Front Page
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Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake
At the Ahmanson Theatre
By: - Dec 14th, 2019Internationally acclaimed Director/Choreographer Matthew Bourne returned to Los Angeles on December 5th with a reinvigorated and a brilliantly reimagined production of his most celebrated work that originally burst onto London’s Saddler Well’s stage in 1995; taking the world of ballet by storm.
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Seance with Benjamin Britten
The Crypt Conjures Brittain
By: - Dec 14th, 2019The Crypt Session as imagined and realized by Death of Classical point the way to music’s lifefulness going forward. New, young audiences wait for months to get a ticket to one of these events. Tickets sell out moments after events like this Salon Séance are announced. Andrew Ousley, whose creation Crypt Sessions and The Catacombs assures us that more events in new locations are coming. A cave is promised in the future.
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Judgment Day at Park Avenue Armory
Richard Jones and Christopher Shinn Disturb and Thrill
By: - Dec 13th, 2019Entering the drill hall at the Armory, we are greeted first by sounds of birds flitting through the tall, pine trees in a forest stage left and right. Branches are laden with snow. The platform of a train station fills the front of the station. The scent of the plywood from which the big blocks of the moving stage are built, also wafts through the hall. The station master’s home is above the tracks. His wife often sits in the window, observing the action below. Express trains roar by, their lights glancing off the ceilings and the other block structures on a shiny floor, whose surface reflects. We are taken in.
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Boston Expressionist Jack Levine
Neglected Colleague of Hyman Bloom
By: - Dec 12th, 2019Separately at Jewish Settlement houses Jack Levine and Hyman Bloom studied drawing with Harold Zimmerman. In 1929, when Levine was 14, they were instructed at the Fogg Art Museum by Harvard professor, Denman Ross. By the late 1930s, with Karl Zerbe, they gained national attention as Boston Expressionists. After a lapse of decades, through February, Bloom is featured in "Hyman Bloom Matters of Life and Death." The MFA has never given Levine the time of day. In 1986, while making a film with David and Nancy Sutherland, I interviewed Levine.
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Heartbeat Opera's Der Freischutz
Louisa Proske Creates a Present Moment
By: - Dec 11th, 2019Der Freischutz is everything an 1821 opera should be in a present day performance. The brilliant conception by Louisa Proske, credited with the adaptation and direction, surrounds us from the moment with enter the theater. The circle in the square encompasses the audience. Next to the home of Agathe at one point in the circle is a looming rock which is part of the Wolf Canyon. The orchestra is inside the circle under one section of audience. In the largest seating area, a platform extends. The singing actors use all these spaces. They come very close to us at time, ignoring our presence, but allowing us to see into their souls. Immersion hardly describes what the production offers.
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May Stevens at 95
Artist Was Born in Quincy Massachusetts
By: - Dec 11th, 2019The Ryan Lee Gallery in New York City announces the passing of May Stevens. The artist was born in Quincy, Massachusetts and educated at Mass College of Art. Her work was shown and collected by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
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Amahl and the Night Visitors
Gian Carlo Menotti's Christmas Spirit for Today
By: - Dec 10th, 2019On Site Opera revived what one hopes will become an annual production of Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors. In choosing settings for familiar and unfamiliar operas, On Site adds an intriguing dimension to the form. With Amahl, the location in the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen returns the opera to its original meaning.
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Newsies the Musical
At Hillbarn Theatre
By: - Dec 09th, 2019What makes Newsies really jump is the dancing with the accompanying choruses like “Carrying the banner” about the independent but challenging life of selling papers on the streets, and “Seize the day” about striking to get their due.
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Joe Rosen Presents Clarinet Quintets
New Insights Into the Form
By: - Dec 07th, 2019An active patron of New York music associations, Joe Rosen is a first-rate amateur clarinetist who opens his home to salons. Here young musicians accompany him in chamber music pieces. Recently he changed his method of operation. Instead of transposing one string instrument's part for clarinet, he is performing quintets specifically written for the instrument. The clarinet's mellow, earthy timbre is revealed.
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Solitude
To Be Alone Is Not Lonely
By: - Dec 06th, 2019Particularly during holiday season, we as social beings, crave the company of friends and familty. Between now and New Year there are many gatherings. It is a time of celebration and excess. This season of ritual tends to play out or wind down into winter hibertaion. My neighbor and friend the North Adams monk, Michael McGrath, discusses the alternative approach of embracing solitude.
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MsTrial at New World Stages
Can a Lawyer Be Truthful and Succeed
By: - Dec 05th, 2019Dep Kirkland asks us to inhabit the legal world and fathom truth from within the walls of a well appointed law office. The leather sofa, floor-to-ceiling bookcase, long wooden table and oak desk with curtained view of the city, act as silent signifiers.
