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 […]
Hand to God (Booth Theatre, New York, April 2015)
In my innocent youth, puppets were loveable animal figures – Shari Lewis’s Charlie Horse, and the adorably coquettish (and carnivorously named) Lamb […]
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 […]
Paint Your Wagon (Encores Musicals in Concert, New York, March 2015)
By my count, Encores, now in its 22nd year, has produced 65 musicals (not counting some gala concert evenings, and a couple […]
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 