Review

Classical Concert Review: An Enthusiastic Discovery Ensemble at Jordan Hall

March 4, 2014
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As if the Discovery Ensemble’s impressive return after a three-month hiatus weren’t news enough, last week brought the announcement that Courtney Lewis has been appointed assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic, beginning this fall.

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Theater Review: A First-Rate “Flick” From Company One

March 3, 2014
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In “The Flick,” Annie Baker creates youngish characters that my students at Boston University would call “relatable,” exploring how self-delusions, stereotypes, and fear keep them from connecting in a meaningful way.

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Book Review: A Whirlwind Journey from Memory to Reason — Notebooks, English Virtuosi, and Early Modern Science

March 3, 2014
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“Notebooks, English Virtuosi, and Early Modern Science” makes a profound claim about the need for cognitive restructuring in the face of information overload.

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TV Review: Give Some Love to TBS’s “The Pete Holmes Show”

March 2, 2014
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Along with the absence of a desk, the fact that guests aren’t coming on in order to plug their latest whatever sets “The Pete Holmes Shows” apart from typical late-night fare.

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New York Theater Round Up: “Intimacy,” “Stage Kiss,” and “Love and Information”

February 28, 2014
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A trio of superb off Broadway plays explore the complicated faces of love and lust — from the seamy to the sublime.

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Dance Review: TAO Dance Theater — All Wound Up

February 28, 2014
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If calculating pi to a far-off-integer isn’t for you, TAO Dance Theater’s baffling kinetic exploits may seem less like an incredible journey than a trudge to a dead end.

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Film Review: “If You Build It” — A Stirring Look at Construction and Idealism

February 28, 2014
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Are the 16-year-olds in the deep South capable of such a challenging, cumbersome construction task? Especially with the school year coming close to an end?

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Theater Commentary: On “Absence” and the Presence of Understudies

February 27, 2014
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I had the opportunity to see two performances of Peter M. Floyd’s Absence at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre.

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Book Review: “Killing the Second Dog” — A Pair of Captivating Polish Con Artists

February 27, 2014
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Polish writer Marek Hlasko sometimes writes like Hemingway, but without the premium the latter placed on honor and grace.

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Book Review: Appreciating the Life of George Orwell — A Giant of the 20th Century

February 26, 2014
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George Orwell strikes me as a man who was easy to love because he had a tenderness in him that runs like a stream throughout these letters and makes you feel, as you read, how much you would have liked to know him.

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