Photo Credit: Woman’s evening gown by Travis Banton, Museum purchase with funds donated by Jane Pappalardo ©Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
“I never go outside unless I look like Joan Crawford the movie star. If you want to see the girl next door, go next door,” the screen queen quipped. Such outsized style suffuses Hollywood Glamour: Fashion and Jewelry from the Silver Screen, a just-opened exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts highlighting gowns and bling worn by Crawford, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and other ’30s and ’40s stars. Designed by the likes of Travis Banton, Elsa Schiaparelli and eight-time Oscar winner Edith Head, the fashions feature lush velvets, silks, satins and lamés in sexy silhouettes. (As co-curator Michelle Finamore notes, “It was almost impossible, especially with the sleek satins, to wear any type of undergarment.”) Also on view are bold jewels by Trabert & Hoeffer-Mauboussin and Paul Flato (“They definitely give this aesthetic of more-is-more,” says co-curator Emily Stoehrer), plus photos, costume sketches, Golden Age film clips featuring the designs and a custom pair of nine-inch platforms that helped the five-foot Mae West feel larger-than-life. Of course, showbiz isn’t always so glamorous. Consider Candice Breitz’s The Woods, an exhibit that spotlights child actors—and actors who play children—in the film hubs of Hollywood, Bollywood and Nollywood. Representing the Peabody Essex Museum’s most ambitious art commission yet, it’s composed of three video installations: The Audition, which has LA hopefuls performing monologues based on industry advice for kids; The Rehearsal, in which young Mumbai talents perform a script of quotes by Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan; and The Interview, featuring Chinedu Ikedieze and Osita Iheme, 30-something actors who are small in stature but two of Nigeria’s biggest stars.
Hollywood Glamour: Fashion and Jewelry from the Silver Screen, through March 8 at the Museum of Fine Arts, mfa.org
The Woods Oct. 11-March 1 at the Peabody Essex Museum, pem.org
Daring Duos
The season’s most exciting arts happenings meet their matches.
By Improper Staff Sept. 12, 2014
Globetrotting Dance
Tania Perez-Salas Compania de Danza; Photo Credit: David Garces
Dance connoisseurs can satisfy their wanderlust this season without so much as a trip to Logan. First, September’s iFest brings Riverdance to the waterfront for a special 20th anniversary performance, with the Chieftans’ Paddy Moloney joining the steppers onstage and co-director Padraic Moyles leading master classes anyone can join. But that’s just the beginning of the three-day celebration of Irish culture. “You’ve got five hours [each day] to explore over three floors and an outdoor space,” says CEO Rachel Kelly, who’s worked for three years to gather ambassadors for this inaugural extravaganza. One ticket buys you tastings with Jameson Whiskey distillers, cooking demos from the likes of Barbara Lynch, film screenings, panel discussions, a costume design showcase and samplings of Guinness stew, shepherd’s pie and—Kelly’s favorite—salmon on brown Irish soda bread with Ballymaloe relish. Then, in November, Celebrity Series brings Mexico City-based contemporary choreographer Tania Pérez-Salas and her Compañia de Danza back to Massachusetts for the first time since their 2006 Jacob’s Pillow performance. In their Boston debut, the 13- member troupe explores Mexican culture in one of the company’s most recent works, Made in Mexico, along with modern troubles that disturb our dreams in excerpts from Ex-Stasis. Take advantage of the bathroom break during intermission, as the dancers will also take on a piece inspired by an Ivan Illich essay, Waters of Forgetfulness, complete with a pool of 500 gallons of water.
iFest Sept. 26-28 at the Seaport World Trade Center, ifestboston.com
Tania Pérez-Salas Compañia de Danza Nov. 22-23 at the Citi Shubert Theatre,celebrityseries.org
By Improper Staff
Thread Alerts
Photo Credit: Arnaud Conne
In the right hands, the softest of materials can be transformed into art with undeniable edge. That’ll be clear in Fiber: Sculpture 1960–present, a landmark touring exhibit premiering at the Institute of Contemporary Art. Highlighting the diversity and dynamism of a long under-recognized medium, the 50 works on view apply traditional techniques associated with craft—weaving, crochet, braiding and beyond—to abstract and conceptual sculptures spanning walls, ceilings and floors, like Elsi Giauque’s Spatial Element, a fragmented grid of 20 colorfully threaded frames, and Françoise Grossen’s Inchworm, a knotted rope form that, diminutive title be damned, stretches some 20 feet. (Also not to be missed: The Untitled Still Life Collection, a duet conceived by famed choreographer Trajal Harrell and artist Sarah Sze, which will be performed in concert with the exhibit Oct. 4-5, with a key supporting role played by a piece of thread.) Want to try making some fiber art of your own? Take pointers from the Yahn Bomb Squad—a Jamaica Plain-based brigade of stealth knitters who create fiber art on urban canvases—at a Yarn Bombing on Oct. 5. Held at the Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts, the free talk and demo is one of scores of unique events happening citywide as part of the fall installment of ArtWeek Boston from Sept. 26 through Oct. 5.
