WGBH - Performing Arts RSS

Broadway or Bust

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 22:55 PM +0000

In this WGBH-produced mini-series, the most talented students from high schools across the U.S. competed in New York City for a chance to get to Broadway.

Celebrity Cameo: Michael Feinstein

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 18:17 PM +0000

Theater legend Michael Feinstein stops by rehearsals and demonstrates the art of storytelling through song with a number from Ira Gershwin.

Part II: Boot Camp
Sunday at 8pm on WGBH2

Kansas City Symphony and Joyce DiDonato

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 13:54 PM +0000

Celebrate mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato’s return to her hometown to perform with the Kansas City Symphony.

Friday, 9pm on WGBH 2

Celebrating Woody Guthrie at the A.R.T.

Fri, 11 May 2012 14:02 PM +0000

May 11, 2012

David M. Lutken, Andy Teirstein. Photo by Wendy Mutz, Lyric Theater, Oklahoma

BOSTON — This year marks the 100th birthday of Woody Guthrie. A new tribute to his life and life's work has come to Cambridge. It's called "Woody Sez," a musical production now onstage at the A.R.T., and it explores Woody Guthrie's life while it celebrates his songs.

Born in Okemah, Oklahoma, Guthrie saw the devastation of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression firsthand. Raw, gritty and full of poetry, his songs were for the folks who suffered no end of indignities during these hard times. The successes he achieved in his own lifetime were often undermined by his politics and 'tell it like it is" way of taking on the world.

Now a troupe paying tribute to Guthrie's greatest achievement — giving America folk music — brings a new show, a "theatrical portrait," to the stage. Guthrie once said, "A folk song is what's wrong and how to fix it or it could be, who's hungry and where their mouth is, or who's out of work and where the job is, or who's broke and where the money is or who's carrying a gun and where the peace is." Right now, the A.R.T. is where the music is. See the performance, then stay after to join a hootenanie with the cast and crew.

Watch devisor/music director of "Woody Sez," David Lutken, play one of Guthrie's iconic songs with its original lyrics in the WGBH studios.

Arts Ahead: Shadows, Pops and Merry Poppers

Thu, 10 May 2012 11:52 AM +0000

May 10, 2012

Olive Another as Maryand in the lastet production from Gold Dust Orphans.

BOSTON — Traditions take new and wild turns as a band of theater renegades reinterpret Mary Poppins, Tim Burton drops a vampire into 20th century Maine and the Boston Pops celebrate America's diverse music history with Steve Martin on banjo.

Mary Poppers
Presented by the Gold Dust Orphans
At Machine (in the Fenway) through May 20th

Gold Dust Orphans give us another rollicking ride through the twisted imaginations of Boston's foremost comedic troupe with the musical parody they have been waiting a lifetime to present. "Mary Poppers" features Olive Another as Maryand other Orphan favorites: Ryan Landry, Penny Champayne, Bill Hough, Robin Banks and Delta Miles. The troupe is at their best with this show, which is fun and hits the heights of Orphan outrageousness.

Dark Shadows
Opens in Theaters Friday

Director Tim Burton's latest movie is a revival of the 1960s cult television classic, “Dark Shadows”.

In 1752 an family with a young son set sail to the new world to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family and they settle in Collinsport, Maine. Decades later, as the master of Collinwood Manor, the son, Barnabas, is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy…until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive. Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin and plenty of chaos ensues.

Burton has created a gothic comedy with an all-star cast, led by Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer and Helena Bonham Carter. It's delicious from start to finish

2012 Boston Pops Season
May 9-June 16

The Boston Pops led by conductor Keith Lockhart kicked off the 2012 season, “Visions of America”, with a gala opening night performance featuring Tony Award-winning icon Bernadette Peters. Celebrating the American musical traditions that weave together the imagination and spirit of our diverse nation, this season will feature the striking images of photo historian Joseph Sohm and his extraordinary photographs representing all 50 states. The season theme will culminate with the photos in a multi-media project, enhanced by the recorded narration of Clint Eastwood and featuring acclaimed vocalist Patti Austin.

