Features:
Composer Profile: Spotlight on Gustav Mahler
Performed at Tanglewood on July 26
Music
This is not a program note, but my “take” on Mahler’s music in toto and what I feel it represents extramusically – the backstory behind the composer’s aesthetic, if you will. The Symphony No. 2 is, to my way of thinking, the most iconic of all Mahler’s works, since everything he subsequently composed stems from this landmark hybrid of symphony, solo
song and choral work.
This is Our Youth: Steppenwolf to Broadway
Kenneth Lonergan's Classic Play Coming to the Cort
Theatre
If these are the children of the 80’s and now the parents of the 21st century, what kind of kids are they producing? In the upper echelons of New York, many of these characters are working their way out of adolescence in paretts’ homes or supported by their successful parents. Drugs and alcohol continue to make the passage to adulthood even more complicated than it always has been. If our children have to smell a bit to help us release the offspring we love so much and wish to protect, the stink has not gone. And Broadway should welcome them in this taut, funny, moving Steppenwolf production.
Living on Love in Williamstown
Theatre Debut for Diva Renée Fleming
Theatre
The theatrical debut of Renée Fleming in the comedy Living On Love is a delight and triumph. The renowned opera diva plays, what else, a renowned opera diva. That would seem to be easy and obvious but Fleming underplays the role with a naturalism that parallels her real life persona. She is just charming and enchanting. Especially when intereacting with a superb cast directed by Tony winner Kathleen Marshall. Based on marquee bankability and an enthusiastic reception this Williamstown production has a shot of making it to Broadway.
Breaking the Code at Barrington Stage Company
Enigma of Alan Turing Brilliantly Portrayed by Mark. H. Dold
Theatre
As a member of the top secret team of 10,000 at Bletchley Park Alan Turning was key to the effort to Breaking the Code of the German enigma apparatus. With endless daily permutations it was used to send orders to the maurading U Boat fleets decimating allied shipping. In the role of a lifetime Mark H. Dold has totally inhabited the persona of the complex and tormented individual whom Churchill credited with shortening and ending the war. Time Magazine named Turing among the 100 Most Important People of the 20th century. At Barrington Stage until August 2.
Jamie Wyeth at the MFA
Good Genes
Fine Arts
Outgoing populist and vulgarian, MFA director Malcolm Rogers, has orchestrated yet another celebrity based, crowd pleasing exhibition. The traveling restrospective of paintings by Jamie, a third generation manifestation of the famous Wyeth dynasty, is actually kind of fun. Where the work fits in the canon of the art of our time, however, is another matter.
Jim Hodges at the ICA
Summer in the City
Fine Arts
The artist Jim Hodges came to New York in the 1980s at a time when AIDS was decimating the arts community. Like others of his generation his work responded to a sense of devastation and loss. A retrospecitve of his eclectic conceptual work is on view at Boston's ICA until September 1.
Renée Fleming Living on Love
First Career Dramatic Role at Williamstown Theatre Festival
Theatre
Over the Fourth of July weekend Renée Fleming was the featured soloist for the opening night performance of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer season in Tanglewood. On July 16, for the first time in her career, Fleming will appear in a play Living on Love at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Depending upon its success at WTF the production may be bound for Broadway.
Out of the City Premieres at Dorset Theater Festival
Turning 60 and Still Discovering Themselves
Theatre
Two couples, celebrating a 60th birthday "out of the city" are still finding themselves in this new light comedy by Leslie Ayvazian set in the Poconos.
Michael Frayn’s Benefactors
Skyscrapers for 1%ers at Berkshire Theatre Group
Theatre
The triumph of the one percent and destruction of the middle class is underscored by the soaring speculation of urban real estate and resultant skyscraper residences. The 1984 play Benefactors by Michael Frayn focused on this topic which is being given a superb production at Berkshire Theatre Group in Stockbridge
Conductors; The Pharoahs of Music
Changing of the Guard for Orchestras
Music
James Levine’s travails because of persistent illnesses several years ago, became a liability for the Metropolitan Opera and Boston Symphony, despite his great musical gifts. By contrast, the Los Angeles Philharmonic had good fortune in nabbing the talented young superstar Gustavo Dudamel in 2008. Levine, now confined to a wheelchair, has begun the long road back to conducting at the Met, but it’s unlikely, at 72, that he’ll regain his former energy and commanding presence in opera and symphony concerts.
Jason Alexander at Tanglewood Yada Yada Yada
No more George Costanza
Music
Jason Alexander mesmerized the packed house at Tanglewood. His performance consisted of humor, dance and song. He had the crowd on their feet, watching his every move.
Group ZERO Co Founder Otto Piene at 85
Guggenheim ZERO Exhibition to Open in October
Fine Arts
From 1974 to 1994 the German/ American artist Otto Piene was the director of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT. With a farm in Groton he continued to commute to his studio in Dusseldorf. He died this week, at 85, while working on a major museum exhibition and sky art event in Berlin. While celebrated internationally, there will be an exhibition of Group ZERO this seaon at the Guggenheim, he was snubbed by the Boston art world and media.
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike in Vermont
Finding Comedy in the Overwhelming Futility of Life.
Theatre
A modern comedy mirroring the structure and themes of the master playwright Anton Chekov, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike finds humor in the regrets and disappointments of life as they are confronted during two days in the family home by three siblings in their middle age. This play wll run through July 26 at Vermont's Weston Playhouse.
