Spooky! The Manningham family has recently moved into a new house full of old secrets. While husband Jack struggles to conceal his past trangressions, wife Bella drifts toward insanity, as the house’s gaslights flicker and footsteps echo in the attic. Even Scotland Yard makes a signature appearance. Does the mix of plot-driven whodunnit and dark … Read more
In the realm of legendary twentieth-century blondes, who looms largest, Madonna, Marilyn, or Mae? We’d vote for the brassy, bossy, up-front-and-in-control Ms. West. So, apparently, would Claudia Shear. In her 2000 play Dirty Blonde, the early-American sex bomb inspires a connection between a librarian, Charlie, and an actress, Jo, who explore their love for each … Read more
Antiques Roadshow fans beware: The Orpheum’s production of Phantom contains graphic scenes depicting violence against excessive ornament. Broadway’s most beloved romantic tragedy moves to Minneapolis, along with its ten-story, half-ton chandelier, which, during the performance, crashes onto the stage and shatters to bits. And you thought Prince smashing his nonsensical symbol-shaped guitar was dramatic! For … Read more
If the question is “do French fries belong in a stir-fry?” then the answer is Machu Picchu. While the game of musical chairs continues apace with restaurateurs at the intersection of Lyndale and Lake, the Saltados at this Peruvian-style joint have made us glad they’ve stuck it out. Their new expansion features a nifty little … Read more
Everyone thinks they could be a writer, and everyone thinks they could run a restaurant. Folks don’t realize how much work, tedious work, is involved in either enterprise. Well, we confess that our second-best idea—after starting this magazine—was to open a good fish-and-chips joint, in the classic British style of a walk-up chippy. True, you … Read more
HBO unveiled Six Feet Under in 2000, at a time when nobody thought TV could top The Sopranos in terms of first-rate drama. But Alan Ball’s show, centering on a family that runs a funeral home in Los Angeles, immediately proved to be as addictive as the mafia saga, and even more so. Having just … Read more
The bells have been ringing for thirty minutes, but it is the sound of a cane rattling through the empty, cavernous church that suggests prayer. It is held by an old man, his stooped body covered in the flowing black habit of a Benedictine monk. He enters from the sacristy, clicking, clacking, up a barely … Read more
There certainly has been a lot of fuss lately about the health insurance crisis. A couple of weeks ago in the New York Times Magazine, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton—a person who is guaranteed to get a rise out of excitable Americans on both ends of the political spectrum—set forth her case for reform. Again. She … Read more
May 25, 2004 With two week’s worth of wine events to report on, this entry is packed with tasting notes. It is a busy time of year, springtime, so full of promise. The Napa Valley Vintner’s Association event of early May was the harbinger for the lively Wine Fest weekend on May 14 and 15, … Read more
I can’t think of anyone whose career I am more interested in or more forgiving of than Prince’s. Let it be known, I’d follow the tiny man who penned “Shockadelica,” “The Cross,” “House Quake,” and “Bambi” into the gates of hell if he asked me to. In the nineties I was one of those diligent … Read more