September 21 2008 |
Two deeply contrasting shows of work by the 19th-Century English master J. M. W. Turner and the 20-Century Italian Giorgio Morandi pose in different ways the modern problem of the sublime, and with it our own understanding of— and existence in-— the natural world.
“J. M. W. Turner,” through September 21, 2008. “Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964),” through December 14, 2008 at Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd St., New York. (212) 535.7710 or http://www.metmuseum.org.
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| Pinter’s ‘Hothouse’ at Lantern Theater |
September 21 2008 |
An early Harold Pinter play reveals a flawed but prophetic work that, unlike most revivals, has as much to say about our times as its own.
The Hothouse. By Harold Pinter. Lantern Theater production through October 12, 2008 at St. Stephen’s Theater, 10th and Ludlow Streets, through October 12. (215) 829-0395 or http://www.lanterntheater.org.
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| Gorbachev wins the Liberty Medal |
September 13 2008 |
Mikhail Gorbachev, winner of this year’s Liberty Medal, is indeed an overachiever. He lost his country. He lost a superpower. He lost the greatest land empire ever seen. And he did it all on his own.
Liberty Medal Award presentation. September 18, 2008 at National Constitution Center, 525 Arch St. (215) 409-6600 or constitutioncenter.org/libertymedal.
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| Woody Allen’s ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’ |
August 26 2008 |
Woody Allen returns to top form in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, a wry comedy (or anti-comedy) that freshly explores his perennial theme, the anarchic consequences of love.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona. A film by Woody Allen. At the Ritz Five, 214 Walnut St. (215) 925-7900 or www.landmarktheatres.com.
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| Prokofiev festival at Bard College |
August 23 2008 |
Searching for classical music in the summertime? Philadelphia is a certifiable wasteland, but challenging repertory can be found in the hinterlands of New York and New England, as Leon Botstein’s ten-concert series at Bard College, “Prokofiev and His World,” recently demonstrated.
“Sergei Prokofiev and His World.” Weekends through October 25, 2008 at Bard Music Festival, Sosnoff Theater, Richard B. Fisher Center, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.
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| Yumiko Izu’s flowers in Woodstock, N.Y. |
August 19 2008 |
Yumiko Izu’s exhibit of floral photography, Secret Garden, reveals the deep interaction between the flower world and the human one in images that focus us afresh on a well-worn but inexhaustible subject.
“Secret Garden”: Floral photography by Yumiko Izu. Through September 8, 2008 at Galerie BMG, Woodstock, N.Y. (845) 679-0027 or www.galeriebmg.com.
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| Herzog's 'Encounters at the End of the World' |
August 16 2008 |
Werner Herzog’s new film explores the bleakly beautiful landscape of Antarctica and its inhabitants, none stranger than its human ones. In the process Herzog raises philosophical issues rarely touched upon in recent cinema.
Encounters at the End of the World. A film by Werner Herzog. encountersfilm.com.
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| A watershed election (not) |
August 12 2008 |
This year’s election should be the left’s opportunity, but the conventional liberal alternative is timid and palsied. And Barack Obama’s performance is increasingly disappointing, not to say alarming.
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| Philip Guston at Morgan Library |
June 17 2008 |
“Philip Guston: Works on Paper” is a comprehensive show of 100 drawings by the modern American master Philip Guston that shows his graphic oeuvre as not merely a complement to his paintings but as a distinct and independent achievement.
“Philip Guston: Works on Paper.” Through August 30, 2008 at Morgan Library and Museum, 225 Madison Ave, (at 36th St.), New York. (212) 685-0008 or www.themorgan.o
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| ‘Bodies, Inc.’ |
June 17 2008 |
So you thought dead bodies are useless? Bodies….the Exhibition has attracted throngs of spectators in a wildly successful nationwide tour. Where do these bodies come from? Funny you should ask….
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| The Barnes Foundation rulings (Part 2) |
June 10 2008 |
Having approved the controversial move of the Barnes Foundation in 2004, Judge Stanley Ott has now denied standing to those who would offer new evidence against the move. He has also refused to examine such evidence himself.
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| Richard Diebenkorn monotypes in N.Y. |
June 08 2008 |
This fine show, mostly in the demanding medium of the monotype, displays the richness and technical mastery of the distinguished West Coast artist Richard Diebenkorn, who explored virtually every possibility of print and graphic art.
“Richard Diebenkorn: Ocean Park Monotypes and Drawings.” Through June 27, 2008 at Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, 730 Fifth Ave. (at 57th St.), New York. 212-445-0444 or gvdgallery.com.
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| Latest ruling on the Barnes move (Part 1) |
June 01 2008 |
Montgomery Orphans’ Court Judge Stanley R. Ott, the Great Enabler of the Barnes heist, has once again refused to hear proposals from the county that would, at no cost to the taxpayer, have made the Barnes solvent in Merion and thus obviated the alleged necessity to move it to Philadelphia.
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| ‘Our Town’ at the Arden (1st review) |
May 31 2008 |
Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, a play meant to challenge nostalgic illusions about American small-town life, is made instead into a celebration of them in the Arden Theatre’s wrap-up of its 20th anniversary season. Linking Grover’s Corners to Philadelphia itself only makes the city look provincial.
Our Town. By Thornton Wilder; directed by Terrence J. Nolen. Through June 22, 2008 at the Arden Theatre, 40 N. Second Street. (215) 922-1122
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| The orchestra prima donna syndrome |
May 25 2008 |
Arguments about the ugliness and fragmentation of the Kimmel Center's interior beg the real question: Why is one of the world's great orchestras going to be led by a second-tier conductor in a third-rate hall?
