Month: March 2008

Most of us have heard of Milos Forman, or at least his films. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, adapted from Ken Kesey’s novel, won all five major Academy Awards in 1975. Hair, now a cult classic, was nominated for two Golden Globes. And Amadeus, about the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, won eight —…

What separates the typical Disney flick from most operas is not just the animation or the language, but the ending, the resolution. True, not all operas end in tragedy (though most do), but even the happily-ever-afters come laden with sacrifice and cost-of-learning, so to speak. And let’s face it, someone usually dies. This month, the…

Nothing moves people more than the death of a child. And while a play centered around such tragedy might make its audience feel manipulated and cheap, like a bad Lifetime move, David Lindsay-Abaire’s Rabbit Hole handles it with such honesty and insight as to take its audience through the most grievous journey without resentment or…

"If Shaft was living in southern California and he invited Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix over for dinner," reads their website bio, "Orange County quartet QWIKSAND would make a groovy side-dish." What the California surf funk band fails to mention is the wonderful scent of salt and sun evoked by their music — so much…

In January, the New York Times reported labor abuses in Chinese factories.  "’I work on the plastic molding machine from 6 in the morning to 6 at night,’ said Xu Wenquan, a tiny, baby-faced 16-year-old whose hands were covered with blisters." At the end of last year, a Gap scandal revealed child-labor abuses in India.…