Review

Book Review: “How Literature Saved My Life” — Maybe

February 1, 2013
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Notwithstanding all that David Shields writes about the books and authors he loves, both classic and contemporary, he announces that today he can’t bear to write or read novels or even short stories in their old familiar forms and structures.

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Classical Music Review: Three Autumnal Schubert Sonatas

January 14, 2013
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From the moment he began to play, pianist Paul Lewis established his authority. His performance was spellbinding and eloquent, animated by a respect for precision and rhythmic clarity.

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Theater Review: “Pippin” – A Circus of Arrested Development

January 6, 2013
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Nervous mainstream audiences could breathe easy, the messy cultural ruckus of the ’60s was over: it was ok to find yourself in the suburbs.

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Visual Arts Review: The Sounds of “Unreal Memories”

December 31, 2012
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Sound artist Tutschku employs audio selections that are briefly broadcast periodically throughout the course of the day to startle and surprise listeners, to crack the shell of our typically prosaic and hectic modern lives.

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Jazz CD Reviews: Jazzhaus Ascendant

December 23, 2012
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We should look forward, eagerly, to hearing more lost, or previously issued music, from Jazzhaus. And be grateful to the European public for supporting these concerts and broadcasts.

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Theater Review: “Memphis” Doesn’t Sing the Blues

December 14, 2012
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In Memphis, the risqué exhilaration of early rhythm and blues is airbrushed away, to the point that the show appears to argue that from its inception black music sold out to mainstream tastes.

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Theater Review: “Beauty and the Beast” — Only Skin Deep

December 7, 2012
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This version of “La Belle et la Bête” never commits to a through-line about how its metaphors and rich visual imagery are supposed to operate.

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Visual Arts Review: Artist Paul Klee — Philosophical Thinker?

November 10, 2012
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The enduring aspect of Paul Klee’s art is its playfulness, which bubbles up even out of this viscous curatorial treatment.

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Judicial Review # 9: Pushing Hot Buttons — David Mamet’s “Race” @ New Rep

October 19, 2012
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What is a Judicial Review? It is a fresh approach to creating a conversational, critical space about the arts and culture. This is our ninth session, a discussion about the New Repertory Theatre’s production of David Mamet’s play “Race”, which revolves around the frenzy and fury generated by three attorneys who are asked to defend a wealthy man accused of raping an African-American woman.

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Judicial Review # 8: Making Sense of the “Assassins”

May 8, 2012
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What is a Judicial Review? It is a fresh approach to creating a conversational, critical space about the arts and culture. This is our eighth session, a discussion about the Boston University College of Fine Arts production of the 1990 Stephen Sondheim/John Weidman musical Assassins, which looks at the lives and sensibilities of men and women who attempted (successfully or otherwise) to kill the President of the United States.

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