Fiber: Sculpture 1960–present Oct. 1-Jan. 4 at the Institute of Contemporary Art,icaboston.org
Yarn Bombing Oct. 5 at the Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts, artweekboston.org
By Improper Staff
Acts of Faith
Photo Credit: Glenn Perry Photography
Modern spins on two of the world’s most ancient religions take center stage this fall in a couple of New England premiere productions—which just so happen to open on the same day. Company One’s The Displaced Hindu Gods Trilogy serves up three 90-minute plays by Aditi Brennan Kapil: Brahman/i: A One Hijra Stand-Up Comedy Show, a routine riffing on teen angst and gender transitioning; The Chronicles of Kaliki, a comic book-style thriller set amid high school mean girls; and Shiv, a post-colonial family drama and love story peppered with magical realism. Viewable in any order, the three plays draw inspiration from the Hindu deities Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, but Shiv director Summer Williams says the central themes are universal. “I think there is something about it that resonates with everyone,” she says. “There’s a really interesting tension between the past and the present, and where those two intersect.” The same could be said about SpeakEasy Stage Company’s Bad Jews, a play by Joshua Harmon about two cousins—one loudly and proudly devout, the other decidedly secular, with a shiksa girlfriend—who are each vying for an heirloom their late grandfather carried with him during the Holocaust. Both productions use humor to explore serious subjects. “Laughter can be many things: covering up our discomforts, rejecting someone for their stupidity or accepting them because we see our faults in them,” saysBad Jews director Rebecca Bradshaw. “The hard realities and truths of this piece will land in moments of silence.”
The Displaced Hindu Gods Trilogy Oct. 24-Nov. 22 at the BCA’s Black Box Theatre,companyone.org
Bad Jews Oct. 24-Nov. 29 at the BCA’s Roberts Studio Theatre, speakeasystage.com
By Improper Staff
Music on the Move
Photo Credit: Dave Green
Even the biggest rock stars have experienced grueling travels across the country (or countries) in cramped vans filled with gear, sweaty bandmates and sweatier roadies, fueled by junk food, booze—and, often, more illicit substances—and a love for what they do. It’s a not-so-glamorous side of the life of a musician, but many will tell you that some of their best memories were forged while clocking miles en route to the next gig. Such are the stories featured in the Nave Gallery Annex’s upcoming exhibit I’ve Been Everywhere, Man: Musicians on the Road, named for lyrics penned by Geoff Mack and immortalized by Johnny Cash. The Nave put out its call for art to artists, musicians and road crews alike, so expect all sorts of perspectives on the highs and lows of life on tour. Lucky for us, we won’t have to hit the road to catch some good tunes. The Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival, featuring a bill of fine musicians who likely have some tour stories of their own, returns to the South End for its 14th installment with the theme “Jazz: The Global Ambassador.” Featuring local musicians (including Berklee students) and national stars like former Prince collaborator Sheila E., the fest is, as always, totally free and open to the public. Sprawling on Columbus Ave., with multiple stages of music and a host of food and craft vendors, the all-day block party boasts an eclectic lineup including Brooklyn-based jazz-funk outfit Snarky Puppy, local jazz songstress Grace Kelly, Berklee prof Bill Banfield’s Jazz Urbane and Grammy winner Dionne Farris.
