Weekend - February 11, 2021

For the most up-to-date listing of events, go online to masslive.com/entertainment

Weekend

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LIVEWIRE: Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeth to be featured in new DC comic series, E4 VIOLIN RECITALS: Violinist Yevgeny Kutik offers free online recital series, E6 WINE PRESS: 5 special wines perfect for Valentine’s Day weekend, E8

10 Valentine’s Day Clockwise from top left, “A Star is Born,” “Casablanca,” “Hitch” and “The Notebook.”

romantic films to watch on INSIDE ON PAGE E2

FOUR SUNDAYS IN FEBRUARY FEB. 7-28, 2021

PRESENTED BY THE NORTHAMPTON ARTS C OUNCIL

MORE THIS MONTH

FEB. 14

FEB. 15-19

Dinner and a Show with Lesa and Henning Valentine’s Day Music and a Meal Streaming online • Visit hamparts.org for details

KidsBestFest: Virtual Edition FEB. 21

SCDT Screen Dance Festival FEB. 28

The Best of Four Sundays

WEEKEND

E2 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2021

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ON THE COVER

10valentine

At left, Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds appear in a scene from the romantic comedy “The Proposal.” Directly above, Humphrey Bogart bids goodbye to Ingrid Bergman in “Casablanca.”

(KERRY HAYES / TOUCHSTONE PICTURES; WARNER BROS. PICTURES)

romantic films to watch with your Bradley Cooper plays Jack and Lady Gaga plays Ally in “A Star is Born.” (NEAL PRESTON / WARNER BROS. PICTURES)

A

By Ray Kelly

rkelly@repub.com

mid a pandemic, it’s hard to come up with a romantic night out on the town to mark Valentine’s Day. The safest alternative is a night at home, curled up in front of a romantic movie.

Here are 10 romances worthy of Valentine’s Day 2021:

Alicia Silverstone stars as Cher in “Clueless.” (ELLIOTT MARKS / PARAMOUNT) Will Smith and Eva Mendes star in Columbia Pictures’ romantic comedy “Hitch.” (BARRY WETCHER PHOTO)

the latest version will please many.

“Sense and Sensibility” (1995) — There are plenty of fine adaptation of Jane “A Star is Born” (2018) Austen novels, but Ang Lee’s — Director-star Bradley film, with a screenplay by Cooper and singer Lady Gaga star Emma Thompson, does are the leads in the fourth justice to the classic tale of filmed version of the tale of misplaced affections and a hard-drinking musician, hidden desires. Thompson is who discovers and falls in backed by a stellar cast that love with a young singer. As includes Kate Winslet, Hugh her star rises, his begins to Grant and the late great Alan dim. It’s hard to top the 1954 Rickman. version, directed by George “Clueless” (1995) — Alicia Cukor and starring Judy Gar- Silverstone and Paul Rudd land and James Mason, but star in a high school romance

that moves the “Emma” storyline from the early 19th century English countryside to late 20th century Beverly Hills. Silverstone and Rudd are likeable leads in this teen romance. Dan Hedaya plays Silverstone’s gruff but loving father, who warns a potential suitor: “Anything happens to my daughter, I got a .45 and a shovel. I doubt anybody would miss you.”

“Hitch” (2005) — A gossip columnist (Eva Mendes) tracks downs Alex “Hitch” Hitchens (Will Smith), a professional “date doctor” who

makes his living instructing men how to woo and win women. Mendes and Smith had such a great on-screen chemistry it’s too bad they have not been paired on screen since.

“The Notebook” (2004) — From the tearjerker by novelist Nicholas Sparks: Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams star as a young couple who fall in love in the 1940s. Their story is read from a notebook in the present day by an elderly man (James Garner) to a fellow nursing home resident (Gena Rowlands). The film marked one of the final screen performances by Garner.

“The Bodyguard” (1992)

— Whitney Houston made her film debut in this 1992 romance drama film alongside Kevin Costner. Despite the hit soundtrack and a box office take of $400 million, the film was dismissed as cheesy by many critics. It has become a beloved classic for fans of the late great singer.

“When Harry Met Sally” (1989) — Director Rob Reiner delightful look at a relationship that evolves over more than a decade from acquaintances to friends to lovers.

Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan star as Harry and Sally. Nor a Ephron’s witty screenplay earned an Academy Award nomination. It has deservedly SEE FILMS, PAGE E3

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WEEKEND

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | E3

MOVIES

Above, at left, in “Life in a Day,” 5-year-old Lev reads to his pet rat Rex at home in Omsk, Russia.

Together with his mother Mariia, who submitted the footage, he spends his days conducting science experiments and reading about outer space. At right, actress Sheila Kelley (of “The Good Doctor”), in purple, is one of the participants featured in the documentary “Strip Down, Rise Up.” (MARIIA ERMOLAEVA / LIFE IN A DAY / YOUTUBE; NETFLIX)

ONLINE STREAMING

‘Life in a Day 2020’ showcases ordinary people, real footage

By Michael O’Sullivan

Washington Post

Olivia Cooke, left, and Jack O’ Connell appear in “Little Fish.”

(IFC FILMS)

birth and death, triumph and tragedy, sorrow and happiness, as well the not-so-banal minutiae of the everyday. It’s hard to say how or why this little gem of a film - less extraordinary than simply extra ordinary - works, but it has something to do with this: Yes, it serves as a reminder of the vast and wonderful diversity of people on this planet: cultural, economic, political, physical, etc. But more than anything, it is a testament, with the force of a thunderclap, to the things that makes us all the same. Unrated.

Available Saturday free on YouTube. Contains brief sensuality, brief smoking and

some scenes of conflict. 87 minutes.

