Posts

Theater Review: “Nina Simone: Four Women” — Theater of Social Concern

February 27, 2020
Posted in , ,

There’s much to admire and appreciate about this MRT production; but the play’s lack of a solid dramatic spine is a crippling problem.

Opera Review: Beethoven’s “Leonore” — Upcoming Performances in New York City

February 27, 2020
Posted in , , ,

Music lovers should seize this rare opportunity to see Beethoven’s first (1805) version of Fidelio, complete with a reconstruction of Florestan’s original aria.

Theater Review: “A Tale of Two Cities” — Beware the Revolution!

February 27, 2020
Posted in , ,

Given Dickens’ penny-a-word driven verbosity and his fondness for resolving every plot point with a flurry of coincidences, adapter McEleney seems undecided: is this history play a tragedy or a farce?

Concert Review: Marcia Ball and Sonny Landreth at ONCE — Plenty Rousing

February 26, 2020
Posted in , , , , ,

At 70, Marcia Ball is a non-stop pro, particularly at pacing. Early barn burners gave way to the slow blues of “Just Kiss Me.”

Classical CD Reviews: Luciano Berio’s Coro, Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass,” and Shostakovich’s “Babi Yar”

February 26, 2020
Posted in , , ,

The relative infrequency of big Berio releases makes new recordings of his major works into significant, contemporary music events; Dennis Russell Davies’ new recording of Bernstein’s Mass is done in by lax vocals and a paucity of emotional consistency; Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra supply a great Shostakovich Thirteenth Symphony.

Short Fuse Podcast #25 — An Interview with Film Directors Andrew Silver & Tim Jackson

February 26, 2020
Posted in , ,

For the second straight year, the Art Fuse podcast — Short Fuse — has been named a finalist for the Somerville Media Center’s Best Boston Free Podcast of the Year Award!

Music Preview: Circles Around the Sun — Celebrating Legacies

February 25, 2020
Posted in , ,

Circles Around the Sun has established a distinctive niche within the expanding universe of “Grateful Dead as genre,” appealing to the core audience for Dead music without having to pull songs from the group’s songbook.

Visual Arts Commentary: Museums are Getting Woke for Real

February 25, 2020
Posted in , ,

By digging deep into Thomas McKeller, the Gardner Museum has not only resurrected a lost figure (and lost music, and “lost” art) but revealed and contributed to an ongoing history.

Book Review: “Leonard Bernstein and the Language of Jazz” — Prominent from the Start

February 25, 2020
Posted in , , , ,

Perhaps the book’s most impressive accomplishment is to make a kind of systematic case for Leonard Bernstein’s larger compositional output.

Theater Review: “The Treasurer” — Lives of Quiet Disconnection

February 25, 2020
Posted in , ,

Cheryl McMahon is quietly spectacular as Ida, who tries desperately to conceal her cognitive decline behind a wall of egocentric cheerfulness that borders on the frantic.

Recent Posts

Popular Posts

Categories

Archives