I’ve Been Everywhere, Man: Musicians on the Road Nov. 6-22 at the Nave Gallery Annex,navegallery.org
Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival Sept. 27 on Columbus Ave. between Mass. Ave. and Burke St.,beantownjazz.org
By Improper Staff
Bright Ideas
Photo Credit: Nick Wolfe/Courtesy NBNY
The city’s arts scene will be staying up late for Illuminus, a festival filling the SoWa district with interactive art, multimedia installations and immersive performances on Oct. 25. It’s Boston’s first-ever Nuit Blanche, a concept that’s brought free nighttime creative festivals everywhere from Toronto and New York to Brussels and Bucharest. “The goal is to make a museum without walls and activate public space,” says Jeff Grantz of Materials & Methods, the Boston-based design and creative production studio that’s organizing the festival, as well as contributing some sure-to-be-stunning light projections and installations that can respond to sound and other cues. Of course, Illuminus isn’t the only high-profile art happening involving projected light this season. On Nov. 16, the Harvard Art Museums will reveal the results of a six-year renovation and expansion as the Fogg, Busch-Reisinger and Arthur M. Sackler museums reopen under one roof in a new facility designed by starchitect Renzo Piano. Its debut special exhibition is Mark Rothko’s Harvard Murals, featuring 38 works by the abstract expressionist, including five murals whose rich hues faded while on display in the ’60s and ’70s in a university dining room with floor-to-ceiling windows. (Natural light and Lithol Red pigment evidently don’t mix well.) The works spent decades in storage, but now their appearance has been restored with help from a digital projection system and software developed by scientists, art historians and conservators from the Harvard Art Museums and the MIT Media Lab. The projections will be turned on and off daily, so visitors can view the murals as they are now and, thanks to a high-tech trick of the light, as they were when Rothko painted them.
Illuminus Oct. 25 in the SoWa district, illuminusboston.org
Mark Rothko’s Harvard Murals Nov. 16-July 26 at the Harvard Art Museums,harvardartmuseums.org
By Improper Staff
Delightfully Demented Humor
On Comedy Central’s Broad City, Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer pack a powerful one-two punch, playing off-kilter versions of themselves as Abbi and Ilana, two broke 20-somethings living in New York without much ambition beyond scoring their next bag of weed or scamming their way into a good party. As a put-upon janitor at a fancy gym, Jacobson plays the only slightly straighter man to Glazer’s free-wheeling, highly sexual temp who’s more likely to light up a bowl at her desk than answer the phones. Think Girls, except where Lena Dunham’s Hannah and her friends show flashes of potential, Abbi and Ilana are unapologetically, tremendously awful—and hysterical. Actually, think It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (in the early seasons, when it was truly inspired) but with some added grrl power. The funny gals swing by the Sinclair for a sure to be riotous night of stand-up at Broad City Live on Nov. 4. Meanwhile, on Oct. 4, the Berklee Performance Center welcomes another pair of delightfully irreverent weirdos: Tim and Eric. That would be Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, the comedic team behind Adult Swim’s mind-bendingly bizarre Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, who’ll bring their cult TV show’s wacky array of song, dance and sketch oddities to the stage. Colored by a kind of dead-eyed earnestness that belies the genius beneath, their brand of out-there humor isn’t for everyone, but the niche they fill is a strange and wonderful one. Bonus: They’ll be joined by Adult Swim’s Tim and Eric spinoff character Dr. Steve Brule, aka the inimitable John C. Reilly.
Broad City Live Nov. 4 at the Sinclair, boweryboston.com
Tim and Eric & Dr. Steve Brule Oct. 4 at Berklee Performance Center, berklee.edu
By Improper Staff
Poetry in Motion (and in Bronze)
Edgar Allan Poe had famously mixed feelings about his hometown, having dissed Transcendentalist scribes as “Frogpondians” and—after a way-harsh review of his reading at the Boston Lyceum—declared that “Bostonians have no soul.” But it’s all good, Edgar; Boston loves you anyway. Case in point: the long-awaited Oct. 5 unveiling of Stefanie Rocknak’s sculpture Poe Returning to Boston, part of the city’s new Literary Cultural District (the first of its kind in the country) and accompanied by a program at the nearby Park Plaza Hotel featuring Rocknak, Pulitzer winner Megan Marshall and The Poe Shadow author Matthew Pearl, among others. But Poe isn’t the only local literary luminary getting a tribute. The Lyric Stage Company is presenting the Boston premiere of Dear Elizabeth, Sarah Ruhl’s play drawn from letters exchanged by Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell, which offers a revealing look into their 35-year friendship. “We see these two artists who are going to become two of the greatest poets of the 20th century in their awkward phase,” says director A. Nora Long. “Elizabeth writes this letter to Robert just before she wins the Pulitzer—‘God, when do we start writing the real poems?’ I think anyone who works in the arts, or anyone at all really, has this feeling sometimes as you meander through adulthood, like, when does my life really start?” An epistolary play poses dramatic challenges, but Long relishes them. “It’s not a traditional narrative, but what I think Sarah Ruhl has done really effectively is use the imagery of their words and poems to expand the play out of the bounds of their letters, infusing and interpreting based on what’s happening in their lives,” she says. “It’s the imagination of the poets realized—if we do it right—so I think that’s going to be compelling to watch.”
