Robert Israel

Poetry Feature: Louise Glück Wins Nobel Prize in Literature

October 9, 2020
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Louise Glück crafts her poems with an insinuatingly thorny power that demands the reader pay close attention.

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Theater Review: Penny Arcade — Provincetown, Puritans, and the Pandemic

September 29, 2020
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I’ve hated enough people,” Penny Arcade confessed, “I can’t hate anyone new until 2022.”

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Book Review: “The Atomic Bomb on My Back” — Witness to Apocalypse

August 3, 2020
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Reading Sumiteru Taniguchi’s book brought back my memories of meeting a man who had witnessed the unimaginable.

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Arts Remembrance: Terrence McNally — Dramatist and Father of the Serious Contemporary Musical 

March 27, 2020
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The late Terrence McNally was more than just a masterful playwright. He also forged new roads in musical theater.

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Arts Remembrance: Flutist Doriot Anthony Dwyer

March 26, 2020
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Doriot Anthony Dwyer was a virtuoso flutist, one who could coax brightly burnished tones out of the instrument.

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Theater Review: “The Children” — After the Damage Has Been Done

March 3, 2020
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An apocalyptic backdrop gives the play urgency, especially given the current worldwide struggle to contain the Corvid-19 virus, which has already claimed thousands of lives.

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Visual Arts Review: “Lucian Freud Self-Portraits” — Pictures of a Cool Narcissist

February 29, 2020
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I recommend this show for Lucian Freud’s highly polished craftsmanship, but his wry game of psychological hide-and-seek is not all that satisfying.

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Theater Review: “Detroit Red” — Life in Boston, At the Bottom

February 7, 2020
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While there is much to admire about Detroit Red’s script, there are serious problems with the staging.

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Arts Commentary: MFA Boston — at 150

November 9, 2019
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There have been times in the MFA’s past when it hasn’t lived up to its educational mission, when it has pandered to the whims of the wealthy — particularly its fat cat benefactors.

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Theater Review: Asian Delights from Yukio Mishima and Tennessee Williams

October 1, 2019
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Kudos for two short plays by Tennessee Williams and Yukio Mishma at this year’s Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival

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