Theater
You see, Victor knows he is in a theater, telling stories. And he tells us this. His self-awareness as a performer gives him the freedom to be completely honest.
Entertaining and provocative, this quick-witted and dreamlike evening of theater suggests that imbalances of power sacrifice individual freedoms and love. Everyone becomes a doll (master and servant) in a doll society.
Charles Busch’s plays are informed by an obsession to playfully upend iconic film genres. This time it’s the celluloid celebration of nuns, and what a divine romp it is.
There was a memorial service for Caldwell Titcomb, invaluable friend of the arts in New England, yesterday in the Memorial Church at Harvard University. He passed away on June 12th of leukemia at the age of 84. The ceremony was moving and heartfelt, with memories shared about Caldwell as a friend, composer, critic, grammarian, teacher, brother, long-time President of the Elliot Norton Awards, and researcher in African-American history.
National Theatre director Bijan Sheibani chose artistry of movement, beautiful as it is, over the battering belittlement of really hard, unappreciated work, the facts of sweat and stupor.
“The Rocky Horror Show” works best when it is immersive like this—a theatrical party that includes the audience.
Given his full-throttle depiction of the myopia of middle class mores, Bruce Norris is more in the flamboyant satiric line of Sinclair Lewis, who also trained his sharp ear and eye on the Midwest, the American heartland, jabbing away at American delusions of community, status, and self-satisfaction.
Exciting things are happening in Israeli writing, and it is garnering considerable attention in Europe. But what about theater in Israel? Israeli Stage offers the curious a chance to see what is happening.
Liz Duffy Adams’ affectionate look at Aphra Behn’s rise to public prominence, despite prejudice against her gender, comes off as a sort of farcical love letter to an ink-stained ancestor that at times suggests a Shavian talk fest in a minor key.
Given the power, glory, and fun the Boston Babydolls supply with their burlesque routines — pasties and nipple tassels whirl with furious aplomb — the lack of spooky payoff in “The Wrathskellar” amounts to a minor drawback.
The Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll at Mid-Year: Warming Up a Riff — How It Happened, and Why It Matters