Inspired by the bizarre true story of a Virginia farmer who claimed a patch of land in Africa in order to make his daughter a real princess, the show is a frustrating jumble, with highly entertaining and materially noteworthy elements undercut by sequences that go down the drain.

On top of a capacious talent, the Bulgarian-born, New York-based pianist has a distinctive sensibility evidenced by her choice of repertoire, which encompasses works by composers from her homeland as well as contemporary new music and her own compositions.

This sweet story slides from religious tradition into the traditions that arise in an individual family – the legends, the habits, the clashes, and the spoken and too-often unspoken feelings.

Fine musicianship and rich, live sound make this new album an enlightening introduction to some seldom-heard but very worthwhile music by composers born in, or who made a strong mark in, the United States.

Coruscating Latin rhythms with a four-mallet attack, folk-jazz from a guitar-ukelele-vocal duo, and baroque-jazz crossover from the late bassoonist Daniel Smith

Vogel tells this tale of assisted-living life in an old-fashioned Jewish-humor style, but steers clear of schlock and schmaltz, stripping his characters to their more-or-less lovable essences while revealing what seems to be a hopeful, even sunny view of human nature. It's a refreshing dose of positivity in a city blindsided by recent realities.

The economic divide exploded into the sunlight with the ascendance of the Tea Party movement, identified more or less with the right wing, and the Occupy movement on the left. The difference between those two phenomena was more cultural than philosophical.

This compelling play from Holland digs into the guts of a couple's personal tragedy while maintaining a subtle distance by means of delicately off-natural dialogue.

The journey seemed to wind across oceans, through jungles – and into caves, perhaps akin to the cistern recordings that gave birth to the composer's concept of "deep listening" back in the 1980s.

Pink Martini casts its unique big-band lounge sound around the world on its crackling new album, with songs in Spanish, French, Turkish, Farsi, Arabic, Xhosa and more.