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| ‘Eurydice’ at the Wilma (4th review) |
May 25 2008 |
The play’s not really the thing in the Wilma’s final season production, but Blanka Zizka’s staging— a brilliant ensemble of music, dance, and drama— renders it more than worth the price of admission.
Eurydice. By Sarah Ruhl; directed by Blanka Zizka. Through June 1, 2008 at Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St. (at Spruce). (215) 546-7824 or www.wilmatheater.org.
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| Barbara Rosin’s Umbria landscapes |
May 20 2008 |
An old style and an old subject— yet Barbara Rosin’s responses are fresh and vivid, her brushwork is fluid and supple, and her imaginative engagement creates a crepuscular world where landscape trembles on the verge of vision.
Barbara Rosin: "Remembering Umbria: New Landscape Paintings." Through June 26, 2008 at Cosmopolitan Club, 1616 Latimer St. (215) 735-1057 or www.cosclub.org.
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| Chamber Orchestra: Mahler and Schoenberg (2nd review) |
May 10 2008 |
The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia performed Schoenberg’s highly forgettable foray into tonality, the Suite in G for Strings, but then acquitted itself with a radiant account of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde in the Schoenberg-Riehn version— an hour of music-making to rank with the finest heard in the city this year.
Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia: Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde; Schoenberg, Suite in G. for Strings. Dirk Br
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| Curtis Orchestra with Leon Fleisher |
May 03 2008 |
Hindemith’s long-lost Klaviermusik mit Orchester was the centerpiece of a program that showed off the Curtis Symphony Orchestra to fine effect. Octogenarian soloist Leon Fleisher, himself long limited to the left hand repertory, made robust music with musicians a quarter his age.
Curtis Symphony Orchestra: Hindemith, Schuller, Dvorak. April 27, 2008 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center. Leon Fleisher, piano; Christoph Eschenbach, conductor. (215) 893-7902 or Orchestra plays Sibelius and Bruckner |
April 29 2008 |
Christoph Eschenbach moved closer to the end of his abbreviated stay with the Philadelphia Orchestra in a program of Sibelius and Bruckner that demonstrated, particularly in the Bruckner, why he should be staying instead of leaving.
Philadelphia Orchestra: Sibelius Violin Concerto, Bruckner Sixth Symphony. Vadim Repin, violin; Christoph Eschenbach, conductor. April 24-26, 2008 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center. (215) 893-1900 or
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| Lee Miller photos at Art Museum (3rd review) |
April 26 2008 |
Lee Miller was a regal beauty and fashion queen, a Surrealist muse and photographer, and a correspondent who captured some of the most striking images of World War II— including herself in Hitler’s bathtub. A woman for all seasons, who led one of the most adventurous lives of the 20th Century.
“The Art of Lee Miller.” Through April 27, 2008 at Philadelphia Museum of Art, Benjamin Franklin Parkway and 26th St. (215) 763-8100 or Corneille’s ‘The Illusion’ at Villanova |
April 22 2008 |
Tony Kushner’s free rendering of Pierre Corneille’s Baroque fantasy, The Illusion, captures the spirit if not the diction of the original in Harriet Power’s fine staging, with a few mordant modern touches thrown in. It’s a reminder that some of our best regional theater can be found on university stages.
The Illusion. By Pierre Corneille, adapted by Tony Kushner; directed by Harriet Power. Villanova Theatre production through April 27
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| ‘My Father’s Game,’ by Rick Wilber |
April 19 2008 |
Rick Wilber’s perceptive memoir of his father, his family and himself is also a book about the mythology of baseball. Del Wilber never lost the aura of entitlement that America accords a big league ballplayer, however modestly gifted.
My Father’s Game: Life, Death, Baseball. By Rick Wilber. McFarland & Co., 2008. 214 pages. $29.95. www.amazon.com.
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| Yuja Wang with St. Martin-in-the-Fields |
April 11 2008 |
Every now and then a concert comes along that reminds one why music-making is man’s most joyous activity. It would be nice to see our own resident orchestra loosened up and having such fun. As for Yuja Wang, we are going to hear much more of her.
Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields: Mozart, Mendelssohn, Haydn. Yuja Wang, piano; Neville Mariner, conductor. April 9, 2008 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center. (215) 893-1999 or www.k
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| Lantern Theater’s ‘Othello’ |
April 05 2008 |
Frank X builds to an incandescent climax in the title role of this well-staged Othello. But an understated Iago prevents the production from capturing the play’s full power.
Othello. By William Shakespeare; directed by Charles McMahon. Lantern Theater production through May 4, 2008 at St. Stephen’s Theater, Tenth and Ludlow St. (215) 829.0395 or www.lanterntheater.org.
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| ‘Drawings from the Uffizi’ in New York |
March 29 2008 |
“Drawings from the Uffizi,” is a superb sample from one of the world’s great collections that celebrates one of the West’s peak moments: the rise of Florence.
“Michelangelo, Vasari, and Their Contemporaries: Drawings from the Uffizi.” Through April 20, 2008 at the Morgan Library, Madison Ave. at 36th St., New York. (212) 685-0008 or www.themorgan.org.
