rakemag

File this under Face Time for Aging Hipsters. Sure, there’s story time with deejays from MPR’s the Current; fun with real, live musical instruments; and art projects for kids who, for the most part, haven’t yet acquired irony (that is, ages two through eight). But just as important, this is a social opportunity for a … Read more

Jon Ferguson—the director who last year presented the masterful antiwar play Please Don’t Blow Up Mr. Boban—now tightens his focus on tinier, everyday battles. The seeds of his latest project were planted years ago, when Ferguson happened on a newspaper article about a Brit who ended up shooting his neighbor in a dispute over the … Read more

It’s been almost forty years since Stoppard wrote Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, the play in which he first used the conceit of the play within a play. Since then, the English playwright has boldly taken up such themes as divorce, chaos theory, Platonic philosophy, quantum mechanics, and the intellectual underpinnings of the Russian Revolution, … Read more

This musical takes aim at phenomena that highbrow types love to hate: tight pants-wearing boy bands and the Christian-rock groups who scarily emulate them. But before you turn up your nose at the prospect of satirical pop songs like “La Vida Eternal,” you should know that the off-Broadway premiere of Altar Boyz in 2005 blindsided … Read more

By adapting one of Charles Dickens’ short stories to the stage, local dynamo Charlie Bethel has established a one-man counterpoint to the raft of more elaborate holiday spectacles (though granted, Seven Poor Travellers, now in its second year, rather quickly became a success in its own right). With a dramatic but subtle recital of Dickens’ … Read more

Lyn-Lake’s dark and divey Bulldog is the perfect postcollegiate bar—a place you can feel at home whether you’re in crusty or cute mode. But what happens as you mature and seek out brighter and snappier spots? Don’t worry, the Bulldog is growing up, too, with a second location at the old Oddfellows/Boom! building in Nordeast. … Read more

Supper-club chic has hit the valley. Stone’s Restaurant in Stillwater is the newest entry in a growing category defined by dark-wood décor and comfortable food served in huge portions. While some restaurants of this ilk rely too much on the shtick of nostalgic fare, Stone’s cares about the flavors it puts forth. Well-executed classics like … Read more

With its creaky floors, exposed brick, and multiple fireplaces, the Victorian manse at 579 Selby has always welcomed diners with casual elegance. When it housed The Vintage Restaurant, the food reviews were mixed, but with the opening of Il Vesco Vino (The Bishop’s Wine), the cuisine finally matches its surroundings in terms of both quality … Read more