Review

Concert Review: András Schiff’s Remarkable Piano Odyssey

November 2, 2013
Posted in , , ,

No pianist in his right mind is going to repeat this program. András Schiff had privileged us with a gift that only he could give.

Read More

Theater Review: “Water by the Spoonful” — Needy Pen Pals in Cyberspace

November 1, 2013
Posted in , ,

Director Scott Edmiston’s carefully staged production generates sympathy chiefly because of some deft acting rather than the writing.

Read More

Book Review: “The Translator” — A Bumpy Quest Novel

October 31, 2013
Posted in , ,

Nina Schuyler’s uneven novel raises some interesting questions in the course of the protagonist’s quest, and there are many fascinating details about Japan and Noh plays and the power of silence.

Read More

Book Review: “The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.” — Brooklyn Fiction That is a Breed Apart

October 30, 2013
Posted in , ,

The moral urgency and the humane distribution of Adelle Waldman’s authorial sympathy are evident everywhere in “The Love Affair of Nathaniel P.”

Read More

Book Review: “The Cool School” — What Does it Mean to be Hip?

October 30, 2013
Posted in , ,

In a way, this collection of hip writing, a “literary mixtape,” is the ultimate embodiment of the vision of the Hipster-as-Curator.

Read More

Theater Review: Boston Theater Company’s “Romeo & Juliet” — A Romance Rife With Political Scandal

October 29, 2013
Posted in , ,

BTC’s experiment, while not without its faults, proffers an admirable model of the sort of creative thinking that more companies should emulate when placing Shakespearean drama in a contemporary American context.

Read More

Concert Review: A ‘Cinematic’ Madeleine Peyroux at the Berklee Performance Center

October 28, 2013
Posted in , , , ,

The slow tempos on the whole didn’t hurt the show. People were there to hear Madeleine Peryoux — her voice and delivery, her offbeat arrangements and particular idiosyncratic take on familiar songs.

Read More

Film Review: “The Counselor” — Filled with Dark and Troubling Poetry

October 28, 2013
Posted in , ,

Cormac McCarthy’s rambling but brilliant screenplay is given vigorous direction by Ridley Scott, whose elegant visual style captures the tense downward spiral of the film’s doomed characters.

Read More

Theater Review: “The Power of Duff”? The Same Old Guff

October 27, 2013
Posted in , ,

Whenever you hear greeting card bromides intoned with a straight face (it’s usually in scenes set in a hospital) you know that moral fuzziness isn’t far behind.

Read More

Book Review: Julian Assange Trades Hopes and Fears With Cyberpunks

October 25, 2013
Posted in , , ,

Any book in which the fourth sentence is “The world is not sliding, but galloping into a new transnational dystopia” runs the risk of overstating its case from the get-go.

Read More

Recent Posts

Popular Posts

Categories

Archives