As the age of Covid-19 more or less wanes, Arts Fuse critics supply a guide to film, dance, visual art, theater, author readings, and music. More offerings will be added as they come in.
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Latest in Visual Arts
Book Review: “Leon Battista Alberti: The Chameleon’s Eye” — Not Your Classic Renaissance Man
This splendid biography of Leon Battista Alberti, beautifully produced, with a rich selection of well-placed and well-reproduced illustrations, vividly portrays one of the most complex and fascinating figures in a complex and fascinating time, one whose preoccupations are entirely relevant today.
Latest in Music
Music Commentary: The Place Between “Classical” and “Jazz” Becomes a Destination
2022 was a year in which hybrid musical forms reached more Boston audiences than ever before. 2023 promises to open even more doors. The Place Between is no longer dangerous territory, a detour, or a side road. It has become a destination in itself.
Latest in Dance
Dance Interview: Rachel Linsky on Taking Holocaust Education Outside of the Jewish Community
In choreographer Rachel Linsky’s hands — and the bodies of her articulate, reverberating dancers — you gain both kinesthetic and emotional access to the worlds of those who lived the Holocaust.
Latest in Television
Television Review: “The Legend of Vox Machina” — A Sign of Things to Come
The first three episodes of the second season of The Legend of Vox Machina exceeded expectations.
Latest Short Fuses
February Short Fuses — Materia Critica
Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.
Latest Podcast
Short Fuse Podcast #59: Line of Driftwood, the Ada Blackjack Story
Host Elizabeth Howard talks to poet and writer Diane Glancy about her book on a young Iñupiat woman who, in 1921, traveled to Wrangel Island, 200 miles off the Arctic Coast of Siberia, as a cook and seamstress, along with four professional explorers.
Latest in Books
Book Review: Film Director Preston Sturges — The Reluctant Auteur
This incisive, compelling, and spirited analysis of the screwball maestro’s life and oeuvre illuminates the art of an overlooked genius.
Latest in Theater
Theater Review: “Made in China 2.0” — The Art of Taking Risks
Made in China 2.0 is valuable as an act of theatrical witnessing, the voice of a rebel who is facing considerable challenges from the powers that be.
Latest in Film
Sundance Film Festival Review: “Beyond Utopia” — Escape (for Some) from North Korea
Beyond Utopia is a grim reminder that, against growing odds, people keep leaving North Korea, or try to. It may be a while before another family agrees to film the journey out.
Latest in Food
Film Review: “Flux Gourmet” — Food, Glorious Food
Flux Gourmet occasionally reminded me of the films of Peter Greenaway, who often juxtaposed the grotesque or disturbing with the beautiful and ethereal.
Read the Latest
Opera Review: Guerilla Opera’s “The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage”
Part rescue narrative and part comedic superhero story, this production offers a delightful visual and musical adventure.
Flipping a Coin: The Significance of Anna May Wong’s Quarter
What emerges from even a cursory study of Anna May Wong’s life is that her complexity and depth were rarely acknowledged but she used her intelligence to control the narrative as much as she could.
Classical Concert Review: The Harlem Quartet at the Shalin Liu Performance Center
Hey, any string quartet that has performed and recorded with Chick Corea (in the album “Hot House”) is ok by me.
Book Review: “The Constitution in Jeopardy” Wrong Diagnosis and Solution
This is the Catch-22 of American constitutional politics. We the people are free to propose any structural reform we want except that they’ll all suffer the same fate: strangulation at the hands of petty politicians in Washington or the state capitals.
Rock Remembrance: Tom Verlaine
Tom Verlaine will be most remembered for Marquee Moon, both the album and title track, which alone would be enough to seal any legacy.