Every week, WGBH Arts Editor Jared Bowen sums up the exhibitions, theater, movies and music you should check out in and around Boston -- and what not to miss on your summer vacation.
KINKY BOOTS, at the Boston Opera House through Aug. 30
Jared says: "It’s interesting to watch it in the post-Caitlin era and to see the audience so engaged in the story. It’s a really fun night at the theater."
Synopsis: Harvey Fierstein and Cyndi Lauper’s Kinky Boots belts out the story of Charlie Price, a man who has recently inherited his father’s Northampton shoe factory. With the business on the brink of collapse, Price finds hope when he teams up with drag queen Lola to turn it into a haven for men’s—shall we say, distinctive—footwear.
JOHN SLOAN GLOCESTER DAYS, on view at the Cape Ann Museum through Nov. 29; curator Martha Oaks gives a gallery tour Friday, Aug. 21.
Jared says: "It’s a perfect summer show… I’m so always enchanted by these artistic circles… and [John Sloan] was in it with all the great artists."
Synopsis: As America entered World War I, New York City artist John Sloan—too old to enlist—packed his paints and sailed to Gloucester. There he put aside the dark, politically charged street scenes of his earlier career and applied the European, modernist techniques he had seen at the 1913 Armory Show. Sloan stayed at the swelling artist colony five summers, the most productive period of his career. The Cape Ann Museum, a long-time supporter of Sloan’s work, presents thirty-some vibrant, textured paintings of the landscapes shipyards—and later on, people—he depicted in this quick change of style and color.
THE ART OF THE CON, by Anthony Amore, the head of security at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Jared says: "You see how justice has really never been served."
Synopsis: Art forgeries have been around since the beginning of art—or maybe just one day later—says Anthony Amore, head of security at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. This is the quandary he takes on in his new book, "The Art of the Con," by appraising several infamous forgeries and the crafty characters behind them. Even when we have technology to discern fakes, he shows, the stories forgers spin have become more sophisticated. And today, the crime is more rampant than ever.
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., in theaters now
Jared says: "These are two great stars [Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer] working at the top of their game. I think we’re seeing them in a new light."
Synopsis: The remix of the popular 1960s TV show trails CIA agent Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and KGB operative Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) on their high-speed Cold War quest to combat a criminal organization spreading nuclear weapons. The dialogue is loaded with dry wit—on designer dresses, spiked drinks and deigning to work with the enemy.
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