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Artscope Magazine | September/October 2023

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Theatre

BOSTON BALLET PRESENTS CHOREOGRAPHER

// Artscope Online, Theatre

by James Foritano

So, wife Madeleine and I, both rabid dance enthusiasts and also eager to participate in the opening up of the arts to all manner of under-represented genders, in this case, women, took two aisle seats up front, at a live presentation of five world premieres by five women choreographers — brought together as “ChoreograpHERS” — at the Citizens Bank Opera House, a smart walk from the Park Street Red Line Station. Two little girls three rows and to the right in front of us had doffed their pink hoodies, and, vibrating with giddiness, seemed to be congratulating each other on being present at such an opportune age in such an opportune era. When the curtain opened on “Point of Departure” to reveal a trio of musicians, live, nested to the rear of a tutti frutti of colorfully costumed dancers on the point of breaking into choreographed motion, it appeared from the applause that the … [Read more...] about BOSTON BALLET PRESENTS CHOREOGRAPHER

THE BOSTON LYRIC OPERA BLOSSOMS, AGAIN, WITH WATERFRONT PERFORMANCE OF CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA

// Artscope Online, Theatre

by James Foritano

We had plenty of time as we slow-walked to the Boston Lyric Opera’s new venue, on the waterfront this time, at the Leader Bank’s Pavilion (for two performances on October 1 and 3 as part of its “Street Stage” performance at outside venues), a huge tent just a couple minutes’ walk from the Silver Line’s “Silver Way” stop — third from South Station. Grey skies and seagulls… Who knew that not only would the venue be so accessible, but also the theme of Mascagni’s late 19th century opera, “Cavalleria Rusticana,” set in a Sicilian Village, on Easter Sunday — morning to be exact — so resonate with our own times — at least to this auditor. At the opera’s opening, Turiddu, sung by Adam Diegal, has just returned from military service, a return which already sounds both familiar and ominous. Turiddu is singing, lyrically, of his ardent love for Lola, which love sounds to the … [Read more...] about THE BOSTON LYRIC OPERA BLOSSOMS, AGAIN, WITH WATERFRONT PERFORMANCE OF CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA

LYRIC STAGE COMPANY’S ‘BE HERE NOW” IS INFECTIOUS

// Artscope Online, Theatre

by James Foritano

Currently at the Lyric Stage is a warm, quirky and increasingly electrifying meeting between four characters who hail from the same small town located somewhere outside of The Big Apple, but not quite close enough to visit. Shani Farrell plays Patty Cooper and Katherine C. Shaver, her aunt, Luanne Cooper. We meet them seated at a work-table doing a menial job along with a third worker, Bari. The three women are clipping labels from women’s clothing revealing that each garment was ‘Made in China’ so that buyers’ will feel good as they gift phony clothing to people they wish to impress. As viewers, we could feel sorry for them, stuck in such paltry, dead-end jobs, but the two sisters possess some joie de vivre which is infectious. Both young, buoyed by their youth and happy to be employed, they each have passionate interests they are busy sustaining: Luanne, her … [Read more...] about LYRIC STAGE COMPANY’S ‘BE HERE NOW” IS INFECTIOUS

A ‘HOPSCOTCH’ SHARING OF EMOTIONS BRING VIEWERS TOGETHER AT GALATEA FINE ART

// Artscope Online, Theatre, Visual Arts

by Jack Lynch

With the world in an unusual era with society changing rapidly in regards to the current COVID-19 pandemic, it is calming to have a means of expressing one’s emotions regarding these events. It is also calming to view something that perfectly surmises the emotions that people share with the work’s creator regarding these events. The artists on view this September in three exhibitions at the Galatea Fine Art gallery, located in Boston’s SoWa District, have used their art as a means of expressing the different emotions regarding society's current need for its citizens to distance themselves from each other. Emotions in regards to the divided climate of today’s society are primarily shown in Jo-Ann Boback’s “An Enigma,” an oil/mixed media on canvas piece work that uses graffiti-like markings to depict two figures next to each other. This piece, and the rest of Boback’s work, is … [Read more...] about A ‘HOPSCOTCH’ SHARING OF EMOTIONS BRING VIEWERS TOGETHER AT GALATEA FINE ART

THEATERS OPEN THEIR VAULTS IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

// Artscope Online, Audio/Visual, Movie, Theatre

by J. M. Belmont

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, live performance has been put on ice. But even though theaters have closed their doors, many are rummaging through their video archives and making productions from the past available for online viewing. Artscope has picked some of the best companies in this country and around the world that have opened their vaults for the locked-in public. THE NATIONAL THEATER: One of the United Kingdom’s most lauded theaters has begun a program they call “National Theater At Home.” An extension of their popular “National Theater Live,” which had broadcast plays live from London’s South Bank to cinemas across the globe, “At Home” will be offering a production a week. Currently showing at time of posting is the company’s frightening and technologically innovative adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic novel, Frankenstein, starring Benedict … [Read more...] about THEATERS OPEN THEIR VAULTS IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

SWEAT AT THE HUNTINGTON AVENUE THEATER

// Artscope Online, Theatre, Visual Arts

by J. M. Belmont

“Sweat,” Lynn Nottage’s lauded 2015 play, is difficult — in the best possible ways — for two reasons. First is the adulation it garnered following its 2017 transfer from the Public Theater to the Broadway house Studio 54. The play was grasped onto as an answer for all the political uncertainty levied by the election of Donald J. Trump. It was seen, in some cases shallowly, as a “how-to” in understanding the disaffection of Midwestern working class white voters. It won the 2017 Pulitzer for drama. The second difficulty sits beyond the platitudes and awards: “Sweat” is a play about the alienation and distress inflicted on the majority of Americans whose annual income comes in under six figures. It is a small, specific tile that helps to complete an uncomfortable mosaic of similar struggles an incredibly large number of Americans face every day. In “Sweat,” Nottage guides us … [Read more...] about SWEAT AT THE HUNTINGTON AVENUE THEATER