★★★☆☆ “I recommend biting off more than you can chew” is one Alanis Morissette lyric that the team behind Jagged Little Pill appears to have taken far too literally. When the musical—clobbered together from Morissette’s catalogue of hits—premiered at Cambridge’s American Repertory Theater last spring, I wrote in my review that it […]
ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT
FICTION EXCERPT: THE ART OF DYING
“You guys saw the lab results. They say I took a bunch of sleeping pills. Now, why would I do that? I was so wasted my buddy Ryan practically had to carry me upstairs. You don’t need sleeping pills when you’re half in the bag.”
CHIVALRY MEETS TEQUILA: AT ODDS WITH ICE AND IN SEARCH OF THE MEXICAN DULCINEA, QUIXOTE NUEVO IS REBORN AS THE SHINING KNIGHT OF CHICANOS
At odds with ICE and in search of the Mexican Dulcinea, Quixote Nuevo is reborn as the shining knight of Chicanos If at age 15 anyone had told me that Miguel de Cervantes’ celebrated chivalric novel Don Quixote could someday become a poignant social commentary on the reality of 21st-century America, I would […]
BOSTON RADIO ICON CHARLES LAQUIDARA RAPS HUB HISTORY AHEAD OF FAREWELL ENGAGEMENT
There’s a debate about what was the golden era of BCN. Was it ’68 to ’72, when announcers were turning people on to music?
WHAT’S FOR BREAKFAST? SETTLERS
EXCERPT: EVERYBODY NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT MARIA BALDWIN
Baldwin was a significant figure for both white and black publics, but her work as an activist seeking justice in a deeply divided society was unmentioned in the many testimonials to her by white observers.
PEAK ARTISTIC EXPERIENCE: BOSTON’S LARGER STAGES DON’T NEED TO BE MORE LIKE THE MOVIES. THEY NEED TO BE MORE LIKE THE SMALL STAGES.
Boston’s larger stages don’t need to be more like the movies. They need to be more like the small stages. Theater critic Ed Siegel incensed some—and drew applause from others—when he published a divisive, bold essay last week bemoaning the current state of Boston theater. In his piece, which was published by WBUR’s […]
WHAT’S FOR BREAKFAST? PIZZA ROLL
REPERTORY FILM REPORT: “HOLLYWOOD WHODUNNITS” AT THE BRATTLE
“Hollywood Whodunnits” at the Brattle Theatre, including a triple feature of Meet Nero Wolfe (dir. Herbert Biberman, 1936), The Kennel Murder Case (dir. Michael Curtiz, 1933), and The Thin Man (W.S. Van Dyke, 1934). Triple feature on 11.23, films at 3:30, 5:15, and 7 pm, respectively. 35mm. Full program 11.22–11.27; see brattlefilm.org for schedule and […]
INTERVIEW: HADEN GUEST
Haden Guest is the director of the Harvard Film Archive, as well as the senior lecturer on art, film, and visual studies at the university. He recently curated and organized “The B-Film: Low-Budget Hollywood Cinema 1935-1959,” a repertory film program that originally served as the centerpiece of the Vinennale 2018 and is currently ongoing […]
