Also this issue: There's No Place Like Home After two years in New Hope, a Tin Man finds the heart of the gallery scene in Philly. -Juliet Fletcher Ashes to Ashes -Susan Hagen Artsbeat -Debra Auspitz The Golden Dreydl -Mary Armstrong Here's to the Ladies -David Anthony Fox Hometown Phavorites -Deni Kasrel Full Speed Ahead -Toby Zinman Good Boy Network -David Anthony Fox

November 27-December 3, 2002

artpicks

The Magic Fire

In Norse legend and in Wagner's The Nibelungen Ring, the Magic Fire is the flaming shield which Wotan, king of the gods, places around his daughter to protect her from harm.

The Magic Fire, a new play by Lillian Groag, is about a family of opera lovers who live in Argentina during the reign of General Juan Perón and adore Wagner's Ring. The Jewish family fled from Austria and Venice because of the Nazi threat, and now they see a new danger.

According to Blanka Zizka, director of The Wilma Theater's production opening this week, the play is "an unusual mix of comedy, coming from the vivacity and colorfulness of the characters, bordering on eccentricity -- and pathos -- born out of the characters' need to take sides or make decisions that have dire consequences. It explores a defining moment in history when shifts in politics challenge how we live our lives, and [questions] if we are capable of an act of heroism in an authoritarian state."

Zizka chose Martin Rayner, who played A.E. Housman in the Wilma's The Invention of Love, to play Otto Berg, the patriarch of the family, and Janis Dardaris as an actress whose outspokenness causes her to fall out of favor with the new regime.

Dec. 4-Jan. 5, call for times, $9 -$41, The Wilma Theater, Broad and Spruce sts., 215-546-7824.

—Steve Cohen