Front Page
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Don’t Eat the Mangos is a Wonderful Play
At Magic Theatre in San Francisco
By: - Mar 07th, 2020In Don’t Eat the Mangos, by Ricardo Pérez González, three adult Puerto Rican sisters remain close despite fractious relationships and the different directions their lives have taken. The action centers on clashes that siblings commonly confront in dealing with dying parents and their property. So it is that the sisters argue about how the dirty work of responsibilities are shared.
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The Confession of Lily Dare Off Broadway
By Renowned Gender Bender Charles Busch
By: - Mar 07th, 2020In or out of drag, whether on stage or page, the 65-year-old actor playwright Charles Busch, with some forty years of show business under his belt, is a force to be reckoned with.
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Dai Fujikura Featured at Miller Theatre
International Contemporary Ensemble Delves into Fujikura's Music
By: - Mar 06th, 2020Dai Fujikura lives in the quotidian and draws from it for the music he creates. We hear a portrait of his daughter in the first month of her life, a secret forest where all the sounds are beautiful, and memories of high school friends who were all wannabe guitarists.
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Film: The 70th Berlinale 2020
From February 20 - March 1
By: - Mar 04th, 2020The 70th Berlinale, the huge international film festival in Berlin took place between February 20th and March 1st, 2020. Great expectations were put upon the new festival leaders, Carlo Chatrian (artistic director) and Mariette Rissenbeek (executive director).
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Marie Cuttoli at Barnes Foundation
The Modern Thread from Miro to Man Ray
By: - Mar 04th, 2020A new exhibit at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia features the collection of Marie Cuttoli, an entrepreneur who convinced many of the artists of her time to create designs for her the workshops, first in her own design studio in Paris and then for the tapestry weavers of of Aubusson, France.
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Jane Eyre at Hartford Stage
Written and Directed by Elizabeth Williamson
By: - Mar 07th, 2020Jane Eyre, just like Elizabeth Bennett in Jane Austin’s Pride & Prejudice, understands society’s preconceived notions about a woman’s role and a woman’s manner, and rejects them wholeheartedly.
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Drew Hyde Was Seminal ICA Director
Led Institute Back from the Brink
By: - Feb 29th, 2020In 1968 the Institute of Contemporary Art was evicted from Newbury Street. Bag and baggage it was mothballed in its failed former home on Soldier's Field Road. Connected to new Mayor Kevin White and Deputy Mayor, Katky Kane, they gave Andrew C. Hyde a long shot at turning things around. The relaunch largely entailed embracing an emerging generation of artists which formed the Studio Coalition in 1969 and Boston Visual Artists Union in 1970.
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Welser-Möst Conducts the New York Philharmonic
From the Domestic Life of Strauss to Widmann's Streets of Babylon
By: - Mar 01st, 2020Franz Welser-Möst leads what is arguably the best orchestra in the United States, the Cleveland. His mastery of Richard Strauss' music is well-known. He began the program with the US premiere of Babylon Suite by Jörg Widmann, composer in residence at Carnegie Hall this year.
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Hedda Gabler: A Play with Live Music
World Premiere at Chicago's Raven Theatre
By: - Mar 01st, 2020The Tuta Theatre world premiere production of Hedda Gabler: A Play With Live Music is adapted and directed by Jacqueline Stone. The play is set in the early 1890s in Kristiania, now Oslo. The original modern and sometimes punklike music is composed by Wain Parham and played by a three-piece band, led by Parham on keys.
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Aspect Chamber's Musical Enemies: Debussy and Chausson
Grace Park and Gilles Vonsattel Superb on Violin and Piano
By: - Mar 02nd, 2020Irina Knaster founded the Aspect Chamber Music series to provide an enriched communal atmosphere for the performance of music. Concertgoers are invited to come early and drink wine and chat before the concert and during the intermission. Knaster fills the halls at the Bohemian National Center and Columbia's Italian Academy, two beautiful settings. She featured Grace Park and Gilles Vonsattel performing Debussy and Chausson.
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Beauty and the Beast
At the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center in South Florida
By: - Feb 29th, 2020Beauty and the Beast is enchanting, playful, funny and magical at the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center. The classic Disney musical is timely with messages about tolerance and treating everyone with respect. The show is visual delight, but it also teaches people not to judge people based solely on their external appearances. The production, which is strong despite obviously fake fight scenes, runs through March 8.
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Verdi's Il Trovatore
At Opera San José
By: - Mar 01st, 2020The great Enrico Caruso once noted that all you need to make Il Trovatore a success is to cast the four greatest singers in the world. Although the production reveals a couple of minor glitches, the overall effect is so scintillating that the flaws are not worth discussing.
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I Am My Own Wife
At Long Wharf
By: - Mar 01st, 2020Even the simplest human being is complicated and Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, the central character in I Am My Own Wife is scarcely a simple human being. She is incredibly complex and her story is amazing.