Tommy Tune Taps at Barrington Stage July 28
Tall Tales of Music and Dance
Theatre
Tony Award-winner Tommy Tune in Taps, Tunes, and Tall Tales performs on Monday, July 28 at 8pm at Barrington Stage in Pittsfield. Tune is a nine-time Tony Award winner for his work on Seesaw, A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine, Nine, My One and Only, Grand Hotel, and The Will Rogers Follies. In addition, he has been awarded eight Drama Desk Awards, three Astaire Awards and the Society of Directors and Choreographers' George Abbott Award for Lifetime Achievement. He was honored with The Helen Hayes Tribute in 2011. We have an interesting and hilarious interview.
Czech Republic: Part One
Prague
Travel
Prague is a dynamic city blending great architecture, culture and cuisine. It has a vibrant, modern life set within a fairy tale environment of Gothic cathedrals, Baroque castles, Medieval gates, stone towers, and ornate bridges that link the banks of the picturesque Vltava River. Its maze of worn cobblestone streets is a joy to explore.
Czech Republic: Part Two
Southern Bohemia
Travel
Bordering Germany and Austria, South Bohemia rewards with its natural beauty, layered history, and architectural treasures. The medieval cities of Pisek, Cesky Krumlov, Ceske Budejovice, Trebon, and Jindrichuv Hradec are among the Jewels of the region with castles, chateaus, forts, monuments, churches, and monasteries. The hospitality of the people, along with their traditional crafts, and rich cuisine deliver a memorable experience.
A Secret Passage Way - 2014
Global Call to Participate in Photo Project
Photography
From February to May we invited participants to submit photographs and words via email and Face Book representing passages in any way real or imagined. Collaborators expanded the project in amazing and unexpected directions. Here is the resulting digital exhibition:
The New Realism: Ananian, Deyab, Lee and Mugar
Why We Fight
Fine Arts
The Neo-Expressionism of the 80’s seemed to be the last gasp of that self-centered version that came out of Germany in the 20’s and 30’s.I wanted a language that would embody the state of things of things as they are. Things as they are swimming in a sea of forces bigger than themselves
Tony Winner Nina Arianda and Sam Rockwell for WTF
To Co Star in Sam Shepherd Drama in Williamstown
Theatre
In 2011 Nina Arianda one of the most talented actresses of her generation was nominated for a Tony as the lead in a revival of Born Yesterday. Some say as a young unknown she was robbed. In 2012 she returned to Broadway and nailed a Tony for Vanda the dominatrix in the David Ives play Venus in Fur. Amazingly she will come to Williamstown Theatre Festival through a casting change announced today. With the hot Sam Rockwell as her co star act fast if you want to see the Sam Shepherd play Fool for Love.
Franz West at Mass MoCA and WCMA
From Actionism to the Absurd
Fine Arts
The Austrian artist Franz West (16 February 1947- 25 July 2012). is being featured this summer in the Northern Berkshires. There is a display of several large scale, puffy, pink phallic sculptures at Mass MoCA and a tandem exhibition of works on paper and smaller scale sculptures at Williams College Museum of Art. The artist was widely included in global biennials and museum exhibitions including a retrospective at the Baltimore Museum of Art. We consider West in the milieu of post war artists in Vienna including its outrageous Actionists.
Remembering the Artist Robert De Niro, Sr.
The Actor Celebrates His Father
Fine Arts
"Remembering the Artist Robert De Niro Sr." is a short documentary tribute in which the actor pays homage to his father. It examines the art and life of a Figurative Expressionist painter from the New York School.
Japanese Architect Tadao Ando: A Portrait
Pritzker Prize Winner Designed Clark Art Institute Expansion
Architecture
Initially the 72-year-old Japanese architect, Tadao Ando, trained to be a professional boxer. When he became interested in architecture he read books and traveled extensively to see works by modern masters. In 1970 he returned from travel and field research to establish his firm. In 1995 he won the Pritzker Prize the most prestigious in the field. Followed by a film crew we tagged along when he surveyed his now completed design for the Clark Art Institute.
Clark Art Institute Reopens
Completing a $145 Million Renovation and Expansion
Architecture
Since it opened in 1955 with a superb permanent collection the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute has long been regarded among America's finest regional museums. With a $145 expansion and renovation designed by Tadao Ando the Clark is now a whole lot more fabulous. Combined with nearby Mass MoCA, Williams College, and the Wlliamstown Theatre Festival the Northern Berkshires are an even better first class arts desitinaton.
Youthful Andris Nelsons Debuts at Tanglewood
A Varied Antonín Dvořák Program Entranced on a Summer Night
Music
Speaking with Nelsons after the Saturday morning rehearsal, he seemed eager to dig in to making music live in Lenox and Boston as he takes on the task of making classic symphonic music relevant to today’s audience. This is particularly difficult in the US where children are not as exposed to the classical form as they are in Europe.
The Mystery of Irma Vep: A Penny Dreadful
Drag Farce Launches Berkshire Theatre Group’s Season
Theatre
The actors, Bill Bowers and Tom Hewitt, appears to have having as much if not more fun than the audience in a campy, over the top, drag farce the Charles Ludlam classic Irma Vep: A Penny Dreadul. It launches the season for the Berkshire Theatre Group in Stockbridge. It's a hoot if you like that sort of thing.
Raw Color: The Circles of David Smith
Special Exhibition for The Clark Art Institute
Fine Arts
As a part of its expansion and renovation, taking advantage of appropriately scaled new special exhibition space, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Insitute is progressing beyond its tradition roots by showcasing modern and contemporary art. Currently there is Raw Color: The Circles of David Smith. In August the museum will feature Make It New master works of American modernism from the National Gallery.
Hubbard Street at Jacob’s Pillow
Eclectic Chicago Dance Company
Dance
A Jacob's Pillow favorite Hubbard Street Dance Chicago returned to Becket with an eclectic program of four pieces by different choreographers. The music ranged from minimalist, Steve Reich, North African, and can you believe it, hilariously, Dean Martin.
