According to a study conducted by the BBC, McDonald’s is the corporation with the least favorable image on the Internet. It’s not looking so good for this multinational in theaters, either, with documentaries like Super-Size Me and McLibel revealing that under the Golden Arches, it’s not just the food that’s bad. McLibel tells the story … Read more
Payne’s About Schmidt, Election, and, of course, Sideways have all had success with mainstream audiences, and we find this encouraging, since there’s more than a little something off-kilter about his work. There’s his seedy and often shocking sense of humor; annoying and utterly pathetic characters that you don’t like, but can’t help but empathize with; … Read more
A spectacular performance by the Ananya Dance Theatre attempts to produce something beautiful from the violence, fundamentalist zealotry, and militarism that seems especially plentiful right now. Created and performed by a group of twenty-five women from the Twin Cities and various locales overseas, Bandh expresses the dream of peace they wish for in their homelands … Read more
Expect Lonely Mountain and Middle Earth to be spectacularly colorful. Expect a fantastical troupe of lords, dragons, and trolls, all cloaked and bearded and wearing their hair in those requisite sci-fi ringlets. Children’s Theatre Company has employed its own stable of sorcerers and wizards–costume and set designers, that is–to do justice to the beginning of … Read more
Joe Orton’s play was a sensation when it premiered in Britain in the sixties. Time has tempered the shock value of this love triangle, in which a prim landlady and her sneaky brother compete wildly for the attentions of Mr. Sloan, a charming bisexual fellow played by Justin Kirk (Angels in America), but it’s still … Read more
In this world-premiere production written by Lee Blessing, two fiftysomethings–a man and a woman–wake up side by side in a house on a mountaintop that’s encircled by water. They have absolutely no recollection of their lives before. Are they husband and wife? One-night lovers? People pass by, filling in the blanks of their forgotten lives, … Read more
It’s impossible for us to say “Digable Planets” without some feet-thumping and hip-swaying. It reminds us of our cooler, more nimble youth, specifically: First Avenue Danceteria, circa 1992, and the band’s ultra-smooth rendition of “Nickel Bag of Funk.” This brand of relaxed, jazz-infused hip-hop was something new then, and the Digable Planets helped pioneer it … Read more
The Schubert Club is importing some mighty impressive talents for this series of six intimate recitals, including performances by soprano Dawn Upshaw and artists from the famed New York Festival of Song–both of which, alas, are long sold out. But you might still get tickets for performers like Michael Schade, the young German-Canadian tenor acclaimed … Read more
Kurt who? We have always secretly preferred the songwriting of Dave Grohl. His sometimes loopy, sometimes profoundly smart rock songs are as melodic and addictive as anything by that other band he once played in. Plus, Grohl stuck around to write moreÑa quality to be admired, to be sure. In fact, the Foo Fighters have … Read more
How must poor Jack White be feeling these days? He’ on everyone’ cool list after working with Loretta Lynn, and then his last girlfriend, Renee Zellweger, goes and marries a country singer–but it’s the dude who sings “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.” If that’s the kind of country that revs up the Hollywood starlets these … Read more