Arts Fuse critics select the best in film, dance, visual art, theater, music, and author events for the coming weeks.
Main Content
Latest in Visual Arts
Visual Arts Commentary: Pat Falco’s MOCK — A Resonant Statement about Boston’s Affordable Housing Crisis
With MOCK, the artist has made made an exceptionally powerful statement, conceptually and physically, about Boston’s increasingly dire affordable housing predicament.
Latest in Music
Opera Review: Antonio Salieri’s “Tarare” — A Startling Opera of Social Commentary
Tarare is simply one of the most important operas of the Classic era, precisely because it challenges so many aspects of Classic-era “normality.” You won’t believe your ears.
Latest in Dance
Dance Review: “Object.” — Objectifying Women, Intensely
We are immersed for 70-minutes in a powerful evocation of the destructive culture created by men who treat women as sex objects.
Latest in Television
WATCH CLOSELY: “Marianne” — Pure, Artful Evil
Marianne is one of the slickest horror series I’ve seen on Netflix.
Latest in Books
Book Review: “Life Isn’t Everything: Mike Nichols, as remembered by 150 of his Closest Friends” — A Frothy, Gossip-filled Bauble
If you are a fan of Mike Nichols’ large and elegant body of work, you’ll regret as I did that the authors did not take the time to create the kind of book he deserved.
Latest in Theater
Theater Review: A Three-Hour “Bright Room Called Day” Befuddles at the Public Theater
Tony Kushner attempts a re-write of his first professional play. The results are decidedly mixed.
Latest in Film
Film Review: “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” — Life Lessons, Nostalgia, Sweetness
There are few films these days that feel like such a familiar and sorely-needed balm for stressful times.
Latest in Food
Book Feature: Joan Nathan — Sitting at “King Solomon’s Table”
There are 170 recipes in King Solomon’s Table . Joan Nathan, a sort of culinary archeologist, tracks down the details of their origins to Biblical times.
Read the Latest
Arts Fuse Podcast #21: On Harold Bloom and New Orleans Jazz
Arts Fuse writers Lucas Spiro and Matt Hanson discuss the late Harold Bloom.
Film Review: “Knives and Skin” — Sensual, Surreal, Stunning
Though the story’s events are set in the present, the Gen X music feels right, coming as it does from an era when fear, decadence, and moral hypocrisy also dominated our culture.
Opera Review: BEMF’s “La storia di Orfeo” — A Musical Triumph
I do not know how BEMF will ever top this. Bravo tutti!
Opera Review: Ready for a Very Different “Faust”? You Should Be!
Even taking into consideration my several objections, this Faust is one of the most accomplished and intriguing opera releases of recent years.
Opera Preview: Opera North’s “All Is Calm” — Peaceful Interlude
All is Calm juxtaposes the gravity (some might say the idiocy) of war with the simple human gestures that the opposing sides extended to each other during a remarkable cease fire.
