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Arts
We always get a ton of stuff that doesn't make it into the official agenda for one reason or another. Or sometimes it does! Anyway, this is some of the stuff that CP staffers are attempting to get to this weekend their own selves. You have no excuse for boredom.
FRIDAY 5/17
- Charles Bradley — the Screaming Eagle of Soul — plays Union Transfer tonight.
- If you have kids, you're probably trying to decide whether you want them to read. The Mount Airy Kids' Literary Festival at Blue Marble Books should help you out.
- Drummer G. Calvin Weston — you may recall him from the cover of City Paper back in October — presents Treasures Of The Spirit: The Music Of Mahavishnu Orchestra at The Kennett Flash in Kennett Square, PA.
- Chaz is still Unloved. He plays The North Star. Aw.
- Some people are excited about Gold Panda at Johnny Brenda's.
- Live graffiti and sticker art upstairs at Tattoed Mom? Better lay down some tarps, Sideshow 3.
- Ross Bellenoit gets his Quartet back together tonight at Fergie's.
- It's the second night of Jeff the Brotherhood at Kung Fu Necktie!
- Fancy-feeling people can get suited up for the new Barnes' first birthday.
- Aux and LadyFest are hosting a screening of Watermelon Woman, the first full-length film shot by an African-American lesbian, and also a pretty great time warp to '90s Philly.
SATURDAY 5/18
- Artist Peter Quinn wants to draw 12,000 chalk body outlines on JFK Blvd. and he would like your help. It's an anti-gun violence installation called "American Casualties: A Drawing."
- Azar Lawrence at the Ethical Society, or A$ap Ferg at the TLA?
- It's the first day of the Punk Rock Flea Market.
- The 12th Annual East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention. Lots of signings, workshops, panels and such at the Enterprise Center in West Philly. Wonder if our old Milestone comics are worth something.
- We assume you already know about the Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby and Trenton Avenue Arts Fest.
- End the Fed people will be out there doing their thing.
- Spaceship Aloha lands at Johnny Brenda's. You should investigate.
SUNDAY 5/19
- Pop vocals with weird harmonies at The Sea Around Us at Ortlieb's.
- Philly Songwriters Project 2013 Contest Finals Showcase. That's a mouthful. And it's at the Blockley.
- Punk Rock Flea Market day 2.
- Calvin Johnson at Space 1026. (Not the Megatron one.)
- Haydn's The Creation oratorio in West Philly. (Technically true because: One CP editor and one CP writer are singing in it, and so will definitely be there. But we would have tried to go even if that were not true because the soloists are totally baller and anyway what the hell this is just a blog post. Consider this your disclosure.)
We always get a ton of stuff that doesn't make it into the official agenda for one reason or another. Or sometimes it does! Anyway, this is some of the stuff that CP staffers are attempting to get to this weekend their own selves. You have no excuse for boredom.
FRIDAY 5/3
- This First Friday promises to be weirder than most with artists showcasing their obsessions with monsters, dough and the color black.
- Cheap, dirty rock 'n' roll at the Ric-Rac: Sinking Ocean Gods and Dead Tenors. $5.
- Film buffs have been wondering when Upstream Color, Shane Carruth's new flick (kinda) about parasite-assisted hypnosis, would make it to Philly. Well, it's finally arrived, and of all places, it's playing a limited engagement at the Franklin Institute.
- The Ladyfest ramp-up is on. Tonight, check out the art at Satellite Cafe.
- Grandchildren will run wild with their new album at Johnny Brenda's tonight.
SATURDAY 5/4
- Maybe you're sick of hearing about Lentil (this week's CP cover story subject) and maybe you don't want anything to do with the multi-day festival that carries his name, but you've gotta admit that the related event happening at The Fire has a respectable line-up (Mike Slomo Brenner will be playing, people).
- Not only is the Franklin Institute screening Upstream Color it's opening a new espionage exhibition meaning we might spend most of our weekend there. On display: Insectothopter (an insect-sized intelligence-gathering device), the actual ice ax that was used to kill Leon Trotsky and other things to make us wish we worked for the CIA.
- The Khyber Pass serves frozen mint juleps every day (that the slushy machine is working) but it's all preamble for their Kentucky Derby viewing party. Get drunk. Watch animals get spanked and run a race they don't know they're in.