During the 2012 spring season, catch comedian, author and musician Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers; John Williams will celebrates his 80th birthday by leading the Film Night; conductor Charles Floyd and the Boston Pops Gospel Choir give their 20th annual performance with American Idol’s Melinda Doolittle and gospel singer Crystal Aitkin and finally, don't miss a sports night complete with Fenway Franks as a special tribute to the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park.

Kirsten Greenidge and "Luck of the Irish"

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 00:02 AM +0000

April 24, 2012

Playwright Kirsten Greenidge's latest play, "The Luck of the Irish", is about an upwardly mobile African American family in the 1950s that moves from inner-city Boston to a white part of town.

"Luck of the Irish"(Hungtington Theatre)

BOSTON — In the late 1950s, Lucy and Rex Taylor, a well-to-do African-American couple living in Boston’s South End, aspire to move to a nearby suburb to provide a better life for their two daughters. Unable to purchase a home in a segregated neighborhood themselves, they pay Patty Ann and Joe Donovan, a struggling Irish family to “ghost-buy” the house on their behalf and then sign over the deed. Fifty years later, Lucy’s granddaughter Hannah lives in the house with her family, where she grapples with the contemporary racial and social issues that stem from living in a primarily white community. When Lucy dies and leaves the house to Hannah and her sister Nessa, the now elderly Donovans return and ask for “their” house back.

Though the play is not autobiographical, Greenidge writes what she knows. Her grandparents moved from Boston to Arlington in the '60s. It’s an era that Greenidge captures in her play. In toggling between 1950s and the 21st century, "The Luck of the Irish" explores the timeless themes of race, class, and intergenerational conflict.

The play's director, Melia Bensussen, praises Greenidge's script. "The core, emotional truth sang to me the first time I read this play. It's so honest. There are no villains. There are no heroes. There are human beings trying to make the right choices….It's also about the struggle of being a parent. When you see Hannah in this perfect storm of race, class and modern parenting, she has a wonderful monologue, and I don't know a working mother who has seen the play and not been utterly recognized by Kirsten's writing, no matter race or class, because it outlines the emotional difficulty of what contemporary society asks of all of us. The construction of the Luck of the Irish and the complexity of all these lives revealed to us, without judgment, it's revelatory in this way," she said.

Although the plot would suggest a right and wrong, Greenidge said, "It was really important to me not to vilify anybody. You've got an African-American family and an Irish Catholic family together on stage in Boston, and you've got to do that stuff right."

Jared Bowen's Arts Ahead: Love, Luck and Triumph

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:39 PM +0000

April 19, 2012

The cast of Cafe Variations. Photo by Paul Marotta.

Dick Clark in 1957, surrounded by fans during a television broadcast of "American Bandstand." (AP Photo/File)

BOSTON — New performances by ArtsEmerson and the Huntington Theatre Company, as well as a round of awards, further demonstrate Boston's outstanding theater scene.

Morning Edition host Bob Seay takes a moment to recall, for Jared, how he remembers Dick Clark, the host of a televised "good kids" dance show who helped bring rock `n' roll into the mainstream. He died yesterday of a heart attack at age 82.

Café Variations
Presented by ArtsEmerson and the SITI Company
at the Cutler Majestic Theatre through April 22nd

See the Gershwin classics in a new light as they complement a compilation of scenes taken from the plays of Charles Mee. One woman awaits the future love of her life; meanwhile, her waiter experiences love at first sight. Couples quarrel, philosophize and reconnect. Unabashedly romantic, the show recalls a time when the café was a place for civil discourse—and reflects the courage it still takes for one person to reach out to another.

