An experimental drama, no matter how tantalizing, has to come up with a payoff that makes its bewildering journey worth it. Lucas Hnath’s doesn’t.
Review
Classical Music Review: Violinist Augustin Hadelich’s “Recuerdos”
Augustin Hadelich has the feeling of this music – its bittersweet melodic phrases, dancing riffs, and restrained passion – well in hand.
Visual Arts Review: “Fired Up: Glass Today” — Remarkable Beauty
The dignified design and subtle lighting of the Wadsworth installation manages to keep the diversity, frenetic variety, and colorist’s dream of this exhibition from being overwhelming.
Jazz Album Review: “That’s What Happened, 1982-1985” — Miles Davis Makes up for Lost Time
This three-disc set provides a fascinating look behind the curtain at one of the great bandleaders in jazz history putting together his groups, seeing what they can do from multiple angles, and building a new musical concept from scratch.
October Short Fuses – Materia Critica
Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.
Film Review: “Amsterdam” — Fast Friends, Broken Bodies, Strong Spirits
As its plot unfolds, Amsterdam treats us to a strangely magical form of visual and verbal storytelling, both humorous and hard-edged, by turns sweet and shocking, with richly curated frames and bright spirited dialogue.
Film Review: “Bros” — A Thoroughly Mainstream Gay Rom-Com
Bros jokes about the hypocrisies of corporate diversity — often accurately, and with a cutting edge — while embodying some of the same problems.
Classical Album Review: “John Adams” — Mastering the Style of an Iconic American Composer
This recording presents one of the most lucid and well-programmed portraits of John Adams to emerge, well, in a long while.
Concert Review: Bobby Weir and the Wolf Brothers — Transforming the Legacy of the Grateful Dead
As far as tour openers go, the concert on Friday presented no signs of a band holding back or slow to gain speed.
Film Review: Claire Denis’s “Stars At Noon” — A Romance Novel Elevated by Auteurist Flourishes
The action, as it were, is mostly the exhaustively filmed grappling of two beautiful people in no-star motels.