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| ‘Jasper Johns: Gray” at the Met in N.Y. |
March 29 2008 |
In “Jasper Johns: Gray,” the Metropolitan Museum of Art has mounted a retrospective of perhaps the most signal American artist of the past half century, viewed through the prism of the single color that most aptly defines him. This intelligent show of a most elusively intelligent mind points up both the undoubted strengths and ultimate limitations of Johns’s riddling art.
“Jasper Johns: Gray.” Through May 4, 2008 at Metropolitan Museu
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| PTC’s ‘Third’ (1st review) |
March 29 2008 |
Third, Wendy Wasserstein’s last play, sends up tenured feminists and Wasserstein’s own liberal politics, but it arrives too late for satire and contains too little for drama. Plus, you have to listen to voice-overs from George W. Bush.
Third. By Wendy Wasserstein; directed by Mary B. Robinson. Philadelphia Theatre Co. production through April 20, 2008 at Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad (at Lombard). (215) 985-0420 or Fumo and the Barnes move |
March 15 2008 |
The departing power broker Vincent Fumo claimed to have delivered $8 billion in funding to Philadelphia in 30 years as a state senator. But his biggest allocation of all is one he refuses to take credit for— a secret fund to facilitate the move of the Barnes Foundation to Philadelphia.
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| Tokyo String Quartet at Convention Center |
March 15 2008 |
The excellent Tokyo Quartet, like most brand-name chamber groups, has retooled itself over the years. Its two newcomers are actually the best musicians in the group, especially first violinist Martin Beaver.
Tokyo String Quartet: Haydn, Beethoven Shostakovich. With Lydia Artymiw, piano. Presented by Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, March 11, 2008 at Pennsylvania Convention Center, 13th and Cherry St. (215) 569-8080 or EgoPo’s ‘Something Cloudy, Something Clear’ |
March 04 2008 |
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
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| Chamber Orchestra plays the Moderns |
February 26 2008 |
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
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| Lantern Theater’s ‘Skylight’ (1st review) |
February 09 2008 |
Can an old flame be reignited in the midst of a dreary London winter? David Hare’s Skylight asks us to buy into a plot that strains credulity while rehashing the political storms of yesteryear.
Skylight. By David Hare; directed by Dan Kern. Lantern Theater Co. production through March 2, 2008 at St. Stephen’s Theater, 10th and Ludlow Streets. (215) 829-0395 or www.lanterntheater.org.
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| Decline of Philadelphia architecture |
February 09 2008 |
Philadelphia is still, in parts, a noble city, but it is tearing down its beautiful old buildings while putting up some very ugly new ones.
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| Beckett’s ‘Happy Days’ in Brooklyn |
January 27 2008 |
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
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| ‘Wittenberg’ at the Arden (1st review) |
January 27 2008 |
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 What small galleries can do |
January 22 2008 |
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
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| Orchestra plays Bernstein and Higdon (1st review) |
January 19 2008 |
As the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Bernstein festival proceeds, his youthful Jeremiah Symphony, and Schumann’s Second, framed the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s The Singing Rooms. It’s one of the few works I’ve heard in recent years that deserves not only the occasional performance but also a place in the permanent repertory.
Philadelphia Orchestra: Bernstein Jeremiah Symphony, Schumann Second Symphony, Higdon The Singing
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| Raping Europa— and the Barnes |
January 05 2008 |
The Rape of Europa is the moving story of the loss and preservation of art during World War II. On an even deeper level, it’s about the creation and destruction that defines civilization— the value that we place on our own humanity. It’s a reminder, too, of the threat to our heritage represented by the attempt to pillage the Barnes Foundation today.
The Rape of Europa. A film written and directed by Richard Berge, Bonni Cohen, and Nicole Newnham.
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| American Drawings in New York |
January 05 2008 |
Two shows of American drawings: a solo exhibition of Stuart Davis’s sketchbooks tracing more than 50 years of his art, and a joint show of Philip Guston and Jasper Johns that turns out to be a mismatch between a tiger and a zebra.
Dynamic Impulse: The Drawings of Stuart Davis. Through Jan. 21, 2008 at Hollis Taggart Galleries, 958 Madison Ave., New York. (212) 628-4000 or Solzhenitsyn plays Brahms |
December 18 2007 |
We don’t usually think of Brahms as a composer for the piano. So can an all-Brahms piano program work? Ignat Solzhenitsyn gave the answer in his Curtis Institute recital, and it was, resoundingly, yes.
Ignat Solzhenitsyn: Four piano works by Brahms. December 16, 2007 at Curtis Institute, 1726 Locust St. (215) 893-5252 or www.curtis.edu.
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| ‘Passports to Paris’ at Harrisburg |
December 04 2007 |
The novelist Baudelaire asked French artists of the 19th Century to render what he called “the heroism of modern life.” As this exhibition attests, by and large they responded— though in art’s oblique fashion.
“Passports to Paris: Nineteenth-Century French Prints from the Georgia Museum of Art.” Through December 30, 2007 at Susquehanna Art Museum, 301 Market St., Harrisburg. Pa. (717) 233-8668 or Orchestra’s ‘Das Paradies und die Peri’ (3rd |
December 04 2007 |
The Philadelphia Orchestra’s premiere performance of Das Paradies und die Peri under Sir Simon Rattle revealed buried treasure: an hour and a half of top-drawer Schumann that Wolfgang Sawallisch overlooked.
Philadelphia Orchestra: Schumann, Das Paradies und die Peri. Simon Rattle, conductor; Heidi Grant Murphy, soprano; Christine Brandes, soprano, Bernarda Fink, mezzo-soprano; Mark Padmore, tenor; Joseph Kaiser, tenor; Luca Pisaroni, bass-
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| Three new neo-noir films |
November 27 2007 |
Three stylish neo-noir films set in the recent American past reflect our current predicament in Iraq, partly by looking back.
