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Two male dancers in long black skirts jump high in unison, and four women dancers stand in white leotards behind them.

The Philadelphia Ballet presents Hans van Manen’s Humankind

A full-circle performance

The Philadelphia Ballet says goodbye to longtime dancer Jermel Johnson in this program from choreographer Hans van Manen, who has his own retirement announcement. Camille Bacon-Smith reviews.

Camille Bacon-Smith

May 13, 2022 Reviews 4 minute read

Scene from Reverie. Bazemore & Mitchell, both Black men, in an apartment kitchen, both looking wistfully toward the audience

Azuka Theatre presents James Ijames’s Reverie

Death’s best gift

The new work by Philly’s own Pulitzer Prize winner, James Ijames, explores what gets left behind when a person dies without having authentically lived. Jill Ivey reviews.

Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

May 13, 2022 Reviews 3 minute read

The book cover. The title on an orange background, with slender images of mosaic, grass, cement, and dirt winding beneath.

Ways of Walking, edited by Ann de Forest

Headed somewhere together

A new anthology by Philly writer Ann de Forest explores how we walk, and where, and
why that experience means such different things for different bodies. Anndee Hochman reviews.

Anndee Hochman

May 10, 2022 Reviews 5 minute read

A black and white photo of Bertucci performing on a dark stage, looking at a laptop with a misty spotlight on her.

Ars Nova Workshop presents Lea Bertucci’s Of Shadow and Substance

With a world-premiere commission by composer and sound artist Lea Bertucci, Ars Nova Workshop presented a musical meditation on the 2019 Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery explosion. Aaron Pond reviews.

Aaron Pond

May 10, 2022 Reviews 3 minute read

Floyd, a Black woman, sits on a river dock on a sunny day, holding a gold frame in front of her. She wears a long pale dress

Intercultural Journeys presents The Frances Suite

Walking out from the shadows

Intercultural Journeys presents The Frances Suite, a musical portrayal of 19th-century Philadelphia activist, speaker, and writer Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, by composer Ruth Naomi Floyd. Melissa Strong reviews.

Melissa Strong

May 09, 2022 Reviews 4 minute read

A scene from the play. The 3 actors sit on an apartment couch, each of them talking on the phone, not looking at each other

Theatre Exile presents Susan Soon He Stanton’s Today Is My Birthday

Twenty-first century ties

Theatre Exile’s production of Succession writer Susan Soon He Stanton’s charming play shows just how possible it is to feel alone, even when you spend your life talking to other people. Jill Ivey reviews.

Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

May 09, 2022 Reviews 3 minute read

A scene from the opera: a dynamic ensemble shot of 15 men in suits, with a range of avid expressions, on and around a couch.

Opera Philadelphia presents Rigoletto

A rapturous return

Rigoletto is Opera Philadelphia’s first full production at the Academy of Music since 2019, reminding us how we sustain, and are sustained by, great art. Gail Obenreder reviews.

Gail Obenreder

May 03, 2022 Reviews 4 minute read

The book cover. The upper half shows the classical façade of the school; the lower a crowded city protest for school funding.

The Roots of Educational Inequality: Philadelphia’s Germantown High School, 1907-2014, by Erika M. Kitzmiller

A century in Germantown

We know how the story of Germantown High School ended, but how did it begin? A new book explains, and highlights the fault lines that remain in our schools today. Anndee Hochman reviews.

Anndee Hochman

May 03, 2022 Reviews 5 minute read

The PRISM Quartet. Four white men in suits each hold a gold-colored saxophone of a different type and size.

PCMS presents the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia’s 200th Anniversary Concert

Still vibrant at 202 (and counting)

The Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia marked its bicentennial in 2020, and was finally able to celebrate with four commissioned Philly-inspired premieres by world-class contemporary composers. Margaret Darby reviews.

Margaret Darby