Poe Returning to Boston unveiling and dedication Oct. 5 at the intersection of Boylston St. and Charles St. South, bostonpoe.org
Dear Elizabeth Oct. 17-Nov. 9 at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston, lyricstage.com
By Improper Staff
Fatal Attractions
Photo Credit: Robert Perdziola
Boston Lyric Opera and Boston Ballet are putting their spin on two classic love stories that don’t exactly end with a happily ever after. Watch fate unfold on the 40th anniversary of composer Frank Martin’s death as BLO presents the fully staged Boston premiere of The Love Potion, his retelling of the ill-starred romance of Tristan and Isolt, sung in a newly commissioned English translation. Isolt, played by BLO regular Chelsea Basler, gets caught in a love triangle when her groom-to-be’s nephew enters the picture. This is one of the company’s Opera Annex productions, which bring fully staged chamber operas to unexpected settings—in this case a synagogue. Meanwhile, Boston Ballet artistic director Mikko Nissinen has teamed up with designer Robert Perdziola for a second act following their 2012 revamping of The Nutcracker. This time, they’re revisiting Swan Lake, with new sets, costumes and choreography. Tchaikovsky’s score and Ivanov’s famed second act remain the same, but Nissinen has expanded one aspect of the original story, Odette’s abduction, into a prologue to add context. “When I started to choreograph and I was listening to the overture, it was there; I just had to follow the music,” he says. “It almost felt like it belonged here always.” Having danced many of the roles himself, Nissinen has felt right at home during the creation of this new production, which he hopes will prove to be a great tribute to the ballet. But as for the love birds, he says, “This time it’s going to be [a] tragic ending.”
The Love Potion Nov. 19-23 at Temple Ohabei Shalom, blo.org
Swan Lake Oct. 30-Nov. 16 at the Boston Opera House, bostonballet.org
By Improper Staff
Art for iPhone Addicts
Photo Credit: Untitled Jules Aarons photo, Gift of Arlette and Gus Kayafas © The Estate of Jules Aarons
Attention obsessive Instagrammers: Your feed has nothing on Little Red Book 128, one of Andy Warhol’s curated albums of Polaroids documenting his daily life, from mundane moments to celeb-packed parties. It’s a recent gift to the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum and a centerpiece ofThe Social Medium, a timely survey of social photography from the mid-20th century to the present. The exhibit includes many vintage street, celebrity, portrait and documentary photos that anticipate our own age of oversharing. “For decades, the impulse to capture our social activities in photographs has been strong; it is only today, when digital media has made it more instantaneous and pervasive, that we can look back and see this more clearly,” explains curator Samantha Cataldo. “‘Selfies’ and ‘photobombs’ have existed for decades.” More into winning Words With Friends than finding the perfect filter? Head to the Brattle Theatre for tips from Stephin Merritt. Turns out, when he isn’t busy fronting the Magnetic Fields, the singer/songwriter is an avid player. (He even got his mom, a former English teacher, hooked on the game.) Hence his new book 101 Two-Letter Words, featuring an original four-line poem for each two-letter term sanctioned for Scrabble play, which should serve as handy mnemonic devices for your next match.
