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Classical Music Preview: “Help the Children” Concert — An Eclectic Vocal Program

March 7, 2019
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“It’s not a concert about despair,” observes Joel Cohen, “there’s a lot of festive music in it.”

Theater Review: Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s Visceral “Birdy”

March 7, 2019
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Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s production of Birdy is at its best when it focuses on the play’s central relationships.

Theater Review: The Sense of an “Endlings”

March 7, 2019
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The playwright supplies a memorable encounter between young and old in the play’s final scene, but it is too late to compensate for the superficiality of the Pirandello-lite antics that have come before.

Television: PEN15 — Middle School Made Uproarious

March 7, 2019
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Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle turn in frequently hilarious but vulnerable performances as their adolescent counterparts.

Book Review: “The Wages” — A Powerful Folk Tale About Slavery

March 6, 2019
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We need stories like The Wages to expose the hypocrisy and incoherence of the institutions that we are supposed to believe are pillars of justice.

Poetry Review: “Peaches Goes It Alone” — A Comic Ode to the Age of Trump

March 6, 2019
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In the age of truthiness, poet Frederick Seidel’s is a welcome voice.

Jazz CD Review: Jason Palmer’s “Rhyme and Reason” — Intricate Artistry

March 5, 2019
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Trumpeter Jason Palmer’s mastery is of the unimposing kind, which this piano-less quartet seamlessly reflects.

Theater Review: “Once” — Everything Goes Brilliantly Right

March 5, 2019
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Once is a wonderful musical and the Speakeasy Stage production does exquisitely right by its considerable merits.

Book Review: “Where the Crawdads Sing” — Are the Rural Poor Noble Savages?

March 5, 2019
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Delia Owens suggests that the only forward movement for her outsider-protagonist and “swamp trash” is to become curators of ecological/cultural museums in the very places where they once struggled for an independent life.

Theater Review: “The Half-Light” — A Powerful Excursion into the Spirit World

March 4, 2019
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The Half-Light is a play about ghosts that, while offering intimations of mortality, ends up exuding a charming and infectious romantic spirit.

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