American Gangster. Film directed by Ridley Scott.
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. Film directed by Sidney Lume
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| ‘Mother Courage’ at Villanova (1st review) |
November 17 2007 |
Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage is the right play at the right time as we face our own incipient Thirty Years’ War in the Middle East, and Villanova’s production gives a credible account of the play’s astringent honesty as well as its epic power.
Mother Courage and Her Children. By Bertolt Brecht; directed by Shawn Kairschner. Villanova Theatre production November 13-18 and November 27-December 2, 2007 at Vasey Theatre, Villanova U. (
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| Seurat drawings at MOMA |
November 13 2007 |
If Van Gogh offered us a new way of seeing, Seurat concentrated his formidable talent on the act of seeing itself. As great a painter as Seurat is, he is arguably an even greater draftsman, and the current exhibit of his drawings at the Museum of Modern Art is an event not to be missed.
“Georges Seurat: The Drawings.” Through January 7, 2008 at Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 St., New York. (212) 708-9400 or Van Gogh letters at Morgan Library |
November 10 2007 |
A show of Van Gogh’s art and correspondence with Emile Bernard at the Morgan Library in New York offers an engaging portrait of one of modern art’s founders, while in the neighboring gallery four contemporary draftsmen construct their own dialogue with Old Masters.
“Painted with Words: Vincent Van Gogh’s Letters to Émile Bernard” and “Drawing Connections.” Through January 6, 2008 at the Morgan Library, (212) 685-0008 or
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| ‘Graphic Modernism’ at N.Y. Public Library |
November 10 2007 |
At the New York Public Library, an exhibit of interwar East European graphic art poignantly recreates the aspirations of a vanished age.
“Graphic Modernism: From the Baltic to the Balkans, 1910-1935.” Through January 27, 2008 at New York Public Library, Fifth Avenue and 41st St., New York. (212) 869-8089 or www.nypl.org.
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| Juilliard Quartet at the Perelman |
October 27 2007 |
The Juilliard Quartet has known better days. Its first of two Chamber Music Society concerts at the Perelman Theater this year, while serviceable enough in Haydn, fell short of the scope and intensity needed for Shostakovich’s Thirteenth Quartet and Beethoven’s First Rasumovsky.
Juilliard Quartet: Haydn E-Flat Quarter; Beethoven First Rasumovsky Quartet; Shostakovich Thirteenth Quartet. October 24, 2007 at Perelman Theater, Kimmel Cen
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| 'An Empty Plate’ at the Arden (1st review) |
October 20 2007 |
Michael Hollinger’s An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf, in its excellent revival at the Arden, remains half a serving of well-crafted theater that’s still missing the real meal it might have served.
An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf. By Michael Hollinger; directed by Whit MacLaughlin. Through December 9, 2007 at Arden Theater, 40 N. Second St. (212) 922-1122 or www.ardent
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| Chamber Orchestra plays Berg |
October 02 2007 |
The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia’s second concert of the season was brilliantly conceived and executed, with Alban Berg’s exacting and rarely performed masterwork, the Concerto for Piano and Violin with Thirteen Wind Instruments, as the centerpiece. The result, for the happy few on hand, was what is likely to be one of the most memorable evenings of the season.
Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia: Berg, Harbison, Stravinsky, Persichetti. September 28-30, 2007
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| Kirchner and Pousette-Dart in New York |
September 18 2007 |
An eclectic show at New York’s Neue Galerie, built around one of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s Berlin street scene paintings, is quietly stolen by several Kandinskys, while Kandinsky’s chief American heir, Richard Pousette-Dart, offers a show nearby at the scaffolded Guggenheim that should not be missed.
“Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: Berlin Street Scene.” Through September 17, 2007, at Neue Galerie, 1048 Fifth Ave. (at 86th St), New York. (212) 628-6200
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| A Tale of Two Philadelphias |
September 01 2007 |
The misnamed Youth Study Center is, frankly, a poor endorsement for the Museum Mile and its tony new high-rises. Here, on the pretext of making the Barnes Foundation’s art more accessible to the masses, was a perfect opportunity to raise another bulwark between the two cities, and to remove an uncomfortable reminder of those mean streets and playgrounds where Philadelphians actually live.
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| Michael Moore’s ‘Sicko’ |
August 18 2007 |
Michael Moore is quite deliberately deficient in neutrality, balance and objectivity. But in a country where satire has become almost the only means to tell the truth, his voice is invaluable.
Sicko. A film by Michael Moore.
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| 'Martin Creed: Feelings' at Bard College |
August 21 2007 |
“Martin Creed: Feelings” offers a cunning pastiche of retro styles and genres that conceals a troubling commentary on the state of contemporary art under its surface geniality and wit.
“Martin Creed: Feelings.” Through Sept. 16, 2007, at the Center for Curatorial Studies, Hessel Museum, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. (845) 758-7598 or www.bard.edu/ccs.
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| Three New York gallery shows |
July 03 2007 |
Thank heaven for New Jersey Transit: Three brilliant gallery shows cap off the New York season, and show why the small to medium exhibition, thoughtfully mounted, is still the happiest experience of art.
“Claude Monet,” through June 15, 2007 at Pace Wildenstein Gallery, 32 East 57thh St., New York. (212) 421-3292 or www.pacewildenstein.com.
