I recently went to the theater, vaxxed and masked, and saw two productions which couldn't have been more diametrically opposed. One was an honest, affecting, reality-based memoir that shed light on one of the most crucial and challenging issues of our times. The other was a repackaged bundle of cliched claptrap, an embarrassment in motion. [...]
There are stories that remain forever at the heart of the human experience and WITNESS, the latest virtual theater piece by Arlekin Players Theatre and Zero Gravity Virtual Theater Lab, is one of them. This world premiere and startlingly innovative work is based on an historical saga which began in 1939 when more than 900 [...]
There's holiday entertainment still to be had ONLINE this holiday week and here are two that encompass the dynamics and traditions of the season-- which this year feels more fraught than most. Take comfort and joy in the following offerings which dust off the past, dive into the complexities of the present, and emerge with [...]
MUST SEES: Two plays now onstage in Boston: one a gloss on a Shakespearean historical tragedy, the other a clarion call to avert an historical tragedy! Playwright Mike Lew's TEENAGE DICK now onstage at THE HUNTINGTON exploded the pile of preconceptions I was sitting on, confounded my expectations, and expanded my world. THIS [...]
THE BOSTON SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS (BSFC) of which I have been a proud member since 1981, has once again voted its year- end awards, and it only took us 7 hours, on zoom, with 27 members participating. Since we began gathering in the livingroom of the late great David Brudnoy all those years ago, [...]
HURRY! FREE ADVANCE SCREENING TO Columbia Pictures/Bron Studios release "A JOURNAL FOR JORDAN"! December 13th, 2021 at 7:00pm at AMC Boston Common For the chance to download tickets to this special advance screening of "A JOURNAL FOR JORDAN" please visit: https://alliedrsvp.com/boston Rating: PG-13 (Language, Drug Use, Partial Nudity, Some Sexual Content) Running time: 2h [...]
Some films really stick, and THE BEATLES GET BACK, the three-part "event" directed by Peter Jackson ("The Lord of the Rings") now streaming on Disney+ has seeped into my bones and will stay there forever. Cameras everywhere capture EVERYTHING. In the days and weeks leading up to their final fantastic and at times absurdly funny [...]
This is without a doubt the "feel-good" movie of the year, despite making me feel like a delinquent parent. KING RICHARD stars the hyper-likeable Will Smith as Richard Williams, Venus and Serena's father who masterminded their careers from conception to world domination. Papa Williams coached Venus and Serena (Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton [...]
It's the kind of show that doesn't blow the roof off the house; rather it seeps into your soul and reverberates through your psyche, shedding light and grace on what it is to be human in a less than perfect world. HADESTOWN which won 8 Tony Awards in 2019 including Best Musical, is now onstage [...]
In the last two weeks I have seen three productions--the most challenging of which I saw less than 24 hours ago and has left me reeling. BLKS which is making its New England premiere at SpeakEasy Stage has tested the limits of my personal boundaries around what I find funny, and what is just too [...]
