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Books

Theater Review: Bearing “The Torch-Bearers”

By Bill Marx George Kelly’s 1922 comedy about amateur theatrics gone wild is showing its age. The Torch-Bearers, by George Kelly. Adapted and directed by Dylan Baker. Presented by the Williamstown Theatre Festival, through August 9, 2009. Katie Finneran, Edward Herrmann, and Andrea Martin acting up a storm as amateur thespians in The Torch-Bearers. Critics […]

By: Bill Marx Filed Under: Books, Featured, Theater Tagged: Dylan Baker, George Kelly, The Torch-Bearers, Williamstown-Theatre-Festival

Culture Vulture at the Chester Theater

If you’re looking for a magical evening of summer theater, get out your map and drive to the Pioneer Valley village of Chester (pop 1100) where the Chester Theater is now celebrating its 20th season. Actors Charles Stransky, Terry Alexander, and Warren Jackson work out a deal in “Railroad Bill.” (Photo Credit: Rick Teller) Railroad […]

By: Helen Epstein Filed Under: Books, Featured, Theater Tagged: Bershires, Chester, Chester Theater Company, Culture Vulture, MA, Railroad Bill, TJ Edwards

World Books Update

By Bill Marx Two more reviews posted on my World Books page at PRI’s The World.

By: Bill Marx Filed Under: Books, Featured, World Books Tagged: Anonymous Celebrity, Horror fiction, Jacques Chessex, Jeremias Gotthelf, Swiss, The Black Spider, The Vampire of Ropraz

Culture Vulture: Candide at the Berkshire Theater Festival

“Wherefore and hence? Therefore and ergo!” Did ever an American musical have more intellectual credentials than “Candide”? Candide. Music by Leonard Bernstein. Book adapted from Voltaire by Hugh Wheeler. Lyrics by Richard Wilbur. Other lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and John LaTouche. Directed by Ralph Petillo with the Unicorn Company at the Berkshire Theatre Festival, through […]

By: Helen Epstein Filed Under: Books, Featured, Theater Tagged: Berkshire Theater Festival, Berkshires, Candide, Culture Vulture, Leonard Bernstein

Theater Review: “After the Quake” at Company One

An elegant and sleek meditation on the reverberations of trauma adapted for the stage from a collection of stories by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. After the Quake, based on the stories “Honey Pie” and Super-frog Saves Tokyo” by Haruki Murakami, which were translated from the Japanese by Jay Rubin. Adapted for the stage by Frank […]

By: Bill Marx Filed Under: Books, Featured, Theater Tagged: after the quake, Company One, Haruki-Murakami

World Books Update

By Bill Marx You want a racy, nineteenth-century epic about sex, sin, drugs, and prostitution set in China? Here it is. Two more pieces on international fiction for World Books, the feature I edit for PRI’s The World.

By: Bill Marx Filed Under: Books, Featured, World Books Tagged: Columbia University Press, Gaito Gazdanov, international fiction, New-Directions, Night Roads, Northwestern University Press, summer books, World Books

World Books Update

By Bill Marx I am juggling editing and writing duties between two blogs, theartsfuse and World Books for the website of BBC/PRI’s radio program The World, which is produced at WGBH in Boston. The section aims to be a critical conversation made up of reviews, commentaries, interviews, podcasts, and news stories about international literature. Respected […]

By: Bill Marx Filed Under: Books, Featured, World Books Tagged: Cao Naiqian, China, Columbia University Press, Far North, Ferenc Barnás, Gaito Gazdanov, Harvey Blume, Hungry, John Balcom, Mao, Marcel Theroux, Night Trips, Northwestern University Press, Qiu Xiaolon, Short Fuse, The Mao Case, The Ninth, Tommy-Wallach

Theater Review: Of Sex, Death, and Ducks

Let us hob-and-nob with Death — Alfred, Lord Tennyson The Duck Variations by David Mamet. Directed by Marcus Stern. Sexual Perversity in Chicago by David Mamet. Directed by Paul Stacey. Presented by the American Repertory Theatre at Zero Arrow Street, Cambridge, MA, through June 28. Reviewed by Bill Marx Death be not mentioned in David […]

By: Bill Marx Filed Under: Books, Featured, Theater Tagged: American-Repertory-Theatre, David Mamet, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, The Duck Variations

Theater Symposium: Who Wrote Shakespeare?

By Caldwell Titcomb Starting in 1769 serious questions have been raised as to whether William Shakespeare (1564–1616) of Stratford-upon-Avon actually wrote the plays and poems attributed to him. For some years the true author was claimed to be Sir Francis Bacon (1561–1626). So far, at least 60 persons have been put forward as the rightful […]

By: Caldwell Titcomb Filed Under: Books, Dance, Theater, Visual Arts Tagged: Aemelia Bassano Lanier, Ben Jonson, Caldwell-Titcomb, Edward de Vere, Shakespeare, The Tempest. Hugh Whittemore, William-Shakespeare

World Books Review: Criminal Neglect

A novel about sexual obsession, inspired by “Lolita,” stretches the limits of credulity. Rupert: A Confession By Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, Translated from the Dutch by Michele Hutchison, Open Letter, $12.95, 131 pages Reviewed by Tommy Wallach I consider myself something of an expert in the seldom studied theme of impotence in film and literature. Most […]

By: Arts Fuse Editor Filed Under: Books, World Books Tagged: Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, Open-Letter, Rupert: A Confession, Tommy-Wallach

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