Game of Thrones returns for season 5
It’s time to make good use of your HBO Go accounts — Game of Thrones season five launched this past Sunday, and if you haven’t had a chance to see the premiere, you have a couple of days to catch up before episode 2 airs. “The Wars to Come” picks up right where season 4 left off, reminding us of the events that nudged Westeros into a pit of chaos while hinting at the turmoil to come.
Revelations in body and soul
Try telling a wordless story in five minutes that inspires your audience and distills reality. At the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT), this art is perfected by a team of performers as graceful and poetic as they are energetic and assured. Billed as a “ballet”, Alvin Ailey is refreshingly accessible and attracts a more diverse audience than the typical “Nutcracker” or “Swan Lake.” While generally following the forms of classical ballet, the show includes contemporary music and costuming, and small gestures like jazz hands or waving goodbye help turn dancers into relatable people.
Capturing experience
Herb Ritts has returned to Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts for the first time since 1996. The exhibit opened on March 14, and it revisits some of the American fashion photographer’s finest works.
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter: An unexpected spin on the adventure movie
I felt an overwhelming amount of empathy while watching Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter — both for Kumiko and the characters who interact with her. Kumiko is more than a little crazy, but she is brave enough to depart on a journey that most of us would only dream of. She is extremely depressed in Japan, so she leaves her job and her family behind in search of a hidden treasure she believes she will find in Fargo, Minnesota.
Afro-Latin jazz gains new fans
As part of the Celebrity Series of Boston, an initiative that brings famous performing artists to the Boston area, Arturo O’Farrill and Donald Harrison set the Berklee Performance stage aflame with flying fingers on the piano and alto sax, respectively. The pair and the Grammy winning Afro-Latin Jazz orchestra (founded by O’Farrill himself) had audiences shimmying in their seats during a performance that earned three standing ovations.
Another disappointing adaptation of dystopian teen fiction
A cast full of teenage heartthrobs? Check. Based on a popular Young Adult dystopian book series? Check. Was the book better? Probably.
Love’s Labour’s Lost: A labor of love
The MIT Shakespeare Ensemble put on their production of Love’s Labour’s Lost on March 19–22 in La Sala de Puerto Rico, directed by Liz Adams. Despite the challenges of performing one of Shakespeare’s more esoteric plays, the Ensemble executed it with both talent and enthusiasm.
A beautiful remake of a classic fairy tale
Evil stepsisters, a pumpkin-turned-carriage, and a lost glass slipper? It’s a fairy tale we all know and love. While watching Disney’s latest film, Cinderella, a warm hug of nostalgia wrapped around me as I recalled my fond memories of the animated version I popped into the VHS player as a child. This live-action film followed the original Disney plot with a couple of twists. Not only is there a beautiful prologue introducing Cinderella as a cheerful child with a perfect family, but there is also some added romantic tension, where Cinderella and the prince encounter each other before the ball. Despite these modifications, the plot was evenly paced, and aside from a few uncomfortably drawn-out romantic stares, the scenes efficiently captured the essence of the classic fairy tale.
A night full of a cappella
At the end of February, the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) held the last of four Northeast Quarterfinals of the season in MIT’s Kresge Auditorium. This was the ICCA’s 19th season of student a capella competitions, which have become increasingly popular due to the movie Pitch Perfect. And looking around, I could see the extent of a capella’s popularity — all of Kresge’s 1200 seats were filled with enthusiastic students and supportive families.
Yo-Yo Ma’s modern-day Silk Road
World-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma has done more than create music with his Silk Road Ensemble — he’s united the world with an innovative approach to cross-cultural exchange. His eclectic group, which performed at Symphony Hall as part of the Celebrity Series of Boston last Wednesday, consistently breaks down the borders of music. Featuring instruments, composers, and musicians from every corner of the globe, the Silk Road Ensemble performed six original pieces — at times scattered, but thoroughly vibrant and entertaining.