SUNDAY 5/5
- The Breeders at the Troc is all sold out.
- Good seats are still available for the Shooting Wall film fest at PhilaMoca. Totally free.
These huge arts festivals can be overwhelming — how to figure out what's worth seeing? CP's sending someone to nearly every event PIFA's putting on over the next month to help you decide, so check back with Critical Mass all month long for comprehensive, ongoing reviews.
SHOW: If She Stood
GENRE: Theater
GROUP: Painted Bride Art Center
ATTENDED: Fri., April 26, 8 p.m., Painted Bride Art Center
CLOSES: Sun., May 5
BRIEF SELF-DESCRIPTION: If She Stood considers a small band of women who used personal and collective action to upend their world.
WE THINK: Ain Gordon and Nadine Patterson’s If She Stood is an ambitious look at the founding of the 19th century abolition group the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, but one ultimately bogged down by experimental pretensions. Nonlinear and narrative-defying, the one-act play features four women musing on issues of racism, sexism and activism. Though inspired by a specific historical moment, If She Stood’s characters speak mostly in broad, poetic abstractions that render a clear understanding of the play’s context incredibly difficult. This difficulty is almost certainly intentional — perhaps meant to mimic the impossible situation faced by these courageous but marginalized women — but it’s more exhausting than it is effective. And metatheatrical moments like the fourth-wall-breaking acknowledgement of the room’s dimmed lights, or a character’s uttering of the line, “I hate realism,” feel like little more than self-consciously clever flourishes.
That being said, Janis Dardaris, Melanye Finister, Kim Martin-Cotton and Stacey Sargeant do offer admirably impassioned performances. Emotion is undeniably palpable throughout If She Stood, even if the cause of that emotion is often rendered inscrutable by the play’s challenging language.
PREVIOUSLY IN PIFA: A blast from the South's past.
These huge arts festivals can be overwhelming — how to figure out what's worth seeing? CP's sending someone to nearly every event PIFA's putting on over the next month to help you decide, so check back with Critical Mass all month long for comprehensive, ongoing reviews.
SHOW: Countdown to “BOOM” We All Fall Down
GENRE: Theater/Dance/Song
GROUP: Kariamu & Company: Traditions
ATTENDED: Sat., April 27, 1 p.m., Temple Performing Arts Center
CLOSED: Sat., April 27
BRIEF SELF-DESCRIPTION: The bombing of the 16th Street Baptist in Birmingham Alabama on September 15, 1963 was an unprecedented act of “domestic terrorism” long before the term would ever be applied. Countdown to “BOOM” We All Fall Down captur[es] the music, the look, the feel and the movements of a Sunday morning in the South.
WE THINK: The highlight of Kariamu & Company’s Countdown to “BOOM" is a beautiful scene of four mothers preparing their daughters’ hair before church while struggling to explain why the world is such a cruel place. The production works best in this intimate little moment, as parents try to ready their children for the harsh realities of the world without draining them of hope. We are made to feel their reality, rather than just being shown it.
The production is disjointed and not concerned with linear narratives, which is confusing at first but works better as the scenes unfold. Countdown falters when it tries to convey the Civil Rights-era South with too heavy a hand. The montage of still photographs and newspaper clippings that accompany almost every scene can distract from the actual performers and lose their power due to overuse. But the dancing, which is less prominent than expected, is stunning.
–Jake Blumgart
PREVIOUSLY IN PIFA: Their parents must be so proud: Kids sing about civil rights movement.
These huge arts festivals can be overwhelming — how to figure out what's worth seeing? CP's sending someone to nearly every event PIFA's putting on over the next month to help you decide, so check back with Critical Mass all month long for comprehensive, ongoing reviews.
SHOW: 1492: Music and Dance From Spain to the Americas
GENRE: Music/dance
GROUP: Latin Fiesta and Concilio
ATTENDED: Thu., April 25, 7 p.m., Suzanne Roberts Theatre
BRIEF SELF-DESCRIPTION: Maria del Pico Taylor and international guest artists take you on a time traveling journey inspired by Columbus' arrival in the New World.
