In the last days of summer, an out-of-this-world, world premiere, end-of-the-world musical has sprung up at OBERON (through September 8) the A.R.T.'s second stage where anything can and often does happen. BURN ALL NIGHT seems to be channeling the zeitgeist as it speaks to looming disaster: four millennials trying to find their way through life [...]
What would you do if you could conjure up deceased friends and relatives and re-visit your past? That is the premise of "Marjorie Prime" a new film based on a Pulitzer Prize-nominated play by Jordan Harrison which made a splash at Sundance. I found the film more suggestive than the play, and it is having [...]
A few more SCREEN GRABS in the dog days of summer--and none of the following are dogs: DUNKIRK: If you haven't already, see this masterful and intimate experience of the grueling WWII battle when the Nazis had 400,000 Allied troops-- British, French, and Belgian--trapped on the beach at Dunkirk but they never surrendered; [...]
Two musicals have just descended on the Boston area: one old, one new--each with its ups and downs. Mara Cecilia as PEGGY SAWYER First,"Come and meet those dancing feet/On the avenue I'm taking you to/42ND STREET"--now in Waltham at the REAGLE THEATRE just finishing up its 49th season! This is the final weekend of [...]
After combing through the listings of franchise-fatigued superheroes now clogging big screens everywhere, I've come up with a list of well-made, challenging, and engrossing films for folks as sick of vacuous action adventure as I am. Over the next few days I'll write about the following films that left me reeling: BABY DRIVER, THE BIG [...]
I can always tell when a production hits the sweet spot for me. Words for my reviews start running through my head and I can't stop them. This week there are TWO such productions which you MUST SEE, both Shakespearean-- one a splendid production of his most popular play, and the other a searing one-man [...]
Happy summer one and all! A pro-LONG-ed bout of pneumonia and a vacation abroad has kept me away from my website for awhile-- but I'm back up to speed with a slew of movies over the next few days and some "must-see" theater to recommend. Today I begin with the WOODS HOLE FILM FESTIVAL about [...]
There's almost NOTHING to see at the movies these days except techno-driven retreads of assorted superheroes, smurfs, or humans acting like imbeciles. Unless you've put your brain on ice this summer, your resources are BEST spent on live theater. Here's my take on three onstage right now beginning with THE EFFECT a New England Premiere [...]
I applaud the statement issued by Boston's Praxis Stage who are about to mount a production of JULIUS CAESAR in Cambridge this summer. In fact, I laughed myself silly--though this is truly no laughing matter. Praxis called it, and I'm happy to amplify their response to the ongoing attempts to suppress freedom of expression and the crucial conversations theater provokes, especially in times of [...]
DON'T MISS the Huntington Theatre Company's "RIPCORD" which just opened at the Calderwood Pavilion and has already been extended through July 2! David Lindsay-Abaire's comedy is set in that most hilarious and freewheeling of all environments--an assisted living complex. Hang on, it involves two elderly women who find themselves roommates, but one of them can't stand the other. The sour-pussed Abby (Nancy E. Carroll) [...]
