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Coming Attractions: Culture Vulture’s October Picks

September 30, 2009
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by Helen Epstein I’m looking forward to what looks to be the best fall foliage season in years in the Berkshires. American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell at the Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA through October 12. A very popular summer exhibit has been held over. It covers Rockwell’s entire 65-year career, interpreted and…

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Classical Music Review: Musica Viva Kicks Off

September 27, 2009
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By Caldwell Titcomb Musica Viva, under its founding director Richard Pittman, kicked off its 41st season on September 25 with an all-American concert in the Tsai Performance Center. The organization is exclusively devoted to contemporary music – on this occasion extending from 1982 to the present.

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Film Review: “Big Fan” Shoots a Freak in a Barrel

September 27, 2009
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Robert Siegel has an undeniable talent for capturing the desperation and despair of his downtrodden character, but the director never tells us why he is plumbing the lower depths of America’s mania for sports. Big Fan, directed by Robert Siegel, showing at Kendall Square Cinema. Reviewed by Justin Marble Like Robert Siegel’s first script, “The…

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Theater Review: Actors From the London Stage

September 27, 2009
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Actors From the London Stage (AFTLS) proves that when it comes to the Bard the minimal may be maximal. Reviewed by Caldwell Titcomb Shakespeare’s challenging “King Lear” is the vehicle for this year’s fall tour of the troupe called Actors From the London Stage (AFTLS). This project was begun in 1975, and has been flourishing…

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Culture Vulture: Orhan Pamuk At Harvard

September 22, 2009
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By Helen Epstein A friend of mine who used to teach at Harvard says, “the place is filled with pompous people who think they have to be the smartest and most sophisticated in the world — at least in their field,” so it was a delight this afternoon to hear the unpretentious and visibly agitated…

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Film Review: “Beeswax” — Hyper Realism Triumphant

September 21, 2009
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by Justin Marble Beeswax, directed by Andrew Bujalski, showing at Coolidge Corner Theatre. Boston native Andrew Bujalski’s third feature film, “Beeswax,” does not reel off the trials and tribulations of superheroes, pirates, serial killers, or giant transforming robots. There’s no killer shark, no Godzilla, no guns, and no aliens. Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts do…

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Book Review: Christopher Plummer Recounts His Life

September 19, 2009
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By Caldwell Titcomb There are those who have proclaimed that Christopher Plummer is the greatest classical actor in North America. There is certainly no gainsaying that he has for some time been in the tiny group at the top of the acting profession. Now as he nears the age of 80 he has brought forth…

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Theater Review: The Remarkable Rooming House of Tennessee Williams

September 19, 2009
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By Bill Marx What are artists? Desperate searchers after whatever can be found of truth and beauty, even when the two may be poles apart. – Tennessee Williams, “Notebooks” (1979) The Remarkable Rooming House of Madame Le Monde by Tennessee Williams. Directed by Davis Robinson. Beau Jest Moving Theater production (commissioned by the Provincetown Tennessee…

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Theater Review: The A.R.T. Shakes Its Ass

September 18, 2009
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Observe the ass … his character is about perfect, he is the choicest spirit among all the humbler animals. — Mark Twain, “Pudd’nhead Wilson” The Donkey Show Conceived by Randy Weiner. Directed by Diane Paulus and Randy Weiner. Presented by the American Repertory Theater at Zero Arrow Street, Cambridge, MA Presented by American Repertory Theater,…

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Culture Vulture: Coming Attractions — Gloucester City Hall Murals

September 18, 2009
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By Helen Epstein Of the 100 or so events scheduled for Essex County’s Eighth Annual Trails and Sails Festival the last weekend of September, culture vultures should not miss Gloucester’s Committee for the Arts tours of Gloucester City Hall’s wall murals, created by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930’s. Culture Vulture talked about them…

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