Bill Marx
It is encouraging to see new plays that tackle substantial social problems.
“Americans have been most drawn to the great tragedies—in our classroom and on our stages. “
“Nothing Like the Sun” remains, for my money, among the best works of fiction inspired by Shakespeare’s life.
Dramatist Melinda Lopez’s “Becoming Cuba” holds your attention even after you see just where it is going and why.
“Buster Keaton’s imagination and ideas are more surrealistic than Chaplin’s, and his stunts are astonishing in terms of their demanding technique, even today”.
“I love Fats Waller. Fats Waller will always be here because he is simply that magnetic a person(a).”
This is a vaguely threatening day for New Englanders who love their NPR in duplicate.
“Bernard Malamud is the great sentence-maker, the great craftsman, and the sheer quality of those sentences has never perhaps been given its complete due.”
Jiri Fiedler’s was a life of quiet heroism dedicated to the indispensable task of keeping the past alive.
In “The Flick,” Annie Baker creates youngish characters that my students at Boston University would call “relatable,” exploring how self-delusions, stereotypes, and fear keep them from connecting in a meaningful way.
The Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll at Mid-Year: Warming Up a Riff — How It Happened, and Why It Matters