Review

Concert Review: Dead and Company Still Alive and Kickin’

September 4, 2021
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This was a generous two-set show whose imaginative pacing spotlit exploratory jams and interesting reconstructions of classic Dead fare.

Theater Review: “Hurricane Diane” — A Whimper Rather than a Whirlwind

September 4, 2021
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Madeleine George’s uneven 90-minte one-act comedy/drama borrows heavily on Greek mythology to zip up the misadventures of a cluster of suburban women in New Jersey,

Classical Album Review: Composer Joan Tower’s “Strike Zones”

September 3, 2021
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For Joan Tower fans, this disc is a must; for the Tower-curious, it offers an excellent introduction to the composer’s wider work, all of it compellingly played.

Jazz Album Reviews: Andrew Cyrille and Amir ElSaffar — Two Restless Spirits

September 3, 2021
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It might seem a stretch to pair drummer Andrew Cyrille’s disc with composer/trumpeter Amir ElSaffar’s. But both spent time under the tutelage of the redoubtable Cecil Taylor, and it shows.

Classical Album Review: Andris Nelsons Conducts Shostakovich

September 2, 2021
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Interpretively, this installment in the BSO’s cycle of Dmitri Shostakovich’s fifteen symphonies is occasionally (and a bit surprisingly) spotty.

Book Review: “Theatrum Mundi: Masks and Masquerades in Mexico and the Andes” — Utterly 21st Century

September 1, 2021
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In this deeply enlightening study, Anthony Alan Shelton aims to set the record straight about how mask culture developed in Mexico as well as in Andean cultures.

Book Review: “Was It Yesterday?: Nostalgia in Contemporary Film and Television” — Looking at the Past, Fearlessly

August 31, 2021
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The essays in this excellent volume consistently show that nostalgia is about something, and it matters.

Rock Album Review: “Gold-Diggers Sound” — Lulling to the Max

August 30, 2021
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Leon Bridges is the master of soft sensual tones, particularly when he intermingles the romantic and the steamy.

Watch Closely: “The Killing”/”Forbrydelsen”: Original Sin

August 28, 2021
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This is the Danish series that may well have inspired a juggernaut of provocative stories generated by life in these cold, civilized, but often dark Scandinavian lands.

Film Review: “He’s All That” — An Unnecessary Retread

August 27, 2021
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Is Gen Z this nihilistic? If so, a much darker, even zanier version of She’s All That would have been more fitting and far more entertaining.

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