“Sublime Convergences, through July 2
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| What did Albert Barnes really want? |
June 11 2007 |
In his proposal for the Barnes Foundation, Gresham Riley has misconstrued Albert Barnes's intent. Never at any time did Barnes regard his curriculum as suitable for schoolchildren. His was a program of adult education addressed to a general but fully mature public.
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| Georges Rouault in New York |
June 06 2007 |
A modest but impressive show of Georges Rouault offers at least a partial opportunity to re-evaluate an important but neglected modern master. It also poses the question of whether this deeply Christian painter can still speak to a secular age.
“Georges Rouault: Judges, Clowns and Whores.” Through June 9, 2007 at Mitchell-Innes & Nash, 1018 Madison Ave., (at 78th St.), New York. (212-) 744-7400 or
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| InterAct’s ’Skin in Flames’ |
June 05 2007 |
Catalan playwright Guillem Clua’s Skin in Flames seeks to explore personal guilt, political repression, and sexual brutality in an unnamed and generic Third World state. In leaving nothing to the imagination, however, it fails at any point to evoke it.
Skin in Flames. By Guillem Clua; directed Seth Rozin. Through June 24, 2007 at InterAct Theatre, 2030 Sansom St. (215) 568-8079 or www.interactheatre.
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| ‘Lookingglass Alice’ at Arden |
May 19 2007 |
Lookingglass Alice stages Lewis Carroll as a kind of metaphysical circus for adults. Despite a gifted and wonderfully athletic troupe, however, this ultimately reductive production falls between two stools.
Lookingglass Alice. Directed and adapted by David Catlin in association with the Actors Gymnasium. Through June 10, 2007 at the Arden Theatre, 40 N. Second St. (215) 922-1122 or www.ardentheatre.
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| ‘Orson’s Shadow’ at PTC (first review) |
May 12 2007 |
Orson’s Shadow, the Philadelphia Theatre Company’s final production at Plays & Players, is an intriguing if uneven study in theatrical genius, with a splendidly realized Sir Laurence Olivier dominating the play.
Orson’s Shadow. By Austin Pendleton; James J. Christy directed. Philadelphia Theatre Co. production through June 3, 2007 at Plays & Players, 1714 Delancey Street. (215) 985-0420 or Philadelphia Orchestra plays Mahler’s Second |
May 08 2007 |
How does a modern hero get to heaven? Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony is perhaps our closest approach to the Dantesque sublime, and Christoph Eschenbach mounted a convincing performance in the Orchestra’s penultimate performance of his penultimate season.
Mahler Second Symphony (Resurrection). Philadelphia Orchestra, Christoph Eschenbach conducting. May 3-5, 2007 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center; May 8, 2007 at Carnegie Hall, New York. (215) 893.190
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| Heyman’s Abu Ghraib prints (2nd review) |
May 05 2007 |
Daniel Heyman’s Abu Ghraib Detainee Interview Project combines image and text in portraits of former Abu Ghraib prisoners that are all the more devastating an indictment for their understatement. The victims retain their humanity and reassert their dignity, but what of us?
Daniel Heyman: The Abu Ghraib Project. Through May 5, 2007, at The Print Center, 1614 Latimer St. Free. 215-735-6090 or www.printcenter.org.
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| American String Quartet with Lydia Artymiw |
May 05 2007 |
The American String Quartet and pianist Lydia Artymiw dug into Haydn, Shostakovich and Dohnanyi with obvious relish, and paid tribute to Mstislav Rostropovich in a moving encore.
American String Quartet, with Lydia Artymiw, pianist. May 2, 2007 at Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center. Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, (215) 569-8080 or Wilma’s ‘Life of Galileo’ |
April 21 2007 |
Brecht (like Shaw) needs to be heard out at full length, and Blanka Zizka’s capable production has properly served him. To offer a work that takes not merely the play but the passion of ideas seriously, and to bring it off well, is daring enough these days.
The Life of Galileo. By Bertolt Brecht; translated from the German by David Edgar; directed by Blanka Zizka. Through May 13, 2007, at Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St. (at Spruce). (215
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| ‘70s revisited: 'Hoax' and 'Zodiac' |
April 17 2007 |
Just when you thought it was safe to come out of the ‘70s revival, two new films have arrived to immerse us anew in the bad hair, bad faith and low-grade paranoia of the period.
The Hoax. A film by Lasse Hallström. www.lassehallstrom.com.
Zodiac. A film by David Fincher. zodiacfilm.blogspot.com.
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| Boreyko conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra |
April 17 2007 |
The Russian conductor Andrey Boreyko brought an interestingly offbeat program to town, as well as a somewhat wayward beat of his own. Boreyko’s gyrations were so distracting that I had to avert my eyes in the end to hear the music.
Philadelphia Orchestra. Andrey Boreyko, conductor; Piotr Anderszewski, piano. April 12-14, 2007 at Verizon Hall, Broad and Spruce Sts. (215) 893-1900 or www.philorch.org.
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| EgoPo’s ‘Spring Awakening’ (second review) |
March 28 2007 |
Frank Wedekind’s Spring Awakening, fresh and spirited in its production by Philadelphia’s newest company, makes yesterday’s avant-garde more exciting than most anything on today’s constipated stage.
Spring Awakening. By Frank Wedekind; directed by Lane Savadove. Presented by EgoPo Productions through March 25, 2007 at Mainstage at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St.