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Seance with Benjamin Britten at Crypt
String Quartets One and Two Spectral
By: - Dec 05th, 2019The Crypt Session as imagined and realized by Death of Classical point the way to music’s lifefulness going forward. New, young audiences wait for months to get a ticket to one of these events. Tickets sell out moments after events like this Salon Séance are announced. Andrew Ousley, whose creation Crypt Sessions and The Catacombs assures us that more events in new locations are coming. A cave is promised in the future.
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The Music Man
Meredith Willson Classic in South Florida.
By: - Dec 02nd, 2019The Wick Theatre in Boca Raton is mesmerizing folks with its production of The Music Man. This mounting features vivacious dancing, credible, energetic performances and solid design. The show runs through Dec. 28 and features the largest cast in The Wick's history. Broadway actor John Tartaglia stars as "Professor" Harold Hill.
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Galen Cheney at Real Eyes Gallery
Neo Platonic Abstraction
By: - Dec 01st, 2019The anchor leg of a stunning season for Real Eyes Gallery in Adams, Massachusetts features “Galen Cheney: Mining Memory” through December 29.
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Groundhog Day
Me and My Shadow in San Francisco
By: - Nov 30th, 2019The premise of Groundhog Day is that Pittsburgh TV meteorologist Phil Connors is assigned to cover the annual event against his wishes.
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A Christmas Carol
At the Lyceum Theatre
By: - Nov 30th, 2019Even if you say bah humbug to holiday shows you might want to check out this one on Broadway.
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Mother of the Maid by Jane Anderson
Marin Theatre Company
By: - Nov 30th, 2019The playwright’s contribution to the Joan of Arc literature is that her mother, Isabelle Arc, becomes the voice and the central character. Thus, while Joan’s actions are of historic significance and drive the narrative, Isabelle dominates the stage time. The play centers on family relationships, especially between mother and daughter.
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Cloud 9 by Caryl Churchill
At Custom Made Theatre
By: - Nov 30th, 2019What makes many of Churchill’s works distinctive and what helps in understanding them is her frequent non-traditional approaches to time representation and to casting.
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Hansel and Gretel
At Opera San José
By: - Nov 30th, 2019Opera San José’s production is specifically designed to be family friendly. The opera is sung in English and the supertitles are given in pretty basic vocabulary. Yet, only 15% of the audience is children, so adults, do feel welcomed. It is a quality production, beautifully staged and sung, that will satisfy audiences of all ages and levels of opera understanding.
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Hyman Bloom Matters of Life and Death
Putrid Cadavers a Late Bloomer for the MFA
By: - Nov 28th, 2019The Museum of Fine Arts last featured Boston Expressionist Hyman Bloom in a 1959 group show. The current exhibition Hyman Bloom Matters of Life and Death, curated by Erica E. Hirshler, attempts to make up for that lapse. The focus on cadaver paintings and drawings is bold and spectacular. The work is ghastly with haunting beauty. On a national level it is among the year's best museum exhibitions.
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The Interitance on Broadway
Matthew Lopez, Stephen Daldry and Bob Crowley Truple Team for Brilliance
By: - Nov 28th, 2019The moving two-part drama, The Inheritance, began its stage life at the Young Vic in London. The play transferred to the West End and is now on Broadway. For seven hours, divided into two sessions of theater, the history of gays in American unfolds. At its heart, the playwright Matthew Lopez weaves language of great beauty mixed with humor. Spanish words are sprinkled throughout, ay meo (oh God), la fiesta (the party) and maracon (faggot) among them. These are not phrases but rather exclamations. The word 'faggot' is never used in the play.
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Critic Herbert Simpson 1934-2019
Covered Theatre Insight Out
By: - Nov 26th, 2019During conferences of American Theatre Critics Association the Rochester based critic, Herbert Simpson, was a raconteur and noble presence. Rooted in the classics he had little patience for current foibles. His opinions were always crusty, witty, scholarly, loquacious and well crafted. As a correspondent we were honored to repost his reviews.
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A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum
Classic Sondheim Musical in South Florida
By: - Nov 25th, 2019A highly physical and playful production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is on stage at MNM Theatre Company. The West Palm Beach-based nonprofit company features equity and non-equity Florida actors. Cast members shine in their roles, but the sound system needs improvement. The production runs through Dec. 8 in a South Florida theater season featuring several Sondheim works.
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Jack Lyons on Broadway
California Critic Covers Three One Act Plays
By: - Nov 25th, 2019It takes stamina and seven league boots to keep up with my running buddy Jack Lyons. He was my plus one for the recent American Theatre Critics Association annual New York Conference. In addition to a day of panel discussions and lunch with the stars at Sardi's he took in the three plays covered here. When out of breath trying to keep with some affection I call him Jack Rabbit.
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Lucy Dhegrae at National Sawdust
Giving Voice to Rape
By: - Nov 24th, 2019Lucy Dhegrae, a superb mezzo soprano, lost her singing voice after an assault. In finding her singing voice again, she follows the sounds of a human from the first grunts and breaths to the glorious free sounds of song. Dhegrae is National Sawdust's Artist-in-Residence.
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