Every Thursday, WGBH Arts Editor Jared Bowen sums up the exhibitions, theater, movies and music you should check out in and around Boston and delivers news from the city's arts scene.
THE IDEA OF NORTH: THE PAINTINGS OF LAWREN HARRIS, on view at the MFA March 12 to June 12
Synopsis: With Steve Martin playing curator, Americans are getting to know Canadian modernist Lawren Harris’s radiant, lonesome landscapes in this traveling exhibition of the artist’s major works. A companion show features paintings by Harris’s contemporaries, including Georgia O’Keeffe and Rockwell Kent, culled from the MFA’s permanent collection.
Jared says: “What you see are these very serene, solid pieces devoid of life…One of the things I was so struck by was his depiction of light, which is absolutely incredible.”
H.M.S. PINAFORE, playing at the A.R.T.’s OBERON through March 20
Synopsis: The Chicago theater troupe The Hypocrites overhauls Gilbert & Sullivan’s 1878 operetta, infusing classic songs with 21st-century pop and swapping sailors' sexes.
Jared says: “This is a very immersive theater experience. I think it’s something you’ll either love or you’ll hate. I think I was there for 20 seconds before I had a stuffed-animal cat lobbed at my head, at which point, I thought, maybe I’ll just watch this from afar. But a lot of people love being in as part of the show.”
AUGUST WILSON'S HOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED, presented by the Huntington Theatre Company at its BU theater through April 3
Synopsis: The late August Wilson’s theatrical memoir probes his upbringing in Pittsburgh’s Hill District — with stories of first jobs, jail time, and friendships with fellow artists. Actor Eugene Lee embodies the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright in this one-man production.
Jared says: "This is a really poignant look at a man looking back at his life and how he got to be where he was. [Eugene Lee] is astonishing, by the way, fully captivating for this entire, expansive show."