Renée Fleming Launches BSO’s Tanglewood Season
Stars in Williamstown Play Opening July 16
Music
It’s been an inclement week in the Berkshires but last night was just glorious for the launch of the BSO’s Tanglewood season featuring the ever magnificent soprano “The People’s Diva” Renée Fleming. From July 16 through 26 she will make her dramatic debut at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Living On Love. As she told us last night she is enjoying her extended time in the Berkshires. But it's a working holiday.
The Cosmology of Classical Concerts
Music Light Years Beyond the Comfort Zone
Music
You can be an avid concertgoer and never once hear a string quartet or a symphony by such as Arnold Bax, Walter Piston, Roger Sessions, Vincent Persichetti, Vittorio Rieti, Peter Mennin or Ernst Toch; the piano sonatas of Dussek, Clementi or Griffes; the piano concertos of Hummel, Field, Tippett, Malipiero, Palmgren, Busoni or Lutoslawski.
Tanglewood Wine & Food Classic
Delicious Event August 7-10
Food
Tanglewood isn't just Music. The annual "Wine and Food Classic" takes place from August 7th-10th, 2014. Hundreds of wines from around the world and locally sourced food, cooked by local chefs will be available to sample on the beautiful Tanglewood grounds.
Czech Republic: Part Three
Slavonice to Slovakia
Travel
Rich in history, this region in Europe fascinates with medieval and Renaissance architecture, imperial grandeur, and charming small towns. Friendly people, good food, and great Moravian wines enhance the experience. Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, offers many treasures, beckoning to be discovered.
Fireworks with Andris Nelsons at Tanglewood
Present and Future Orchestras Shine on Stage
Music
Fireworks started at Tanglewood immediately after the intermission of the gala performance welcoming music director designate Andris Nelsons. In the second half of the program, the Boston Symphony performed with the conductor and the match seemed perfect, in part because the Rachmaninoff and Ravel suited the Maestro and his instrumentalists. On stage fireworks exploded. The Maestro left nothing on the podium as he exited to fireworks falling out of the night Berkshire sky.
Hungary
Gyor, Budapest and Szentendre
Travel
Since freeing itself from communism in 1980, Hungary has blossomed into a westernized country. Gyor and Szentendre are charming small towns with a variety of cafes, restaurants, craft and sweet shops. The capital Budapest on the Danube is a beautiful city with great monuments, fashionable avenues, elegant shops, and a vibrant night life.
A Psychiatrist Appointed President of BSO Board
Dr. Paul Buttenwieser to the Rescue
Opinion
When Dr. Paul Buttenwieser, the newly-appointed President of the BSO's Board, stepped down from the board of the Institute of Contemporary Art, he performed on the piano at a sold-out fundraiser. He had studied piano as a young man in New York. He is a descendant of the Lehman banking family, which of course adds materially to his board credentials. But that he is a competent enough pianist to perform with Yo-Yo Ma in a sold out fundraiser is also an important credential.
Johnny Winter at 70
White Hot Blues
Music
Signed to a record breaking advance of $600,000 Columbia released the debut album" Johnny Winter" in 1969. Born an albino he was hyped as the whitest blues player. He produced several Grammy winners for Muddy Waters and a few for his own blues albums but his career faltered when he refused to record guitar rock albums. He ended out of the running 63rd on Rolling Stone's list of 100 greatest guitarists.
From Primitivism to Propaganda: Russia’s Modern Masters
Works from Marina and Nikolay Shchukin Collection at National Arts Club
Fine Arts
From the late 1890s through the Russian Revolution of 1917 the Moscow based business man Sergei Ivanovich Schukin (1854-1936) assembled one of the great collections of early modern art. When the Soviets confiscated the collection he emigrated to Paris. The National Arts Club in New York is currently showing 35 Russian avant-garde works from the collection of family member Marina and Nikolay Shchukin. Through June 14 the exhibition is sponsored by Russian American Foundation as a part of the Annual Russian Heritage Month.
The Dawn of Egyptian Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Through August 5
Fine Arts
Beyond King Tut and Cleopatra most folks know little or nothing about the thirty dynasties and 3000 years of Ancient Egyptian Art. The Met's special exhibition The Dawn of Egyptian Art provides a tantalizing encounter with the esoteric era prior to and during the founding dynasties.
Longterm Impact of Monsanto's Roundup Seeds
Supreme Court Screws American Farmers
Opinion
Our science correspondent and organic farmer Jimmy Midnight explores in detail why our food ain't what it used to be. He states that. As a farmer myself, I would not use glyphosate, or plant any (Monsanto) Roundup Ready seeds, because I presume they’re not safe to use, eat, or feed. If it’s perfectly safe to eat or feed, why does it suddenly become dangerous in the hands of the world’s small-time agricultural operators? On May 13 The Supreme Court upheld the copyright of Monsanto against a farmer planting cheap, second generation seed purchased from a grain elevator.
Anselm Kiefer at Mass MoCA for 15 Years
Building Developed with Hall Art Foundation
Fine Arts
In collaboration with the Hall Art Foundation a building dedicated to works by the German artist, Anselm Kiefer, will be on view at Mass MoCA for the next 15 years. Combined with the 25 year agreement for the Sol LeWitt building this greatly enhances the museum as America's foremost destination for contemporary art.
The Roads of North America, Part Three
A Drive South from the Berkshires to Georgia – 2013
Travel
Part Three you wonder? It's our second road trip which we chronicled in daily entries, noting all roads by numbers. And what an adventure! The stops in this report include days in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, DC.