Also streaming “A Glitch in the Matrix” is a documentary by Rodney Ascher (“Room 237”) that examines simulation theory: the notion that what we call reality is merely an illusion. Of this “meandering but imaginative” film, IndieWire writes: “If you’re not already one of the diehards convinced we’re living in a simulation, this movie might actually get you there.”

Unrated. At afisilver.afi.com.

108 minutes.

SEE STREAMING, PAGE E5

Films CONTINUED FROM PAGE E2

found itself on many “Top 10” and “Best of ” lists since its release in 1989.

“The Proposal” (2009) — Ryan Reynolds is coerced into proposing to his domineering boss (Sandra Bullock) to keep her from being deported. During a visit with his estranged family, the sparks fly. Much of the action is set in Alaska, but it was filmed in the Gloucester and Rockport, Massachusetts.

“The Wedding Singer”(1998) — This goofy rom-com was the first to pair

Adam Sandler with Drew Barrymore, who went on to do three films together.

Sandler plays a wedding singer who falls in love with a waitress. The two share an undeniable chemistry onscreen.

“Casablanca” (1942) — Looking for a classic romance? “Casablanca” is the obvious choice. Yes, it’s nearly 80 years old and (horrors) it’s in black and white, but the story of former lovers, Rick and Ilsa, crossing paths again in Nazi-occupied Morocco stands the test of time. There are a number of fine supporting performances, including Claude Rains as Capt. Louis Renault.

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In 2010, ordinary people around the world were invited to film snippets of a single day - July 24 - and upload the results online. That compendium of raw footage, edited into a coherent and unexpectedly moving 95 minutes by the Oscar-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald, became the YouTube Original film “Life in a Day.” Ten years later, the creative team (which includes producer Ridley Scott) has done it again, with “Life in a Day 2020.” Shot entirely by amateurs on July 25 of last year - some 340,000 of whom, in 192 countries, submitted bits and pieces of their lives - the poignant and at times transcendent documentary does much more that capture a portrait of a momentous year, although it certainly does that. The pandemic, Black Lives Matter protests, political division all these things, of necessity, are addressed in the film.

But, true to its name, which suggests that perhaps all of existence can be expressed, or at least experienced, in a single 24-hour period, the film touches on love and loss,

Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling co-star in “The Notebook.” (NEW LINE CINEMA)

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MUSIC

Ozzy, Megadeth to be featured in new comic series

H

EAVY METAL bands often take on exaggerated personas that sometimes seem straight out of comic books.

So it’s fitting that DC Comics just announced a new series named “Dark Nights: Death Metal – Band Edition” that will feature various heavy metal acts over seven issues. Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeth, Dream Theater, Ghost, Sepultura, Opeth, and Lacuna Coil will be the seven artists depicted on the covers.

“Representing a cross-section of metal music from across genres and generations, each special edition will feature a variant cover spotlighting a different metal band, an introduction from the band and exclusive interview,” the DC press release said of the series.

Megadeth leads off the series, which will launch in 13 countries internationally in March and roll out throughout 2021.

For more information, go to DC Comics’ website at dc comics.com

• For fans who prefer Justin Timberlake’s music over his acting, there is good news on the horizon.

Appearing on “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon” last week, Timberlake revealed that he has been IMAGES) “in and out of the studio” with Miley Cyrus on “Prison- working on new music. The er” in November of last year. singer/actor was on the show promoting his latest movie, “Palmer,” about a former high • Everybody’s waiting for school football star who finds The Weeknd, but they’re himself serving 12 years in going to have to wait a little prison. longer.

Fallon prompted the reveThe three-time Grammy-winner has once again lation supposedly based on rescheduled his “After Hours” an Instagram post by Timberlake, but it also seems that the tour. The tour, which originally was scheduled for 2020 pop star had already shared and then rescheduled for this some of the new music with year, will now begin on Jan. his longtime pal Fallon when 14, 2022 in Vancouver. he said, “I played you a few The tour was originally set tunes.”

George Lenker LiveWire

enthusiasm for our first big hit. I’m positive the show will stand the test of time just as our song has!”

“Hold On Loosely” was released in February 1981 as the first single from the band’s fourth studio album, “Wild-Eyed Southern Boys.”

The song reached No. 3 on the Billboard Rock Tracks chart and No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Grammy-winning artist Dua Lipa is set to drop her first song of 2021, “We’re Good,” today. (JULIA HATMAKER)

new music from the Grammy-winning artist since her second album, “Future Nostalgia,” was released last March. Lipa is reportedly going to release a series of B-sides from “Future Nostal• Dua Lipa, whose single “Levitating” climbed into Top gia.”

The singer has already re5 of Billboard’s U.S. Hot 100 Chart this week, thrilled fans leased a remix record, “Club Future Nostalgia.” with an announcement on Lipa also recently collabosocial media that she would rated with Kylie Minogue on a drop her first song of 2021, remixed version of Minogue’s “We’re Good,” today.

“Real Groove” and teamed up The single will be the first

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Liner notes • 38 Special started out as a Southern rock band in the same vein as singer Donnie Van Zandt’s older brother’s group, Lynyrd Skynyrd. But after a few albums, the band discovered they also had a power-pop, arena-rock side.

And that led to the group’s first big hit, “Caught Up in You.” Now some 40 years later, the band commemorated that hit single on an episode of ABC’s “The Goldbergs” Wednesday.

The song was featured on the show, which is a sitcom about a suburban family living in Philadelphia in the 1980s.

