Arts Fuse critics select the best in film, dance, visual art, theater, music, and author events for the coming weeks.
Film Review: “What Did Jack Do? — David Lynch’s Amusing Monkeyshine
After rewatching What Did Jack Do? a few times, I still don’t really know what the hell I saw. But I decided that I don’t care, because I kept laughing my ass off anyway.
Theater Review: “Maytag Virgin” — Love Blossoms, Memorably
Maytag Virgin accomplishes what it sets out to do and then some: it is a compelling two-hander about grief and romance that explores how the two emotions can intermingle.
Visual Arts Review: Ledelle Moe’s “When” — Figures Worthy of Awe
Ledelle Moe’s work is fresh, innovative, and contemporary — yet deeply rooted in a primal humanism that courses through the millennia of every continent and culture.
Arts Remembrance: Homage to Claudio Roditi
Apart from Claudio Roditi’s musical skill, what stood out was his warmth.
Opera Album Review: Oscar Wilde in the Opera House, Part 2 — Richard Flury’s Approachable “A Florentine Tragedy”
Another operatic version of Oscar Wilde’s one-act love triangle that ends with the woman’s husband murdering her lover, to her enraptured delight.
Theater Review: “The Undoing of Prudencia Hart” — Lost in Spaciness
Unfortunately, no improvements to the staging will clarify dramatist David Greig’s muddled storyline.
Book Review: Miranda Popkey’s “Topics of Conversation” — A Bemused Candor
What you will be impressed by is the strength of the interior thinking, the detailing of the voices sorting out their confusion.
Opera Album Review: Oscar Wilde in the Opera House, Part 1 — Zemlinsky’s Intense Setting of “A Florentine Tragedy”
Salome is not the only strong opera based on an Oscar Wilde play. This one-acter by Zemlinsky deserves a place in the repertoire today.
Book Review: “Were We Awake” — Speculating in the Dark
L. M. Brown knows there are certain questions in life that we just never get the answers to. Or dare to ask.