The Luck of the Irish
Presented by the Huntington Theatre Company
at the Calderwood Pavilion through May 6

In the late 1950s, Lucy and Rex Taylor, a well-to-do African-American couple living in Boston’s South End, aspire to move to a nearby suburb to provide a better life for their two daughters. Unable to purchase a home in a segregated neighborhood themselves, they pay Patty Ann and Joe Donovan, a struggling Irish family to “ghost-buy” the house on their behalf and then sign over the deed. Fifty years later, Lucy’s granddaughter Hannah lives in the house with her family, where she grapples with the contemporary racial and social issues that stem from living in a primarily white community. When Lucy dies and leaves the house to Hannah and her sister Nessa, the now elderly Donovans return and ask for “their” house back. This complex yet intimate new play examines the long-term emotional costs of racial integration in Boston and the universal longing for a sense of place.

The 30th Annual Elliot Norton Awards
Presented at the Paramount Center on May 21st

This week the Boston Theater Critics Association announced the nominees for this year's awards, Boston's version of the Tonys.

SpeakEasy Stage Company received the most nominations (13) and had the most nominated show: Red, with five nods. The Huntington Theatre Company had 12 nominations and swept the Outstanding Performance by an Actor category with Richard Clothier in Richard III; Yusef Bulos in Sons of the Prophet and Jason Bowen in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.

Outstanding Musical Production (Large) goes to Porgy and Bess, Candide and Legally Blonde, while Outstanding Musical Production (Small/Midsize) goes to Next to Normal, The Drowsy Chaperone ( both SpeakEasy) and Peter Pansy (Gold Dust Orphans). Porgy and Bess also collected four nominations including Outstanding production, Best Actor for Norm Lewis, Best Actress for Audra McDonald and Best Director for Diane Paulus.

SpeakEasy Stage Company swept the Outstanding Director category for The Divine Sister, The Drowsy Chaperone and Red.

Kate Snodgrass receives the Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence. She's the Artistic Director of Boston Playwright's Theatre and co-founder of the Boston Theater Marathon. The Charlestown Working Theater receives a special citation for "adventurous collaborations that provide unique insights into theater from around the world," and Tommy Tune will receive the 30th Anniversary Elliot Norton Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jared Bowen's Arts Ahead: Lows and Highs

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:47 PM +0000

April 12, 2012

Will Lyman, Nicholas Dillenburg and Karen MacDonald In Long Day's Journey Into Night. Photo by Andrew Brilliant / Brilliant Pictures.

BOSTON — Theater-goers won't want to miss this long-awaited performance of Eugene O'Neill's powerful examination of family, and families won't want to miss a night of delight under the Big Top.

Long Day's Journey Into Night
At the New Repertory Theatre through April 22nd

Eugene O’Neill's 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, a semi-autobiographical drama, intimately examines the addictions, regrets, and deceits of the tormented Tyrone family. Through the course of a single heart-wrenching day, the members of the family confront one another as their blame, resentment, and animosity explodes.

BULLY
Documentary Film
Opens in theaters this Friday

Directed by Sundance and Emmy-award winning filmmaker, Lee Hirsch, BULLY explores stories that represent a different facet of America’s bullying crisis. The filmmakers follow five kids and families over the course of a school year. Stories include two families who have lost children to suicide and a mother awaiting the fate of her 14-year-old daughter who has been incarcerated after bringing a gun on her school bus. With an intimate glimpse into homes, classrooms, cafeterias and principals’ offices, the film offers insight into the often cruel world of the lives of bullied children.

The film rating for BULLY recently changed from "R" to "PG-13".

US Int'l Clown Hall of Fame inductee Barry Lubin as "Grandma" Photo: Bertrand Guay/ Big Apple Circus

Big Apple Circus: Dream Big
Under the Big Top on City Hall Plaza through May 13

Complete with a juggler, a mechanical doll who comes alive, spirited horses, frolicsome dogs, and a capybara and porcupine to perk up the sawdust party, families will enjoy a new season of acrobatics, comedy and magic. A singing Ringmistress and the Big Apple Circus Band share ringing melodies and Grandma, apogee of comical aspiration and mirthful joy, is back.

