American Repertory Theater
Audra McDonald is so popular on stage, in concert, and on television that she has become, to many, a one-name goddess like Bette, Judy, and Barbra. Judging from her recent star turn in the American Repertory Theater’s production of “Porgy and Bess” and this brilliant concert, she can give the other One-Named Ones a run for their money.
Read MoreThe American Repertory Theater’s juggling/removal of the operatic elements in “Porgy and Bess” is clumsy, but the goal is to create a compelling entertainment for contemporary audiences, smoothing out the melodramatic story’s edges and cutting its length.
Read MoreBare chested and sweating up a storm, singer Gavin Creel as Prometheus makes for a rock rebel with lots of snarly attitude, defying Zeus’s tyranny by flexing his abs.
Though it ends on an image of uneasy forgiveness, Ajax revolves around a worm hole of irrationality – Athena takes extreme actions and makes uncompromising demands but still insists on the “balance” of the gods
Read MoreAn exciting month, and that isn’t hyperbole. A couple of North American premieres: a futuristic opera from MIT’s Tod Machover and poet Robert Pinsky and a drama tweaking The New Testament from Howard Brenton. Toss in iconic director Peter Brook staging Beckett, F. Murray Abraham as Shylock, and Car Talk:The Musical and you are talking about taking out the smelling salts
Read MoreD.W. Jacobs’s presentation of the life and ideas of American visionary R. Buckminster Fuller invites you to make your own intellectual structure out of what you have seen—connect Fuller’s dots and you have an image that expands your mental horizons or at the very least ups your powers of analysis and recall. R. Buckminster Fuller:…
Read MoreThe set-up sounds promising, a look back at a time of furious intellectual and artistic ferment, especially with its demand for art that challenges rather than caters to conventional tastes, creativity that revels in distortion, the surreal, the political, and the visceral. The Blue Flower. Music, Lyrics, and Script and Videography by Jim Bauer. Artwork,…
Read MoreI figure you know where the killer Scrooges are, so this month I look for alternatives to the usual holiday fare. The American Repertory Theater and GAN-e-meed Theatre Project are serving up something different, and SpeakEasy Stage Company says it has found “hip” holiday fare. I have heard that one before, but you never know.…
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