There is no balder, fresher medium than theater to communicate personal reality, warm bodies right there on stage conveying flesh and blood experiences. In TRANS SCRIPTS, PART I: THE WOMEN, now having its US premiere on the American Repertory Theater's mainstage, playwright Paul Lucas leads us on an exploration of what it is to be "transgender." The means are simple and [...]
WIN complimentary passes to the Fathom Events: THE MET: LIVE IN HD 2016-17 SERIES and BOLSHOI BALLET! Enter to win by e-mailing fathomeventsboston@gmail.com with (name of the event/JOYCE) in the subject line. Please send your full name and e-mail address! 5 admit 2 winners will be selected for each event and emailed their complimentary passes. [...]
To paraphrase the bard, there's nothing rotten with the state of entertainment in Boston this week! A hit Broadway musical has just launched its national tour right here at the Boston Opera House: SOMETHING ROTTEN! It is, however, overripe--with big production numbers, superb voices, witty songs, exuberant choreography, and copious laughs. In other words, it's a feast for anyone who likes their musicals riotously scrambled or [...]
"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" George chants low in the darkness. "I am, George. I am," intones a hollow-eyed Martha in the Lyric Stage's merciless yet moving production of Albee's classic. As the light slowly fades on this bitter couple in the final scene, I felt a chill. The moment is forever seared in my mind, a moment of sheer existential terror and loneliness in a production not to be missed. Edward Albee's three [...]
What a FASCINATING week for theater in town—I saw three plays this week: a one-man show, one classic, and one Tony-nominated play having its New England premiere all of which left me thinking, laughing, scratching my head, and utterly engaged. You gotta love theater! Here goes. SpeakEasy Stage is presenting the New England premiere of [...]
HIDDEN FIGURES brings a hidden gem of a true story to the big screen with a top notch cast in a movie that’s not as groundbreaking as the tale it tells—but accomplishes what it sets out to do with verve, humor, warmth and intelligence. “Hidden Figures” adapted from the book by Margot Lee Shetterly will [...]
Here's a rewarding artistic excursion for the new year-- an erotic crime thriller two ways, one onscreen, the other onstage. Both are based on the devilishly byzantine novel and Mann Booker finalist by Sarah Waters called "FINGERSMITH." (Also a 2005 BBC mini series.) The staged version called FINGERSMITH and adapted by Alexa Junge is now in its final week at [...]
PATRIOTS DAY--Pointless. If you lived through the Boston Marathon bombings, nothing compares. For all its good intentions and attempts at verisimilitude, this film adds nothing and mutes the impact of that tragic week in Boston's history. It also traffics in some pretty annoying cliches: Boston cops are, apparently, the most foul-mouthed in the country; and only the same roster of actors [...]
This was a strange year for movies. I could barely find a thing to watch all summer, and then was inundated with a flood of excellent features in the Fall. No one mainstream film commanded our attention, but smaller, isolated gems shown brightly on a far-flung horizon. ONE of these for me stood far above the rest. Herewith my top five films, in no particular order AFTER my favorite film [...]