“A great ’80s song and the wacky Goldberg family – a perfect match!” said 38 Special guitarist Don Barnes, who co-wrote and sang the song, said in a statement. “We’re still blown away by the continued

Heavy metal greats, including Megadeth — band member Dave Mustaine pictured at left — and Ozzy Osbourne, pictured above, will be featured in a new DC Comics series named “Dark Nights: Death Metal - Band Edition.” (GETTY

after the 30-year-old singer released his “After Hours” album in March 2020. He was unhappy at the time that he did not receive any Grammy nominations for the album or its songs.

The Weeknd performed at last weekend’s Super Bowl LV Halftime Show.

Next year’s tour will be his first one since 2017’s “Starboy” tour. The 2022 trek will make stops at Mohegan Sun on Feb. 6 and at TD Garden in Boston on Feb. 8-9.

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | E5

MOVIES DVD RELEASES

murdered).

But at the forefront, Vaughn’s performance as Millie-as-The Butcher is an absolute delight. It would be an easy role to mine for cheap laughs, but he manages to both keep it grounded in truth, as Millie fights to get her body (and agency) back, and wildly funny. And Newton holds her own as The Butcher-as-Hot Millie, trapping predatory high school boys with newfound sexuality and deftly weaponizing white woman tears.

The ending is a bit much in a way that feels like a drastic tonal shift, but the rest of the film is such a boisterous romp that it’s easy to forgive, a giant, fresh storytelling success.

‘Freaky’ makes for Friday the 13th magic

By Katie Foran-McHale

Tribune News Service

A body-swap horror movie that equally frights and delights tops the new DVD releases this week.

“Freaky”: It’s homecoming week, which, in the town of Blissfield, is also The Blissfield Butcher’s (Vince Vaughn) hunting season. This means trouble for high-schooler Millie (Kathryn Newton), who waits and waits on a bench outside her school for her mom (Katie Finneran) just one night after The Butcher has struck their community.

Grief-stricken after Millie’s dad’s death, her mom has passed out drinking on the couch again, leaving Millie to fend for herself when The Butcher finds her. After a brief

Streaming CONTINUED FROM PAGE E3

A newly married man (Jack O’Connell) wakes up to find that he has lost all memory of his bride (Olivia Cooke) after being stricken by a virus that causes sudden amnesia in the sci-fi romance “Little Fish.” Slant magazine calls the film an “earnest, if at times precious, meditation on memory.” Unrated.

Available on various streaming platforms. 110 minutes.

chase, it’s mayhem on the football field, as The Butcher has Millie in his clutches, raising a cursed knife stolen from a rich collector and plunging it into Millie’s shoulder as the full moon fills the sky. Only as Millie’s cop sister (Dana Drori) interrupts, the stab wound makes The Butcher bleed, too.

The next morning, the unthinkable has happened (or, if you’ve seen any iteration of “Freaky Friday,” it’s pretty thinkable): Millie and The Butcher have swapped bodies, leaving the serial killer free to roam the high school and trapping Millie in a brutish man’s body (“I’m a giant,” she laments, trying and failing to keep a low profile).

From there, chaos and

at afisilver.afi.com and vir tualavalon.org. In English, Dutch, Italian and German with subtitles. 81 minutes.

(BLUMHOUSE PRODUCTIONS / ENTERTAINMENT PICTURES / ZUMA PRESS / TNS)

deaths abound, and creative ones at that. But what the film accomplishes is much bigger in its playful but sharp gender identity analysis, not to mention revenge against the patriarchy and privilege, in the script by Michael Kennedy and writer-director

(Julia Ormond of “The Walking Dead: World Beyond”) whose attempt to reconnect with her estranged mother takes a terrifying turn. Unrated. Available at afisilver.afi. com. 95 minutes.

From Oscar-nominated documentarian Michèle Ohayon (“Colors Straight Up”), “Strip Down, Rise Up” looks at a group of trauma survivors who have come together to heal through “sensual movement” therapy (or pole dancing). R. Available on Netflix. Contains strong language, sexual material and brief graphic nudity. 112 minutes.

“Tribes on the Edge” is a documentary by Céline Cousteau (the granddaughter of the late filmmaker and conservationist Jacques Cousteau) that looks at the survival struggles of an indigenous community in the Brazilian Amazon. Unrated.

Available on various streaming platforms. 77 minutes.

Christopher Landon. And it’s downright fun. Best friends Nyla (Celeste O’Connor) and Josh (Misha Osherovich) help establish the charming, bonkers vibe (“It’s a slaughterhouse!” Josh announces, almost cheerily, after four of their classmates are brutally

Also new on DVD this week “Elizabethtown”: 2005 drama explores suicidal man’s (Orlando Bloom) reawakening by an optimistic flight attendant (Kirsten Dunst). Remastered/out on Blu-ray for the first time.

SEE DVD, PAGE E12

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In “Night of the Kings,” a new inmate (Koné Bakary) in a “Mad Max”-like African prison is given the unenviable task of regaling the other prisoners - and their ruthless convict boss - with an all-night tale of an outlaw nicknamed “Zama King.” (He will be killed, he is told, when the story ends.)

According to the New York Times, director Philippe The documentary “M.C. Lacôte’s film - the official Escher: Journey to Infinity” Oscar submission from Ivory tells the story of the Dutch Coast - “braids together its graphic artist who died in struggles for survival to 1972 and is famous for his suggest an entire country puzzle-like, eye-confounding fighting to emerge.” Unrated. and mind-bending prints.

Available on various streaming platforms. French, Dyula The film, according to Art and Nouchi with subtitles. 93 News magazine, offers an minutes. “entrancing look at how Escher became so fascinated by mathematics and “Reunion” is a New Zealand psychological horror the magical possibilities of patterns.” Unrated. Available film about a pregnant woman

Vince Vaugh and Kathryn Newton appear in “Freaky.”

