Front Page
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Manhattan School of Music's Snow Maiden
An Opera Comes Out of the Deep Freeze
By: - Apr 21st, 2018Nikolai Rimksy-Korsakov is one of the most important opera composers of 19th century Russia. A member of the "Mighty Handful", he revised works by Mussorgsky, taught Stravinsky and was a master of orchestration and melody. However, outside of a few concert works, the bulk of his music, most notably a long catalogue of operas, receives little attention. This made it all the more interesting that the Manhattan School of Music's Senior Opera Theater decided to mount The Snow Maiden, an enchanting fairy tale opera and the composer's personal favorite.
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Music of Weimar Presented by Aspect
Bach, Mendelssohn and Liszt
By: - Apr 20th, 2018Aspect presents music in a new concert format, as engaging as it is thought-provoking. In a program at the Italian Academy at Columbia University, Stephen Johnson, a BBC broadcaster, spoke about Weimar, Germany as a cradle of musical talent. Listening to Bach, Mendelssohn and Liszt, there is no question about the talent. Each of these composers had formative experiences in Weimar.
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Tony Kushner’s Angels in America
Epic London Production Transfers to Broadway
By: - Apr 19th, 2018Angels in America is one of the major theatrical events on Broadway this Spring. The highly acclaimed National Theatre Production is here for a limited run through June. The two parts Millennium Approaches and Perestrokia make for a marathon of theater going (well over 7 hours) but you will leave the theater dazed by what you have seen and heard.
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How the Other Half Loves by Sir Alan Ayckbourn
Classic Comedy at North Coast Repertory Theatre
By: - Apr 19th, 2018There ought to be a law stating all British farces and comedies must be staged by British-trained directors in order to get the full impact of their special, zany, erudite, and/or silly brand of comedy. “How the Other Half Loves” by Sir ASlan Ayckbourn is blessed in having six talented actors who know their stuff; perform on NCRT’s stage and have fun in doing it.
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The Wanderes at The Old Globe
Premiere of Hsssidic Play by Anna Zeigler
By: - Apr 19th, 2018The subject of ‘arranged marriage’ is still practiced in some places and cultures in the world. But in the West, and especially here, in America, one might have some difficulty finding small enclaves of religious separatists that still cling to the old ways of religious observance.
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Martyna Majok wins 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
World Premiere at Williamstown Theatre Festival
By: - Apr 17th, 2018Congratulations to playwright, Martyna Majok, and Mandy Greenfield, artistic director of Williamstown Theatre Festival, Her harrowing play, Cost of Living, had its world premiere in Williamstown in July, 2016. The production moved to New York's Manhattan Theatre Club in 2017. The play has won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. We have reposted the review in Berkshire Fine Arts.
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Age of Innocence at Hartford Stage
Douglas McGrath Adapts Edith Wharton Novel
By: - Apr 18th, 2018Douglas McGrath has taken Edith Wharton’s novel of constricted high society in New York City in the 1870s and condensed it to 100 minutes. By focusing on specific scenes with little connection between them, at times it feels episodic and lacks flow.
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Arts Journalist Glenn Loney at 89
Beloved Member of American Theatre Critics Association
By: - Apr 17th, 2018Glenn Loney’s massive resume in 2006 listed more than 1,000 magazine and journal articles, 530 reviews, 7 books, 6 unpublished plays, 2 detailed show program notes, editing or contributions to 22 books, and 39 in-depth interviews for Cue magazine. Among the books is a two-volume "20th Century Theatre," a day-by-day chronology of American, British, and Canadian Theatre activity from 1900 to 1980. He is rembered by William Hirschman, president of American Theatre Critics Association.
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Steinberg/ATCA Award Winner
Lauren Gunderson Play The Book of Will
By: - Apr 15th, 2018A play about preserving Shakespeare's words honored with ATCA/Steinberg awards. The American Theatre Critics Association award goes to Lauren Gunderson for The Book of Will.
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Legendary Alternative Editor Harper Barnes
New Journalism in Boston/ Cambridge in the Early 1970s
By: - Apr 14th, 2018The recently published book Astral Weeks, by Ryan Walsh, has brought national attention to the counter culture of Boston/ Cambridge in 1968. This extensive interview with Harper Barnes, former editor of the Cambridge Phoenix and columnist for The Real Paper, covers developments in the early 1970s. It was a fertile era that launched careers of numerous arts critics and political commentators. After a stint in Boston, eventually, he returned to the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch and the city where he continues to reside.
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Flight of the Phoenix
Former Editor Arnie Reisman Rebuts Editor Harper Barnes
By: - Apr 15th, 2018The response of former Boston After Dark editor, Arnie Reisman, to former Cambridge Phoenix editor, Harper Barnes, was too long to post as a comment. Accordingly, we have opted to run it under Reisman's byline. He was my first editor at the Brandeis Univertsity Justice and later hired me for Boston After Dark. There is much yet to be said about alternative media in the 1970s but with this exchange matters get curiouser and curiouser.
