Bill Marx

Theater Review: An Energetic But Erratic “Polaroid Stories”

July 8, 2012
Posted in ,

My impression is of a trio of rough-but-ready theater groups spoiling for some nervy, in-yer-face theatrical action. That is the way it should be.

Fuse Commentary: What Does WGBH Do When It Cuts Back On The Arts? It Celebrates, Of Course.

July 2, 2012
Posted in ,

Jazz is dying on WGBH — long live the arts, and let us all eat cake financed by Citizens Bank at the upcoming Arts Weekend, created by WGBH and The Boston Globe

The Arts Fuse Turns 5: The Future of Arts Journalism is Now. Help Us Make it Happen.

June 24, 2012
Posted in ,

As a long time arts critic for print, broadcast, and the Web, the potential for cultural coverage online strikes me then and now as exhilarating. The challenge for The Arts Fuse is to foster dialogue that articulates the value of the arts in our lives.

Fuse Commentary: WGBH’s Radio Theater of the Absurd

June 22, 2012
Posted in ,

WGBH is exploring an interesting question — how little can you invest in arts coverage and still have the chutzpah to ask for money from supporters who mistake crumbs for a loaf?

Arts Commentary: Critical Rule #1 — Don’t Write Like a Publicist

June 17, 2012
Posted in , ,

Early on I was given these words of wisdom by my friend, the late theater critic Arthur Friedman: “Criticism should not read as if it had been written by a publicist.

Theater Review: A Spectacular Showbiz “Totem” from Cirque du Soleil

June 15, 2012
Posted in ,

Director Robert Lepage’s spectacular projections, aided by a savvy use of sound effects and lighting, move the dramatic focus of Cirque du Soleil’s Totem with ease, opening up the imaginative boundaries of the stage.

Arts Commentary: What Makes a Critic Tick? Harvard Business School Hasn’t a Clue

May 30, 2012
Posted in ,

I have read the Harvard Business School study about critics and it is clueless on so many levels about the craft and mechanics of reviewing that it is astonishing that major newspapers and magazines have taken it seriously.

Author Interview: Jay Atkinson’s Memoirs of a Rugby-Playing Man — Remembrance of Punches Past

May 26, 2012
Posted in ,

If Wordsworth was right in saying that poetry is emotion recollected in tranquility, than a rugby memoir is a punch in the face reconsidered from a hospital bed.

Book Interview: Damion Searls on “Amsterdam Stories”

May 17, 2012
Posted in , ,

Written by a man who spent most of his life in a bourgeois harness, Amsterdam Stories focuses on the fleeting thrills of refusal, the chemical and philosphical rush that comes from floating free of responsibility.

Theater Review: Boxed In — “Yesterday Happened: Remembering H. M.”

May 9, 2012
Posted in , ,

Dramatist and director Wesley Savick faces a number of fascinating but formidable theatrical challenges, and the generally compelling Yesterday Happened (how could it not be, given its story?) takes an honorable, visually striking swipe at the problems.

Recent Posts

Popular Posts

Categories

Archives