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| Naoto Nakagawa paintings in New York |
March 26 2007 |
Two New York shows, one of early paintings and one of recent ones, comprise a partial retrospective one of the most important and provocative Japanese-American painters of the past half century. Naoto Nakagawa offers the viewer much, but his violent, disturbing, and hallucinatory vision demands no less of us.
Naoto Nakagawa, Early and Recent. Through Match 31, 2007 at White Box, 525 W 26th St., Manhattan, (212) 714-2347 or ww
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| Ellen Levy's 'Public Secrets' |
March 19 2007 |
Ellen K. Levy’s fascinating and disturbing images of our increasingly threatened planet constitute not merely an indictment of technology run amok but a mirror in which we can see ourselves.
Ellen K. Levy’s Public Secrets. Feb. 15-March 17, 2007 at Michael Steinberg Gallery, 526 W. 26 S., New York. 212.924.5770 or www.michaelsteinbergfineart.com.
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| Orchestra plays Shostakovich and Mozart |
March 13 2007 |
Ingo Metzmacher’s eclectic program with the Philadelphia Orchestra included a radiant performance of Mozart’s Fifth Violin Concerto with Gil Shaham, and a welcome if not fully idiomatic reading of Shostakovich’s long-suppressed Fourth Symphony.
Philadelphia Orchestra: Weber Overture to Der Freischütz; Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5; Shostakovich Symphony No. 4. Ingo Metzmacher, conductor; Gil Shaham, violin. March 8-10, 2007 at Verizon Hall
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| Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra |
March 06 2007 |
Riccardo Chailly and his Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra were in fine form in a program that juxtaposed sunny early Schumann and conflicted mid-period Mahler. Chailly represents the sterner European ethic, which asks performers and listeners alike to put in their time, and so we got a gracious plenty.
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra performs Schumann and Mahler. Riccardo Chailly conducting. March 4, 2007 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center
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| Wilma’s ‘Enemies, A Love Story’ (second revi |
February 27 2007 |
Sarah Schulman’s theatrical adaptation of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s novel is a misbegotten venture that mixes bad humor and worse philosophy in a travesty about Holocaust survivors in postwar New York. This is the perfect Seinfeld prequel, with angst by Adolf and body tattoos from Josef Mengele.
Enemies, A Love Story. By Sarah Schulman, from the novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer; directed by Jiri Zizka. Through March 11, 2007 at Wilma Theater, Broad and Spruce
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| Nader Redux: ‘An Unreasonable Man’ |
February 13 2007 |
Ralph Nader is an American original, but An Unreasonable Man seems to subliminally exploit an issue that’s deeply troubling in his record. The film is the flawed story of a flawed man who is nonetheless as close to a public hero as we have.
An Unreasonable Man. Film directed by Henriette Mantel and Steve Skovran. At the Bala Theatre, 157 Bala Avenue,
Bala Cynwyd, PA
610-222-FILM or Solzhenitsyn in recital |
February 10 2007 |
The Russian-born pianist is more Teutonic than Russian in temperament, and the Hindemith Third Sonata was well suited to him. Solzhenitsyn is not a natural Schubertian, but he played the A major with a becoming gravity and many graceful touches.
Ignat Solzhenitsyn. Piano recital presented February 7, 2007 by Philadelphia Chamber Music Society at American Philosophical Society, 105 S. Fifth St. (215) 569-8080 or www.pc
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| ‘Tut and the Golden Age’ at Franklin Institute |
February 06 2007 |
In his latest encore, the ancient Egyptian ruler, who returned to life in the 20th Century to create the modern museum blockbuster, demonstrates that he’s still the boss.
Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs. Through September 30, 2007 at Franklin Institute, 20th St. and Benj. Franklin Pkwy. (215) 448-1200 or www2.fi.edu.
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| InterAct’s ‘House With No Walls’ |
January 27 2007 |
As a play of ideas and a rumination on the use and abuse of cultural memory, Thomas Gibbons’s new black-themed play about the Liberty Bell Center controversy and the struggle for cultural memory in America hits its marks deftly if with no great subtlety. What it foregoes, perhaps inevitably, is any real penetration of character.
A House With No Walls. By Thomas Gibbons; directed by Seth Rozin. InterAct Theatre production through February 18, 2007 at Adrienne Th
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| Eschenbach conducts Vivaldi and Bruckner |
January 20 2007 |
Vivaldi and Bruckner don’t jibe at all; they represent not only different styles but different sonic universes. This is why programming is best left to music directors. But if the Bruckner Ninth is the standard by which Eschenbach’s successors are measured, their work is cut out for them.
Philadelphia Orchestra: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony. Christoph Eschenbach conducting. Jan. 17-20 at Verizon Hall. (215) 893-
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| Goya's 'Caprichos' at Penn (2nd review) |
December 23 2006 |
Goya’s grotesque vision is deeply rooted in Spanish sensibility and culture, and particularly the moment at which Enlightenment ideals clashed with a still-feudal and still-clerical society. The frankly naked witches, demons and warlocks who populate the series reveal a truth that wears its own guise— namely that of the hideous.
“Francisco Goya y Lucientes: ‘Los Caprichos’.” Through January 7, 2007 at the Arthur Ross Gallery. 220 South 34th Street
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| Philip Guston drawings in New York |
December 23 2006 |
If Goya’s world appears to totter on the point of savage regression, Guston’s seems to have experienced that regression in full: the two world wars of his own lifetime.
