Front Page
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National Sawdust 5 Boroughs Music Fest
New York's Composers a Riot of Song
By: - Nov 17th, 2017In one fell swoop, Jesse Bloomberg, the artistic director for the 5 Boroughs Music Festival, brings together a sampling of composers who are tucked into the nooks and crannies of our city. Assigning them the subject of the city unleashes their spirited take on New York. Songs ranged from poetic evocation to the tiny drama about a struggling barista which was inspired by Monteverdi.
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Alyson Cambridge Sings at The Crypt
William Bolcom's Song Cycle on Sally Hemings
By: - Nov 16th, 2017Composer William Bolcom and librettist Sanda Seaton have drawn a complex and moving picture of Sally Heings in an 18 song cycle. Soprano Alyson Cambridge is Sally and her performances evokes the slave/mistress of Thomas Jefferson.
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Nezet-Seguin Conducts Philadelphia Orchestra
King of Infinite Space
By: - Nov 12th, 2017The Philadelphia Orchestra's relationship with music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin is a model of modern artistic collaboration. The Quebecois conductor has brought a much-needed dose of enthusiasm and artistic integrity to the band on Broad Street, and the orchestra has responded according to its gifts with full, rich performances that remain deeply satisfying.
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Zeni Winery And The Bardolino Wine Museum
The Wines Of Lake Garda
By: - Nov 12th, 2017If you visit the Zeni Winery in Bardolino (Veneto) you will have the opportunity to visit a museum dedicated to the winemaking history of the region, plus, if you are adventurous, you can take an aromatic test to identify what you smell. Its all a lot of fun.
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Owens Pottery of North Carolina
North Carolina's Route 705 Is the Pottery Highway
By: - Nov 11th, 2017The oldest, continuously operating pottery along the Pottery Highway is Owens Pottery of North Carolina, also known as Original Owens Pottery. The Owens family has been involved in pottery since the early 1800s.
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Ersatz Cubist Dana Shutz
A Metaphysical Pratfall
By: - Nov 11th, 2017There were protests when Dana Shutz exhibited a painting of the mutilated black youth Emmet Till in his coffin. It was a controversial inclusion in the Whitney Biennial. It is not a part of a large overview of her work at Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art. There the curators have over expained the work with excessively detailed wall labels. It conveys the notion that the work in a kitchy, ersatz Cubist manner cannot speak for itself. Activists have petiitioned the ICA to shut down the exhibition.
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The Band's Visit on Broadway
Popular Musical at the Ethel Barrymore
By: - Nov 11th, 2017The Band's Visit restores faith in the goodness of humanity. The new musical adaptation features tender, heartfelt songs. Show is well acted and sung by a talented cast
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Freight with J. Alphonse Nicholson
New Federal and Castillo Theatres Triumphant Team Up
By: - Nov 11th, 2017Howard L. Craft has crafted a superb play in Freight: The Five Incarnations of Abel Green. What was it like to be a young black man in America throughout the 20th century and on into our own? Minstrel, preacher, panther, sub-prime mortgage salesman, Abel Green has tried them all. J. Alphonse Nicholson makes his efforts palpably moving.
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ATCA at Sardi’s
Lunch with Broadway Stars
By: - Nov 10th, 2017A highlight of the American Theatre Critics Association’s New York conference is a now traditional lunch at Sardi’s with stars of current Broadway shows. Cast members of seven shows were represented.
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Priscilla Queen of the Desert, (the musical).
Smashing at Palm Canyon Theatre
By: - Nov 10th, 2017Musicals are the specialty of the Palm Canyon Theatre (PCT) where they are sensationally produced and performed. PCT is now in its twenty-first year of providing quality entertainment to the Coachella Valley, presenting thirteen productions a year that include comedies, dramas, and special events as well as their signature musicals.
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Dominick Argento at Carnegie Hall
New York City Opera Gives Composer a Birthday Bash
By: - Nov 10th, 2017Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, Dominick Argento, celebrated his 90th birthday at Carnegie Hall. New York City Opera in its wonderful new incarnation mounted two of the composer's one act monologues in dramatic productions.
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Our Chicago Correspondent Visited New York
Focusing on Off Broadway
By: - Nov 09th, 2017Our correspondant, Nancy Bishop, in NY for the ATCA conference regrets that " I’m a huge Bruce Springsteen fan—I’ve seen him in concert dozens of times, but I thought the tickets to his Springsteen on Broadway show were too expensive. I was able to buy tickets for these off-Broadway plays and pay for dinner as well for the price of one Springsteen ticket." She offers an overview of affordable shows that will be up through the Holidays.
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Matilde Poggi Shines At La Fraghe Winery
A Pioneer Winemaker From Lake Garda
By: - Nov 09th, 2017A woman in a man's wine making world in the early 80's has been recognized as one of Lake Garda's best winemakers. The journey began in the 15th century in the Lake Garda region of Italy, only forty minutes from Verona.
