Monday, June 27, 2016
Two fine new plays that create deeply absorbing drama from newspaper stories in the headlines.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:56AMFriday, May 27, 2016
This character-driven comedy about three generations of illusionists is light as a bauble, yet packs a subtle psychological punch.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:32AMSunday, April 17, 2016
The founders of the Tenement Museum would have been pleased to see visitors drawing parallels both with the immigration headlines in the news.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 11:45AMMonday, March 28, 2016
All the Single Ladies is an ambitious book, packed with so many interesting people and ideas that I often wanted to hear far more about each.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 06:22PMFriday, March 4, 2016
I’m deeply grateful to Arts Emerson for bringing the Maly Drama Theatre to Boston and hope for more.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 12:31PMMonday, February 22, 2016
No one I know is neutral about this kind of material and I was pleased to watch a play that did not shrink from its many complexities and challenges.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:20AMFriday, January 15, 2016
Given the rise of radical Islamic terrorism, Disgraced is nothing if not timely. Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar. Directed by Gordon Edelstein. Staged by the Huntington Theatre Company at the Bosto…
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:16AMThursday, November 12, 2015
I wish I could say I was dazzled by the production's concept.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 04:39PMThursday, October 29, 2015
This is a strong exhibit that succeeds in conveying a sense of what it was like to live during the 1920s in this exciting capital.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 11:57AMSaturday, October 10, 2015
Jay Parini has provided an important slice of literary and cultural history as well as a portrait of a man.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:10AMFriday, August 14, 2015
Technology is the gimmick in this two-hander, but what makes Blink absorbing is the writing, teamed with excellent acting and directing.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 12:37PMThursday, July 9, 2015
In this Shaw Festival production we have something all too 21st century: the deliberate dumbing down of a complex play.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 08:39AMSunday, July 5, 2015
William Inge's Off the Main Road is both contemporary and politically incorrect in the best ways.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:26AMMonday, June 15, 2015
If you revel in witty lyrics and soaring melodies as I do, you will love this Man of La Mancha
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 03:09PMFriday, May 29, 2015
"I was/am struck by the women in The How and the Why. I hadn't seen them onstage before. Nor had I quite heard from them before.”
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:24AMWednesday, May 20, 2015
Oliver Sacks' On the Move is an absorbing, idiosyncratic, often moving memoir.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 02:18PMWednesday, March 25, 2015
Antonio Tacucchi's fluid style moves easily from realism to surrealism, banal conversation to poetic free association, reportage to allusion.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 11:01PMWednesday, January 21, 2015
The Man Between offers a fascinating glimpse of the late master translator Michael Henry Heim, its reportedly modest and reticent protagonist.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 08:21AMTuesday, January 6, 2015
If you’re looking for an entertaining piece of theater that will leave you both laughing and pondering your own place on the political map, go see
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:10AMSaturday, December 27, 2014
Walking through the Barnes is like nothing I had ever experienced before, overwhelming and brain-scrambling.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 03:27PMFriday, December 26, 2014
Spending the better part of two days inside the Barnes Foundation was a transformative experience that changed the way I look at art.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 01:42PMMonday, October 20, 2014
Whether or not you’re familiar with Elizabeth Bishop or Robert Lowell, their worlds or their poetry, you should hasten to this show.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:56PMTuesday, October 7, 2014
Ibsen’s and Miller’s scientist hero must contend with denial, disbelief, ignorance, fear of change, malice, opportunism, greed, the abuse of power, censorship, betrayal, and violence. So…
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 08:43AMSaturday, September 27, 2014
The Witch-Hunt Narrative is an extremely important book about an ongoing phenomenon that will not go away anytime soon.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 11:55AMMonday, September 1, 2014
Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Lucinda Franks’s writing can be brilliant, deeply honest, and startling; other times superficial, sentimental, New Agey, or simply not credible.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 01:14PMSunday, August 17, 2014
It occurred to me that, given the variety of the Metropolitan Opera’s current problems, maybe General Manager Peter Gelb should consider putting this best of all possible Candides on his m…
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 02:04PMThursday, August 14, 2014
Mark St. Germain's romantic comedy is never less than provocative, fresh, and unexpectedly moving.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 04:54PMSaturday, July 12, 2014
Chester Theatre Company productions often remind me of concerts in a chamber music series that feature musicians who have worked together for long periods of time.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 11:22AMMonday, July 7, 2014
June Moon is a piece of satirical fluff with 27 characters, lots of piano playing, and a half-dozen memorable lines.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 04:57PMFriday, June 27, 2014
YUP's uneven Jewish Lives offers a series of short, accessible biographies that could become a significant literary mural, showcasing the scope of Jewish culture.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:55AMMonday, June 23, 2014
Working on a Special Day is an unusual show in every way, and I was thrilled to have had the opportunity to see it.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 03:51PM 