The Social Medium Oct. 31-April 19 at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum,decordova.org
Stephin Merritt discusses 101 Two-Letter Words Oct. 1 at the Brattle Theatre, harvard.com
By Improper Staff
Hurrahs for Hollywood
Photo Credit: Woman’s evening gown by Travis Banton, Museum purchase with funds donated by Jane Pappalardo ©Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
“I never go outside unless I look like Joan Crawford the movie star. If you want to see the girl next door, go next door,” the screen queen quipped. Such outsized style suffuses Hollywood Glamour: Fashion and Jewelry from the Silver Screen, a just-opened exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts highlighting gowns and bling worn by Crawford, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and other ’30s and ’40s stars. Designed by the likes of Travis Banton, Elsa Schiaparelli and eight-time Oscar winner Edith Head, the fashions feature lush velvets, silks, satins and lamés in sexy silhouettes. (As co-curator Michelle Finamore notes, “It was almost impossible, especially with the sleek satins, to wear any type of undergarment.”) Also on view are bold jewels by Trabert & Hoeffer-Mauboussin and Paul Flato (“They definitely give this aesthetic of more-is-more,” says co-curator Emily Stoehrer), plus photos, costume sketches, Golden Age film clips featuring the designs and a custom pair of nine-inch platforms that helped the five-foot Mae West feel larger-than-life. Of course, showbiz isn’t always so glamorous. Consider Candice Breitz’s The Woods, an exhibit that spotlights child actors—and actors who play children—in the film hubs of Hollywood, Bollywood and Nollywood. Representing the Peabody Essex Museum’s most ambitious art commission yet, it’s composed of three video installations: The Audition, which has LA hopefuls performing monologues based on industry advice for kids; The Rehearsal, in which young Mumbai talents perform a script of quotes by Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan; and The Interview, featuring Chinedu Ikedieze and Osita Iheme, 30-something actors who are small in stature but two of Nigeria’s biggest stars.
Hollywood Glamour: Fashion and Jewelry from the Silver Screen, through March 8 at the Museum of Fine Arts, mfa.org
The Woods Oct. 11-March 1 at the Peabody Essex Museum, pem.org
By Improper Staff
Famous Names and Family Dramas
Intergenerational family conflicts fuel two of the season’s most star-studded shows. First, ArtsEmerson hosts one of only two post-Broadway engagements of The Trip to Bountiful, headlined by Blair Underwood, Vanessa Williams and Cicely Tyson, reprising the role that won her Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards. Featuring a predominantly black cast, this revival offers a fresh take on Horton Foote’s much-loved drama, in which Tyson’s elderly character clashes with her domineering daughter-in-law and runs off alone in hopes of returning to her Texas hometown. While Bountiful has been performed countless times since its 1953 debut, Eve Ensler’s O.P.C.—a comic look at consumer culture, compromise and “obsessive political correctness”—will be making its world premiere at the American Repertory Theater. The Vagina Monologues playwright’s latest work explores the tension between a liberal candidate for the U.S. Senate (Melissa Leo, an Oscar winner for The Fighter and Emmy winner for Louie) and her radical freegan daughter (Olivia Thirlby of Juno and Bored to Death), who fight over differences in politics, lifestyle and other topics you were told never to discuss at the dinner table.
The Trip to Bountiful Nov. 20-Dec. 7 at the Cutler Majestic Theatre, artsemerson.org
O.P.C. Nov. 28-Jan. 4 at the Loeb Drama Center, americanrepertorytheater.org
By Improper Staff
Orchestrations Old and New
Photo Credit: Marco Borggreve
It’s a historic season for fans of classical music, with the Handel and Haydn Society celebrating its bicentennial while 35-year-old Andris Nelsons takes the helm of the Boston Symphony Orchestra as its youngest music director in more than a century. The setting for both occasions is Symphony Hall, and H+H artistic director Harry Christophers is hoping to “lift the roof off” the storied venue with the season-opening program Baroque Fireworks! The fireworks come in the form of pieces from Baroque greats such as Handel, Bach and Vivaldi, including the opening number, Handel’s “Zadok the Priest,” a Christophers favorite since it’s played before European soccer games. Also included is “They play’d, in air the trembling music floats” by Sir John Stevenson, which was performed at the first H+H concert in 1815. “Bring on the next 200 years!” Christophers jokes. Meanwhile, at the BSO, the focus is on Nelsons’ very first year wielding the baton. While his official debut on Sept. 27 is sold out, you can still get tickets for Nelsons’ first world premiere as BSO director in November, when he’ll be conducting a newly commissioned score from fellow Latvian Eriks Ešenvalds. Add in Yo-Yo Ma tugging the strings for Prokofiev’s Symphony-Concerto, and this should be a memorable night for Nelsons in a season that’s sure to be chock full of them.
Baroque Fireworks! H+H Turns 200 Oct. 10 and 12 at Symphony Hall, handelandhaydn.org
BSO’s world premiere of Ešenvalds’ new work Nov. 20-22 at Symphony Hall, bso.org
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