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2017 Tony Award Nominations
Shakespeare & Company's John Douglas Thompson
By: - May 02nd, 2017The classical actor John Douglas Thompson, known to Berkshire audiences for his many roles at Shakespeare & Company, is among the nominees for a 2017 Tony Award. He was inspired to pursue a career in theatre by attending an August Wilson play at Yale Rep. This season he played a supporting role in Wilson's play Jitney having its long delayed Broadway debut. He has also been nominated for a Drama Desk award.
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Other Than Honorable by Jamie Pachino
Geva Theatre Rochester, NY
By: - May 02nd, 2017In “Other Than Honorable” [the term for a military discharge that perhaps won’t penalize the recipient, as a “Dishonorable” one does], the central character is a former Army officer who resigned her commission “under sealed terms.” She is persuaded to defend a young female soldier who stabbed her Master Sergeant after he raped her.
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Di Donato in Handel at Carnegie Hall
Harry Bickett Conducts The English Concert
By: - May 01st, 2017After his patron King George I died, Handel made a big comeback with three operas. Ariodante is the last and glorious. Set in Scotland, it is important to understand that, like the state of Texas in the US, women get killed if they are unfaithful. The culprit here is exonerated. The music and the singing triumph over all.
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Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida
Timeless Love Story in Ft. Lauderdale
By: - May 01st, 2017Depth of feeling makes Aida soar as South Florida company ends season with the Elton John, Tim Rice musical. Its production of Aida is passion-infused.
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The Roundabout by J. B. Priestley
Witty Words Make You Yearn for the Classes Again
By: - Apr 30th, 2017British plays are presented off-Broadway at the 59E59 Theatres. Currently running is an early JB Priestley play The Roundabout. Wit abounds, as does touching good humor. For a moment we imagine change in British society, but we whirl back to the status quo through lines that often sound like Oscar Wilde.
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Trident Gallery in Gloucester
Bringing Relevant Art Back to Cape Ann
By: - Apr 30th, 2017During the 19th Century and era of modernism Cape Ann was home to leading American artists. That faded in the post war era leaving a mostly tacky, conservative, artist colony. Several years ago Matthew Swift launched Trident Gallery as a matrix for Gloucester's best and brightest contemporary artists. While visiting we attended the closing party and special performances of the provocative exhibition The Political Body.
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Sex With Strangers by Laura Eason
Production in Rochester, New York
By: - Apr 30th, 2017Sex With Strangers is a sexy, pleasant, entertaining play with pretentions that Laura Eason’s dialogue doesn’t quite live up to. This play has been making the rounds. Developed through Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s New Play Initiative, its world premiere was at Steppenwolf in Chicago, and its New York premiere was at Second Stage Theater New York in 2014.
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Advice Columnist Ann Landers
At California's Coyote StageWorks
By: - Apr 30th, 2017“Ann Landers” was the pen name of Eppie Lederer, who wrote an advice column for one of Chicago’s leading newspapers. Ironically, her twin sister Pauline Lederer, wrote her advice column “Dear Abby” for the Chicago Herald American newspaper. The sisters were close but when it came to their columns, each were tigress’ defending their turf.
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Cabaret Star Jerome Elliott
Shines at the Purple Room in Palm Springs
By: - Apr 30th, 2017“Crawling Back to Broadway”, is a nicely written, well-crafted revue, of songs and patter, by Elliott, and a musical set list that includes inter-action with the audience, thanks to the cool and easy style of musical director Charlie Creasy.
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Babes in Toyland by MasterVoices
Kelli O'Hara and Bill Irwin Headline Superb Cast
By: - Apr 29th, 2017Babes in Toyland debuted over a century ago. It has been reprised in many film and TV versions. Now we have it as it started out, as one of the first American musical comedies, a genre in which this country specializes. MasterVoices concocted a delicious concert version at Carnegie Hall.
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Three Generations Curated by Steve Reich
Bryce Dessner and Nico Muhly st Carnegie Hall
By: - Apr 28th, 2017The fourth and last concert of the Three Generations series that took place in Zankel Hall was dedicated to the third generation: composers Nico Muhly and Bryce Dessner. Steve Reich who orchestrated this event, highlighted the composers who contributed to "changing the direction of concert music", as the subtitle further implies and actually unites them under the "same roof".
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War Paint on Broadway's Dueling Divas
Veterans Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole Star
By: - Apr 28th, 2017As wonderful as soprano Christine Ebersole cum Elizabeth Arden is – and the lady does have a couple of sensational show stoppers - it is the in-your-face belter Patti LuPone’s Helena Rubinstein who commands the most on stage attention in this show, as Rubinstein did in her every day life with her exotic wardrobe and jewelry, her thick European accent, and fast-flying zingers. “There are no ugly women, only lazy ones,” is one of her more famous quotes.
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Not About Nightingales
Early Tennessee Williams Script
By: - Apr 28th, 2017Not About Nightingales, an early Tennessee Williams script, is a Depression-era tragedy with many elements that foretell Williams’ genius as a playwright. Even though considered a lost work, it helped Williams get started on his illustrious playwriting career. The play was one of a batch of plays sent to a Group Theatre competition in December 1938.
