This program of Middle Eastern music is inspired by Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project, which celebrates the cultural contributions of countries along the legendary trading route that stretched from Japan to Rome. This is music seldom heard on the classical stage, so a few sleepy season-ticket holders may be startled by the arabesque sounds of … Read more
Despite his intensely scrutinized (and intensely wealthy) parentage, Sean Lennon managed to reach his thirties with grace and without scandal, and to find his place in popular music based on his own merits. But that doesn’t mean his life is all cake: The poor fellow can’t find true love, and the songs on his new … Read more
A little bit of Elvis and a whole generation of GIs ignited the worldwide fascination with Hawaii back in the mid-twentieth century, soundtracked by the sometimes corny-sounding ukulele. In more recent years—as the loss of native customs, flora, and fauna forever alter the islands—the echoes of a more authentic Hawaii have crossed the Pacific through … Read more
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