WE THINK: Beginning in 9th-century Spain and ending in 19th-century Cuba, 1492 took PIFA's time-travel theme to heart, though the results were muddled. The cast had plenty of accomplished artists – including fiery dancer Liliana Ruiz, singers Vania Taylor Watson and Jorge Maldonado and pianist Maria del Pico Taylor (also the program's artistic director). The performances were earnest and heartfelt. Ruiz is such a force she lifted the vibe whenever she appeared on stage, and a spirited conga line made for a lively finale.
But the production was clearly under-rehearsed and rough around the edges. Various time periods and cultures were presented with little to no context, which made for confusing transitions, as well as a lost opportunity to share the roots of and connections between this multicultural array of artistry.
PREVIOUSLY IN PIFA: Philip Glass + physics = kids show!
These huge arts festivals can be overwhelming — how to figure out what's worth seeing? CP's sending someone to nearly every event PIFA's putting on over the next month to help you decide, so check back with Critical Mass all month long for comprehensive, ongoing reviews.
SHOW: Icarus at the Edge of Time
GENRE: Music/reading/video
GROUP: Philadelphia Science Festival featuring the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra
ATTENDED: Wed., April 24, 8 p.m., Kimmel Center
BRIEF SELF-DESCRIPTION: A re-imagining of the Icarus myth set in outer space, with the don’t-get-too-close danger being a black hole instead of the sun. Score by Philip Glass, script by physicist Brian Greene and playwright David Henry Hwang, and video by Al + Al.
WE THINK: The family-friendly program began with a 25-minute talk by Greene about the theory of relativity and the physics of black holes. Greene wrote the children’s book upon which Icarus is based, and his visual-aids-enhanced talk was as entertaining as anything that followed.
The Youth Orchestra performed Glass’ generally unremarkable score, which didn’t have sense of urgency found in many of the composer’s other pieces. A video artily told the story — ’tween Icarus was shown mainly in closeup and medium shots, with each frame busily filled with images of warped checkerboards, swirling bubbles and repetitive (hello, Philip Glass!) machine motions. Actress Kate Shindle read the text with plenty of pauses for the video to do the majority of the story-telling work. It all was pleasant, but lacked the seemingly-hoped-for sense of wonder.
These huge arts festivals can be overwhelming — how to figure out what's worth seeing? CP's sending someone to nearly every event PIFA's putting on over the next month to help you decide, so check back with Critical Mass all month long for comprehensive, ongoing reviews.
SHOW: Time Machine: The Lost Hour
GENRE: Theater
GROUP: Philadelphia Young Playwrights
ATTENDED: Wed., April 24, 7:30 p.m.
CLOSES: Fri., April 26
BRIEF SELF-DESCRIPTION:”... a multigenerational journey that careens through then, now and next. Boundaries blur, the audience takes part and histories revise in the doing.”
WE THINK: At last, a show that really lives up to the science-fiction promise of PIFA's time machine theme! Short plays written and performed by area high school students, supported by UArts students and professional designers, and directed by David Bradley — a "multigenerational ensemble" — link together in a fun adventure about "a pocket in the universe" where people receive a lost hour to complete a special task. Timekeepers in snazzy white coats by designer Alison Roberts enforce the time rules, including my favorite, number 13: "break all rules in the name of love."
The plays range from poignant romance to social satire, supported by a large ensemble who also request some fun audience participation. Bradley's in-the-round staging on Maura Roche's fun set somewhat overcomes the Innovation Studio's sightline problems, and provides a large playing space.
We don't forget that the writers and performers are high school students — cheerleaders, cell phones, and angsty love come up more than once — but their earnestness is part of The Lost Hour's charm. These cleverly connected plays have meaningful things to say about Time, about what it is and how it affects us, and they express these ideas with heart and style.
PREVIOUSLY IN PIFA: Prima! Rufus! Judy!
YES WE KNEW THIS DAY WOULD EVENTUALLY COME. It will have been, like, more than three years since it opened on Broadway next summer, but the Kimmel's website just got updated with a listing for The Book of Mormon running at Forrest Theatre from July 29-September 7, 2014. (We knew that RSS subscription would eventually pay off.) It's awesome news: This musical is truly great, and we definitely don't know that because we downloaded a Broadwaycam pirate tape and watched it enough times to even be able to sing along with the "Fuck you, God" song. And now... waiting a year. Hello!
These huge arts festivals can be overwhelming — how to figure out what's worth seeing? CP's sending someone to nearly every event PIFA's putting on over the next month to help you decide, so check back with Critical Mass all month long for comprehensive, ongoing reviews.
SHOW: That Time
GENRE: Theater/dance
GROUP: Tongue & Groove, RealLivePeople(in)Motion
ATTENDED: Sat., April 20, 8 p.m., Kimmel Center
BRIEF SELF-DESCRIPTION: Tongue & Groove is a critically acclaimed theater ensemble that spontaneously performs unscripted scenes and monologues inspired by personal information anonymously submitted by the audience . . . Especially for PIFA 2013, T&G is collaborating with dance company RealLivePeople(in)Motion, an ensemble that is similarly catalyzed by the audience’s true stories.
WE THINK: Tongue & Groove continues to evolve, tweaking its improv format to fit PIFA's time-machine theme by prompting audience memories about moments in our lives we would like to return to, shared anonymously on Post-it notes stuck to a timeline (write clearly, please!). Mine — the morning of my first wedding in November 1989, to follow my impulse to run away and thus spare myself a year in hell — was not chosen, but audience reactions made clear whose were.
Bobbi Block's talented long-form, realistic improv-ers are smartly teamed with RLPiM, dancers in street clothes who likewise explore real life. Actors dance and dancers act together successfully in the T&G style of creating genuine, rich relationships in an instant and finding humor in human behavior rather than punch lines. Using a variety of formats and styles (monologues, domestic scenes, inter-generational conflicts, instant message exchanges), the hour-long show I witnessed blended stories united by their complex emotional levels: I laughed heartily, yet felt tears rising by the end.
Working against the performers, it must be said, was the ironically named Innovation Studio, which stifles innovation. Whoever chose the high-backed plastic chairs and didn't provide risers apparently never sat in a theater before: in the second of five rows, I couldn't see performers on the floor unless they stood, and I watched through a picket fence of heads. Even the back row of high chairs had trouble, but in the fourth row of normal-height chairs — which would feel close in any of the city's much less expensive but more sensible small theaters — the conditions are miserable. Moreover, shifting for a better view makes the unsteady chairs creak and squeak, producing a steady undercurrent of the-locusts-are-coming sounds. Artists must either build a stage on the beautiful hardwood floor or limit their choices and punish their audiences. How can the Kimmel Center lead us into the future when its designers learned nothing from the past?
PREVIOUSLY IN PIFA: Five too-short plays about the future.
These huge arts festivals can be overwhelming — how to figure out what's worth seeing? CP's sending someone to nearly every event PIFA's putting on over the next month to help you decide, so check back with Critical Mass all month long for comprehensive, ongoing reviews.
SHOW: FutureFest
GENRE: Theater
GROUP: Luna Theater Company
ATTENDED: Sat., April 20, 8 p.m., Adrienne Theater
CLOSES: April 27
BRIEF SELF-DESCRIPTION: Luna Theater Company journeys to the future with their second annual play festival, FutureFest. The world premiere of five one-act plays, FutureFest explores how our visions of the future inform our understanding of ourselves and world today.
WE THINK: In keeping with PIFA's time-machine theme, FutureFest offers five vignettes about possible futures. It’s hard to imagine such a premise without the dystopian societies and Dickian virtual realities we’re used to, and the festival definitely delivers in that respect. There are androids, post-apocalypse scenarios, marriage-counseling simulations, artificial organs and even “head sex,” which is much better than that sweaty, smelly, “real sex” we have now.
Oddly enough, it’s the show’s vignette format that makes it hard to sit through. Sci-fi inventions tend to work best when properly introduced, and then demonstrated more thoroughly, in a longer format, like a novel or feature-length film — enough time for a little world-building. At least three of the stories here attempt to pack so much unfamiliar terminology into so little digestion time that a lot ends up being incomprehensible.
Still, Luna makes good use of the space, piling a lot of post-apocalyptic junk onstage and colorful TV installations in the wall that give the show a more cohesive visual feel. The performances are spot-on, as well. Whether they’re playing familiar types or bunnies that create universes, the actors know exactly who they are and what they want, even if the audience isn’t so sure.
PREVIOUSLY IN PIFA: Philadanco addresses the Big Bang.
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