The Roads of North America, Part Four
From DC to Georgia and Home
Travel
When we started planning a trip south, Savannah, Georgia, was the first location that came to mind. Actually, John Berendt’s novel, 'In the Garden of Good and Evil,' triggered our thoughts and imagination. We wanted to explore Old Savannah, as he had portrayed it. Other stops along the way fell into place after that.
100 Boston Artists by Chawky Frenn
New Book Follows 100 Boston Painters
Word
The figurative artist, Chawky Frenn, has followed 100 Boston Painters with 100 Boston Artists. The books are handsomely designed and printed with superb reproductions. Although he consulted with many experts in the field he made the final selections. This has resulted in an eccentric and uneven overview with a mix of major and minor artists. One of the strong points of the second volume is a fresh and insightful critical essay by Debbie Hagan the former editor of Art New England.
Shakespeare’s Will Stars Kristin Wold
Launches 37th Season of Shakespeare and Company
Theatre
On the occasion of the 450th birthday of William Shakespeare the 37th season of Shakespeare & Company is chock full of the Bard. Even the contemporary play by Vern Thiessen "Shakespeare's Will" is about him. Well, his wife and mother of their three children, Anne Hathaway, actually. In a brilliant one woman performance the redoubtable Kristin Wold plays several characters with compelling skill and heart warming charisma.
Jacob's Pillow 2014
Schedule for Summer Season
Dance
The 82nd Festival season will feature more than 52 companies performing on three stages: the historic Ted Shawn Theatre; the intimate Doris Duke Theatre; and the open-air Henry J. Leir Stage, home to the Pillow’s free Inside/Out Performance Series, which served more than 21,000 community members last season. More than 350 free and ticketed dance performances, talks, tours, exhibits, films, classes, and community events will be offered June 14-August 24, 2014.
Izhar Patkin's Space Time Continuum
The Wandering Veil at Mass MoCA
Fine Arts
In the vast space of Building Five, for the coming year, Mass MoCA is hosting a retrospective for the Israeli born artist Izhar Patkin. A series of rooms features Veils inspired by the poems of a collaborator, the deceased Pakistani poet, Agha Shahid Ali. The artist is challenged by solving technical problems for a variety of approaches to painting in sculpture in a range of media. Central to his practice is a commitment to modernist inspired narratives devoid of the irony of post modernism.
Israeli Izhar Patkin Debates Jewish Art
Secular Narratives When God Is Dead
Fine Arts
During a dialogue with the artist Izhar Patkin about his Mass MoCA exhibition David Ross hit a dead end when he asked whether there is a Jewish art? At this point in post modernism, with more than a century since Marc Chagall, Jacques Lipchitz, Chaim Soutine or Amedeo Modigliani, it is not a question that one would ask a Jewish American artist. But is it relevant for an Israeli Sabra?
The Gonzo Chronicles
Arthur Yanoff Recalls Coffee Corner
Opinion
Arthur Yanoff has had a one man show at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and was named Jewish Artist of the Year. A couple of years ago he and photographer Kay Canavino collaborated on a Melville project for the Ralph Brill Gallery and the author's former home Arrowhead in Pittsfield. We met recently to discuss Boston's Coffee Corner and its rarely documented hipster legacy which was a spawning ground for gonzo.
Gonzo Chronicles Two
Arthur Yanoff Hipster and Jewish Artist of the Year
Opinion
Looking Berkshire hipster and artist Arthur Yanoff in the eye the rabbi told him "Once a Lubavitcher always a Lubavitcher." In part two we move from Coffee Corner to crits with Clement Greenberg and raising dogs in the country. Along the way Yanoff was celebrated as Jewish Artist of the Year. For which he had to rent a tux in Great Borington. Or something like that in no particular order.
Huntington Theatre Company 2014-2015
Six Shows Plus One
Theatre
Huntington Theatre Company announces six productions of its 2014-2015 Season plus one additional title. Continuing its 32-year tradition, the Huntington will present world-class productions of new works and classics made current created by the finest local and national talent. The varied lineup includes a Tony Award-winning Broadway comedy, a thrilling new play set in Boston, a new play by a celebrated local writer that riffs on a beloved classic, a revival of a provocative comedy, a classic American drama, and a topical new play directed by Huntington Artistic Director Peter DuBois, plus the return of visionary director David Cromer (Our Town).
The Frist Center for the Visual Arts
Nashville's Art Deco Kunsthalle
Fine Arts
Nashville is rightly known as The Music City. Since 2001, with the opening of the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in a former art deco post office the city is also a regional destination for world class art exhibitions. Meeting with museum staff we discussed how a non collecting institution, a kunsthalle, manages to leverage major loans and traveling exhibitions. Primarily this is done by original scholarly work and publications as well as building relationships with partnering museums.
Colombia: Part One
Bogota
Travel
After decades of conflict Colombia is emerging toward a bright future. It is a beautiful country with spectacular landscapes, ranging from Andean peaks to rolling hills and sandy beaches. Bogota, its capital, is a sophisticated, multi-ethnic city with distinct colonial architecture, world-class museums and one of a kind attractions.
Colombia: Part Two
Medellin and the Coffee Triangle
Travel
After decades of challenges by the drug cartels, Medellin has reinvented itself as a modern, innovative and lively hub with style. The superbly scenic Coffee Triangle is a region of lush green valleys dotted by picturesque colonial towns and age-old haciendas. Not to be missed is the Cocora Valley with endemic soaring wax palms.
Colombia: Part Three
Cartagena
Travel
A city with a unique blend of African, Spanish and indigenous cultures, Cartagena enchants. It has meticulously renovated colonial buildings, cobbled plazas and a shimmering waterfront. A lively street life with horse-drawn carriages, side-walk cafes and Caribbean rhythms after dark enhance the city's charm.
