December 6–13, 2001 book quicks|nonfiction Downtown: Its Rise and Fall, 1880-1950 By Robert M. Fogelson Yale University Press, 493 pp., $35 Ask most Philadelphians about the health of downtown and they’ll tell a tale of a once-vibrant Center City decimated…

December 30, 1999–January 6, 2000 art Living Color Painter Barry Goldberg stars in two shows in his adopted hometown. by Jen Darr When artist Barry Goldberg moved from Wisconsin to Philadelphia in 1972, he remembers feeling very much like an…

December 14–21, 2000 art Nun of a Kind Kent’s “Highly Prized,” silkscreen The Big G Stands for Goodness: Corita Kent’s 1960s Pop Beaver College Art Gallery, 450 South Easton Road, Glenside, through Dec. 20, 215-572-2133 This exhibition features the work…

November 30–December 7, 2000 theater Wild and Wonderful In the jungle: Mowgli (John Filizzola) has a laugh with Baloo the Bear (Jilline Ringle) as Bagheera the Black Panther (Larry Grant Malvern) looks on. Arden Theatre Company, 40 N. Second St.,…

November 30–December 7, 2000 critic pick|opera The Coronation of Poppea “It’s a gutsy piece of theater that tries to get to the truth when the truth is unpleasant,” says director Chas Rader-Shieber about Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea. The Monteverdi…

November 30–December 7, 2000 on media I Want My Gay TV Magic on the mic: Producer/host Sawicki is a polished interviewer. That is what it’s like to be gay, isn’t it? That’s sure how it looks on TV. Tony Sawicki…

November 2–9, 2000 dance Girls, Girls, Girls It takes two to tango: Angelika Fisher and Brigette Winkler of TangoMujer TangoMujer Annenberg Center, Oct. 24-28 Ever since the phenomenal success of Tango Argentino in the early 1980s, tango has been enjoying…

October 19–26, 2000 six pick Beaux Arts Ball In a move that’s bound to encourage oohs and aahs — not to mention silly puns on the word “runway” — The Foundation for Architecture’s annual costume ball/fashion show will take place…

October 19–26, 2000 opera Evviva Verdi Rigoletto Opera Company of Philadelphia, Academy of Music, Broad and Locust Sts., through Oct. 22, 215-893-1999 Verdi, more so than any other opera composer, should be played straight out of the box. His vision…