Philip Guston: Drawings. Through January 10, 2007 at McKee Gallery, 745 Fifth Ave., New York. (212) 688-9591 or mckeegallery.com/current.html.
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| Peter Serkin at Perelman |
December 16 2006 |
Peter Serkin isn't a pianist for all seasons or tastes. But he gives a master class on musical style through the centuries, with Beethoven’s mightiest sonata as both pivot and climax.
Peter Serkin: Piano recital. December 12 at Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center. Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, (215) 569-8080 or www.philadelphiachambermusic.org.
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| Orchestra's Shostakovich/Mahler bill |
December 02 2006 |
Conductor Christoph Eschenbach and soloist Alisa Wellerstein were looking over their shoulders in Verizon Hall the other night— and so were Mahler and Shostakovich.
Philadelphia Orchestra: Shostakovich First Cello Concerto with Alisa Wallerstein; Mahler Fourth Symphony; Christoph Eschenbach conducting. November 24, 2006 at Verizon Hall. Broad and Spruce Sts. 215-893-1900 or www.philorch.org.
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| Achin’ for Eakins? Count me out |
December 02 2006 |
The Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton is breaking Philadelphia’s heart just as she brokeNew York's. But in light of Philadelphia’s impending theft of the Barnes Foundation from Lower Merion, Philadelphia deserves to lose The Gross Clinic. It deserves to feel what it’s like to be on the other end of grand larceny.
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| Constable Landscapes at National Gallery |
November 15 2006 |
The National Gallery’s revelatory exhibit of John Constable places his large landscapes beside their equally large preparatory oil sketches, and shows us the dark and visionary genius behind some of the most familiar and best-loved paintings of the 19th Century.
“Constable's Great Landscapes: The Six-Foot Paintings.” Through December 31, 2006, at National Gallery of Art, East Building, Upper Level and Mezzanine, National Mall between 3rd and 7th Streets at Constit
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| Shostakovich in New York |
November 07 2006 |
Valery Gergiev wraps up his Shostakovich symphony cycle in New York, and reveals a composer on whom the 20th Century set its seal as on no other.
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| ‘Zoo Story’ at Society Hill Playhouse |
November 07 2006 |
A good cast can’t rescue a dated play or mask the misogyny at the heart of Edward Albee’s work.
The Zoo Story. By Edward Albee; directed by Steven Wright. Through November 18, 2006 at Society Hill Playhouse, 507 South Eighth St. www.societyhillplayhouse.org.
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| Robert Richenburg at Mishkin Gallery (NY) |
October 24 2006 |
Robert Richenburg’s black paintings constitute one of the summits of American Abstract Expressionism, and his recent passing makes the small but elegant retrospective of his work at Baruch’s Sidney Mishkin Gallery an historic as well as an aesthetic event in the new art season.
Robert Richenburg. Through October 27, 2006, at Sidney Mishkin Gallery, 135 East 22 Street, New York. (212) 802-2690 or www.baruch.cuny.edu/mis
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| Eminent Domain and the Barnes |
October 17 2006 |
Last year the Supreme Court ruled that government can seize private property for private interests. In the case of the Barnes Foundation’s move, a Pennsylvania court has taken that questionable notion one step further: In effect it let private interests do the seizing.
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| 'Waiting for Godot' at Annenberg |
October 16 2006 |
The Gate Theatre’s Waiting for Godot is a worthy production by a company with Beckett in its bones— not all one could wish for, but as good as we are likely to see for a while.
Waiting For Godot. By Samuel Beckett, directed by Walter D. Ausmus. Gate Theatre production through October 15, 2006 at Zellerbach Theatre, Annenberg Center, 215-898-3900 or www.pennpresents.org.
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| Lantern's 'Master Harold' (second review) |
September 26 2006 |
Athol Fugard's mid-period play "Master Harold"... and the Boys gets a good production at the Lantern Theater and a sterling performance from Frank X, but its flawed premise-- the relationship between a young white boy and a middle-aged black servant in apartheid-era South Africa-- vitiates its final impact.
"Master Harold"…and the Boys. By Athol Fugard; Lantern Theater Co. production directed by David O’Connor. Through Oct. 15, 2006,
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| Laurent Cantet's 'Heading South' |
August 24 2006 |
Here’s a plot with no hope but a tawdry ending: Three ladies of a certain age go shopping for sex in late-‘70s Haiti and get both more— and less— than they bargained for. Audiences get less.
Heading South (Vers Le Sud). A film directed by Laurent Cantet. Playing at the Ritz at the Bourse, Fourth and Ludlow Sts. (215) 925-7900.
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| The great Barnes shell game |
July 20 2006 |
If the Barnes Foundation failed to make a go of it on the Parkway, it could drag down the Art Museum, whose attendance revenues already lag. So why do the key players in the Barnes move seem unconcerned by the daunting financial projections? Is it possible that the Barnes’s fund-raising campaign itself is a shell game created to mask the real intent of the players: to capture the permanent gallery collection for the Art Museum itself?
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| Pig Iron's 'Love Unpunished' |
September 14 2006 |
Love Unpunished. Directed by Dan Rothenberg, choreographed by David Brick. Presented by Pig Iron Theatre Company, through Sept. 17, 2006 at Cinema at Penn, 3925 Walnut St. (215) 413-1318 or Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe.
This starkly minimalist 55-minute allegory of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina may be the most interesting work staged in Philadel
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| Wilma's 'A Number' |
May 16 2006 |
As a play of ideas, Caryl Churchill’s A Number raises significant issues about our human future. As drama, however, it’s largely mired in naturalistic convention.