Italian Futurism, 1909-1944: Reconstructing the Universe
Art Under Fascism Explored at Guggenheim Museum
Fine Arts
The Italian artists circa World War I advocated destroying the past while embracing the future. Hence Futurism the subject of an enormous and fascinating survey Italian Futurism, 1909-1944: Reconstructing the Universe on view at the Guggenheim Museum through September 1. In their enthusiasm and nationalism they embraced the Fascism of Mussolini.
PBS Summer Schedule
Returing Favorites and New Features
Television
PBS announces a summer schedule of programming spanning generations and genres. From examinations of our nation’s history to our connections to the animal kingdom, and escapes to Britain’s courtrooms and countryside, PBS offers diverse series and specials for all viewers.
PBS Fall Programming
Season Launches with The Roosevelts September 14
Television
The Roosevelts kicks off PBS’ fall season Sunday, September 14, with an epic seven-night premiere. The 14-hour documentary airs nightly at 8 p.m. through Saturday, September 20 with a repeat at 10 p.m., and for the first time on television weaves the stories of Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, three members of one of the most prominent and influential families in American politics.
Alibis: Sigmar Polke 1963–2010
German Master Surveyed at MoMA
Fine Arts
Sigmar Polke (1941-2010) was one of the most important Post War German artists. He is the subject of a dense, sprawling and and messy retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art through August 3. It would be a folly and conceit to attempt to review such diverse and eclectic, mind boggling work. For that we refer you to mainstream critics all of whom fail, to varying degrees, to nail down the work of one of the most fascinating and daunting artists of our time.
Dr. Gonzo, William J. Cardoso
The Maltese Sangweech and Other Heroes
Opinion
If you do a Google search the late Bill Cardoso comes up as having coined the term gonzo and dubbing Hunter Thompson's style of writing as Gonzo Journalism. Other than that he is largely forgotten as one of the outrageous characters and original thinkers of his era. Recently I read his out of print book The Maltese Sangweech a collection of magazine pieces. It includes two masterpieces of gonzo journalism "The San Francisco Red Sox" and "Zaire"an account of the Ali vs. Forman rumble in the jungle./
Searching Yet Again for Aviator Amelia Earhart
America’s Most Famous Missing Person
Fine Arts
This review was written for the Amelia Earhart Image and Icon exhibition at International Center for Photography from May 11 – September 9, 2007. Published here for the first time Rubin considers it as one of his best articles.
Death of the Author at LA's Geffen Playhouse
World Premiere by Steven Drukman
Theatre
Steven Drukman’s multi-layered text of ambition, heartbreak, and cutthroat competition that is now center stage in American culture is not only cleverly written it is also funny. The opening night audience, heavily weighted with young people in their twenties, and students from UCLA, caught and punctuated with laughter, every nuance and irony of the situations the characters found themselves in.
Alice Walton’s Crystal Bridges
Bringing Iconic American Art to Arkansas
Fine Arts
During our visit to Crystal Springs Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas we met with museum spokesperson Diane Carol. Fending off questions of media controversy regarding aggressive acquisitions she emphasized that the museum is free and serves a region that lacks resources of its quality. As she pointed out since opening in 11/11/11 some 1.3 million visitors have viewed "Kindred Spirits" by Asher B. Durand which formerly hung in the New York Public Library.
Beck Rocks Mass MoCA
Opening Set by Sean Lennon
Music
On a sultry summer evening Beck charmed some 5,000 fans crammed into Joe Thompson Field on the campus of Mass MoCA. While Wilco's Solid Sound weekend festival is taking a break this season, on a Tuesday night in June, Beck put up Wilco numbers. It strongly indicates that MoCA is in the rock concert business as a viable alternative to Tanglewood with far more imaginative programming.
Sondheim's A Little Night Music at Colonial
Enchanting Production from Berkshire Theatre Group
Music
Not surprisingly the richly dark and complez A Little Night Music by the always challenging and insightful Stephen Sondheim is performed by opera companies. Berkshire Theatre Group is commended for having mounted a production with an amazing cast and superb orchestra. This otherwise fabulous musical, however, has been undermined by cutting corners on a second rate set. That hardly matters, however, with chills up the spine when Maureen O'Flynn sings the riveting and iconic "Send in the Clowns."
Dance Theatre of Harlem at Jacob’s Pillow
Conflating Classical Ballet and Post Modernism
Dance
When Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook diverted from major careers in dance to teach classical ballet in Harlem there was a complex mandate. That was 1968 in the midst of civil rights and social/ political change. In 1970 Dance Theatre of Harlem first performed at Jacob's Pillow. They have returned many times as they have this week with a program of three diverse works.
A Slight Ache by Harold Pinter
Produced by Eve Mugar Off Off Broadway
Theatre
Jimmy's 43 E 7th St, New York, NY 10003 provided an off off setting for Harold Pinter's Slight Ache was produced by Eve Mugar.. Due to its brevity and the limited number of actors in the play, it provided the opportunity to mount a play in New York. She purchased the rights, sent the word out to fellow actors, raised some money on line and rented a venue for two nights
The Glass House: Philip Johnson's Masterpiece
From Its Inception A 20th Century Architectural Icon
Architecture
Conceptualized in 1945 and completed in 1949, architect Philip Johnson's Glass House almost immediately became a 20th Century architecture icon. Used by Johnson as a weekend retreat for 58 years, it is now shared with the public as part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It is a pilgrimage mecca for architecture buffs to see the eccentric outer structures and contemporary art collection of Johnson and his longtime partner art curator/critic David Whitney. This is a visually-compelling experience of an architectural masterpiece.