Rachel Dratch: Life after SNL

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 17:16 PM +0000

April 9, 2012

Rachel Dracht and Callie Crossley (Abbie Ruzicka/WGBH)

BOSTON — Lexington, Mass. native Rachel Dratch began her career in comedic acting on the mainstage at famed improv house Second City in Chicago. From there, she earned a coveted spot among comic actors: a 7-year run as a cast member on Saturday Night Live. Dratch came to WGBH to talk about her new book, a midlife memoir that chronicles what happens to a comedian when the roles and gigs go away, Girl Walks into a Bar... Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle.

Although Dratch says she still has those "pinch me moments" from her time at SNL, it wasn't the ticket to endless success she might have wished for. Instead, she started to get calls to play the tough, unattractive female characters. "I wasn't getting called in to play the lipstick lesbians," Dratch says of the gnarly parts she received from the casting offices. As she tries to avoid getting typecast, however, she says she is happy about a recent pilot she acted in, where she plays "the odd friend."

What's really impacted Dratch's life in such a way that she felt it deserved its own memoir is her imminent entry into motherhood. Dratch shares many a hilarious moment about her dating life, and agrees with Callie in the end that good things show up when you're not looking for them — like a great guy who can change your life. But she hasn't lost her sympathy for women out there still wondering if they'll start a family. In fact, she kinda rushed through opening her baby shower gifts for just that reason.

There are people who like baby showers: women in their 20s, grandmas to be, people who already have babies and people who love to look at stuff. These are 'the Shower People.' There are people who hate baby showers: women in their late 30s to early 40s who think they might want kids but haven't met the right guy yet (a.k.a., me!); also, people who don't like looking at stuff and have to pass it around and say, 'Oh, it's a shirt, only it's a tiny shirt!' or 'It's pants, only they're tiny!' (a.k.a., me!). This deadly combo made me really have to steel myself to go to a baby shower.

Brian O'Donovan Pays Tribute to John McGann

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:12 PM +0000

April 7, 2012

John McGann/Facebook

On April 6, musician John McGann passed away unexpectedly, leaving behind a wife and young daughter. He was known in the Irish, bluegrass and jazz worlds locally and abroad, and taught at the Berklee College of Music. The Cantab Lounge in Cambridge will host a special tribute to McGann on April 10.

Hear a tribute to McGann from this week's A Celtic Sojourn

What Brian O'Donovan had to say about John McGann....

I first met John at a party at Johnny Cunningham’s flat in Newton in the late '80s, and knew him subsequently as one of the best accompanists of trad. music in the area, and just a great guy to be around. But it wasn’t until my daughter Aoife enrolled as the New England Conservatory and immersed herself in the burgeoning young roots music scene here that I became aware of John’s almost absurd range of musical talents.

Since that time, what I often refer to as a "genius cluster" of young musicians has been drawn to Boston, initially by the masters of tradition who were here: Seamus Connolly, Matt Glaser, Hankus Netsky, Berklee itself, Ran Blake, Club Passim, broadening attitudes at the conservatories, to name just a small few. Often understated and in the background but omnipresent: John McGann.

His virtuosity on so many instruments, his encyclopedic knowledge of so many genres (and sub-genres), his ability to teach and draw young people in, and what I will remember most — his generosity of spirit — became a crucial part of what in the future will be written about as a truly special period and a special place, indeed, for music; Irish, Appalachian, Cape Breton, bluegrass, jazz and everything in between.

There is a hole in the heart of Boston music.

John's educational philosophy in action ...

And John on stage, playing a 10-string fanned-fret mandolin

Jared Bowen's Arts Ahead: Art from the Heart

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:38 AM +0000

April 5, 2012

Roxanne Swentzell (b. 1962), Santa Clara Pueblo; Emergence of the Clowns,1988; Ceramic and paint. Image courtesy Heard Museum.

