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Opera Review: Ready for a Very Different “Faust”? You Should Be!

December 3, 2019
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Even taking into consideration my several objections, this Faust is one of the most accomplished and intriguing opera releases of recent years.

Film Review: “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” — Life Lessons, Nostalgia, Sweetness

December 3, 2019
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There are few films these days that feel like such a familiar and sorely-needed balm for stressful times.

Opera Preview: Opera North’s “All Is Calm” — Peaceful Interlude

December 2, 2019
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All is Calm juxtaposes the gravity (some might say the idiocy) of war with the simple human gestures that the opposing sides extended to each other during a remarkable cease fire.

Opera Review: Pauline Viardot’s and Ivan Turgenev’s First-Rate Fairy Opera Rediscovered

December 2, 2019
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Colorful, characterful, and full of worldly wisdom, The Last Sorcerer—by a skilled and imaginative composer, to a text by the great Russian novelist— receives a superb world-premiere recording, with Met mezzo Jamie Barton and bass-baritone Eric Owens.

Theater Review: A Three-Hour “Bright Room Called Day” Befuddles at the Public Theater

December 1, 2019
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Tony Kushner attempts a re-write of his first professional play. The results are decidedly mixed.

Music Feature: The Tedeschi Trucks Band — Home for the Holidays

December 1, 2019
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The Tedeschi Trucks Band is capping another remarkable year of transition and growth, some of it spurred by tragedy.

Coming Attractions: December 1 through 15 — What Will Light Your Fire

December 1, 2019
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Arts Fuse critics select the best in film, dance, visual art, theater, music, and author events for the coming weeks.

Theater Review: Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express” — Neither Noir nor Romp

November 29, 2019
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Ken Ludwig’s stage version of Murder on the Orient Express is an enjoyable diversion.

Book Feature: Terry Tempest Williams on the Agonies of “Erosion”

November 29, 2019
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Terry Tempest Williams thinks that we must seize opportunities to save an increasingly endangered world — we don’t have a choice to feel powerless against the forces that seek to exploit and destroy the beauty of life on this planet.

Critical Commentary: A Few Thoughts about John Simon

November 28, 2019
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Few critics proclaimed that the emperor was naked as a jaybird with as much savvy panache.

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