Stravinsky, Debussy, and Brahms at the BSO
When you hear Igor Stravinsky’s name, what comes to mind? For most, it would be the Rite of Spring, a revolutionary work that sparked a riot the night of its premiere. For others, the name may conjure up visions of Petrushka or the supernatural Firebird Suite. What is definitely not associated with Stravinsky is Johann Sebastian Bach, the master of fugue and counterpoint, whose groundbreaking musicality was deeply rooted in the German Baroque tradition. That is, unless you know the story behind Stravinsky’s Concerto in E-flat for chamber orchestra.
Of All the Flowers: Songs of the Middle Ages
This past Friday, the Boston Camerata performed at Walker Memorial as part of the MIT Sounding Series sponsored by the MIT Center for Art, Science, and Technology. The night’s program was specifically commissioned for MIT and included some of the first performances (in the past 600 years or so) of newly reconstructed pieces from 14th-century French and Italian composers Guillaume Machaut, Johannes Ciconia, Francesco da Firenze, and others.
Timbuktu: Life under terrorism
ISIS and the radicalization of Islam should be deplored. We know this. But what are the crimes? Facile answers include the beheadings and mass killings that have the immediate shock value needed to attract media attention. (Our world is one of noise, to echo Polish director Pavel Pawlikowski at the Oscars.) The injustices perpetrated against everyday Muslims living under jihadist militants are both more pervasive and more insidious: abrogations of freedoms not only to life, but to liberty, personal and cultural. Attacks on not only the body, but the soul.
True love and tragedy in Boston Ballet’s Lady of the Camellias
Choreographed by Val Caniparoli, Lady of the Camellias by Boston Ballet is an emotion-filled display of the talent that makes the company so special.
MoMA: Museum of MochA
This year, Mocha Moves performed “MoMA: Museum of MochA.” Every set of the showcase was beautifully reminiscent of the artwork that inspired it and representative of the way that dance can tell stories. Mocha alumni served as MCs, introducing the appropriately named dance sets which alluded to historical paintings — “Girl with the Ratchet Earring,” “Venus de Mocha,” “The Mocha Lisa,” “Persistence of Memory,” and a flurry of other fun pieces.
Song of the Sea: A beautiful Irish tale
From Snow White and Mulan to Ratatouille and Frozen, I have always associated animated movies with Disney and Pixar — movies with bold colors and characters with big eyes. These movies’ characters shared a distinctive cartoonish look that practically begged to be placed into a coloring book complete with a pack of crayons. I have been so used to this style of mainstream animation that when I watched Song of the Sea, I was taken aback by the mesmerizing watercolor animation that filled the screen with beautiful gradients and intricate Celtic patterns. Not only did the plot engage me until the end, but the film was simply gorgeous. No coloring book could do this justice.
Debussy, Birtwistle, Liadov, and Stravinsky at the BSO
The Boston Symphony Orchestra is one of the country’s five major symphony orchestras, and because they feature a new lineup of pieces and performers weekly, there is always something new to see. Earlier this month, the concert conducted by Stefan Asbury and Ken David Masur consisted of four pieces arranged strategically to depict the show’s central theme: vitality.
Farewell Pawnee!
This past Tuesday NBC aired the last two episodes of its acclaimed comedy, Parks and Recreation. For seven seasons, the mockumentary followed the service of the Parks and Recreation department of Pawnee, Indiana, a fictional town.
Drawing Apart
Reykjavík artist Katrín Sigurdardóttir’s exhibit on display at the MIT List Visual Arts Center, entitled Drawing Apart, is powerful and agitating, a true treat for MIT’s artistic community.
What We Do In The Shadows: Twilight meets The Real World (in a good way)
I don’t generally go out of my way to see comedy flicks, but having grown up through an age of reality television and teenage vampire romances, I couldn’t resist. You know a movie is going to be interesting when “hipster vampire” appears in the description. But fear not: “Each crew member wore a crucifix and was granted protection by the subjects of the film,” so no humans were harmed in the making of this documentary, well, except for each course of dinner guests.