Rita Coolidge Discusses Her Cherokee Heritage
Part One of a Dialogue with the Renowned Singer
Music
Prior to a Christmas gig at the Clark Art Institute on Friday, November 30 we spoke at length by phone from her home north of San Diego. Now a grandmother of three by a daughter with former husband, Kristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson, we delved deeply into her Cherokee heritage. That led to rewarding collaborations exploring Native music with Robbie Robertson. This is part one of a dialogue.
Two Time Grammy Winner Rita Coolidge
Delta Lady on Surviving Mad Dogs and Englishmen
Music
Growing up the daughter of a Baptist preacher in Tennessee, as a kid, Rita Collidge listed to R&B broadcast by WLAC out of Gallatin.Hearing Little Richard for the first time she was shaking all over. After Florida State and a year in Memphis she drove to California with Leon Russell in his Thunderbird. She recorded with Delaney and Bonnie before heading out solo which she has been doing ever since. There was a stint as a duo with Kris Kristofferson the father of her daughter. Then the epic tour of Mad Dogs and Englishmen with Joe Cocker who remains a close friend. Through it all she remained level headed while true to her faith and values.
Rita Coolidge at the Clark
Heart Warming Holiday Concert
Music
Last night at the Clark Art Institute in ever sense there were chestnuts roasting on the fire as Rita Coolidge, backed by the Williamstown Gospel Choir, delivered a heart warming program of Christmas music. Between songs she chatted intimately with the audience sharing insights to her Cherokee heritage, comments about her one and only ex husband, Kris Kristofferson, and life on the road. The set of carols was peppered with top forty hits gleaned from two Grammy awards and a life on the road that started on tour with Delaney and Bonnie in the early 1970s.
The Eccentric Barnes Foundation
Following Litigation Relocated to Philadelphia
Fine Arts
After lengthy law suits breaking the iron clad will of Dr. Albert Barnes, his foundation relocated from its inaccessible suburban home in Marion to downtown Philadelphia in 2012. In 1992, The Barnes Foundation received court approval to send 80 works on tour to generate funds for needed renovations. The Foundation continued to struggle financially, hampered by poor management for a time, the isolation of its location, and local restrictions on parking which reduced the number of visitors. From its inception, the Barnes Foundation has been the focus of ridicule and controversy. Today the collection of 2,500 works is valued at between 20 and 30 billion dollars.
Il Pane Degliangeli, Offering of the Angels: Paintings and Tapestries of the Uffizi Gallery
On View at Savannah’s Telfair Museums Through March 31
Fine Arts
The venerable Ufizzi Museum in Florence has tarnished its reputation by packaging works from storage and sending them to four out of the mainstream American museums. We viewed the final destination of the revenue generating tour at the Jepson Center for the Arts in Savannah, Georgia.
ArtsEmerson Announces 2013-2014 Program
Fourth Season Starts September 17
Theatre
ArtsEmerson announces the first half of its fourth theatre season, beginning in the fall of 2013. This announcement covers productions into January of 2014, with more winter/spring productions to be announced later. Tickets for these productions go on sale to ArtsEmerson members on April 12, and to the general public on May 3.
Figurative Expressionism in Provincetown
PAAM Exhibition Through September 2
Fine Arts
Following World War II the matrix of global contemporary art shifted from Paris to New York with the development of abstract expressionism as the leading movement of contemporary art of that era. During the 1950s there was much speculation about a Return to the Figure. Young artists who flocked to Provincetown to study with Hans Hofmann and Henry Hensche explored a synthesis through Figurative Expressionism. A number of these artists showed with Sun Gallery in Provincetown and Hansa Gallery in New York. The exhibition "Pioneers from Provincetown: The Roots of Figurative Expressionism" curated by Adam Zucker, Co-curator, Stephanie DeTroy focuses on this important movement.
Izhar Patkin: The Wandering Veil
Vast Installation at Mass MoCA on View for a Year
Fine Arts
Building Five of Mass MoCA is one of the largest and most magnificent spaces for contemporary art in North America. It is always fascinating to see how artists respond to the daunting challenge. Izhar Patkin: The Wandering Veil is now on view for the coming year.
Newport Jazz Festival 2014
Schedule for August 1 through 3
Music
The Newport Jazz Festival is the most renowned of its kind. This is the lineup for the festival at Forth Adams State Park in Newport Rhode Island. Be there or be square.
Shakespeare & Company 2014
Programming Schedule for Summer Season
Theatre
Shakespeare & Company has planned a celebratory season packed with Shakespeare, modern works, premieres and special events in honor of the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth. Tickets for the 2014 Performance Season go on sale in Mid-February. For specific date and info please check online at: www.shakespeare.org or by calling the Box Office at (413) 637-3353, or in person at 70 Kemble Street, Lenox, MA.
Berkshire Theatre Group 2014 Season
Programming from Pittsfield to Stockbridge
Theatre
"For our 86th Summer Season, we are producing a full schedule of musicals, plays, and special theatrical performances for another wonderful summer in the Berkshires with a splendid cast and crew of talented artists from across the nation,” said Kate Maguire. "Six extraordinary plays: The Mystery of Irma Vep: A Penny Dreadful, Benefactors, Design for Living, A Hatful of Rain, including two world premieres: Cedars and POE and two wonderful musicals: A Little Night Musicand Seussical highlight our schedule and make for an enjoyable mix of masterful and provocative classics and contemporary works. A special week-long performance of A Lover's Talespotlighting the works of Giuseppe Verdi, Charles Ludlam and Alexandre Dumas and performances by our summer apprentices, our 86th season will be memorable and entertaining for all.”
