I've seen what feels like a thousand movies in the last three weeks, the result of a tidal wave of year-end releases before the holidays and in time to qualify for the Oscars while remaining fresh in viewers' minds. Not all of the following are Oscar-worthy, but here's my take on a few you might [...]
THE HOLDOVERS, set and shot right here in and around Boston, was voted BEST FILM OF THE YEAR by The Boston Society of Film Critics (BSFC). The voting unfolded at a 9 hour marathon meeting on Sunday, December 10 and we emerged blurry-eyed, but with a slate of winners that spans the globe and our [...]
Something really exciting has happened on the arts and culture scene! A new radio show hosted by GBH Executive Arts Editor Jared Bowen debuted this week: THE CULTURE SHOW on GBH 89.7 from 2-3PM every day following Boston Public Radio with Jim Braude and Margery Eagan. Tune in daily for an hour of wide-ranging conversations on the [...]
This is a BUSY time for theater and award-worthy movie releases --and I've seen a lot lately. Here's a roundup of my take on some of the latest! MUST SEE: The New England premiere of THE HEART SELLERS! The Huntington has done it again. This funny and moving new play by Lloyd Suh (who also [...]
THE BAND'S VISIT is a profoundly beautiful production by two of Boston’s best companies. It goes where only the arts and theater can go—straight to the heart of what unites us. This is "must-see" theater for everyone at this time in our world. A co-production by The Huntington where it was performed, and SpeakEasy Stage, [...]
Actors' Shakespeare Project production of HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE has earned a Boston Theater Critic's Pick and rattled me to my core. This is one of the very best productions I have seen all year. Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winning play is brilliantly structured, slowly but surely gathering momentum as it takes us back to [...]
FROZEN melted my heart! I am late to this game. Was not a fan of the Disney movie's animation, and was somewhat mystified at the extent to which little girls were entranced by it. I have seen these little Elsa's and Anna's turning up at my door at Halloween in sparkles and tulle looking just [...]
What's most extraordinary about KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON is not that it was made by the masterful Martin Scorsese who began bringing it into focus pre-pandemic. Nor that it features one of Leonardo DiCaprio's most subtly communicative performances in a career of compelling, wildly varied, and complex roles. Or that it delivers a central [...]
I must say, I'm not crazy about THE ADDAMS FAMILY musical, despite adoring the TV show based on the characters created by cartoonist Charles Addams. I was mad about Carolyn Jones as the slender, pale-faced, black-haired Morticia (I once dressed as Morticia for Hallowe'en) and John Astin as Gomez, her googly-eyed, Romeo of a husband. [...]
SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET kicks off the soft opening of a new performance space in Harvard Square. What used to be the A.R.T.'s second stage Club Oberon is now ARROW STREET ARTS home to Moonbox Productions which delivers a well-sung but awkwardly-mounted production of Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-winning musical. The cast [...]