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E6 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2021

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MUSIC

Violinist offers online recitals in docu-series

Violinist Yevgeny Kutik is offering an online docu-recital series Thursdays through March 11.

‘Finding Home: Music from the Suitcase in Concert’ begins airing today

By Clifton Noble Jr.

Special to The Republican

With his concert schedule cancelled indefinitely by the COVID pandemic, violinist Yevgeny Kutik was practicing alone in his home studio, when his eye fell upon a stack of old music scores on a shelf.

The scores had been packed by his mother in one of only two pieces of luggage the family was allowed to bring out of Belarus in the former Soviet Union when they emigrated to the United States in 1990, a year before the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. Kutik’s mother devoted precious luggage space to the music because she believed that it represented a significant part of the family history.

Fast-forward a quarter of a century. Building a brilliant career as a violin soloist, Kutik had made his orchestra debut with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops and re-

corded his first CD, “Songs of Defiance.” He returned to the scores his mother had packed and recorded “Music from the Suitcase: A Collection of Russian Miniatures,” his second CD. The disc debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard Classical Chart in 2014. That same year, Kutik collaborated for the first time with the Springfield Symphony and Maestro Kevin Rhodes, playing a splendid rendition of Prokofiev’s “Violin Concerto No. 2.”

He returned five years later to delight an SSO audience with the Tchaikovsky “Violin Concerto.”

Now, faced with the uncertainty created by the pandemic, Kutik has returned to the suitcase and created a five-episode docu-recital series called “Finding Home: Music from the Suitcase in Concert.” The series is recorded at the Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport.

It begins on Thursday, Feb.11, at 7 p.m., and continues airing free of charge (but registered) on successive Thursdays until March 11 on Yevgeny Kutik’s Facebook and YouTube pages.

MORE INFORMATION Event: “Finding Home: Music from the Suitcase in Concert” recorded at the Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport Where: Airing online Thursdays at 7 p.m., beginning today, through March 11.

Cost: Free to view, but registration is required; learn more about the series online at musicfromthe suitcase.com and register to watch all episodes at http://bit.ly/Yevgeny KutikEvents

“This music represents much more to me than the pieces themselves,” Kutik said in a recent telephone interview. “It represents journey – family – tradition. I could find shiny new editions of many of these works, but somehow there’s a certain magic just in holding these scores.”

“This year has been challenging,” Kutik continued, “and it was inspiring to see those scores sitting there. It occurred to me since I wasn’t playing live, to create a video

“This music represents much more to me than the pieces themselves.

It represents journey – family – tradition. I could find shiny new editions of many of these works, but somehow there’s a certain magic just in holding these scores.”

YEVGENY KUTIK

series – a much longer form (these five episodes contain three recitals of music) based on the suitcase music, but also works that have taken on meaning for me so far in my career, and adding to that spoken narration, photographs, background material.”

Kutik wrote a script, outlining a theme for each of the five episodes (they are 1. The Fifth Line, 2. In Between, 3.

Begin Again, 4. Listen, and 5. Coda) and choosing works that fit, either from his mother’s suitcase, or from his own repertoire, developed during his study and performing.

The early episodes deal with immigration. The “Fifth

Line” title of the first episode refers to the 5th line of the Soviet passport, introduced

by Stalin in 1932, which listed an individual’s nationality or ethnicity. It was only dropped from the Russian passport as recently as 1997.

“I heard from my family, ‘yes, we all had the fifth line,’” Kutik said. “I had no idea what it was and when I started asking questions it just seemed to me so crazy… to think that there’s a line on your passport that says ‘Jewish.’ You carry your passport everywhere – and in a society like the former Soviet Union, where anti-Semitism was very common, open, egregious, you would always feel a little bit like there was a target on your back – an awful thing.”

Kutik chose Achron’s “Hebrew Melody,” Shostakovich’s “Sonata No. 2” and the “Divertimento” from Stravinsky’s “The Fairy’s Kiss” as the musical excerpts for the first episode.

“In Between” refers to the period of some 6 months during which Kutik and his family lived in refugee housing in Rome, applying for asylum, waiting for sponsorship and an invitation to emigrate to the United States.

“It wasn’t just – hop on a flight and arrive in the U.S.” Kutik recalled. “This was the case for millions of people – they became stateless – they left behind everything they knew.” Music for “In Between” features Bloch’s “Baal Shem,” music from Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake,” and Khachaturian’s “Nocturne.”

“My family and I were very fortunate,” Kutik said.

“Things worked out – we prospered. But this story – I’m finding – it doesn’t go away – it takes on a new life and transforms you – it takes on new meaning as one grows older.”

“Begin Again” finds Kutik and his family in Pittsfield, rebuilding and starting a new SEE VIOLINIST, PAGE E7

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | E7

THEATER

Enjoy live theater with variety of virtual shows

By Elisabeth Vincentelli

New York Times

Dark and wintry days, cold nights: February is the perfect time to cuddle up with some so-called chiller theater.

Let’s start with Stephen Belber’s “Tape,” which begins with a character shoveling coke up his nose and goes on from there. In this 2000 play (adapted into a Richard Linklater movie), friends Vince and Jon have a relationship so toxic, it could qualify as a government cleanup project.

Their reunion starts with the needle in the red, then really skids off the rails. The Shared Screen company has devised its production as a live video call. Available through Feb. 20; thesharedscreen.com.

Stay on the line for the Keen’s company benefit reading of Lucille Fletcher’s radio thriller “Sorry, Wrong Number,” from 1943, about a bedridden woman who is being targeted by killers — her phone is her only connection to the outside world. Marsha Mason leads the cast and Nick Abeel handles the live Foley effects. Feb. 15 at 7 p.m.; keencompany.org.

