The tragicomedy of America’s urban underbelly in Anora, Sean Baker’s glossiest film yet
Baker has spent a career imbuing genuine, flawed humanity in characters from all walks of life. Anora is yet another notch in a celebrated belt for thoughtfully telling the stories of sex workers, but also offers an optimistically complex, humanizing take on all sorts of other tropes.
40 years of naysayers were right about Megalopolis, Coppola’s visually ugly and thematically inept magnum opus
For a movie this personal, its failure singularly lies in the hands of its director. However, it doesn't help that the leading actors are all in over their heads, including phoned-in performances that are neither camp or serious enough from a cast led by Adam Driver.
Boston Ballet Stuns in the 2024 Fall Experience Premiere
Boston Ballet combines phenomenal dancing, music, and creativity within four contemporary dance pieces.
Beyond the keys in Schubert: a dynamic between instrument and concert hall
A pianist’s instrument is both the piano and the hall, and the interplay of these was challenged at Paul Lewis’s all-Schubert Celebrity Series recital in NEC Jordan Hall. Known to be an expert in Schubert’s music, Paul Lewis made it clear that there were voices he wanted the audience to pick up in the performance.
Magic, tap dancing, and the electric wind instrument: MIT’s annual Family Weekend concert
Conducted by Dr. Frederick Harris, Jr., Kenneth Amis and Laura Grill Jaye, the three ensembles performed a wide array of pieces that kept the audience captivated.
Nassim, as performed by LaWhore Vagistan: A Drag Queen’s Compulsory Vulnerability
Each night, a different performer takes the stage without reading the script beforehand.
Leopoldstadt Invites Memory
Leopoldstadt leaves the viewer with the heaviness of the Shoah, inviting the audience to engage with the imperatives of historical memory, critically needed as genocide unfolds in Palestine.
Fantasies through piano: Emanuel Ax opens the Celebrity Series of Boston
With the eighty-eight black and white keys of a piano at his fingertips, Ax strung together soft and powerful melodies that resembled dreams and unrestrained imagination.
The organ takes center stage at Symphony Hall
The BSO concert on Saturday, October 12, was special for its focus on the organ, a keyboard instrument known for its resonant, high-range sounds.
Mahler’s Eighth echos through Symphony Hall with grandiosity
This performance of the rarely-played symphony was spectacular, and will certainly be remembered as a highlight of the 2024-2025 season.
Kyne Santos, author of Math in Drag, speaks at MIT
Kyne Santos, a drag queen and math educator, promotes her newest book published by Hopkins Press to an audience of MIT and Harvard students.
The Geometry of Love: Romeo and Juliet
Director Diane Paulus makes Romeo and Juliet not just a play you want to read or listen to, but a play you want to watch.
The BSO begins the 2024-2025 season with Concert for the City
On a drizzly, wet Saturday afternoon on September 21, the warm glow of Symphony Hall beckoned many concert goers to enter the Concert for the City, a sold-out concert for the BSO’s Opening Weekend.
Cirque de la Symphonie and the Boston Pops make a great combination
Unlike other Pops concerts, what made this concert special was the combination of circus acrobatics and instrumental music.
Harry Potter: The Exhibition transports us into the wizarding world of Harry Potter
Harry Potter: The Exhibition is an interactive and immersive exhibition that transports you into the wizarding world of Harry Potter. This exhibition takes you on the magical journey you have read about in the Harry Potter books and seen in the films.
A royal family drama full of coloratura
This opera seria is one of Mozart’s lesser-performed works, and it is clear that BLO’s staging directions want to push the boundaries of a traditional “serious” art form into something more accessible to Boston audiences.
A larger-than-life action thriller with a powerful message
Though the protagonist and the antagonist both have trouble controlling their anger, the former turns into a vigilante, while the latter vents his anger on innocent people who cannot stand up to him. The movie takes us on a high-octane rollercoaster of action sequences when these two men confront each other.
Jesselyn Cook presents The Quiet Damage at the Harvard Book Store
The Quiet Damage follows the devastating effects of QAnon’s conspiracy theories on the lives of five families in the U.S.
Words of love, words of life: MTG’s “Spelling Bee” spins a spellbinding tale of the evolution of self
The musical’s director writes it best: “As you watch tonight, I hope you find yourself not just entertained, but also touched by the sincerity and humor of these characters. They may be spelling words, but they’re also spelling out the universal experience of growing up, finding oneself, and navigating the challenges life throws at us.”
Vibrant flavors abound at Life Alive
Editor-in-chief’s note: This is a sponsored review by Life Alive Organic Cafe.