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2016-17 Drama Desk Awards
Hello Dolly Earns Most Nominations
By: - Apr 28th, 2017The Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly! tops the list with 10 nominations, while original Broadway musicals Anastasia and Come From Away follow close behind with nine nominations apiece. Lauded off-Broadway shows include the revival of Eugene O'Neill'sThe Hairy Ape, with eight nods, Atlantic Theater Company's production of The Band's Visit, with seven, and Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at the Barrow Street Theatre, also with seven.
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Natalie Dessay at Carnegie Hall
Love Explored from Heaven to Hell
By: - Apr 27th, 2017Hearing this perfectly beautiful voice reminds us of all the pleasure Natalie Dessay has given as an opera performer. As a concert artist, she brings dramatic talent to the words of song writers and adds a soupçon of opera to completely satisfy.
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Tito’s Mexican Grill in Pittsfield
Caveat Emptor
By: - Apr 27th, 2017With two restaurants in Ohio Tito's has opened in Pittsfield. This is a high concept franchise with enticing decor and intetior design which is a bait and switch offering numbingly mediocre ersatz Tex Mex cuisine.
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Boston Baroque's Giulio Cesare
Handel's Greatest Opera a Real Challenge
By: - Apr 27th, 2017Boston Baroque's "Giulio Cesare" marked the role debut of soprano Susanna Phillips as Cleopatra in this tale of love and war with Cleopatra and Julius Caesar its central protagonists. Full of ravishing arias and ensembles, the opera is almost an embarrassment of riches. Boston Baroque did it justice if not in the elusive definitive production it deserves.
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Matilda in Ft. Lauderdale
Touring Production Playing South Florida
By: - Apr 26th, 2017Matilda dazzles in national touring production. Young and young at heart will marvel at Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical which features eye popping visuals and engrossing action
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Agita of the Artist Martin Mugar
Innocence and Experience
By: - Apr 26th, 2017For Blake, Christ was both a child and a lamb putting the innocence of the child and the lamb of the poem a priori in the realm of the godly. One cannot be a lamblike or a childlike without that innocence of God, which raises the question: what then is experience without innocence? Experience can only be a loss of innocence. Why do I in my painting linger in this realm of peachy keen colors if not to insist on the importance of this innocence that precedes experience.
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Outer Critics Circle
2016-2017 Award Nominations
By: - Apr 26th, 2017The Outer Critics Circle nominees provide a preview of the front runners for Tony Awards. The most nominations went to Anastasia – 13; Hello, Dolly! – 10; The Band's Visit – 7; Come From Away – 7; Indecent – 6; The Little Foxes – 6; Groundhog Day – 5; A Bronx Tale – 4; The Front Page – 4; War Paint – 4; Bandstand - 3; A Doll's House – 3; Holiday Inn – 3; Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 – 3; Oslo – 3; Sweat - 3
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Anthony Marwood and Les Violons du Roy
Sheen Center Scene of Extravagant Music-Making
By: - Apr 25th, 2017The intimate 273 seat theatre at the Sheen Center on Bleeker Street is a perfect setting for chamber music. Anthony Marwood and members of Les Violons du Roy performed Strauss, Mozart and Enescu in the intimate space. Opening out from a sextet to an octet, the group became increasingly animated and in fact agitated in a pleasing style, amusing the audience at the end with their passionate bowing and music making.
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New Zealand: North Island
Auckland, Rotorua and Waimangu Volcanic Valley
By: - Apr 25th, 2017As New Zealand's largest city, Auckland offers a distinctive urban landscape with two harbors, modern high-rises, beautiful gardens, and impressive museums. Rotorua stands out with its geothermal activity and predominant Maori culture. Waimangu Volcanic Valley is a wonderland of crater lakes, hot springs, boiling mud pots, and an exuberant nature that has regenerated following the devastation of an eruption.
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Land of Mine
Dane Martin Zandvliet’s 2015 Film
By: - Apr 25th, 2017Danish filmmaker Martin Zandvliet’s 2015 “Land of Mine,” was among the nominees for the 2017 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film’s Danish title is “Under sandet,” and it is a shame distributors did not opt for the literal translation “Under the Sand,” which possesses a certain poetry the clumsy, double-meaning “Land of Mine” lacks.
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Beckett in Boca Raton
Waiting for Godot at Sol Theatre Proves Powerful
By: - Apr 24th, 2017Evening Star Production's 'Waiting for Godot' blends darkness and frivolity. A strong cast anchors a commendable production at South Florida venue.The deft production is marked by strong physical comedy and palpable despair.
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Cape Cod - After the Storm
Total Fog at Ocean's Edge
By: - Apr 22nd, 2017While spending time near an Ocean in the USA or Europe, as well as Africa, I have always been drawn to the beach after a storm, while rough weather and high waves were still present. So did I venture recently onto a beach in North Truro, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in stormy weather and took these accompanying photographs.
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