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YoYo Ma Joins BSO at Carnegie Hall
Strauss Concludes New York Visit
By: - Apr 15th, 2018The Boston Symphony Orchestra played its third and final Carnegie Hall concert on Friday night. This venerable orchestra has found its passion and spark again under the baton of music director Andris Nelsons. As an ensemble, it is moving forward in a bold and forthright manner. And yet, some of its past tendencies appeared in this concert, resulting in a curious evening of variable quality.
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New York City Opera's Love of Three Kings
Montemezzi's Potboiler at the Rose Theater
By: - Apr 15th, 2018The new New York City Opera extends our horizons. Italo Montemezzi's highly successful Love of Three Kings is presented in its noir depth at the Rose Theater of Lincoln Center.
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Boston Symphony Brings Tristan to Carnegie Hall
Nelsons Conducts Act II
By: - Apr 13th, 2018It might be his good looks. It might be his magnetic stage presence. It might be his voice. Or it might be his rash of cancellations at the Metropolitan Opera in the last few seasons. Either way, tenor Jonas Kaufmann, who hasn't sung Wagner on a New York stage since 2013, has a fan following. They were out in force at Carnegie Hall on Thursday night to hear him sing
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Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson
World Premiere Play in South Florida
By: - Apr 14th, 2018Edgar & Emily is an intriguing new play by William McDonough. The finely-tuned world-premiere production is running at Palm Beach Dramaworks in Florida. Actors and technical elements are strong in the debut staging
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Andris Nelsons and BSO at Carnegie Hall
Jean-Yves Thibaudet at the Piano
By: - Apr 12th, 2018The Boston Symphony Orchestra is flourishing under the leadership of music director Andris Nelsons. Ensemble and music director arrived at Carnegie Hall on Wednesday night for the first of three concerts this week, fulfilling their yearly obligation to visit that historic stage and offering New Yorkers a sample of the interesting new directions pursued by this brave and ambitious conductor.
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Birdland by Simon Stephens
Look Inside Rock Music Business
By: - Apr 11th, 2018Simon Stephens has said that Birdland is influenced by Radiohead’s OK Computer tour in 1997 and the rockumentary, Meeting People Is Easy. Stephens said in an interview, “Thom Yorke’s very present in Birdland.” Like Yorke’s, Paul’s band went from venues of 2,000 to 20,000 and 75,000 over a short time span. “You watch him lose all sense of self.”
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King Lear Strips at BAM
Crowning Performance by Antony Sher
By: - Apr 15th, 2018In Antony Sher's take on the role, Lear divests himself of authority as well as land. Faced now with relationships which reveal the true characters of not only his daughters, but his friends, his allies and a wise, poetic fool he meets along the way, Lear is stripped to his essence.
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Bridges of Madison County
Produced by TheatreWorks Silicon Valley
By: - Apr 11th, 2018“You could have driven into someone else’s driveway.” These words summarize not only the randomness of events that leads to a torrid but compassionate love affair in Bridges of Madison County, but to life itself. Under Robert Kelley’s direction, it is extremely well crafted schmaltz with excellent production values that should appeal to a broad audience.
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Malbec World Day On April 17th
Its Time to Celebrate
By: - Apr 10th, 2018Each year on April 17th, wine lovers celebrate 'Malbec World Day." The tradition started in Argentina and now throughout the world ia celebrating this wonderful varietal. Malbec originated in France, was wiped out due to phylloxera, and rebounded in Argentina as early as the 1850's. Today it is a National treasure.
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Be Here Now Staged in South Florida
Deborah Zoe Laufer Play Receives Second Production
By: - Apr 10th, 2018One month after Be Here Now's world premiere in Cincinnati, Deborah Zoe Laufer's Play flies south to the Sunshine State. FAU Theatre Lab's production is a noticeable improvement over the play's debut. Piece's second mounting features multi-faceted performances and sensitive direction of an engrossing, thought-provoking play.
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Timon of Athens at Cutting Ball Theatre
A Rarely Performed Shakespeare Play
By: - Apr 08th, 2018Timon of Athens ranks as one of Shakespeare’s least performed plays. While the dialogue is definitely Shakespearean, Timon lacks the popular quotes and hooks of the greater plays – no “pound of flesh” or “out damned spot” or “lean and hungry look” or “slings and arrows.”
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Mozart in the Jungle Cancelled
Amazon Bows Out of the Classical Music Series
By: - Apr 07th, 2018The popular and award-winning series Mozart in the Jungle has played its last concert. Today, Amazon.com announced that the series, a dramatic sitcom set in New York City that chronicled the backbiting, infighting and backstabbing of the classical music business, will not be renewed for a fifth season.
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Clybourne Park in Ft. Lauderdale
Bruce Norris' Meaty Play at New City Players
By: - Apr 07th, 2018Clybourne Park's issues take on an urgency with racial strife, other problems plaguing our world. Bruce Norris' Pulitzer Prize winning sequel to A Raisin in the Sun is receiving a mostly commendable production in South Florida. Fireworks light up New City Players' stage to open New City Players 2018 season
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American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall
Jazz Rhythms and Dreams
By: - Apr 07th, 2018One of the founders of the American Composer’s Orchestra played jazz piano in nightclubs after he left his day job on Wall Street. The ACO performed five works, three of which came from composers who work in the jazz idiom. This was a thoroughly enjoyable program of new work.
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