Finally, Patrick Page, Broadway’s favorite basso profundo, wrote and performs a solo look at theatrical bad guys in Shakespeare Theater Company’s “All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain.” Page

Violinist

Patrick Page appears in Shakespeare Theater Company’s “All the Devils Are Here.” (SHAKESPEARE THEATER COMPANY VIA THE NEW YORK TIMES)

Sobule and Robin Eaton’s musical adaptation of the movie “Times Square” ever get a full production? Through The cast of Steven Carl McCasland’s new play “Little Wars” includes, clockwise from left, Catherine Russell, Linda Bassett, June 30; citytheatrecompany.org Juliet Stevenson, Debbie Chazen, Sophie Thompson, Natasha Karp and Sarah Solemani. (JOHN BRANNOCH VIA THE NEW YORK TIMES)

knows a thing or three about the subject: He has played Iago in “Othello,” Hades in “Hadestown,” the Comte de Guiche in “Cyrano de Bergerac,” the Grinch in “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” and the Green Goblin in “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.” Now through July 28; shakespearetheatre.org ‘The Infinite Wrench Goes Viral’ The Neo-Futurists, based in Chicago, have turned their showcase of very short plays — or thought experiments, or whatever you want to call these bite-size works — into a successful weekly virtual show. Some are animated; others are performed by live actors. One was 14 seconds long; most are around two or

career and pays tribute to his teachers Zinaida Gilels and Roman Totenberg. ProkoCONTINUED FROM PAGE E6 fiev’s “Sonata No. 2,” “Op. life. Rubinstein’s “Romance,” 94a” and Darius Milhaud’s Achron’s “Hebrew Lullaby,” “Le Boeuf sur le Toit (The Ox music from Shostakovich’s on the Roof)” are featured.

“Ovod,” the Waltz from Featuring Franck’s “Sonata,” Prokofiev’s “Cinderella,” and and Rachmaninov’s “Vocalise,” the final episode, “Coda” Sviridov’s Children’s Album reflects on Kutik’s journey are featured.

“Listen” examines the thus far and gives thanks for building blocks of Kutik’s the community of support

three minutes. The only rule seems to be that you never know what’s next. A Patreon subscription buys a 30-play show delivered on Sunday nights, with an average of 10 new plays a week. neofuturists.org

Dinner with Gertrude and Lillian Caryl Churchill’s “Top Girls” engineered a meeting between female historical figures. “Little Wars,” Steven Carl McCasland’s new play, also sticks with literary heroines. When a dinner party includes Lillian Hellman (Juliet Stevenson) and Gertrude Stein (Linda Bassett, wondrous in “Escaped Alone” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music), the conversation could get interesting. Through Feb. 14; broadwayondemand. com

ed “Extinction,” with a cast that includes Sarah Drew and Joanne Whalley. Hankering for the days of before? Check out the last two productions Theater Works recorded in front of a live audience, early last year: a commissioned adaptation of “Frankenstein”

by Kate McAll, starring Stacy Keach as the creature; and Qui Nguyen’s semi-autobiographical “Vietgone,” inspired by his Vietnamese refugee parents, and directed

by Tim Dang. latw.org

Jill Sobule’s hot-tub time machine “F ck7thGrade,” from singer-songwriter Jill Sobule, may be a concert shot in an improvised drive-in, but this autobiographical show has impressive theatrical bones: Liza Birkenmeier (“Dr. Ride’s American Beach House”) wrote the book, Rachel Hauck (“Hadestown”) designed the set and Lisa Peterson (“An Iliad”) directed for City Theater, in Pittsburgh.

Now the question is: Will

Signed, sealed and, eventually, delivered Theater — or something companies are calling theater — by mail is alive and well.

Ars Nova’s “P.S.” project has been going on since November; the second season of the Artistic Stamp company’s For your ears only epistolary project is underL.A. Theatre Works speway, with a third beginning cializes in audio theater with soon; and next month, Arena startlingly good casts, and Stage is starting “Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise: its impressive catalog keeps growing. The latest offering is Love Letter Experience.”

SEE THEATER, PAGE E12 Hannie Rayson’s eco-mind-

he has found in his new life.

“This is music from my suitcase!” he said.

“Finding Home – it’s just a title, but I really don’t know the answer,” Kutik said. “Have I found home? Yes – I think that what I, personally, have learned from creating this series and playing this music – spending years with it – I have found home in the U.S., in the community of family and

friends that have helped me – and also I have found a home in music. That is my connection between the two different worlds that I inhabit – the two different homes.”

Kutik’s collaborative pianist in this series is Anna Polonsky, with whom he has concertized frequently in recent years.

The programs are free to watch, and registrants will be emailed the links to watch by

5 p.m. on Wednesdays. Kutik will answer questions in the chat during the Thursday premieres, and each episode will be available for on-demand viewing until noon on the following Sunday. Watch the trailer and learn more about the series online at music fromthesuitcase.com and register to watch all episodes at http://bit.ly/Yevgeny KutikEvents

WEEKEND

E8 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2021

THE REPUBLICAN | MASSLIVE.COM

DINE & WINE

5 special wines perfect for Valentine’s Day weekend

I

HAVE MIXED FEELINGS about Valentine’s Day. Sure, it’s a fun excuse to have a great meal and a terrific bottle of wine.

But there’s often so much pressure when it comes to this holiday.

If you’re dating someone, especially early on, it can be daunting trying to figure out what to get or what to do on this day.

Spend a fortune on a fancy dinner at a restaurant?

Buy flowers? Or chocolate?

Or something more unique?

And what if you just started dating?

Is it too much too soon?

And what if you’re married?

You can’t ignore the holiday.

