Charlie Parker’s Yardbird (Opera Philadelphia, June 2015)
Often when I see a new opera, I wonder about its future. Even some very intriguing contemporary works seem not to have […]
Speech and Debate (Azuka Theatre, May 2015)
Let’s be candid from start: Speech and Debate is about hookups – online and in-person – between older men and teenage boys. Not […]
Don Carlo (Opera Philadelphia, May 2015)
Watching the final, marvelous performance of Opera Philadelphia’s Don Carlo, I thought about the company’s extraordinary rise to a new standard, under […]
Leonard Bernstein’s Mass (Philadelphia Orchestra, May 2015)
Sometimes, a cluster of events come along that really illustrates the strength of Philly’s current arts scene. Last week, I saw Edward […]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Theatre Exile, April 2015)
Let’s start by celebrating the meteoric rise of Theatre Exile – they’ve arrived the top level of Philadelphia’s vibrant theatre scene. The Exilers […]
Dorothea Röschmann and Mitsuko Uchida (Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, April 2015)
I had the good fortune this week to attend one of the finest Lieder recitals I’ve heard in many years, by soprano […]
Penelope (Inis Nua Theatre, April 2015)
Something magical happens 30 minutes into Penelope. It begins when Quinn, a middle-aged man, unflatteringly clad in a speedo, babbles on with […]
Hamlet (Wilma Theater, April 2015)
“All the world’s a stage,” Shakespeare tells us – and director Blanka Zizka seems to take it literally. Her busy, incohesive production of […]
The Chocolate Soldier (Concert Operetta Theater, March 2015)
By the time I was of listening age (that is, in my early teens, around 1970), operetta performances, at least in the […]
Macbeth (Arden Theatre, March 2015)
Thou wouldst be great; Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it. Thus Shakespeare’s Lady pithily sums up her […]
reclining standards 