A recent translation by Laura Nagle brings the early work of Prosper Mérimée to English. Songs for the Gusle brims with 19th-century Romantic spirit while keeping a game afoot in the footnotes. Helen Walsh reviews.

Seven stories that were originally published individually come together in this new collection from Philly indie publisher Frayed Edge Press. The diverse collection is unified by vivid characters and urban settings. Crystal Sparrow reviews.

Poet Anastacia-Reneé might as well be a chemist: her mix of genres in this new collection is a crackling reactive substance that ranges widely without ever losing the author’s singular voice. Emily R. Zarevich reviews.

UPenn professor of sociology and Africana studies Tukufu Zuberi says W.E.B. Du Bois’s 1899 book The Philadelphia Negro is a beautifully written, essential text. It’s out in a new edition from Penn Press. Pamela J. Forsythe reviews.

Bucks County Playhouse’s Tick, Tick… Boom! tops the recent film version, with two facts hanging over any version of the show: Jonathan Larson will create the megahit Rent, and he’ll die suddenly right before it opens. Stephen Silver reviews.

Fabric Workshop and Museum combines visual and audio elements for its latest show, but this installation fails visitors who want to pay sustained attention to the work. Aaron Pond reviews.

AMM & DCO has successfully carved a creative niche in Philly’s dance scene among the city’s larger institutions. Its latest presentation mixes new and recent work reflecting on the pandemic. Camille Bacon-Smith reviews.

Onstage at People’s Light, Boo Killebrew’s Lettie charts one woman’s bumpy road to re-entry after incarceration. Cameron Kelsall reviews.

Brandywine Museum of Art presents the first major Joseph Stella exhibition in more than 30 years, proving this pioneering, imaginative modernist’s ongoing importance. Gail Obenreder reviews.

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes’s In the Heights relies on the life of a neighborhood for its drama, and a smooth, sparkling production from Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival delivers. An Nichols reviews.