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The Life and Times of Lee Harvey Oswald
Tragedies Told with Marionettes
By: - Nov 09th, 2017A human actor shines in a show about Lee Harvey Oswald featuring marionettes.Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre revisits tragedies in The Life and Times of Lee Harvey Oswald The production's rather tedious at times, lacking dramatic punch
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Broadway's The Play That Goes Wrong
Play-within-a-play on The Great White Way
By: - Nov 09th, 2017Prepare for belly laughs during The Play That Goes Wrong, now on Broadway. Impeccable comic timing is key to delivering abundant laughs. The unexpected is common in this play-within-a-murder-mystery-farce
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A Bronx Tale on Broadway
Musical Adaptation of Gritty Film
By: - Nov 09th, 2017A stylish, relatable musical adaptation of A Bronx Tale is now on Broadway. A tough and tender tale makes us consider our role models
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Band Visits ATCA
From Sardi’s to Broadway
By: - Nov 08th, 2017During last year's NY conference of American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) there was a panel on the development of the musical, then in previews, of what went on to be the Tony winning musical Dear Evan Hansen. Predicting that lightning will stike twice the team for The Band's Visit discussed the transitions from film, to Off Broadway, and now a production at Broadway's Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The smart money is on running the table during the awards season.
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In the Next Room, or The Vibrator Play
By Chicago's Sarah Ruhl
By: - Nov 08th, 2017It’s a woman’s play, about an era when women’s physical and emotional needs and desires were not only misunderstood, but completely ignored. Sarah Ruhl’s In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play is a charming and titillating look at life in the bad old 19th century. In the playwright's home town it is currently on stage at Chicago's Timeline Theatre.
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King of Stage, a Documentary
Woodie King Jr. Speaks in Juney Smith's Film
By: - Nov 07th, 2017The silhouette profile of Woodie King, Jr. which often shows up in the new documentary in which his life spins out., makes him look like Alfred Hitchcock. In King of Stage by filmmaker Juney Smith, we come to see that he is at least as good a picker of stories as the mystery master.
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ATCA Sondheim Panel
Five Actors Discuss Their Iconic Roles
By: - Nov 07th, 2017The New York conference of American Theatre Critics Association ended on Sunday morning with a Stephen Sondheim panel at the nightclub Don't Tell Mama. Moderated by the critic Rick Pender, the actors Len Cariou, Harvey Evans, Pamela Myers, Kurt Peterson and Teri Ralston recalled originating now iconic roles. On every level ATCA saved the best for last,
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1966 Play by Prolific but Unknown Alice Childress
Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White
By: - Nov 07th, 2017Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White is a powerful drama of black-white relations in 1918 South Carolina, soulfully directed by Cecile Keenan at the Artistic Home. The 1966 play, written by Alice Childress, a prolific if little-known African-American playwright, has passion and relevance for a modern audience.
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Venus in Fur Sizzles
CV REP Theatre in Rancho Mirage, CA
By: - Nov 07th, 2017The on-stage chemistry between Angela Sauer and Patrick Zeller is literally palpable. Their performances fully engage the audience who become fascinated by the push and pull of playwrightDavid Ives’ characters. References to the origin of the title “Venus in Fur” also enliven the audiences’ fascination with the story.
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Berkshire Theatre Awards 2017
Founded in Memory of the Critic Larry Murray
By: - Nov 06th, 2017In his final months theatre critic, Larry Murray, founded Berkshire Theatre Critics Association. In its first annual presenttation of awards "The Berkies" he rallied to enjoy the occasion and to present the first award in his name, for service to the community. We were packed into Mr. Finn's Cabaret last year but last night the event occured before a capacity, attentive audience in the Mark St. Germain Stage of the Pittsfield company. Many more regional companies were nominated and participated in the awards evening. Next year three more companies will be eligible.
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Guggenheim Bilbao at Twenty
An Inspiring Success Story
By: - Nov 06th, 2017The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao recently concluded a year-long celebration of its 20th anniversary under the concept "Art Changes Everything", inspired by the major changes that the city of Bilbao and its residents have experienced since the Museum's opening on October 19, 1997, while at the same time underscoring the transformational capacity of art. I felt fortunate to be able to visit this cultural treasure during a tour of the Basque region of northern Spain in late September.
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Bernstein at the New York Philharmonic
Alan Gilbert Conducts
By: - Nov 06th, 2017Americans who do not live in the bubbling cauldron of New York City, claim to long for a simpler, easier time. When picket fences were white, the mail was delivered regularly, and people's lives echoed the covers of trite magazines sold in supermarket checkout lines. However, New Yorkers know different. That difference was on proud display Saturday night as Alan Gilbert led the second of three programs at the New York Philharmonic dedicated to the music of Leonard Bernstein.
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