Front Page
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The Untranslatable Secrets of Nikki Corona
World Premiere at Geffen Playhouse
By: - Sep 19th, 2018Under the aegis of new artistic director Matt Shakman, The Geffen Playhouse in Westwood, premieres playwright Jose Rivera’s mystical new work “The Untranslatable Secrets of Nikki Corona,” directed by acclaimed, award-winning director Jo Bonney,
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Joseph D. Ketner II (1955 - 2018)
Renowned Curator of Contemporary Art
By: - Sep 19th, 2018Joe Ketner had been the Lois and Henry Foster Chair in Contemporary Art Theory and Practice and Distinguished Curator-in-Residence at Emerson since 2008. In this dual role, he worked tirelessly both to give his students a sense of the social dynamism that art enables, as well as cement Emerson’s place as a source of that dynamism through its galleries and public art installations.
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HIR By Taylor Mac
Transitional Theatre at Shakespeare & Company
By: - Sep 16th, 2018HIR by Taylor Mac, at Shakespeare & Company, demonstrates that we are now well beyond LGBT. The new acronym is LGBTTSQQIAAF. For Maxine who is transitioning to Max the correct pronoun is hir passing through ze. The playrwight answers to the pronoun judy. The play which took 17 years to create is described as Mac's most biographical.
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Space Odyssey 2001 at NY Philharmonic
Reprise of Classic
By: - Sep 18th, 2018Stanley Kubrick's seminal 1968 classic is now 50 years old, and remains as puzzling as ever. On Friday night, as part of this year's The Art of the Score festival, the New York Philharmonic performed the complete orchestral and choral music of 2001 as accompaniment to a large scale screening of the film at Lincoln Center.
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The Abduction from the Seraglio
Opera San Jose
By: - Sep 19th, 2018On opera’s dramatic measuring rod, any production of Abduction would fall on the comedic rather than the tragic end, but Opera San José pushes the comic meter to the point that opera detractors might even appreciate it as a stage comedy with music.
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More Fresh Grass Bluegrass Festival
Rhiannon Giddens Steals The Show
By: - Sep 16th, 2018Today is Sunday and the last day of the Fresh Grass Festival. With four stages, wonderful cuisine and an enthusiastic young crowd, why not drive to North Adams, Massachusetts and enjoy the nation's best museum themed bluegrass festival. Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder headline today at 5:50pm.
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Echo and Narcissus Updated by Satellite Collective
Kevin Draper Re-Imagines an Ancient Myth
By: - Sep 15th, 2018Satellite Collective is an adventurous group of artists from every medium who combine dance, art, music and theater into a unified work. Echo and Narcissus is a full-length collaborative event at BAM Fisher.
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Splendor In The Fresh Grass
Awards Day
By: - Sep 17th, 2018(At press time, I didn't have a list of winners that were announced at the Fresh Grass Festival's banjo and band awards) Nonetheless, the Fresh Grass Festival 2018 vesion has come to an end.
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Crystal Bridges a Landmark Museum of American Art
Founded by Alice Walton in Bentonville Arkansas
By: - Sep 16th, 2018The largest work of art at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is the museum itself, which serves as an anchor for the examination of architecture as art. The design of pods floating over a pond is the creation of Moshe Safdie.
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Fresh Acts At Fresh Grass
The Three Day Festival Is In Full Swing
By: - Sep 15th, 2018The Fresh Grass Festival,which takes place in a wide array of venues at Mass MoCA, in North Adams,Massachusetts, offers bluegrass music that is both traditional and cutting edge. There are four stages, three outdoors and one indoors that cater to the musicians and the family friendly audience. Workshops abound in the galleries with members of the bluegrass community sharing knowledge with their fans.
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The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?
Edward Albee Play at Chicago's Interrobang Theatre Project
By: - Sep 15th, 2018The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? is certainly a problem play, in the classic sense in which characters debate critical social issues in a realistic context. Think Ibsen, “kitchen sink drama” and the socialist plays of the 1920s and ‘30s. Albee also makes many references to classical tragedy, literature and Greek mythology throughout The Goat.
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Agnes Howls at 59E59th
Lesser America Presents a Play Centered on Autism
By: - Sep 15th, 2018Hurricane Agnes is raging outside the small living space of a group of friends in their early 20s. The play focuses on Charlie, who has been diagnosed at the upper end of autism. We see him struggle to become just like everyone else, or getting as close to more conventional people as possible. His perspective is surprising and dramatic.
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Pretty Woman the Movie as Musical
Hooker as Hoofer with a Heart of Gold
By: - Sep 13th, 2018The producers of Pretty Woman probably thought they had a sure fire hit. After all, the 1990 movie made Julia Roberts a major star and Richard Gere more of a star. It combines familiar elements: the hooker with a heart of gold, a Cinderella story, and the redemption of a man consumed by greed (think Scrooge).
