Bill Marx
There was a memorial service for Caldwell Titcomb, invaluable friend of the arts in New England, yesterday in the Memorial Church at Harvard University. He passed away on June 12th of leukemia at the age of 84. The ceremony was moving and heartfelt, with memories shared about Caldwell as a friend, composer, critic, grammarian, teacher, brother, long-time President of the Elliot Norton Awards, and researcher in African-American history.
Given his full-throttle depiction of the myopia of middle class mores, Bruce Norris is more in the flamboyant satiric line of Sinclair Lewis, who also trained his sharp ear and eye on the Midwest, the American heartland, jabbing away at American delusions of community, status, and self-satisfaction.
Exciting things are happening in Israeli writing, and it is garnering considerable attention in Europe. But what about theater in Israel? Israeli Stage offers the curious a chance to see what is happening.
Liz Duffy Adams’ affectionate look at Aphra Behn’s rise to public prominence, despite prejudice against her gender, comes off as a sort of farcical love letter to an ink-stained ancestor that at times suggests a Shavian talk fest in a minor key.
“For an imaginative boy, the first experience of writing is like a tiger’s first taste of blood.’ — H.G. Wells, “The New Machiavelli,” 1911.
Given the power, glory, and fun the Boston Babydolls supply with their burlesque routines — pasties and nipple tassels whirl with furious aplomb — the lack of spooky payoff in “The Wrathskellar” amounts to a minor drawback.
A symptom of our times: two books by self-described critics that aren’t particularly critical. Informed, lucid, thoughtful, and explanatory, yes –- strongly evaluative, no
It is encouraging that the list of recommendations for October isn’t filled with musicals. Are straight plays back? I wouldn’t count on it in this economic climate. So let’s bask in the chance to hear words without music.
In “Delusion,” veteran performance artist Laurie Anderson generates a muted melancholy, sometimes poetic, sometimes poignant, that makes the piece a consistently compelling if not always successful addition to an ambitious body of work.
The Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll at Mid-Year: Warming Up a Riff — How It Happened, and Why It Matters