But do you really need a day to show off about how much you love the person you love?

Shouldn’t you be saying that and expressing that every day already?

And if you’re single, you can definitely feel left out.

So what does all of this have to do with wine, you might be wondering?

I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to open the greatest wine in the world on Valentine’s Day. If you want to open something really special, that’s great. And I have a few, really special wines recommended below.

But you’re under enough pressure already.

Relax.

Don’t worry.

Opening a bottle of wine should be a fun part of Valentine’s Day, not another chore.

And if you’re not with someone, don’t worry. You can always finish the rest of the bottle the next night, especially this year That’s because Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday on a long weekend this year. The next day is President’s Day (or Family Day if you’re from Canada’s Ontario province like my wife).

This week, I decided to recommend five wines for Valentine’s Day weekend - 2 reds,

Ken Ross Wine Press

The five wines recommended this week for Valentine’s Day weekend. (KEN ROSS PHOTO)

Opening a bottle of wine should be a fun part of Valentine’s Day, not another chore.

And if you’re not with someone, don’t worry.

You can always finish the rest of the bottle the next night, especially this year.

2 whites and 1 Champagne. I really love all these wines. And best of all, many of them are not that expensive.

Just please don’t think of these special wines recommended this week as Valentine’s Day trophies to be paraded out in celebration of the love of your life.

Think of them as really great wines you just happened to open on February 14 with someone you love, with family members or maybe simply on your own.

Just don’t forget to tell the person you’re with you love them.

Hope you enjoy.

5 special wines perfect for Valentine’s Day weekend • 2019 Don Olegario Albarino Rias Baixas ($20 Suggested

or grapes that truly deserve more attention. One grape in particular recently that I have found to be especially delightful is Albarino, a white wine grape found most often in northern parts of Portugal and northwestern Spain. AlbariRetail Price) no wines are perfect winter • 2016 MacRostie Winery white wines. That’s because and Vineyards Charles Heintz their flavors have more depth Vineyard Russian River Valley and intensity than many Chardonnay ($36 SRP) white wines. This understated gem has opulent aromas • 2017 Trapiche Medalla Cabernet Sauvignon ($20 SRP) and flavors that include fresh • 2016 Morgon Les Charmes picked apples, pear, mango and fresh herbs. This wine Mommessin Beaujolais ($29 pairs wonderfully with grilled SRP) fish, truffles, chicken or softer • Palmer & Company cheeses. It’s also delightful all Champagne Brut Reserve on its own. ($54.99 at Table & Vine in West Springfield) • 2016 MacRostie Winery Wine tasting notes and Vineyards Charles Heintz Vineyard Russian River Valley White wines Chardonnay • 2019 Don Olegario AlbariRegion: Russian River Valno Rias Baixas ley, Sonoma, California Region: Rias Baixas, Spain Grapes: Chardonnay Grapes: Albarino Tasting notes: You’ll probably have to order this wine diTasting notes: Many of the rectly from the winery located wines recommended this in California’s Russian River week are lesser known wines

Valley. That’s the case often with many, smaller wineries in this magical part of California but it’s worth the hassle.

That’s because there are so many small producers making outstanding wines (especially Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs) in the Russian River Valley area of Sonoma County. This particular winery is one I visited two years ago. Recently, I opened this particular bottle and was immediately transported back to the winery’s spectacular, outdoor tasting area. This Chardonnay’s flavors range from hints of lemon, melted butter and chestnuts. A truly wonderful wine and great expression of the region’s incredible wine making climate and culture.

Red wines • 2017 Trapiche Medalla Cabernet Sauvignon Region: Mendoza, Argentina Grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon Tasting notes: Here’s another lesser known, affordable wine that I have meaning to write about for several weeks. Argentina may be best known for its powerful Malbec wines. But this lush, elegant, fruit-forward Cabernet Sauvignon illustrates the wide range of wonderful wines being produced in Argentina’s magnificent Mendoza region. This wine’s flavors range from ripe cherries and dark chocolate to espresso and a dash of black pepper. Pair this wine with hearty cheeses or smoked meats and a roaring fire and you have all the ingredients for a wonderful, romantic night.

SEE WINE, PAGE E11

THE REPUBLICAN | MASSLIVE.COM

WEEKEND

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | E9

DINE & WINE

Artificial intelligence lends hand in recipe development

A

MONG THE MOST significant technological advances of the last few decade, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, have the potential to revolutionize the restaurant industry. Already automation is making its way into fast food kitchens, where it’s taking on repetitive tasks such as flipping burgers and working the fry station.

AI, the smart technology that powers robocalls and helps forecasting models to predict the weather, may also soon play a role in the food service industry, not just by taking on simple tasks but also by dealing with higher order responsibilities like ordering food and writing menus.

OpenAI, a San Francisco-based software company that develops and deploys artificial general intelligence (AGI), recently put its GPT-3 software to the test. GPT-3 is a “third generation,” deep learning language model that draws upon information it finds anywhere on the internet to develop answers to user queries.

OpenAI put GPT-3 to the test by asking it to develop

Hugh Robert Off The Menu

All Delaney’s Market locations will be featuring a “Game Dinner at Home” this month. The four-course meal includes bison meatballs, a venison hunter’s stew, a wild pheasant turnover, and a wildberry cobbler with whipped cream. (DON TREEGER / THE REPUBLICAN)

trated AI’s potential to take over “higher order” tasks like menu development and recipe creation. Thus the day might not be very far off when the “product development chef ” at a restaurant chain is actually a piece of AI software.

For the full report on OpenAI’s “AI vs. Famous Chef Recipes” culinary challenge, go to refluxgate.com/ai-vsfamous-chef-recipes.

