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Theatre by David Mamet. Faber and Faber, 157 pages, $22 Reviewed By Joann Green Breuer David Mamet’s concise and consistently frustrating book, Theatre, informs even while it infuriates, arguing for throwing out babes with the bath water as if theatre could, or should, make a splash without them. Get your towels out. But as you…
Read MoreThe Great American Trailer Park Musical. Music and Lyrics by David Nehls. Book by Betsy Kelso. Directed by Paul Daigneault. Nicholas Connell, Music Director. David Connolly, Choreographer. Jenna McFarland, Scenic Design. Seth Bodie, Costume Design. Karen Perlow, Lighting Design. Aaron Mack, Sound Design. Staged by the SpeakEasy Stage Company at the Boston Center for the…
Read MoreOne admires not just the quality of Brian Stokes Mitchell’s voice, but his artistry in getting to the emotional heart of whatever he is singing. He has long been a national treasure. Reviewed By Caldwell Titcomb The Celebrity Series concluded its 2009-10 season with one of its finest offerings: a solo concert by Brian Stokes…
Read MoreWhat makes a comedy a sure-fire hit? Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward. Directed by Spiro Veloudos. Staged by the Lyric Stage Company of Boston, Boston, MA, through June 5. Reviewed By Helen Epstein That was one of the few questions I was taking the trouble to ask myself while giving in to the sheer enjoyment…
Read MoreBy Peter Walsh Sowers United at the Museum of Fine Arts Despite the Romantic Era notion that great art is always original, artists have always borrowed (or “reimagined” or stolen) each other’s ideas. Modern copyright lawyers would have had a field day with van Gogh’s various Sowers—blatant rip-offs (or “homages” if you prefer) of Millet’s…
Read MoreParadise Road: Jack Kerouac’s Lost Highway and My Search for America by Jay Atkinson, Wiley and Sons, 250 pages, $25.95 Reviewed By Nancye Tuttle I’m ready to pack my bag and hit the road. But it isn’t Jack Kerouac’s iconic 1957 novel On the Road that’s fueling my wanderlust. It’s Jay Atkinson’s compelling, new memoir…
Read MoreAugust: Osage County by Tracy Letts. Directed by Anna D. Shapiro. The Steppenwolf Theatre Company production presented by Broadway Across America at the Colonial Theatre, Boston, MA, though May 9. Reviewed by Bill Marx “All happy families are alike, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” opined Leo Tolstoy sagely in Anna…
Read Moreby Justin Marble May 7, “The Exploding Girl” at Kendall Square Cinema: Zoe Kazan, the granddaughter of famous film director Elia Kazan, won the Best Actress award at the Tribeca Film Festival for her portrayal of Zoe, a young college student who returns home for spring break. While there, her feelings alternate between her longtime,…
Read MoreReviewed By Caldwell Titcomb Much attention has rightly been paid to Stephen Sondheim, who has reached the age of 80 and is the greatest composer/lyricist our country has produced. Boston University got into the act by mounting a production of Merrily We Roll Along in the large B.U. Theatre for a five-day run (April 28–May…
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Arts Feature: Best Movies (With Some Disappointments) of 2025