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Theater Review: A Scary, Slick Version of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”

October 27, 2013
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Stoneham Theatre’s atmospheric staging of Jeffrey Hatcher’s version of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” is a production well worth seeing — it lives up to its billing as “a new look at a horror classic.”

Theater Review: “The Power of Duff”? The Same Old Guff

October 27, 2013
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Whenever you hear greeting card bromides intoned with a straight face (it’s usually in scenes set in a hospital) you know that moral fuzziness isn’t far behind.

Book Review: Julian Assange Trades Hopes and Fears With Cyberpunks

October 25, 2013
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Any book in which the fourth sentence is “The world is not sliding, but galloping into a new transnational dystopia” runs the risk of overstating its case from the get-go.

Visual Arts Commentary: Five Highlights from the TransCultural Exchange’s 2013 Conference

October 24, 2013
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Residences are such a prominent feature of contemporary creative life that there’s an important gathering, the TransCultural Exchange’s Conference on International Opportunities in the Arts.

Graphic Novel Review: No One Wins — Gene Luen Yang’s “Boxers & Saints”

October 23, 2013
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Although Gene Yang envisions a similarity between the Boxers (once transformed into their mythological hero aspects) and modern superheroes, BOXERS & SAINTS is far from a simple good vs. evil slugfest.

Concert Review: Discovery Ensemble Plays Mozart, Ligeti, and Sibelius

October 22, 2013
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Discovery Ensemble is one of Boston’s great musical treasures, a group that consistently reminds us not only that the music they play is important, but why that’s the case to begin with.

Book Review: “Lessons from Sarajevo” — Talking About What War Means

October 22, 2013
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In this powerful book, Jim Hicks explores a collection of narratives about the experience of war in many genres and a wide range of media that eschew the sentimental.

Book Review: “The Woman Who Lost Her Soul” — A Lengthy Tale of Innocence Betrayed

October 21, 2013
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Despite his weakness for overwriting, Bob Shacochis has a good and sad story to tell, and he gets through it with a degree of mastery.

Concert Review: Pianist Yuja Wang — A Fearless Performer But Problematic Fashionista

October 20, 2013
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Two days after pianist Yuja Wang’s concert, and, sadly, what I remember best are the two skimpy dresses she wore.

Movie Review: “12 Years a Slave” — The First Masterpiece of the New Black Cinema?

October 20, 2013
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With 12 YEARS A SLAVE, Steve McQueen, the brilliant British director of HUNGER and SHAME, has probably created the first masterpiece of the new black cinema.

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