A Number. By Caryl Churchill; directed by Jiri Zizka. Through June 4, 2006 at Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St., 215-546-7824 or www.wilmatheater.org.
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| Villanova's Irish Festival |
May 01 2006 |
In just 35 minutes, Sebastian Barry’s Fred and Jane provides a lifetime of experience, such as only theater can give in the hands of a master. Conor McPherson’s The Good Thief, at twice the length of Fred and Jane, is also twice the length it needs be.
Fred and Jane, By Sebastian Barry, and The Good Thief, by Conor McPherson. Irish Festival April 24- 30, 2006, at Villanova Theatre. 610-519-7474 or Shakespeare Festival's 'Tempest' |
April 28 2006 |
A mixed bag whose virtues— including at least one performance worthy of a Barrymore Award— outweigh its flaws and justify the admission price.
The Tempest. By William Shakespeare. Directed by Carmen Khan. Through May 21, 2006 (in repertory with Much Ado About Nothing and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare) at the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, 2111 Sansom Street. www.phillyshakespear
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| Wilma's 'Cloud Nine' |
May 01 2006 |
This sendup of Victorian sexual repression and post-‘60s sexual confusion vaulted Caryl Churchill into prominence a generation ago. But from the perspective of the early 2000s, it is all rather shooting fish in a barrel, despite director Blanka Zizka’s brisk pacing and a lavish production.
Cloud Nine. By Caryl Churchill; directed by Blanka Zizka. Through May 28, 2006 at The Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St. (215) 893-9456 or Pig Iron's 'Hell Meets Henry Halfway' |
April 27 2006 |
An allegory about Europe’s doomed bourgeoisie exhausts its slender material early but redeems itself by the finale, with help from a uniformly capable cast.
Hell Meets Henry Halfway. Adapted by Adriano Shaplin from the novel by Witold Gombrowicz. Directed by Dan Rothenberg, presented April 11-16, 2006, by Pig Iron Theatre Company at
Mandell Theater, Drexel University. www.pigiron.org/home.html.
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| Shostakovich rediscovered (except in Philadelphia) |
April 24 2006 |
He speaks to us now as the representative artist of his time, a composer whose work uniquely documents both the vast tragedy of his century’s suffering and his own private anguish. Yet his centennial year has passed with little notice in Philadelphia, where Shostakovich was once uniquely welcomed.
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| An artist with Alzheimer's |
April 12 2006 |
In a unique and remarkable exhibit, an artist with Alzheimer’s seeks to document his condition: trying to the last to communicate in the language he still shared with us, or what remained of it.
“The Later Works of William C. Utermohlen.” Through April 30 at College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Admission free. 215-563-3737 or www.collphyphil.org/pdfs/utermohlen.pdf.
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| Lantern's 'Richard III' |
April 01 2006 |
Charles McMahon’s direction keeps the play moving briskly--a shade too much so, since the results sometimes teeter on confusion. But there's method in the occasional madness.
Richard III. By William Shakespeare, directed by Charles McMahon. Presented by Lantern Theater Co. through April 30, 2006, at St. Stephen’s Theater, 923 Ludlow St. (215) 829-9002 or www.lanterntheater.org.
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| Why the Barnes is important |
March 28 2006 |
Why shouldn’t the Barnes Foundation be relocated? Because, unlike museums or even other private collections, the Barnes was designed as a complete aesthetic experience,
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| Is the Barnes really in trouble? |
February 24 2006 |
Does a $1 million problem really require a $150 million solution? The Pew Charitable Trusts could fix this whole mess with what is for them the equivalent of chump change. But that thrifty solution wouldn’t let Rebecca Rimel play queen of the ball. Second article in a series.
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| Villanova's Prayers of Sherkin |
February 14 2006 |
| Barry is a genuine poet of the theater, and James Christy’s final production at Villanova ought not to be missed.
Prayers of Sherkin. By Sebastian Barry, directed by James J. Christy. Through Feb. 19, 2006, at Villanova University Theatre, Vasey Hall. www.theatre.villanova.edu
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| The New World: Poisoning Paradise |
February 03 2006 |
| Terrence Malick’s take on the Pocahontas legend portrays America as an empire but not a community.
The New World. A film by Terence Malick. At the Ritz East, Front and Sansom, 215-925-9700.
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| Walnut's Lettice & Lovage |
January 31 2006 |
| Capable actors and just enough pathos to sustain this tale of an overheated tour guide.
Lettice & Lovage, by Peter Shaffer, directed by Neill Hartley. Through Feb. 5 at Walnut Street Theater?s Studio 5, 826 Walnut St., (215) 574-3550. www.wstonline.org
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| Arden's Opus |
February 15 2006 |
| The sheer heaven and sheer hell of musical collaboration, captured on stage.
Opus, by Michael Hollinger; directed by Terrence J.. Nolen. Through March 12 at Arden Theatre, 40 N. Second St., 215-922-8900. www.ardentheatre.org.
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| Twain as disillusioned patriot |
January 05 2006 |
Mark Twain Tonight! Hal Holbrook’s one-man show, at the Merriam Theater, December.
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| Lantern's 'Lady From the Sea' |
January 01 2006 |
The Lady From The Sea, by Henrik Ibsen, directed by Kathryn C. Nocero for Lantern Theater, October 2005.
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| Barnescam: Or, How to Steal $20 Billion |
January 01 2006 |
| The plan to move the Barnes Foundation will produce nothing but victims
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