As the age of Covid-19 wanes (or waxes?), Arts Fuse critics supply a guide to film, dance, visual art, theater, and music. Please check with venues about whether the event is available by streaming or is in person. More offerings will be added as they come in.
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Latest in Visual Arts
Visual Arts Review: “By Her Hand” — A Show of Women Artists that Surprises and Delights
There were so many women artists here whose work surprises and delights. And the Wadsworth Atheneum’s decision to showcase them makes an important contribution to our evolving understanding of art and its history.
Latest in Music
Jazz Album Review: Christian McBride & Inside Straight: Live at the Village Vanguard
As serious a musician as he is, and as virtuosic as he can be, the naturally extroverted Christian McBride knows how to entertain, a talent generously evident in this live performance.
Latest in Dance
Author Interview: Vermont’s John Killacky — At the Service of Art, Critique, and Civic Conversation
“I believe artists create a safe space for unsafe ideas in our world.”
Latest in Television
WATCH CLOSELY: HBO”s “Scenes from a Marriage” — Love, Naturally
These are people behaving badly, even while they struggle to retain their dignity.
Latest Short Fuses
November Short Fuses – Materia Critica
Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.
Latest Podcast
Short Fuse Podcast #47: “Our Town” — The Greatest American Play?
In this episode, Bryan Halperin and Howard Sherman talk about the enduring power of Our Town with host Elizabeth Howard.
Latest in Books
Book Review: “Museum of Fine Arts Boston: 1870 to 2020, An Oral History” — Questioning the Elite
This is an invaluable gathering of interviews, an impressive excavation of institutional memory that not only recognizes the MFA’s grandeur but its many deficiencies as well.
Latest in Theater
Theater Review: “The Last Five Years” — Time-Tripping Through Scenes From a Marriage
Leigh Barrett’s staging reflects a clear-eyed understanding of the power of the material’s simplicity, which makes The Last Five Years an exceptional musical experience: thought-provoking as well as captivating.
Latest in Film
Film Review: “The Scary of Sixty-First” — “Give up your shitposts which are completely useless…”
This isn’t so much a movie as it is a micro-budget prank, and I must respect the hustle Dasha Nekrasova is pulling here even if it’s not in good taste.
Latest in Food
Theater Review: “Seared” — A Recipe for Comedy
Theresa Rebeck’s foodie comedy Seared is more of an amiable appetizer than a substantial entree.
Read the Latest
Concert Film Review: Bruce Springsteen — “The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts”
From the pounded opening bars of “Prove It All Night,” it’s revelatory to see a young, lithe Bruce Springsteen as he prowls his domain, cocks his guitar, and belts his impassioned vignettes of blue-collar struggles and dreams.
Film Review: “The Power of the Dog” — A Beautiful Study in Contrasts
Director Jane Campion’s sharp adaptation of Thomas Savage’s novel focuses on the damage done to those who surrender to the alluring but pernicious “sword” of social conformity.
Television Review: “Tiger King 2” — A Dull Redux
Tiger King 2 comes off as a freak show that is content to scream “look at how insane these people are!”
Book Review: Samuel R. Delany’s “Dhalgren” — A Critical War of Words
The jury’s in. The critics who agreed with an early assessment that 1975’s Dhalgren is a “literary landmark” get to touch champagne flutes and congratulate one another.
Opera Album Review: Great Dane! A Revered Verdian Opera from Denmark
Peter Heise’s King and Marshal (1878), one of the most-performed Danish operas, is melodic and atmospheric, here sung and played persuasively.