Though GPT-3 produced some interesting results, its recipes, with one exception, were not scored as high as those developed by human chefs.

includes bison meatballs, a venison hunter’s stew, a wild pheasant turnover, and a wildberry cobbler with whipped cream.

Each take-home package is designed to serve two, and Delaney’s Market is providing a cooking video to help those receiving the package finish the meal preparation.

Contact one of the three Delaney’s Market locations Longmeadow, Westfield, or Wilbraham on Feb. 17 to order the Game Dinner package, which will be ready for pickup on Feb. 20.

• Max’s Tavern at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield will be presenting its winter food and wine pairing dinner, Cabs & Slabs, on Feb. 25.

The dinner this year is different from past such

SEE MENU, PAGE E10

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• Pancake Sundaes Diner and Bakery in Westfield, a family-owned breakfast and Side dishes recipes based on simple lunch restaurant, has been language requests like “beef • Winter is a season during turning out its own unique bourguignon” and “Mexican which restaurants have style of morning food since it lasagna.” The recipes GPT-3 traditionally promoted game opened in 2015. compiled were then prepared dinners. This year, given the Run by the husband-andand evaluated by a group unique circumstances under wife team of Frank and Shelly of volunteers. Well-known which we are all living our Baldwin, Pancake Sundaes is recipes developed by the likes lives, those sorts of events currently limiting its operation to Saturdays and Sundays of Julia Child, Wolfgang Puck, aren’t easy to put together. from 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and Rachael Ray served as Delaney’s Market has Pandemic-constrained opbenchmarks for the evaluadeveloped a strategy by which tors. the Log Cabin-Delaney Group erating hours aren’t curbing Though GPT-3 produced Frank Baldwin’s creativity, can deliver a socially-dissome interesting results, its tanced game dinner experihowever. Every weekend he ence. recipes, with one exception, puts together an inventive Delaney’s Market locawere not scored as high as menu of breakfast specialties tions will be featuring a those developed by human to supplement Pancake Sun“Game Dinner at Home” this daes’ basic repertoire. chefs.

Nonetheless, the study illus- month. The four-course meal Offerings can include the

likes of bacon-chocolate chip pancakes, apple crisp French toast, and Baldwin’s “Dirty Philly” omelet that’s filled with shaved ribeye, sauteed onions, and fried peppers.

There’s usually an exhaustive list of eggs Benedict variations; homemade

corned beef hash and crispy “Homies” are menu regulars.

Each weekend’s specials can be found on Pancake Sundaes’ Facebook page, Facebook.com/ pancakesundaes.

The restaurant, which is currently offering limited indoor dining as well as contactless to-go service, answers at 413- 572-6832.

WEEKEND

E10 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2021

THE REPUBLICAN | MASSLIVE.COM

DINE & WINE

Brew Practitioners on the move, Yuengling goes mango, and more beer news

A

FEW BEER NEWS items of note have cropped up over the past few weeks when I’ve been waxing philosophic on Guinness and New England IPAs. So I’ll shut my yap this week and just do some reporting (with maybe a smattering of commentary).

First up is the sad (for Northampton) but happy (for Agawam) news that Brew Practitioners will be moving (and, in fact, is already on the move) from the former to the latter. BP was a great spot to relax and have a few beers while enjoying some music.

(Particularly entertaining were the Wednesday open mic nights hosted by guitarist extraordinaire Alex Johnson, who is now plying his trade in Japan.)

Menu

“We saw an opportunity to leverage our six generations of brewing expertise to create a refreshing mango beer that appeals to adventurous drinkers and adds a bold new brand to our portfolio of iconic beers.”

Jen Yuengling

The atmosphere was lowkey, the people friendly and the beers tasty. What else does a beer fan need? I never got there as much I wanted, but I wish them well in their new digs.

Up second today is the news that Yuengling is releasing a new beer, Raging Eagle Mango Beer, and it comes in a huge 24-ounce cans. The mango-infused beer is being targeted at young adults “on the go,” according to the company.

Now, first, I’m not a huge

Friday through Sunday.

Available as either a dine-in or a take-home option, the CONTINUED FROM PAGE E9 menu includes an appetizer, events. In addition to Napa a choice of any two schnitzel Valley Cabernet varietals, the or chicken entrees with side “Cabs” include a Washington dishes and salad, and a houseState vintage by Canvasback made dessert (either red Winery of Red Mountain, WA. velvet cheesecake or a Black Max’s Tavern chef Nathan- Forest cake heart) to share. iel Waugaman’s menu for the Upgrades are available, evening has a game dinner including a sausage sampler, sensibility, featuring Wagyu salmon filet, or filet mignon beef tartare, braised wild boar option. Selected wines by the shank, Denver lamb ribs, and bottle are also available. a grilled bison strip loin.

Reservations for on-premThe five-course menu will ises dining are required, and also include a chocolate rasp- take-home packages must be berry mousse bar for desert. pre-ordered. Contact the MuReservations for the dinner nich Haus German Restaurant are available from 5:30 p.m. at 413-594-8788 for more on through the evening. Cost information. to attend is $115 per person, not including tax or gratuity.

• February limited-time Call 413-746-6299 for reser- offerings at participating vations.

Dunkin’ locations are, not surprisingly, Valentine’s Day• The Munich Haus themed.

German Restaurant in The chain is offering two Chicopee will be featuring heart-shaped donut selections a Valentine’s Dinner menu - a brownie batter donut filled

fan of fruit-flavored beers, but many folks are. But who is actually “on the go” right now? Not exactly a lockdown-conscious advertising tag line. But, oh well. The brew is a pilsner that clocks in at 6%, alcohol by volume.

