http://www.philly.com/r?19=960&32=3796&7=195487&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fentertainment%2Farts Coverage of the performing arts in Philadelphia. en-us Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:01:00 GMT 2009-11-10T08:01:00Z en-us http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=168046&44=69635197&32=3796&7=195487&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2F20091110_Our_heroine_is_a_puppet.html Bertolt Brecht's play about a young Chinese harlot who decides to be the best person she can possibly be - only to learn that best person is a tough phrase to qualify - has had many titles since the German master wrote it in the '40s. Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:01:00 GMT dbe87e1978a47d6c69b8b8b278ca32ff 2009-11-10T08:01:00Z http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=168046&44=69622427&32=3796&7=195487&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2FLive_chat_Percent_for_Art_program_turns_50.html The Redevelopment Authority's "Percent for Art" turns 50 this year. Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:31:46 GMT 26b55cf99aa56fc155c4235599e076a3 Bob McGovern 2009-11-10T02:31:46Z http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=168046&44=69635227&32=3796&7=195487&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2F20091110__John_Henry___a_legend-busting_play.html The refrain "A man ain't nothin' but a man" shows up in several variations of John Henry's legend. It's also the theme of Iron Age Theatre's world premiere of Chris Braak's The Life of John Henry. Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:01:00 GMT a1614a4a810bcc3fc6db5f679e64629b 2009-11-10T08:01:00Z http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=168046&44=69635192&32=3796&7=195487&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2F20091110_Strong__Die_Walkre__marred_by_video_woes.html In the galloping evolution of Wagner Ring cycle stagings, the point has arrived where we count on being shocked as much as delighted. We don't enjoy new Ring productions so much as we enter and undergo them, to keep up with the vanguard and be challenged Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:01:00 GMT 1889a2073e0d9a08c1ce94abcbd22183 2009-11-10T08:01:00Z http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=168046&44=69635232&32=3796&7=195487&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2F20091110_Or_perhaps_one_could_call_them__narcissicals_.html I've got it! The proper name for those plotless musical melanges - Bristol Riverside Theatre's production of Joe DiPietro's I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change being approximately the fifth such show to roll through this year - is the "yousical." Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:01:00 GMT d42827df07f497d627364aa4bd89e0e4 2009-11-10T08:01:00Z http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=168046&44=69543877&32=3796&7=195487&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2F20091109_Ghost_tales_at_an_Irish_pub.html There's no pub like a Conor McPherson pub. The Irish playwright's award-winner, The Weir, is being given a superb production by Curio Theatre under Gay Carducci's direction. If you have a taste for ghost stories and great gabbers, pull up a chair and listen. Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:01:00 GMT 63e5cc57e980e98cbe60012276ecc9a3 2009-11-09T08:01:00Z http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=168046&44=69543822&32=3796&7=195487&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2F20091109_Kronos_Quartet_transcends_borders.html The Kronos Quartet is now as much of a musical tour guide as a string quartet. The standard four instruments of its basic ensemble have been increasingly augmented by prerecorded tape and amplification as the group extends its scope into world music and indie pop, and that's what dominated the group's concert Saturday, part of the Kimmel Center's Fresh Ink series. Musical and geographic borders were crossed into Iceland and Palestine - to name a few. Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:01:00 GMT 8ee8d2b9c76509901e3aff84d5abcd59 2009-11-09T08:01:00Z http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=168046&44=69543867&32=3796&7=195487&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2F20091109_Virtuosic_repertoire_unusual__multicultural.html With a presence in Philadelphia that has made it seem almost indigenous, Imani Winds has managed the trick of paying homage to its woodwind quintet ancestors, while overhauling its repertoire with genre-bending commissions. Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:01:00 GMT 9b5c176e3606ba87f839f7b5405bf82c 2009-11-09T08:01:00Z http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=168046&44=69543882&32=3796&7=195487&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2F20091109__Angels_in_America__features_talented_cast__terrible_venue.html It's true that if you're an HBO subscriber, you can watch the televised version of Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes in Two Parts on demand right now, from the comfort of your living room. But why would you ever do that when you could have the privilege - that's right, the privilege - of seeing Bckseet Production's ambitious staging of Tony Kushner's entire epic alive and breathing, with both parts back-to-back, in repertory, performed by a ferociously talented cast? Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:01:00 GMT bc8788241cc2d030a150f0d2f423c191 2009-11-09T08:01:00Z http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=168046&44=69465647&32=3796&7=195487&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2FFeeling_like_a_puppet_at_Christmastime.html Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:20:30 GMT addc2d6f7a9b34375fca38df63058fef Amanda Gilanyi 2009-11-07T18:20:30Z http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=168046&44=69447737&32=3796&7=195487&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2F20091107_A_galvanizing_cellist_with_the_orchestra.html Notes don't ring so much as they tend to be wrung from Dvorak's Cello Concerto: It's the grandest piece of its kind and solo cellists can't help loving it to their (and sometimes the audience's) distraction. Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:01:00 GMT e5a69cd18ddb4fcd836ad5d4e26cd68e 2009-11-07T08:01:00Z http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=168046&44=69447757&32=3796&7=195487&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2F20091107_Puppets_find_humanity_in_Christmas_bleakness.html Playing at: Drexel University's Mandell Theater, 33d and Chestnut Streets. Through Nov. 15. Tickets: $15 to $25. Information: 215-733-0255 or www.AzukaTheatre.org. Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:01:00 GMT e461d4048964f561f6559b2b39160629 2009-11-07T08:01:00Z http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=168046&44=69367687&32=3796&7=195487&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2F20091108_Art__Cool__indeed__and_in_tune_with_his_times.html Barkley L. Hendricks has achieved something relatively rare among artists: He has created paintings that capture the essence of an American cultural transformation. Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:01:00 GMT 8f54d2b95c8dca7877eec56de8a2bb7b 2009-11-08T08:01:00Z http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=168046&44=69367672&32=3796&7=195487&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2F20091108_Glamour__plus_wisdom.html The ultra-operatic opera director Tito Capobianco is back in Philadelphia - but does anybody recognize him without Joan Sutherland in tow? Or without his spirited wife, Gigi, telling him his work could be better? Or without his eloquent, oft-repeated Freudian slips? ("We'll burn that bridge when we come to it.") Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:01:00 GMT 125d2aa573811ee26d0c86cfc74d522a 2009-11-08T08:01:00Z http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=168046&44=69367647&32=3796&7=195487&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2F20091108_Galleries___86-minute_mashup_of_sound__sex__film.html I somehow missed a salient fact about former punk-rock impresario Malcolm McLaren's Shallow 1-21, a video being shown in its entirety for the first time in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts' Morris Gallery: its length. Eighty-six minutes is an exceptionally long time to spend in the company of a single artwork, even a video that's made of up 21 parts, each of which McLaren terms a "musical painting." Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:01:00 GMT b3f11d346eba15f0b130469c9025e9ba 2009-11-08T08:01:00Z http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=168046&44=69305607&32=3796&7=195487&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2F20091106__Hunter_Gatherers__is_farcical_frolic_with_friends.html Wife enters, carrying flowers and vegetables in a Trader Joe's bag. She asks, "How fresh does the lamb have to be?" Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:01:00 GMT 6b613ff12a7f79a04d450f7d013fbb2f 2009-11-06T08:01:00Z http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=168046&44=69305602&32=3796&7=195487&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2F20091106_Performance_and_classical_music_listings.html Theater Professional/semi-professional Absence The tale of a young married Mormon couple & how their marriage changes over time after the husband joins the CIA. People's Light & Theatre Company, 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern; 610-644-3500. $29-$48. Closes 11/8. Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:01:00 GMT 1a8324d1d1601004b0b1838acf9e0945 2009-11-06T08:01:00Z http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=168046&44=69305517&32=3796&7=195487&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2F20091106_Museum_and_gallery_events.html Art Museums & Institutions African American Heritage Museum 661 Jackson Rd., Newtonville; 609-704-5495. www.aahmsnj.org. Tue.-Sat. 10 am-4 pm. Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:01:00 GMT 95757930fadb70bac0aa2dc16e83cac4 2009-11-06T08:01:00Z http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=168046&44=69264837&32=3796&7=195487&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2F20091105_Do_you_really_want_to_take_a_chance_on_this__Mamma_Mia___.html What's left to say? Unless you've been hermiting on Mars, chances are you've seen Mamma Mia! on stage, or heard the score, or seen the movie. Or all of the above. Multiple times. The cheesy touring production at the Academy of Music was my third MM, not counting the delish movie. As my date for the evening said, when he heard my teeth grinding: "It is what it is." He's deep, this guy. Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:01:00 GMT 4b3626e1b340b9cb3162e3498a7fad6b 2009-11-05T08:01:00Z