WAM Theatre Announces 2014 Season
Focus on Women and Girls
Theatre
WAM Theatre’s Artistic Director Kristen van Ginhoven announces highlights of the 2014 season. The Berkshire-based professional theatre company will celebrate its fifth anniversary with plays readings, special events, panel discussions, and educational programs that focus on women artists and stories of women
Harvard Art Museums Open November 16
Renovation by Renco Piano Conflates Separate Museums
Architecture
The Harvard Art Museums—comprising the Fogg Museum, the Busch-Reisinger Museum, and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum—will open their new Renzo Piano-designed facility to the public on November 16, 2014. The renovation and expansion of the museums’ landmark building at 32 Quincy Street in Cambridge will bring the three museums and their collections together under one roof for the first time
Gonzo Chronicles: Promo Man Roger Lifeset
How Alice Cooper Trashed My Cambridge Apartment
Music
On a balmy January night some 300 to 400 rockers crashed, trashed and smashed my basement Harvard Square apartment during an "Intimate VIP" party following an Alice Cooper concert. It was instigated by Warner Brothers promo man and ubermensch, Roger Lifeset. As part one in the ongoing Gonzo Chronicles we discuss the utter madness of the Boston rock scene.
Gonzo Chronicles: Roger Lifeset Two
Captain Beefheart Wanted a Lobster
Music
Don van Vliet, known by the stage name of Captain Beefheart, was an eccentric genius of rock and roll. His double album Trout Mask Replica is considered a masterpiece. Most of his albums didn't sell well and he bounced around labels. Roger Lifeset connected me with Beefheart when he was promoting Spotlight Kid for Warner Brothers. Once Don got his hooks in me he wouldn't let go.
Gonzo Chronicles: Roger Lifeset Three
J. Geils, Modern Lovers, Springsteen, The Cars, Boston, Aerosmith
Music
In the lively 1970s a lot of bands broke out of Boston: J Geils, The Cars, Modern Lovers. Real Paper rock critic Jon Landau discovered and then managed Bruce Springsteen. Promo Man Roger's Lifeset's Warner Brothers partner, Charlie McKenzie, and colleague, Paul Ahern, signed Boston to Epic Records. Filthy rich McKenzie, as we discuss with Lifeset, lived the life of the Great Gatsby and died just as tragically.
Grande Old Opry in Nashville
Yee Hah Y’All
Music
While in Nashville we attended a broadcast of the legendary Grande Old Opry. Much has changed since the first radio show on November 28, 1925. While as big and glitzy as a Vegas casino the venerable Opry adheres to tradition and carefully guards its legacy and hallowed ground.
The Mount Announces Season
Events May 3 through October 31
Architecture
This summer, The Mount is pleased to announce a full schedule of lectures, readings, performances, music and more. The Mount will be open daily starting May 3rd through October 31st.
Natchez, Mississippi's Mansions
Iconic Antebellum Architecture
Architecture
Natchez, Mississippi, per capita, was one of America's wealthiest communities prior to the Civil War. Plantation owners competed in erecting magnificent mansions in the neo classical, Greek Revival style. In commissioning Philadelphia architect Samuel Sloan's grand octagonal design Dr. Haller Nutt's Longwood strove to be unique. When war broke out in 1861 construction was abruptly halted. For generations the family occupied the first floor of the unfinished home. It is the astonishing highlight of a tour of mansions and encounter with their grim legacy of slavery.
Slaves and Slaveholders of Wessyngton Plantation
Tennessee State Museum Through August 31
Fine Arts
In the past two years the films "Twelve Years a Slave" and "Django Revisited" through graphic dramas have made Americans more vividly aware of the horrific legacy of slavery. Through the well researched and documented exhibition "Slaves and Slaveholders of Wessyngton Plantation" the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville tracks the history of one of the nation's largest tobacco producers through generations from ante bellum to the present. It is based on the book of a Wessyngton slave descendant John F. Baker, Jr.
Emotional Impact: American Figurative Expressionism
April Kingsley's Catalogue for Michigan State University
Fine Arts
While curator of Kresge Art Museum at Michigan State University from 1999 to 2011 April Kingsley had the resources and inspiration to collect works by the undervalued and poorly understood artists of the Figurative Expressionist movement. It was widely felt among artists that there would be a return to the figure informed by but diverging from abstract expressionism. Aspects of this experimentation occurred with little or no direct communication in New York, Provincetown, Boston, and the Bay Area of San Francisco. This book fails to present a cohesive overview of those complex developments.
Trey McIntyre Project at Jacob's Pillow
Related Events for June 25-29
Dance
A bold company with a strong Jacob’s Pillow history including five engagements since 2005, Trey McIntyre Project will make its final appearance as a fulltime dance ensemble June 25-29 in the Ted Shawn Theatre. In addition there are a number of free events as the season commences in Becket
Wild Bill Cardoso
Total Gonzo Tales
Opinion
This is part two of Dr. Gonzo, William J. Cardoso. He is best remembered as allegedly coining the word Gonzo which in fact he stole from me. Other than that theft of literary property little is known of him today other than the legacy of the out of print collection of essays Maltese Sangweech. There was much more to Bill than that. He was indeed the heart and soul of Boston's hipster literary culture during its best years.
Trey McIntyre Project’s Final Bows
Company Disbands at Jacob’s Pillow
Dance
The final performance of the now disbanded, Iowa based, Trey McIntyre Project was followed by one of the longest and most raucous ovations we have ever encountered at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Theatre. The audiece was thrilled by a two part peformance based on the macabre innustrations of Edward Gorey and the magnificent music of the British rock group Queen. What a fitting send off for a superb dance company.
