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Fuse Rock Commentary: May 2013 — The Pinnacle of a Great Year in Rock

June 4, 2013
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“Gonna Make a Record in the Month of May” — May 2013 and Why This Year Already Beats 2012

Stage Commentary: The Need for a Theater of Transformation

June 2, 2013
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Theater taught me how to draw parallels, to condense, to delete triviality and to recognize significance.

Theater Review: “Rapture, Blister, Burn” Snaps, Crackles, and Pops

June 1, 2013
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“Rapture, Blister, Burn” feels less like an exploration of feminism today than a clever sitcom pilot that won’t be able to sustain its jokes for an entire season.

Theater Review: A Political Refugee’s Tale — “Bashir Lazhar”

May 31, 2013
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Pittsfield’s Barrington Stage Company is now giving “Bashir Lazhar,” ably translated by playwright Morwyn Brebner, its American premiere and I admire the theater’s choice.

Movie Review: The Deliciously Deceptive Practices of Ricky Jay

May 31, 2013
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The filmmaker is annoyingly passive and star-struck, as the documentary’s subject, Ricky Jay, speaks to his chosen agenda: a wish to tell stories about his mentors and favorite magicians.

Coming Attractions in Jazz: Festival Preview 2013

May 31, 2013
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[Updated June 21] Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start to summer. Beaches reopen, and the jazz festival season follows close on their heels. Indeed, the first major festival kicks off this Friday, before June has even begun.

Rock Review: Making Art Out of Homelessness — “Drifters/Love Is the Devil”

May 30, 2013
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After the critical success of 2011’s “Badlands,” Alex Zhang Hungtai returns with the release of “Drifters/Love is the Devil” — a double album that expresses trauma in two devastating ways — the direct and the atmospheric.

CD Reviews — “Martin Boykan: Orchestral Works” and “Reza Vali: Toward That Endless Plain” (BMOP Sound)

May 29, 2013
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Two new albums from BMOP Sound reflect the considerable artistry and vision of Gil Rose and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.

CD Reviews: Isabelle Faust plays Bartók; Wolfgang Rihm’s Symphonie “Nähe fern”; Tokyo String Quartet plays Dvorak and Smetana; Thea Musgrave’s Chamber Works for Oboe (Harmonia Mundi)

May 29, 2013
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A round-up review of new releases from Harmonia Mundi — an invigorating crop of albums.

Film Commentary: “The Hobbit” in Print and in Film — A Quick Guide on How to Put the “Faux” in Folklore

May 28, 2013
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Director Peter Jackson in his film adaptation of The Hobbit abandons the intimate scale of the original wonder tale and mistakenly blows it up into mythic proportions.

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