I've experienced many iterations of Louisa May Alcott's touching classic LITTLE WOMEN: The book. The movies-- ALL OF THEM. The theatrical productions. I even played Amy once in my summer day camp production when I was 10 years old, and briefly lived next door to Alcott's house in Concord! I LOVE THIS MATERIAL and was [...]
I saw MELANIA on opening day, then went shopping at Costco. I know I got more for my money at the mass market retailer than I did for the mass market "crockumentary" made by director Brett Ratner. You may recall Ratner's career took a nose dive after he was accused of sexual misconduct by six [...]
What to consider while you're digging out and planning your next theater outing! Josephine Moshiri Elwood and Dennis Trainor, Jr. Photo: Benjamin Rose Photography. JOB--MUST SEE THIS at SpeakEasy Stage! Buckle up- the opening scenes of this psychological thriller might give you a heart attack. One set. Two actors. 80 minutes. No intermission. It's [...]
The seed is planted in the first scene of MARTY SUPREME. Marty Mauser impregnates his girlfriend in a frenzy of locomotion, standing up in the back room of a shoe store before setting out on a high speed chase to becoming the table tennis champion of the world! It takes balls, mad skills, and maniacal [...]
I love the rituals that arise around the rhythms of the natural world, and there is probably no ritual more universally celebrated and mythologized than the winter solstice around Christmas! Now in its 55th season, REVELS has been resurrecting folk traditions from all over the globe to celebrate the return of light in the darkness. [...]
A toast to the season with a pair of Christmas Carols now onstage! The meaning of Christmas is nowhere more movingly expressed than in Charles Dickens' timeless fable about a man hardened to life but given a second chance to look back and open his heart to the love around him. Steven Maler's Commonwealth Shakespeare [...]
The Boston film critics have spoken! After an all-day meeting to vote the best movies and performances of the year, I share the announcement of our awards in the middle of an onslaught of horrifying news including the Brown University shooting, the Hanukkah massacre in Australia, and the violent murders of a beloved Hollywood giant [...]
Heading into the holidays, here are some stage and screen gems to see NOW! I discussed most of the following on THE CULTURE SHOW (89.7 GBH) with host Jared Bowen. Listen HERE! to our conversation which begins at 20:16 minutes in. (The beginning of our chat referenced the BLACK EYE I was sporting after running [...]
I'll start with "astonishing": FUN HOME presented by The Huntington is a production I will never forget. I have always liked this Tony Award-winning musical, but it revealed itself here in all of its humanity and power. This production of FUN HOME stars an astonishing young performer who brought the house down more than once [...]
NOW is the time when the most "important" movies of the season are released before the end of the year in order to qualify for Oscars. By "important" I mean big budgets, big stars, big filmmakers, big themes. I have been waiting for something really BIG. It didn't turn out to be Daniel Day-Lewis in [...]
