CareyMulliganBalladofWallisIsland

Film Review: “The Ballad of Wallis Island” — Wandering Off-Key

Coming Attractions

Coming Attractions: March 30 Through April 14 — What Will Light Your Fire

Our expert critics supply a guide to film, visual art, theater, author readings ,television, and music. More offerings will be added as they come in.

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The Arts Fuse Currents

Music

Classical Concert Review: Sphinx Virtuosi play Joplin, Coleridge-Taylor, Skye, Stewart, Becenti, Carreño, and Taylor

By Jonathan Blumhofer | April 2, 2025

The Sphinx Virtuosi is terrific: the group’s unified tone and articulations, impeccable responsiveness and technique, and command of stylistic nuance are all of the first rank.

Visual Arts

Artist Feature: Architectural Illustrator Frank Costantino — Adding Soul to the Built Environment

By Mark Favermann | March 31, 2025

“Visionary Projects” at the Boston Athenaeum is a captivating exhibition of Frank M. Costantino’s work, a display of over 80 drawings and watercolors.

Film

Film Review: “The Ballad of Wallis Island” — Wandering Off-Key

By Tim Jackson | April 2, 2025

Heartwarming themes of love lost and the emotional power of music are undercut by a script constructed for the sake of dramatizing ideas rather than characters.

Books

Book Review: Clea Simon’s “The Butterfly Trap” — Double Trouble

By Matt Hanson | April 2, 2025

The all-too-human propensity for not only telling yourself what you want to hear but taking what you see at face value is what drives the action.

Poetry at The Arts Fuse

Weekly Feature: Poetry at The Arts Fuse

March 27, 2025

This week’s poem: Norman Finkelstein’s “Poem”

Dance

Dance Review: United Dance Company — Breaking Down Barriers, Beautifully

By Jessica Lockhart | March 11, 2025

The five performers with Down syndrome danced along with three professionally trained dancers without disabilities — and they all looked wonderful.

Theater

Theater Review: “Night Side Songs” — A Powerful Musical About the Kingdom of the Sick

By David Greenham | April 1, 2025

Ace performances help make Night Side Songs a rich and moving experience, compounded by the fact that it is valuable to be in a room full of empathy and love in these trying times.

Television

Television Review: “The Studio” — The Kool-Aid Man Cometh

By Sarah Osman | March 29, 2025

The current state of Hollywood — terminal banality — is concerning. But that’s what makes it so perfect for a dose of acidic satire.

Podcasts

Short Fuse Podcast #70: Reading and Talking Film — Sonya Chung, Film Forum

By Elizabeth Howard | February 27, 2025

In this engaging conversation, Elizabeth Howard speaks with Sonya Chung, the director of Film Forum in New York, about the intersection of film and literature, the relevance of the Oscars, and the impact of independent films.

Short Fuses

April Short Fuses — Materia Critica

By Arts Fuse Editor | April 1, 2025

Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.

Spotlight

Arts Commentary: Time to Step Off the “Carousel” of Denial

By Bill Marx | March 31, 2025

We desperately need plays and musicals — produced by local companies with courage and nerve — that acknowledge that the cancer of autocracy is here, today, and becoming stronger. That is the demand — will any answer the call?

About the Arts Fuse

The Arts Fuse was established in June, 2007 as a curated, independent online arts magazine dedicated to publishing in-depth criticism, along with high quality previews, interviews, and commentaries. The publication's over 70 freelance critics (many of them with decades of experience) cover dance, film, food, literature, music, television, theater, video games, and visual arts. Support arts coverage that believes that culture matters.