BOSTON — What do Broadway, Native American art and sushi have in common? Not much, but Jared Bowen talks about three ways to learn the stories of of activists, artists and a special chef who are all passionate about their life's work.

The Tempermentals
The Lyric Stage Company of Boston
Through April 28

"Temperamental" was a necessary code word used by homosexual men in the early 1950s as they faced real dangers of violence and arrest. This hit off-Broadway play tells the story of two men — the communist Harry Hay and the Viennese refugee and fashion designer Rudi Gernreich — as they fall in love while forming one of the first gay-rights organizations, the Mattachine Society, in a pre-Stonewall United States.

Shapeshifting: Transformations in Native American Art
On view at the Peabody Essex Museum
Through April 29th

Shapeshifting celebrates Native American ideas that have crossed time and space to be continuously refreshed with new concepts and expressions. Experience this vitality through sculpture, paintings, ceramics, textiles, photographs, videos and monumental installations drawn from collections in the United States, Canada and Europe. Rarely seen historic pieces are shown alongside some of the finest contemporary works, and demonstrate the diversity and continuity of Native American art and culture from 200 B.C.E. to the present.

In an interview with Jared for Greater Boston, Curator Karen Kramer Russell explained the museum's legacy in Native American art, saying, "The Peabody Essex Museum is the oldest ongoing collection of Native American art in the Western hemisphere. And from the very start of the museum in 1779 we started collecting Native American art and at the time objects were collected, it was actually art that was being produced at the time. So we were collecting contemporary art."

Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Opens in movie theaters on Friday

JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI is the story of 85 year-old Jiro Ono, considered by many to be the world’s greatest sushi chef. He is the proprietor of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant inauspiciously located in a Tokyo subway station. Despite its humble appearances, it is the first restaurant of its kind to be awarded a prestigious 3 star Michelin review, and sushi lovers from around the globe make repeated pilgrimage, calling months in advance and shelling out top dollar for a coveted seat at Jiro’s sushi bar.

Watch Jared's full review on "Greater Boston."

Jared Bowen's Arts Ahead: Show Time

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:24 AM +0000

March 14, 2012

Next to Normal runs now through April 15th at the Calderwood Pavilion. (Craig Bailey/Perspective Photo)

BOSTON — Boston may not be Broadway, but its theate r scene is offering some stunning regional performances and a few big visits from national tours.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Huntington Theatre Company

Now through April 8th at Boston University Theatre

The play — the first by Tony and Pulitzer prize-winning playwright August Wilson — features a quartets of blues musicians in a run-down 1920s Chicago studio. They're waiting for legendary blues singer Ma Rainey to arrive and record an album. Young, hotheaded trumpeter Levee aspires to a better life for himself and sees the emerging form of the blues as his ticket to fame and fortune. When he clashes with veteran musicians Toledo and Cutler and Ma Rainey spars with her white music producers, generational and racial tensions explode in the powerful and moving drama.

Next to Normal

SpeakEasy Stage Company

Now through April 15th at the Calderwood Pavilion

Featuring a compelling and surging pop rock score, Next to Normal shatters through the façade of a suburban family dealing with the direct and indirect effects of mental illness. Winner of three Tony Awards and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, this intense, emotional and ultimately hopeful musical makes a direct grab for the heart with its story of a family coming to terms with its past and bravely facing its future.

Les Miserables

Boston Opera House

Now through April 1st

Cameron Mackintosh presents a brand new 25th anniversary production of Boublil & Schönberg’s legendary musical, Les Misérables, with glorious new staging and dazzlingly reimagined scenery inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo. This new production has been acclaimed by critics, fans and new audiences and is breaking box office records wherever it goes. The New York Times calls thi sLes Misérables “an unquestionably spectacular production from start to finish.”

The Phantom of the Opera at Royal Albert Hall

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 13:22 PM +0000

Take a front-row seat for the 25th anniversary performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera.