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Donald E. Lacy's Colorstruck
Theater for the New City Mounts Premiere
By: - Mar 01st, 2020Colorstruck and its creators come to us from the San Francisco Bay area where they have been involved in radio, theater and film. They are also participants in community outreach in the arts. Lacy has crafted a one man show which straddles a gap where tears laughter and anger resolve. On an empty stage, Lacy emerges from darkness, a black man in black clothing. He speaks for 75 minutes, lighting up our hearts and minds.
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The Pajama Game a Perennial Favorite
At California's Palm Canyon Theatre
By: - Feb 28th, 2020“The Pajama Game” opened last weekend in Palm Springs. The musical debuted in 1954 on Broadway, as the Korean War was declared over, and pajamas back then was still considered the choice of men’s sleep-ware. Enduring standards of the vintage musical include “Hey There,” “Steam Heat,” and “Hernando’s Hideaway.”
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Magic and Stillness
Preparing for a Pandemic
By: - Feb 27th, 2020Between the news and my daily contact with friends in China, the coronavirus is a daily presence in my awareness. I returned from China just shortly before the first cases in Wuhan. My temple is in Hubei Province, and Wuhan is the province's capital city, only about 500 km from the temple. CDC officials tell us it is not a question of if, it is a question of when the virus will spread across the country, notwithstanding the President's assurances last night. My friends all over China have been inside their homes since the first of the month, and will remain there for several weeks to come, it would seem. That may be us someday, too.
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Skylight in South Florida
Popular David Hare Play at Palm Beach Dramaworks
By: - Feb 25th, 2020Palm Beach Dramaworks' production of David Hare's Skylight features terrific performances. Tension emanates from the stage as the character spar on stage. The production continues through March 1.
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Lincoln Center Great Performers' Mahler
Surrounded by Concerts and Films
By: - Feb 26th, 2020Lincoln Center's Great Performers surrounded us with Gustav Mahler for five days. In addition to a concert by Ivan Fischer conducting the Budapest Festival Orchestra, three films were offered.
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Real Eyes Gallery 2020
March Madness Starts With Henry Klein
By: - Feb 26th, 2020Real Eyes Gallery in Adams, Mass resumes its monthly exhibitions. One of two repeaters Henry Klein returns with Uber Waves: Other Location on March 7. Gallerist Bill Riley, the other prior exhibitor, is slotted for August. On March 14 at 5pm, Kathline Carr and Patricia Sheppard will read their poetry. Ricky Darell Barton shows in April followed by Gil Riley (June), Lauren Olitski (July), William Riley (August), Pennie Brantley and Bob Morgan (September), Diane Reed Sawyer (October), Cotter Luppi (November), and To Be Announced (December).
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Grand Horizons by Bess Wohl
Superb Cast Burdened with Pedestrian Family Drama
By: - Feb 25th, 2020What sets this apart are the fine performances. Any chance you get to see Jane Alexander on stage is one to take advantage of and treasure. Her Nancy exudes both steeliness and calmness.
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Lucas Hnath Gives Us Dana H.
Probing a Mother's Kidnapping
By: - Feb 25th, 2020Lucas Hnath has a gift for making the past present on stage. In a marvel of edited tape, brilliant acting and staging, the Vineyard Theatre is hosting his play, Dana H. We don't see Edgar Bergen manipulating Charlie. Yet we hear the tape voice of the real Dana as it is mouthed by Deidre O'Connell. Taking on the voice, O'Connell inhabits the character, soundless, but with more subtle and apt gestures than you can imagine. It is a stunning evening of theater.
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Princeton Atelier at National Sawdust
Humanizing Electronic Sound
By: - Feb 24th, 2020Introductory visual and audio moments originated in climate data released as sound in a work by Kyle Barnes. This prelude was “a sonificaton of data for voice, electronics and video.” Images played on the huge back wall, which often serves as a screen in this special venue. Gentle scales crested and fell, warming us up for an introduction by Elena Park, a curator of National Sawdust +.
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Ivan Fischer and Budapest Festival Orchestra
Great Performers' Mahler at Lincoln Center
By: - Feb 25th, 2020There is no doubt that Gustav Mahler paired the Kindertotenlieder, symphonic poems of Friedrich Rückert and his Symphony No. 5. Seldom are they programmed together. We were given an extraordinary performance of both works in David Geffen Hall. Iván Fischer conducted the Budapest Festival Orchestra.
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When by Ledelle Moe
Massive Sculptures by South African Artist at MASS MoCA
By: - Feb 21st, 2020Building Five of MASS MoCA is one of the largest spaces for contemporary art in North America. Since the museum opened in 1999 there has been an annual rotation. The results have been mixed with hits and misses. Curated by Susan Cross, the current installation When by the South African artist Ledelle Moe is on the short list of most astonishing projects. It remains on view in North Adams through September 5.
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Boston Arts Leader Ted Landsmark
Discussed Transitions in 2000
By: - Feb 20th, 2020When we spoke in 2000 the arts leader Ted Landsmark was director of the Boston Architectural College. He was on leave as chair of the board of the Institute of Contemporary Art but still serving on the board of the MFA. It was a time of transition and change. The ICA was constructing a new building on the waterfront. Its director, Jill Medvedow, was competing for funding with MFA director, Malcolm Rogers. Landsmark argued that they should be working together
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