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Theater Review: “A Strange Loop” — An Exhilarating Musical Loop-de-Loop

Coming Attractions

Coming Attractions: April 21 through May 6 — What Will Light Your Fire

Our expert 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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The Arts Fuse Currents

Music

Concert Review: Jakub Hrůša and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra — An Admirable Balancing Act

By Aaron Keebaugh | May 2, 2024

The Bamberg Symphony Orchestra is  a rare gem in the already star-studded crown of European ensembles.

Visual Arts

Visual Arts Review: Firelei Báez at the ICA — No Question, A Star Is Born

By Trevor Fairbrother | April 29, 2024

The artist is currently facing the existential throes of art-world fame and fortune.

Film

Film Reviews: DocTalk at the Independent Film Festival of Boston — Bands of Outsiders

By Peter Keough | May 1, 2024

Documentaries celebrating communities shine at the Independent Film Festival of Boston.

Books

Book Review: “At the Vanguard of Vinyl” — Illuminating and Frustrating

By Steve Provizer | April 28, 2024

Other readers may be more sympathetic to this informative book’s broader conclusions about the rise of LP’s and the “erasure of black bodies and black aesthetics.

Poetry at The Arts Fuse

Weekly Feature: Poetry at The Arts Fuse

May 2, 2024

The week’s poem: Amanda Cook’s “The Cow of Dogtown”

Dance

Dance Interview: Matthew Rushing, Interim Artistic Director, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

By Robert Israel | April 28, 2024

“We ask them to interpret the music through their own experiences, so they are connecting to and performing what Mr. Ailey called ‘blood memories’ on stage.”

Theater

Theater Review: “A Strange Loop” — An Exhilarating Musical Loop-de-Loop

By David Greenham | May 2, 2024

This superb Speakeasy Stage Company/Front Porch Collective co-production is emotionally charged and immediate, intent on keeping the material fresh and raw.

Television

Television Review: “The Grimm Variations” — Intriguing But Vague

By Sarah Osman | April 26, 2024

So another season would be in order for “The Grimm Variations” — if it would strive to be less chaotic.

Podcasts

Short Fuse Podcast #66: Let’s Get “Authentic”

By Elizabeth Howard | December 19, 2023

In this episode of The Short Fuse, host Elizabeth Howard and Alex Waters, technical editor of the podcast, reflect on the year in an informal conversation.

Short Fuses

May Short Fuses — Materia Critica

By Arts Fuse Editor | May 1, 2024

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

Food

Film Review: “Flux Gourmet” — Food, Glorious Food

By Peg Aloi | August 23, 2022

Flux Gourmet occasionally reminded me of the films of Peter Greenaway, who often juxtaposed the grotesque or disturbing with the beautiful and ethereal.

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.