Sunday, 7pm on WGBH 44

Circa! All The Stunts, None Of The Fanfare

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 17:27 PM +0000

March 1, 2012

Discuss on "Greater Boston," and see more photos of the Circa ensemble.

BOSTON — The circus is in town tonight—although one you’re likely not accustomed to. Australian group Circa has a new definition for circus, and it’s jaw-dropping.

Circa is an Australian performance troupe in town this week performing Circa’s Circa, a program of highlights from the group’s 30-year history.

Acrobat Emma McGovern explained that this isn’t your regular Barnum & Bailey act.
“It’s got theater sort of aspects and contemporary dance aspects and a bit of everything really that anyone (yeah) of us that has skills or knowledge brings into the company,” she said.

McGovern and her colleague, Jarred Dewey, define their performance as a modern circus—stripped bare of all flourishes and distractions but the body.

“Skill wise, it’s about how we interact as performers with each other and the performance element is really authentic and not a character or narrative based. So it’s very fresh and exciting,” said Dewey.

“We use improvisation which isn’t done a lot in acrobatics,” added McGovern

It’s the Presenter Celebrity Series that has brought Circa here for its Boston debut. Gary Dunning, President and Executive Director of Celebrity Series, says the group is preeminent in a strong modern Australian tradition of developing circus groups.
“It’s personality based,” he said. “It’s a real connection to the audience, not at all fearful of using humor in their work and using their bodies in to create that humor and comedy. But also to create great beauty.”

When it’s not excruciating. “Heels” is a Circa staple performance—a man being manipulated by a woman in stilettos, and in ways that don’t seem physically possible. By the way, the stilettos are real.
“It’s definitely not comfortable,” said Dewey.
“We like to keep things real in our work, and yeah, it’s hard to disguise the realness,” said McGovern.

That much is clear—and deliciously compelling.

Jared Bowen's Arts Ahead: Keep it Real

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 12:45 PM +0000

March 1, 2012

Altan Dugaraa, Sarah Wroth and Yury Yanowsky by Gene Schiavone

BOSTON — Fans of the performing arts can contemplate what makes a work of art this weekend, with three events: ballet that reveals the pure essence of the dance, circus acrobats that take the body's performance to the extreme without any fanfare, or play about a painting and its inherent value.

Play with Fire
The Boston Ballet interrupts its season with three incredible, cutting-edge works, including Jorma Elo’s Sharp Side of Dark, a revival of Jirí Kylián’s Bella Figura, and a Company premiere of Christopher Bruce’s Rooster, featuring music of The Rolling Stones.
At the Boston Opera House through March 11

Circa's CIRCA
Presented by Celebrity Series of Boston
At the Paramount Theatre through March 4th

Circa is a performance troupe from Brisbane, Australia that currently consists of 14 members. With no elaborate sets or gymnasticscontraptions, performers use their own bodies and mesmerizing skills to conjure classic circus showmanship with a touch of Vaudeville. CIRCA explores the modern circus: no clowns, no animals, no flames. Just raw human skill and acrobatic feats with ropes, aerial feats, hoops and trapeze acts.

Bakersfield Mist
Presented by New Repertory Theatre
At The Arsenal Center for the Arts (Watertown) through March 18th

Maude Gutman bought the ugliest thrift store painting she could get her hands on as a gag gift, but when it's rejected, Maude tries to offload it at a yard sale. She learns it just might be the “find of the century,” an undiscovered Jackson Pollock painting. Lionel Percy, a renowned art expert, arrives at Maude’s trailer to investigate the painting’s potential, and the two embark on a fiery debate over class, truth, and what we personally perceive as valuable.

Essayist/Comedian Michael Ian Black

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:55 PM +0000

The sardonic comedian has found himself a married suburban dad. How did that happen? He joined WGBH News to talk about cars, his career and being happy.

