Live opera vs. high-definition screenings

Opera at the movie house: I love the Met, but....

Which is better: Live opera at the Met in New York, or a high-definition transmission at your local movie theater? Maybe that's the wrong question. Why not get the best of both worlds, as I do?

Steve Cohen

Feb 03, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

"Matisse and Modern Art' at the Art Museum

Books, gorgeous fruit and women: Matisse's nirvana by the Mediterranean

Matisse and his contemporaries did some of their best work on the sun-drenched Riviera. The sublime pleasure of experiencing these works in the sun-drenched rooms of the Perelman Gallery may explain why.

Victoria Skelly

Feb 03, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

"Greed,' by Rebecca Davis Dance

Where business and choreography meet

Can Wall Street's Enron scandal be set to music and dance? Choreographer Rebecca Davis— herself a business student and entrepreneur— has made something incredibly celebratory, beautiful, and powerful about a financial disaster.

Jim Rutter

Feb 03, 2009 · Articles · 5 minute read

"Slumdog Millionaire'

A passport to India

Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire is a marvel of innovative cinematography and storytelling. It feels very realistic, but at the same time, it's also a fairy tale.

Be'eri Moalem

Feb 03, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read

AVA's "La Fiamma' (2nd review)

The good old days of witchcraft

The Academy of Vocal Arts presented three performances of Respighi's 1934 opera, La fiamma, that were a treat. Whether this rarely heard opera deserves to be added to the standard repertoire is another question.

Steve Cohen

Feb 03, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

PTC's "Resurrection' (2nd review)

Black male despair, pre-Obama

Daniel Beaty's Resurrection contains lovely prose poetry about the pressures and futility of black male life in the ghetto. It speaks of hope, yes, but it's an almost-miraculous old-fashioned hope— not the real, pragmatic hope symbolized by Barack Obama election.

Steve Cohen

Feb 03, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read

"Grand Scale: Dürer and Titian' at the Art Museum

Awe, pity and terror in the Renaissance

These works of Dürer and Titian take viewers to a level of existence that they could never hope to experience on their own. This was art that was meant to evoke awe, pity and terror in the eye of the beholder. It was not Muzak Art.

Andrew Mangravite

Jan 31, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

PTC's "Resurrection' (1st review)

The souls of black men (and white theatrical audiences)

Daniel Beaty's Resurrection rests on an original device: It seeks to examine the black male psyche through the stories of six individuals spaced at ten-year-intervals, from age 60 down to age ten. Unfortunately, all this talent and insight is wasted on a script that lacks any dramatic arc; it's not so much a play as a succession of monologues.

Dan Rottenberg

Jan 30, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read

"The Rant' at InterAct Theatre (1st review)

Truth as the ultimate victim

The Rant is a first-rate production of an engrossing urban drama that never flags for 90 minutes. Unfortunately, it falls short of its purported goal: to offer a sophisticated portrayal of how the truth-and-justice system works in big cities.

Dan Rottenberg

Jan 30, 2009 · Articles · 5 minute read

Steven Soderbergh's 'Che'

Viva la (yawn) Revolution

Ernesto "Che" Guevara, the Cuban revolution's grim executioner, put people to death and wrecked Cuba's economy. Steven Soderbergh's two-part epic puts people to sleep and wastes their time.

F. Lennox Campello

Jan 28, 2009 · Articles · 6 minute read