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Pop Music Review: Death Cab For Cutie Drives With the Big Boys

July 9, 2011
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Death Cab for Cutie’s newest album isn’t a big departure from their usual sound, but it is a step in their evolution: the group has a new theme — adulthood.

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Music Review: Bon Iver is “Not Magnificent,” but Transcendental

July 9, 2011
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Sitting down this evening to review “Bon Iver,” something happened. My strongly negative initial impressions of the album changed into an appreciation of the mystical spirit of the music, its harmonious chords and their reflection of the harmony of nature.

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Book Review: To End All Wars

July 8, 2011
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“To End All Wars” embodies its themes –- the decline of the aristocracy, the rise of propaganda, the transformation of war-making, the heroism of resistance –- so skillfully in a dozen or so major characters and another dozen minor ones that this history of the First World War reads like a lively group biography.

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Theater Review: “Arms and the Man” — A Workmanlike Serving of a Shavian Confection

July 6, 2011
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There is nothing shocking, nothing sensational, nothing revelatory, in this workmanlike production of ARMS AND THE MAN. Nor should there be, as the play doesn’t give much room for innovation.

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Music Review: My Morning Jacket’s Victory Dance — The Glory of Hodgepodge

July 6, 2011
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“The Day Is Coming” continues the album’s momentum. Similar to “Victory Dance,” the song starts with a chorus of odd vocals. However, these are catchier, and are soon followed by the arrival of spastic guitar, pounding drums, and chord-tastic pianos.

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Movie Review: End “Times”?

July 5, 2011
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“Page One” is quite interesting but also quite scattered. You’ll exit the theater knowing a couple things about the New York Times, and maybe feeling like you got an idea about the characters of some of the talented, humorous, and interesting personalities that put it together.

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Theater Review: All’s Well, I Guess — Girl Gets Boy, Boy Ditches Girl, Girl Gets Boy Back

July 5, 2011
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The likable Commonwealth Shakespeare Company staging leans very heavily on the comedy in ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, minimizing the Bard’s melancholic undertow.

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Theater Review: Houston, We Have a Problem with “2010: Our Hideous Future: The Musical!”

July 3, 2011
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Enthusiasm simply wasn’t enough to salvage the production — the musical comedy 2010 contains too many pitfalls to overcome.

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Fuse Theater Review: Shakespeare in Paris

July 3, 2011
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The production is set in France of the 1920s and artfully combines evocations of both Paris and the Forest of Arden: The city of lights is represented by miniature versions of famous landmarks: the Arc de Triomphe; Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower — that twinkle at night and serve as props as well as set.

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Coming Attractions in Theater: July 2011

June 29, 2011
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We are hitting the season of high summer now, with productions coming fast and furious. As is my wont, I will single out shows that are off-the-beaten path. This is not to say that the production of “Guys and Dolls” at the Barrington Stage Company isn’t as terrific as I have heard it is. Only that I want to venture beyond brand name material.

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