Jared Bowen's Arts Ahead: New, Bold and Beautiful

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:42 AM +0000

Feb. 23, 2012

Chris Loftus, Bill Nolte, Ryan Landry in Little Pricks. Photo by: Michael von Redlich

BOSTON — Premiere performances, bold comedy and daring exhibitions prove Boston's art scene is to be taken seriously.

Wild Swans
American Repertory Theater
Now through March 11th
The set is georgeous, and Jung Chang consulted a great deal on getting the details just right in this first ever production of her best-selling book. See Jared's full report for Greater Boston and participate in the Wild Swans community memoir project, created in collaboration with Harvard's metaLab and Zeega.

The Little Pricks
Presented by Ryan Landry and The Gold Dust Orphans
Machine in the Fenway
Now through March 11
Landry is at it again, this time interpreting Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes," mocking the one percent with characters conniving to get rich quick by means of a slavery scheme. With outrageous costumes and great wit, you can't help but let out a laugh.

Figuring Color: Kathy Butterly, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Roy McMakin, Sue Williams
Institute of Contemporary Art
Now through May 20th
A major exhibition exploring the use of color and form to convey ideas about the body. McMakin’s fleshy chairs mimic the human form, Butterly’s intricate ceramics are rich with bodily humor and desire, Gonzalez-Torres’s installations of candy and plastic beads abstractly evoke physical absence and presence, and Williams’s electrifying canvases convey the viscera of war and politics.

Wild Swans: A Memoir Brought To The Stage

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:35 AM +0000

Feb. 22, 2012

Watch the segment and discussion on "Greater Boston."

BOSTON —Wild Swans, a 1991-memoir by Jung Chang about her family’s survival during much of 20^th century China’s upheaval, has long been a global bestseller, with over 30 million copies in print. For years, Chang refused attempts to adapt her story for film or television. For theater, however, she gave the go-ahead. Its premiere production is now playing at the A.R.T.

The play covers a wide swath of time in China during the 20^th century, a period of extraordinary upheaval and ferocity. Idealism is wrenched into oppressive ideology under Mao Tse-tung. This is the first and only adaptation of Jung Chang’s phenomenally successful 1991 memoir of the same name, which recounted how three generations of her family endured China’s transformation from fledgling communist state to world superpower.

“Wild Swans is a personal book,” said Chang. “China is the background. And of course when I wrote Wild Swans I made sure the personal descriptions were absolutely accurate and what I wrote about China was accurate. It has stood the test of time.”

Chang’s story is often the stuff of horror. She relays such events as her grandmother made a concubine of a warlord general, rendered on stage in puppets. She tells of her parents’ relationship, shredded by the Communist Party and Chang’s own efforts to withstand her family’s traumas.

“This is my personal story and my mother is still alive and everything is in my heart. I so fear that something will go wrong and the portrait is not going to be accurate, and the description of the times is not going to be accurate. So I was very reluctant to let go,” said Chang.

But when David Lan, Artistic Director of renowned British theater Company The Young Vic, approached to adapt her story, Chang finally acquiesced.

“It took me quite a while to persuade her to let us do it. And I still don’t know why she did,” Lan said.

In response, Chang said, “What they’re trying to do is be faithful to the spirit of the characters and the spirit of the times. I help them be accurate to these issues.”

"What’s distinctive about this story is it’s about a woman who really is so clear about who she is and is so committed to trying to work out a good way to live. The whole family is like corks bobbing on a very troubled sea. We tried to find scenes which are resonate in every way, and which when put together are coherent and give you the most you can expect,” said Lan.

In partnering with the American Repertory Theatre, the Young Vic took a huge risk, adapting Chang’s 800-page book for the stage. The result is a remarkably streamlined production. At just 90 minutes, it still feels epic. It begins in 1948 in a Manchurian marketplace, then moves to a peasant-filled field. From there it glides into the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and onto 1978, a modern China.

“The book is very critical of the experience people went through before the cultural revolution immediately afterwards. But it’s not about China now. It’s about how China got to be, how it is,” Lan said.

