WEEKLYPRESS.COM · UCREVIEW.COM · NOVEMBER 30 · 2011


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After Te Invention of Hugo Cabret, what? Wonderstruck!


nual Craft Show and Sale on Dec. 2 for a run through Dec. 15 with more than 30 art- ists and crafts people selling such work as jewelry, hand- painted silk scarves, pottery, hand-made gift cards, small paintings and prints, all rea- sonably priced with 60 per- cent of proceeds going to the artist and the remainder to the Arts League. Daily hours from 3 to 9 p.m. 4226 Spruce. Check 215-382-7811 for other information and confirmation of times.


Young Troy Larsen, a member of the Philadelphia Boys Choir and Chorale, sings the role of Amahl in Menotti’s beloved short Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors on Dec. 4., First Baptist Church, 17th and Sansom. Photo: Phila. Boys Choir


O


rdinary Days, 11th Hour Theatre’s new intimate


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musical by Adam Gwon is on view now in its local premiere and runs through Dec. 11. A smash in Manhattan, this is the tale of four young New Yorkers dealing with life in the city that never sleeps. Joe Calarco directs a cast of four: Whitney Bashor, Alex Keiper, Michael Philip O’Brien and Steve Pacek. Eric Ebbenga is Musical Director with cos- tumes by Lauren Perigard and sets by Craig Vetter. Skybox at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom. 267-987-9865. The People of Maasai Mara, exclusive photography by Arthur Fennel, is at the Art Sanctuary from 7 to 9 p.m. on Nov. 30 featuring 25 photos shot in the large game reserve in southwest Kenya depicting the people, the landscapes, customs, dress and their no- madic lifestyle. On the pro- gram, discussions, light fare and a jazz fusion band. 628 S. 16th. 215-232-4485. The Philadelphia Orchestra presents Sounds of the New World, a program inflected with jazz, spirituals and Na- tive American rhythms on Dec. 1with Maestra Marin Al- sop on the podium with guest clarinetist Ricardo Morales and guest organist Ken Cowan in works by Barber, Copland and Dvorak’s Symphony #9(From the New World). Repeated onDec. 2 at 2 p.m.,Dec. 3 at 8 p.m. Verizon Hall at the Kim-


mel Center, Broad and Spruce. 215-893-1999 for tickets and information on free PreCon- cert Conversations an hour before each performance. Koresh Dance Company cel- ebrates its 20th anniversary season with five performances from Dec. 1 through 5, paying tribute to the choreographic achievements of founder/ar- tistic director Roni Koresh. The 12-member troupe will be seen in a gamut of dance creations covering almost the entire range of works that Mr. Koresh has created over the decades. A not-to-be-missed occasion for afficionados of modern dance. Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad. 215-751-0990. Shoppers will rejoice in the news that the University City Arts League will open its an-


A traditional Irish Christmas is on tap on Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m. when the Annenberg Center presents, as part of their Irish Roots Series, An Nollaig in Ei- rinn, a family-friendly concert steeped in ancient traditions, rich vocals and Irish step dancers doing their stuff with orchestral backing, all per- formed by the Danu ensemble. 3680 Walnut. 215-898-3900. The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society brings back the hugely popular St. Lawrence Quartet on Dec. 2 at 8 p.m. in works by Beethoven, Golijov and Schubert. Perelman The- ater at the Kimmel Center. On Dec. 4 at 3 p.m.,Curtis 20/21 ContemporaryMusic Ensem-


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By Dea Adria Mallin Contributing Writer


B


rian Selznick is a 2008 Caldecott Medal-win- ning children’s illustra-


tor and author. But he is also that rara avis whose work en- ters the hearts and minds of adults along with children, and stays forever. Scholastic Press has just issued his new and unique format of pages and pages of compelling pencil art—460-plus pages and pages of prose for a to- tal of 647. The book is titled Wonderstruck, and when I picked it up one evening, I didn’t put it down until page 647. The last few pages—a happy ending but not an un- complicated one—have wa- tery marks from my tears of sadness and tender joy. In November, moviegoers were lining up for Martin Scorcese’s film adaptation of Selznick’s groundbreaking, breathtaking 2007 book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and everyone who didn’t know his work before will be run- ning to put his books in their hands. When Selznick came to speak here with audi- ences at the Free Library and at Friends’ Central School in October, large attentive crowds with never-ending questions and books to sign


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Right: Illustration from Wonderstruck.


overflowed each auditorium. Selznick was generous with his time and funny and au- thentic in his answers. The concept of both Wonder- struck and Hugo Cabret, with pages of pure art and other pages of words only, is light years away from the no- tion or effect of any graphic novel or any traditional tale with illustrations. InWonder- struck, there are two stories, set fifty years apart, in 1927 and 1977. One is told entirely in words, the other entirely in pictures. There is the boy, Ben, suddenly orphaned and then struck by lightning from


speaking into a telephone during a storm, resulting in deafness. And there is the girl, Rose, deaf from birth with a famous actress for a mother, but one who is too busy for her deaf child. As the stories unfold, they begin to undulate and then weave together. Selznick’s timing here is impeccable. Just as your heart leaps, the story turns the other way, catch- ing up on Rose, or Ben. Fifty years intervene. Selznick is an expert on af- fairs of the heart. His boys


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