by James Foritano “Onegin,” the three-act ballet choreographed by John Cranko, based on the novel by Alexander Puskin and currently at the Boston Opera House, has a simple plot — but one based on the eternal human verities. Onegin, a super-sophisticated aristocrat from cosmopolitan St. Petersburg, visits a country house somewhere in the hinterlands outside the city. It’s a friendly duty owed to societal norms despite what little fellow feeling Onegin’s under-developed heart possesses, since his friend and fellow aristocrat, Lensky, is to be married to Olga. Trouble is, Onegin could be the very image of the romantic hero which Olga’s bookish younger sister Tatiana has been feeding on in her country seclusion. When Onegin enters, all lean thighs, swagger and jet-black coiffure, Tatiana’s book falls to the floor. It’s as if, despite a still-clinging adolescence, Tatiana’s … [Read more...] about Boston Ballet presents Onegin, at the Boston Opera House
Theatre
Fine Drama in Portland?
That's Good Theater! by Greg Morell As artscope magazine makes its 10th anniversary victory lap, keeping its unique eye on the New England arts scene, I thought it prime time to congratulate and capsule a small arts organization that has made an impressive and substantial impact on the Portland, Maine art scene. My accolades go to Portland’s Good Theater, consistently producing some of the city’s finest drama from its modest headquarters. Good Theater is located in the gentrified historic neighborhood of Munjoy Hill. Their play space of 106 fixed proscenium seats is housed it what was a former church parish house. It is an intimate space of relaxed charm that huddles audiences in a bleacher that looks down upon a wide stage begging for height. Formally known as the Saint Lawrence Arts Center, the development of the theater space and the sinful destruction of its now … [Read more...] about Fine Drama in Portland?
Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s Richard II at Cambridge YMCA
By James Foritano Cambridge, Mass. - As usual, the Actors’ Shakespeare Project performed brilliantly on the stage of the Central Square YMCA in the current production of Richard II during its Feb. 21 performance. The house was fortuitously configured so that villains could be spotlighted in high places performing dastardly deeds like the strangulation, in his sleep, of the noble Gloucester. And soldiers, courtiers, priests and nobles could thread themselves though the aisles of the audience breathing hot revenge, sorrow, despair and other mightily theatrical emotions. For me, both in his acting and in his pivotal role in the action, the star was Robert Walsh’s Duke of York. The Duke’s role was to salvage not only Richard II’s throne and kingdom, but the very sanctity and awe of kingship. In the case of Richard, such a rescue mission was bound to fail. Being king in … [Read more...] about Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s Richard II at Cambridge YMCA
THE CONVERT AT CENTRAL SQUARE THEATER
By James Foritano Cambridge, Mass. - Central Square Theater’s current production, Danai Gurira’s “The Convert,” onstage at the Cambridge, Mass.-venue through February 28, is a complex piece of theater filled with complex characters. This description is not intended to warn off theatergoers but to prepare them to focus in as much as possible on the broad outlines of this drama, while letting go as much as possible of those smaller constituent parts they will probably never understand, or never quite understand, literally. For example, you will probably never understand the Shona language, a language that Mai Tambe, masterfully played by Liana Asim, speaks with a bred-in-the-blood familiarity and speed. As a female elder in the tribal society of the Shona, Mai Tambe not only speaks Shona, but also models its words and worldview in her posture, movements and smallest … [Read more...] about THE CONVERT AT CENTRAL SQUARE THEATER
AS “HOT LIST” Distribution Sites
Find out where to pick up the latest copy!* While Artscope is available in 700+ locations throughout New England, this list identifies distribution sites which have a large number of copies available to the public! CONNECTICUT Greenwich, CT Bruce Museum | 1 Museum Drive C. Parker Gallery | 17 E. Putnam Avenue Flinn Gallery | 101 West Putnam Avenue Hartford, CT Downtown Constitution Plaza Gallery | 1 Constitution Plaza Real Art Ways | 56 Arbor Street Wadsworth Atheneum | 600 Main Street Mystic, CT Mystic Arts Center | 9 Water Street New Britain, CT New Britain Museum of American Art | 56 Lexington Avenue New Canaan, CT Silvermine Guild | 1037 Silvermine Road New Milford, CT The Harts Gallery New Haven, CT ArtSpace New Haven | 50 Orange Street Yale University School of Art (Art Center) | 1156 Chapel Street Yale University School of Art (Gallery) … [Read more...] about AS “HOT LIST” Distribution Sites
The Clock Is Ticking
Marylin Arsem at the MFA by Elizabeth Michelman Boston, Mass. - Tuesday, December 8. I’m attending Day 29 in a series of 100 unique perfor- mances at the MFA this fall and winter by Boston’s leader in performance art, Marilyn Arsem. Arsem has not yet shown up, but I can already hear her disem- bodied voice musing over the previous day’s performance. The wall text before me explains that each day’s performance provides the inspiration for the next. 10:30 a.m. I enter the all-white Towles Gallery, no larger than a college classroom. A paper calendar on the wall reads “Day 29.” I take a seat on a bench along the wall. The artist, wearing a black sweater-dress with black leggings, black socks and black slip-ons, is already at work. A square wooden table, flanked by two wooden chairs and a black-and- chrome floor lamp, occupies the center of the room. Black coats and … [Read more...] about The Clock Is Ticking