We are treated to glimpses of how Chinese policies affected the individual and how initiatives like Mao’s great purge—stripping homes of writings and books—affected people and families.

"It made me realize on a personal level how grateful and how lucky I am to be in this generation and away from all the politics of China and stuff, because my gran emigrated from there to Britain, eventually, and one can see why she did that,” said Katie Leung, who plays Chang on stage and is already known for playing Harry Potter’s love interest, Cho Chang, in film.
Leung says she had concerns about tinkering with Chang’s already beloved book.

“It’s not as big a pressure as being introduced as Harry Potter’s first girlfriend, but certainly it’s a big thing as well, and I think we just want to make sure that we get it right,” Leung said.

As for Chang, she’s maintained a respectful distance from the production. To her, the play is a new work of art. “I did whatever I can. What I have, what is my baby, is my book. And now they’ve created Wild Swans on stage,” she said.

Participate in the Wild Swans Community Memior project, created in collaboration with Harvard's metaLab and Zeega. The memior is an immersive experience of the community's relationship to China or Chinese culture. Meet new people and explore their stories in any order you choose.

Jared Bowen's Arts Ahead: Something for Everyone

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:42 PM +0000

Feb. 16, 2012

Caitlin Berrigan, Cultural Mobility / Spectrum of Inevitable Violence, at the deCordova Biennial. Image courtesy of the artist.

BOSTON — Contemporary Art fans can't go wrong: witness knitting bombers in action or eye some acupuncture photography at the deCordova. Theatergoers can choose from ballet, musicals, revivals and premiere performances. This Sunday afternoon, take in some Broadway love songs and keep that Valentine's Day mood around a little longer!

The deCordova Biennial
deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum
through April 22nd
Highlighting 23 artists from across New England, the exhibition showcases art in a variety of media — sculpture, painting, video, performance and striking photography — with no intended theme, but certainly a thread of artists addressing the economy.

"Simply Sublime"
Boston Ballet
at The Boston Opera House through February 19th
Florence Clerc’s world premiere staging of Michel Fokine’s Les Sylphides, Christopher Wheeldon’s Polyphonia, and George Balanchine’s Symphony in Three Movements.
The third of these performances alone is worth the effort. The company's James Whiteside is definitely coming into his own.

New Repertory Theatre announces its 2012-2013 season under new Artistic Director, Jim Petosa
Charles Mosesian Theater
Master Class March 31, - April 21
Amadeus April 28 - May 19
Sondheim's Marry Me a Little Jan. 6 - 27
Race, a Boston Premiere Oct. 14 - Nov. 4
The Kite Runner Sept. 9 - 30

Isn't It Romantic?
Reagle Music Theater of Greater Boston
February19th at 1 PM
Broadway darlings Rachel York and Brent Barrett rekindle their electric spark and bring their gorgeous voices to some of the greatest love songs ever written for the stage and screen.

Local Wins at the 2012 Grammys

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:44 PM +0000

Feb. 14, 2012

LISTEN: to Jordan Weinstein's talk with Steve Greenlee

BOSTON — U.K.-born Adele grabbed the headlines and stage time, but at least six of the night's winners have Boston connections. We talk with Steve Greenlee, features editor at the Boston Globe, abour our local stars. "It just shows you ... not even just what an immense pool of talent we have here but how deep and broad it is," Greenlee said. "Grammy winners from Boston cut across all categories."

Jeff Bhasker: Best Rap Song (songwriter, Berklee graduate)
Terri Lyne Carrington: Best Jazz Vocal Album
Louis C.K.: Best Comedy Album
Chick Corea: two awards
Susan Tedeschi of the Tedeschi Trucks Band: Best Blues Album
Alison Krauss and Union Station: Best Bluegrass Album, recorded at Burlington, Mass.–based Rounder Records

Hear a montage of some Boston winners and nominees: