A Moment Like This

As the year-end roundup lists continue to pile up, we decided to offer something a little more personal. Instead of choosing "the best play" or "the best exhibition" of the calendar year (which, after all, covers two halves of two different arts seasons), we've collected our favorite arts "moments." Ranging from entire exhibitions to the way a specific line was delivered, here's a collection of moments that moved us, made us think, cracked us up and sometimes freaked us out.

Thu., Jan. 10

Amy Smith and Andrew Simonet of Headlong Dance Theater performed Permit, a duet at DanceBoom! -- the usual frisky, intriguing, movement-all-over-the-place Headlong stuff -- except Smith was about eight months pregnant, cavorting around in her leotard. Talk about an indelible impression, first for the shift in mental perspective when the woman in a dance duet is pregnant -- make that very pregnant -- and second, just for the twosome's sheer physical bravery. Somehow they made things like Simonet sitting on Smith, and Smith fearlessly hurling herself across stage sensational dance, not a stunt. Talk about born to dance!

Thu., Feb. 7

More than an arts moment, Tamar Rogoff's "Daughter of a Pacifist Soldier" at the Painted Bride was patriotic, anti-war, stomach-churning theater as well. Using her father's WWII diary, Rogoff, a NY performance artist, included taped WWII vets, some pretty elderly now, matter-of-factly describing their service experiences. It was almost unbearable listening to some of what they described. The old dudes in the audience, wearing caps bearing badges of various divisions, witnessed to the truth of it. The folks in D.C. ought to listen to what the guys who've actually fought wars have to say. Disturbing, and moving -- I think we call this art.

Fri., March 22

The Tate Modern and the Philadelphia Museum of Art collaborated on the investigation of a major chapter of U.S. painting history. The PMA's Barnett Newman show seemed almost perverse. What does a formalist curmudgeon who believed painting was the greatest art form and worked on a minimal, almost environmental or architectural scale have to say to us today? Perhaps little stylistically, and yet much in terms of devotion and passion for the potential of painting. It was good to see him again.

Fri., April 12

Delighting the eye and stimulating the intellect, Beth Lipman refreshingly recreates revered still-life paintings of the 17th and 18th century as life-size, three-dimensional glass sculptures -- each involving up to 100 pieces of hand-formed glass. In her show at Mangel Gallery, she addressed a number of important theoretical issues, including the status of still life in the history of art, the various roles of women in artmaking and still life as an enduring crystalline record of evanescent pleasure.

Wed., April 17

Anna Netrebko's contemplative entrance aria as Juliet in Opera Company of Philadelphia's The Capulets and the Montagues proved unforgettable. The enchanting Russian soprano looked and sounded so ideal for the part (and Bellini's elegiac music is so ravishing) that people were gasping. OCP presenting this sought-after young diva in her first Juliet signaled (after a "shoring up" period) the company's increasing commitment to world-class casting: the ongoing season follows through with Ruxandra Donose (Netrebko's splendid Romeo), Mary Dunleavy, Lauren Flanigan, Gregg Baker, William Burden and Nathan Gunn.

Sun., May 26

Can mechanic objects talk to one another, in whirs and buzzing static? In the kinetic universe of Flop, Pig Iron's virtuoso slice of clown performance, timid Millie (Lee Etzold) comes across a snorting gas mask and then a whining vacuum cleaner. Shocked by their loud, inchoate noise, she brings the vacuum nozzle towards the mask mouthpiece -- and hears them talking to each other about her. Etzold's sublime surprise conducted the crackling energy of (otherwise) wordless theater right to the audience.

Fri., June 7

If anything exemplified the city's DIY artistic spirit this year, it was Temple Gallery's "Show Up & Show Show." A one-night un-curated, uninhibited exhibition, SU&SS went with the flow -- artists showed up anytime between 5 and 11 p.m., and took their work with them when they wanted to leave. Temple let participants do everything from make a label to install their work. Everyone knew someone who gave it a shot, and with a line out the door to start and steady crowds all night long, SU&SS told it like it is: Philly folks do, not watch.

Thu., June 13

Proving new music is alive and well, local composer Jennifer Higdon had her Concerto for Orchestra premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Wolfgang Sawallisch conducted, in front of an audience that appeared to spread over a range of ages and socioeconomic backgrounds. As Higdon took the stage for a bow, the audience rose in a nearly instantaneous standing ovation. It was a touching tribute to a fine hometown composer, but perhaps more importantly, a real-life example of new music moving and invigorating a presumably staid audience. Bravi, tutti.

Mon., Sept. 2

Favorite finale: Brian Sanders' over-the-top performance at the Fringe Festival's Rocky Awards was one to savor. Who can forget the image of him morphing from a blob of plastic into a giant phallus and then running through the crowd? Everyone howled and cheered at Sanders' audacious act. God bless his rubber soul.

Wed., Sept. 11

When Polish company Teatr Biuro Podrózy performed Carmen Funebre at the 2002 Fringe, most people talked about the fiery finale. But the moment that really seared itself into memory was the show's violent opening. At first, the audience at the Festival Pier saw only lights in the distance. As the lights came closer, we could see they were being carried by monstrous figures in flowing garments on stilts. Then we saw nothing, blinded by the lights as the stiltwalkers pulled the actors out from the crowd. The sense of terror -- a literal fear of being taken onstage, and a deeper, confused feeling that something bad was about to happen -- was beyond intense.

Sat., Sept. 21

The Prince Music Theater's production of It's Better With a Band was an evening of excellent material (songs by David Zippel) and superb performances (by Judy Blazer, Sally Mayes and John Barrowman). But it was Marva Hicks singing "Make Me A Star" that shone brightest, with a degree of pizzazz and artistry, which is what great musical theater is all about.

Sat., Oct. 12

David Sedaris' reading wowed a capacity crowd on the Penn campus. The special moment: Sedaris' sly reiteration of a key phrase ("well one of my houses"), from his brand-new story, The Ship Shape, proved beyond a doubt his absolute mastery of writing and performance.

Wed., Oct. 23

I haven't seen an entrance this spectacular in years: Claudia Robinson takes the stage, in full African garb, with a profile and a bearing as regal as pharaonic sculpture. Playing the mother of a monstrous dictator, Robinson dazzled Philadelphia audiences this fall in InterAct's production of Lee Blessing's play, Going to St. Ives.

Thu., Oct. 24

It takes 14 minutes and you have to be there. Doug Aitken's video installation, Interiors, at the Fabric Workshop and Museum is mesmerizing. In four interlocking videos, projected three at a time in a simple architectural setting, the notion of interiority develops as a sense of claimed isolation in a peopled environment -- self-sufficiency, not loneliness. For these unrelated urban individuals, the mood of peaceful solitude modulates by degrees into a frenetic, intense rhythm precisely calibrated to a suddenly silent climax of inter-cut visual images before returning to a quiet dawn.

Fri., Nov. 8

Tapestry Theatre's Female Funny Fest featured a stellar roster of local talent, but the singer/songwriter antics of Liesl Euler stole the show. Strumming a song she said she wrote at age 7, Euler led from a sweet tale of true love into a raucous chorus, the gist of which was "I want to fuck you till you're dead." Even Euler looked slightly surprised when, around the third repetition of the chorus, the whole crowd joined her in song.

Thu., Nov. 14

It's not that the ending of Arthur Miller's All My Sons is a surprise, exactly -- as in Death of a Salesman, Miller sets up his protagonist for an inevitable fall. But the actors in director Terry Nolen's extraordinary ensemble at the Arden were so completely present in their roles that the final gunshot was as much a shock to us as it was to the characters. And afterwards, when Ian Merrill Peakes collapsed into the arms of Carla Belver -- mother and son, reacting to the suicide of the family patriarch -- it was as heartbreaking a moment as I can remember seeing on stage.

Mon., Dec. 16

Jilline Ringle can conquer an audience just by standing up. In 1812 Productions' concert staging of Michael Ogborn's Box Office of the Damned (Reunion), when she rose slowly and magnificently to tower over petite Maggie Lakis and sing -- no, roar -- the musical declaration, "NO REFUNDS!", it was the quintessential demonstration of what Philly theatergoers have long known (and what audiences are finding out now in Pittsburgh, Hartford and wherever else she does her one-woman shows): Jilline is Queen.

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January 16, 2003
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