Preserving Mother Cabrini
The Religious Art of Mummification
Fine Arts
Once inside the Mother Cabrini sanctuary I found myself transfixed by her mummified corpse. I wondered: How does anyone worship God in this space? What is it like to take communion with a mummified corpse in the same room? Then I noticed the late afternoon light pouring through the stain glass representation of her on the back wall of the sanctuary. The light poured across the room with the full spectrum of color, it flooded the pews, and led my eye back to her remains.
A Brecht Twofer in Dublin and London
Threepenny Opera and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
Theatre
This past summer Shakespeare & Comoany staged Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children starring Olympia Dukakis with John Douglas Thompson as the Cook. This led to a dialogue with Thompson exploring the play and the concept of Epic Theatre. Here we consider two more productions. At the Gate Theatre in Dublin the musical with Kurt Weill The Threepenny Opera. And in London's West End The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.
2014 Tanglewood Schedule
James Taylor Returns July 3 and 4
Music
The Boston Symphony Orchestra announces the schedule for its 2014 Tanglewood program. Aftar a hiatus last year, as has become traditional, James Taylor returns for the Fourth of July Weekend. On July 5 Renee Fleming will appear on the opening night of the classical program. Popular artists will be announced as they are booked.
Crystal Bridges in Bentonville Arkansas
All the Museum that Walmart Money Can Buy
Fine Arts
After extensive renovation and expansion the Clark Art Institute reopens this summer. Much is being made of how its Tadeo Ando designed low lying horizontal line and large reflecting pool embrace nature and the background rolling mountain range. The paradigm for architecture set into natural surroundings, however, is the Moshe Safdie design for Crystal Bridges in Bentonville, Arkansas. It is nestled into a ravine with a series of pontoon "bridges." The museum which opened on 11/11/11 has some 500,000 annual visitors for its controversial collection of American art.
The Rise and Fall of WBCN
Carter Alan’s Book on Radio Free Boston
Word
Between 1968 and its demise in 2009 Boston's rock station WBCN was the epicenter of an alternative lifestyle. Its DJ's interviewed and broadcast live concerts and studio sessions with virtually every major band of the era. It was a strong advocate of local band breaking many including J Geils, The Cars, Aerosmith, Boston and British stars from Bowie and The Who to Ireland's U2. Carter Alan's superbly researched book covers it all from A to Z.
American Repertory Theatre 2013-14 Season
Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston as LBJ
Theatre
American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) has scheduled American Sign Language (ASL) interpreted performances and Audio Described performances for blind and low-visioned audiences during the A.R.T.’s 2013-14 Season. Bryan Cranston the star of the hit TV drama Breaking Bad plays President Lyndon B. Johnson in All The Way which opens the season in Cambridge on October 1.
Wilco Returns to Mass MoCA in 2015
Will Skip This Summer
Music
The Solid Sound Festival of Wilco has been a shot in the arm for the Northern Berkshire County tourism and hospitality industry. They will return to North Adams in 2015 but not this summer. This will be fourth festival organized by the band for Mass MoCA.
BSO Announces 2014- 2015 Season
Welcomes Andris Nelsons
Music
The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s 2014-15 season shines a welcoming spotlight on Andris Nelsons as he makes hihighly anticipated debut as BSO Music Director, leading performances that feature an eclectic offering of music and an impressive lineup of guest artists, and presenting programs that illuminate touchstone moments in his life as a musician, from his youngest days as a child in Riga, to his present-day stature as one of the world’s most sought-after conductors. When Mr. Nelsons takes on the title of BSO Music Director in September 2014, at age 35, he will be the youngest conductor to hold that title with the orchestra in over 100 years. The fifteenth music director since the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s founding in 1881, Mr. Nelsons is also the first Latvian-born conductor to assume the post.
Fresh Grass Set for September 19-21
Lineup for Mass Moca Event.
Music
Fresh Grass returns to Mass MoCA from September 19 to 21. This year's lineup is the deepest yet, including The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Railroad Earth, Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn,Sam Bush, The Infamous Stringdusters, David Grisman Sextet, The Gibson Brothers, Alison Brown, Valerie June, Aoife O'Donovan, Rodney Crowell, Sam Amidon, Liam Ó Manolaí, Michael Cleveland,Claire Lynch,Darol Anger, Martha Redbone Roots Project, and more to be announced later in the spring. Last year's FreshGrass Award recipient, Cricket Tell the Weather, will take the stage for a full set.
Stamps In the Age of Colonialism
Your Land is My Land
Opinion
As a child stamp collecting offered global vignettes. This album of stamps with accompanying text from the 1930s offers horrific insights to the colonialism and racism that fueled WWII. Words and ideas which were seemingly benign now burn into our hearts and minds. This is a grim and riveting glimpse into the past if you take the time to read and reflect on the thoughts of another era. The Third World was a pie to be sliced and consumed by dominant super powers.
The Winding Stream at Berkshire Int'l Film Festival
Documentary Follows the Course of Country Music from its Roots
Film
Beth Harrington’s film follows the rich musical legacy of seminal country trio The Carter Family, themselves influenced by white and black string music, as passed down to their daughters, to son-in-law Johnny Cash and to his offspring, while inspiring many other musicians. Ten years in the making, the film itself is an historical treasure.
Looking Back with Global Artist Rafael Mahdavi
From Figuration in Painting to Abstract Steel Sculpture
Fine Arts
In 2000 when Rafael Mahdavi was commuting between Wellesley, Mass and a studio in Paris we collaborated on dual exhibitions at Suffolk University/ New England School of Art & Design and Boston's French library. Recently we connected to catch up and reflect on a multi national career as a painter and sculptor. Through hard work and entrepreneurship he has had the life and career that many artists aspire to.