Month: September 2004

Any posthumous work is inevitably bittersweet. Smith’s struggles with drugs and depression were well known, and he always projected a breakable quality—onstage he often came off more as simply weary than rock star. It’s that very fragility that made his songs so personal and lovely. From a Basement on a Hill brings together three years’…

Remember Uncle Tupelo? After their breakup in 1994, fans tended to fall into two camps: Son Volt freaks and Wilco worshipers. Son Volt was for people who liked the twang of Uncle Tupelo and Wilco was for the dirtbag in all of us that could appreciate a strong drink and a loud guitar. Let’s face…

William Nicholson’s play—a Tony nominee this year—chronicles the slow, excruciating unraveling of a thirty- three-year-old marriage, and the ways both spouses manipulate their only son in their retreat from each other. If nothing else, this production should make at least some of us feel we’ve got it pretty good. But seriously, when a topic is…

Northrop brings a pair of powerhouse imports to its stage this month. Lyon Opera Ballet has an adventurous repertory grounded in classical roots. This time out, ballets from European choreographers William Forsythe, Russell Maliphant, and Jiri Kylian are on the bill. Two weeks later, the bold and brassy Bolshoi takes the stage with its contemporary…

Emily Johnson has been described as “postmodern dance’s hottest new talent.” Drawing on enormous reserves of energy, precision, and creativity, the compact, pixyish Johnson can now be called a force of nature. Her newest piece, Heat and Life, centers on the emotional and atmospheric impacts of global warming. While she moves and bends, like a…

Theater buffs will remember the staged reading of Bel Canto at Penumbra Theatre a few years back—and they might also recall that American Theater magazine named Jones as one of its artists to watch in the twenty-first century. As tender coming-of-age stories go (are there any other kind?), this one stands out in its orchestrated…