Music/Theater

I DON'T WANT HIM TO MARRY THAT WOMAN!: Witch Gillian (Shannon Lee Clair, right) is trying to decide which spells to use from her armory of sorcery in order to persuade Shep Henderson (John Hardin) to break off his engagement and impending wedding and marry her instead.

Bewitched, Bothered and in Love in “Bell, Book and Candle”; Summer Theater Opener Features Witchcraft, Comedy, Romance

Donald Gilpin

The language of love and the language of magic and witchcraft have always overlapped. Humankind in its eternal struggle to comprehend the irrational, inexplicable workings of the human heart has always resorted to references to the supernatural, the occult. The ancient Greeks and Romans, in their attempt to account for the power of love, created a god, Eros or Cupid, with his arrows shooting into unsuspecting hearts. Oberon and Puck in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream wreak havoc with their magic spells and flowery love potions, helping the Bard to illustrate that “the course of true love never did run smooth” and that “reason and love keep little company together nowadays.” And without even thinking that we are speaking figuratively and comparing our desires and attractions to magical phenomena, we speak of being “bewitched” or “enchanted” or “spellbound” by the “charms” of another.

Princeton University Opens Summer Concerts With Fresh and Innovative Chamber Players

Nancy Plum

String players love to play chamber music. Two violinists, a violist and a cellist will get together informally and play the great quartets of the Classical and Romantic composers for hours on end; with enough camaraderie, the players do not even have to talk or look at one another as they work their way through the works of the great masters. Such was the case with the Johannes String Quartet, comprised of two up-and-coming violinists paired with the principal violist and cellist of two well-established orchestras.