ArtsEmerson

Theater Review: A Supremely Funny “Servant of Two Masters”

February 5, 2013
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Leaving aside the doctrinal issue of how much of a commedia dell’arte evening should be improvised and how much should be scripted, the Yale Repertory Theatre production, in terms of performance and design, sets a high standard.

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Theater Review: “Beauty and the Beast” — Only Skin Deep

December 7, 2012
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This version of “La Belle et la Bête” never commits to a through-line about how its metaphors and rich visual imagery are supposed to operate.

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Theater Review: “Tales From Ovid” — An Embarrassment of Riches

November 9, 2012
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Director Meg Taintor’s demands on her five young actors – three women and two men — are very high, requiring not only daring, but physical stamina and skill, dance training, mime training, fight training, and musicianship as well as dramatic power.

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Fuse Theater Review: Les 7 Doigts de la Main Return to Boston With the Innovative Artistry of “Sequence 8”

September 30, 2012
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The agility of Les 7 Doigts de la Main’s acrobats may be the spectacle that draws audiences in to see “Séquence 8,” but it’s their decision to treat acrobatics and other types of circus virtuosity as a form of acting that offers a new, intimate direction for the nouveau cirque genre.

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Coming Attractions in Film: February 2012

January 29, 2012
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You may be still catching up on the Academy Award, Golden Globe, People’s Choice, or SAG picks. But this month offers some rare and wonderful treats for film fans of all kinds.

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Theater Review: An Electrifying “Angel Reapers”

November 19, 2011
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For a polarized nation, both pre-occupied and Occupied, the musical “Angel Reapers” is an inspiring Shaker gift.

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Coming Attactions in Theater: October 2011

September 30, 2011
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It is encouraging that the list of recommendations for October isn’t filled with musicals. Are straight plays back? I wouldn’t count on it in this economic climate. So let’s bask in the chance to hear words without music.

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Coming Attractions in Theater: March 2011

February 26, 2011
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An 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

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Fuse Theater Review: An Over-the-Top “Terminus”

February 11, 2011
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As long as the wizardly spell of dramatist Mark O’Rowe’s creative versification stays strong, Terminus holds you firmly in its slip-slimy grip. The nimble verse is rappy and snappy, a sort of slangy, obscene, sing-song rhyme (with some breath-taking vocal syncopation) that accentuates rather than undercuts the dark doings of the play, at least for…

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Coming Attractions in Theater: January 2011

December 26, 2010
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The new year kicks off with some welcome signs of frisky energy, though it would be nice to see more new plays. Respectability is provided by a homage to Rose Kennedy as well as productions of Pulitzer and Tony award-winning scripts. Marionettes and politics arrive via Bread and Puppet and An Exciting Event. As for…

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