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Now & Then
World Premiere Musical at Wilton Theater Factory
By: - Sep 15th, 2018A New musical has its touching moments, but is hampered by cliches, sentimentality. The world premiere of Now & Then runs through Sept. 30 at the newly-named Wilton Theater Factory near Ft. Lauderdale. A strong, versatile cast performs in Now & Then's first-ever production in South Florida.
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Chicago on Stage
Four Short Reviews
By: - Sep 13th, 2018Chicago critics Nancy Bishop and Matthew Nerber team up to cover four plays with brief reviews. This is one approach to focus on the wealth and diversity of productions in the Windy City.
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Dostoyeksky’s Crime and Punishment
At Chicago's Shattered Globe Theatre
By: - Sep 12th, 2018Dostoyeksky’s Crime and Punishment is a thriller, a slow-paced intellectualized thriller. If you haven’t read the novel since college days, Chris Hannan’s 2013 adaptation—on stage at Shattered Globe Theatre—will sneak up on you.
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The Naturalists, A World Premier
Intimately Understanding Terrorism
By: - Sep 11th, 2018The Pond is an adventuresome young producing group whose mission is to seek out bold playwrights from Ireland and the UK and give American audiences a chance to know them. Playwright Jaki McCarrick deserves wide exposure. Terrorist acts are more familiar to the Irish than Americans, Yet the impact of these events on the families of terrorists is new territory and a fascinating one in The Naturalists.
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Separate and Equal at 59E59th Street
Things Get Bad Before They Get Better
By: - Sep 10th, 2018Birmingham passed an Ordinance in May of 1951 which prohibited blacks and whites from playing games together, among other injunctions. Boys will be boys. Often in the South they are allowed to play together until they reach puberty. An empty lot with two baskets was too tempting for six boys, three black and three white, to resist. The consequences are tragic.
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Roberto Devereux by Gaetano Donizetti
At San Francisco Opera
By: - Sep 10th, 2018Gaetano Donizetti is recognized as a master of bel canto, with its vocal ornamentation, agility, vibrato, glissando, and precise demands on breath and register control. Although not designed as companions, he wrote operas of three queens in that style, now known as the Tudor Trilogy – Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, and Roberto Devereux.
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Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci
A Twofer at San Francisco Opera
By: - Sep 10th, 2018In an unusual alteration, perhaps opera’s most famous closing line, “La commedia è finita” which is written for Canio, is spoken by Mamma Lucia, who is a character from Cavalleria. This change is the most explicit link between the two operas, and it also suggests that the speaker represents humanity, demanding an end to the destructive chaos of primitive morality evidenced in both pieces.
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Tanz im August, Berlin 2018
Dance in August Ended September 2nd
By: - Sep 09th, 2018One of the big international dance festivals, the Berlin based Tanz im August, celebrated its 30th anniversary with a thought-provoking and breath-taking array of works.
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A Gewurztraminer From Alsace Worth Buying
A Thriving Family Business
By: - Sep 10th, 2018Since the early 1800's, the Baur family from near Colmar, in France's Alsacian region, has owned several plots of land in this rich, limestone and clay soil area, known for Gewurztraminer (white wine). The family started bottling the wine in 1950 and now thrives with great grandson, Arnaud running the operation.
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Detroit ’67 by Dominique Morisseau
Produced by Aurora Theatre
By: - Sep 09th, 2018Dominique Morisseau’s scintillating Detroit ’67 encapsulates that tragic time through a lens that never leaves the basement of a black ghetto home over several days that July. Set near the corner of 12th Street and Clairmount, this intersection would become the epicenter of death and destruction in Detroit.
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La Cage Aux Folles
At South Florida Company's New Venue
By: - Sep 08th, 2018La Cage Aux Folles marks first show at Stage Door Theatre's brand new venue in South Florida. Popular Broward County company makes a triumphant debut at its new facility. Theater company imbues Jerry Herman, Harvey Fierstein classic with glamor, humanity and heart
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2018 Theatre Season in Connecticut
Hamilton on Tour
By: - Sep 07th, 2018Connecticut is blessed with an abundance of fine professional theaters – from the major regional companies (Yale Rep, Long Wharf, Hartford Stage, Goodspeed, TheaterWorks, Westport Playhouse) to more locally oriented theaters (Ivoryton Playhouse, Playhouse on Park in West Hartford, Connecticut Repertory Theater at UConn, Sharon Playhouse, Seven Angels in Waterbury, MTC in Norwalk and ACT-CT in Ridgefield). Plus there are the major presenting house that bring in national tours – the Bushnell in Hartford, Shubert in New Haven and the Palace in Waterbury.
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