In the age of COVID-19, Arts Fuse critics have come up with a guide to film, dance, visual art, theater, and music — mostly available by streaming — for the coming weeks. More offerings will be added as they come in.
Book Review: “Big Girl, Small Town” – Vinegary Vignettes
This novel’s greatest strength is its frank character sketch of Majella. The protagonist is sharply rendered through her observational, sensory navigation of the people and doings in the fictional Northern Ireland town, of Aghybogey.
Book Review: “She Come By It Natural” — Dolly Parton, Feminist Icon
Those looking to understand why Dolly Parton is such an icon, or searching for a thoughtful and witty alternative to Hillbilly Elegy, would do well to read this book.
Opera Review: Galuppi’s “L’amante di tutte” — A Total Hoot!
A delightful and compact opera — from a generation before Mozart — that cuts various social types down to size.
Film Review: “His House” — The Intimate Horror of Trauma
This is not your typical horror film; it thoughtfully explores how houses and people can both be haunted.
Television Interview: Talking with John Wilson, the Mastermind behind HBO’s “How to with John Wilson”
“I don’t want to show myself because I don’t think I’m very interesting to look at. The world is filled with so many other interesting things to look at.”
Rock and Book Review: New Visions of Metal, Heavy, Black, and Thrash
“I think these shots bring out the fierceness of black metal, and the models are saying, ‘We can be this.’”
Poetry Review: Gail Mazur’s “Land’s End” — Poems of Questions and Declarations
It’s hard to imagine many of Gail Mazur’s poems emerging from anywhere else than from inside Route 128.
Theater Review: Finding Hope in Isolation — “Dream Boston,” Episodes 1-5 @ The Huntington Theatre
In this innovative series, the Huntington Theatre Company has charged 11 local playwrights to imagine a future vision of Boston, post-pandemic, when “we can once again meet and connect in our city.”
Television Review: “Animaniacs” Reboot — Out of Step
The new Animaniacs provides no good reason for reviving Yakko, Wakko, and Dot in the 21st century.