“We saw an opportunity to leverage our six generations of brewing expertise to create a refreshing mango beer that appeals to adventurous drinkers and adds a bold new brand to our portfolio of iconic beers,” Jen Yuengling, a sixth-generation

with brownie-flavored buttercream and a Cupid’s choice donut filled with Bavarian “kreme” and iced with pink, strawberry-flavored icing.

Featured beverages this month include a mocha macchiato and a “pink velvet” macchiato that features “red velvet” flavoring. Both drinks are available either hot or iced.

• Partners Restaurant in Feeding Hills will be hosting dinner by candlelight on Valentine’s Day weekend. For dine-in purposes, Mark and Sue Tansey have put together a special prix-fixe, four-course dinner for Friday and Saturday evenings, Feb. 12 and 13.

Three dinner to-go packages will also be available.

The dine-in menu, which will be available from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. both evenings, includes a choice from among five entree options: braised short ribs, grilled salmon, chicken saltimbocca, ricotta ravio-

George Lenker Beer Nut

away as a result of pub closures during the news round of pandemic lockdowns brewer at Yuengling, said in a around the U.K., according to press release. “Raging Eagle an industry body.

Mango Beer feeds into the I know this is one of the passion and energy of the 21- lesser downsides, comparatively, of the pandemic, but 35 young adult who is often since this is a beer column, I surrounded by friends and thought it was worth menitching to embark on new tioning. And it still is a real and unique adventures.” issue that impacts people’s I’m not sure how new or ability to earn a living. The unique this beer is, but I British Beer and Pub Associsuppose it qualifies as both for the oldest brewery in the ation (BBPA) estimates that 87 million pints would fill 20 nation and for that, kudos.

Last but definitely not least Olympic swimming pools.

Please stay safe and wear on today’s slate is a BBC a mask and practice social report that up to 87 million distancing. Cheers. pints of beer will be thrown

li, and filet mignon Oscar.

Reservations are required for socially-distanced, on-premises dining.

Finish-at-home dinners include short ribs, chicken saltimbocca, or seafood casserole; sides, salad, and a dessert selection are included. Takeout orders must be placed by today.

More details on these special Valentine’s Day offerings can be found at the restaurant’s Facebook page, facebook.com/Partners.

RestaurantCatering Partners Restaurant answers at 413-786-0975.

• Chez Josef in Agawam is offering a delivery or pickup “date night” this year in the form of a Valentine’s Dinner for Two To-Go. The all-inclusive, “heat @ home” package include a selection of hors d’oeuvres, a salad course, and a choice of two entrees.

Main course selections

include filet mignon, parmesan chicken breast, seared sea bass, or lentil-stuffed sweet pepper. A surf and turf upgrade is also available.

Dessert is part of the takehome package, as is a bottle of house wine.

In addition, Chez Josef is offering individual meal selections as well as a brunch box that can be customizes to serve either two or four.

Curbside pickup is available at Chez Josef ’s Agawam location; local delivery is also available. An online ordering platform is available at linktr. ee/chez2go; questions about menus, pricing, and delivery area can also be phoned in to 413-355-5393.

Hugh Robert is a faculty member in Holyoke Community College’s hospitality and culinary arts program and has nearly 45 years of restaurant and educational experience.

Robert can be reached online at OffTheMenuGuy@aol.com.

THE REPUBLICAN | MASSLIVE.COM

WEEKEND

NEW YORK

Miss museums? You can visit the Met online ‘The Met Unframed’ is available through Monday

By Kelsey Ables

Washington Post

Last week, you might say I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Generous terms, of course, for what was actually just me waving my phone around in my apartment.

With “The Met Unframed,” online through Feb. 15, you can “visit” four exhibitions and the Great Hall, and interact with 46 works from the New York museum’s collection. There also are “challenges” to bring the art home (i.e. put it on your wall using augmented reality). With music straight out of a spy movie and “decoding” games, it’s halfway to an art heist video game - inhibited only by the fact that with clunky navigation features, it feels a bit like being on Google Earth.

It may be last-resort optimism after months away from major museums, but “The Met Unframed” actually left me thinking about the limitations of a physical museum space. You can glean only so much information from a wall text. Artworks can’t be moved around without bureaucratic hurdles. In “real life,” the flow of traffic pushes you from one piece to the next, maybe before you’re ready to move on. And looking too closely often earns a stern “ahem!” from a nearby security guard leaving brushstrokes and tiny details out of view.

That is not the case here.

The program itself has limitations - it’s only available on your cellphone, and you can’t see the animation-enhanced paintings unless you have 5G, but in general, “The Met Unframed” may be one of a few digital “experiences” that actually adds more to the art than it takes away from it.

Throughout the pandemic, arts institutions have been forced to bolster their online presence. Some efforts have

sands of years of history and a few museum floors would separate say, “The Temple of Dendur” from a painting like “Rising Green” by abstract expressionist Lee Krasner.

But here, only one “door” separates them. And you may find interpreting hieroglyphics a surprisingly fitting way to prepare to look at an abstract painting, where the nonrepresentational can seem like its own language, too.

The main and only objective in the “game” - admittedly a stretch to call it that - is to “unframe” artworks and Screenshots share a look inside the Metropolitan Museum of “hang” them on your walls.

Art’s virtual tour in “The Met Unframed” on mobile.

As fun as it is to see a Van (METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART / VERIZON) Gogh next to your bookcase succeeded - usually when they or good old Hatshepsut ‘THE MET resist trying to replicate the sitting in your chair, it’s a bit UNFRAMED’ real-world experience. But of a one-trick pony and too many fall flat. A Zoom tour made-for-sharing on social Free through Monday, visit can feel like another work media. themetunframed.com on meeting. The much-hyped But the “unframing” your mobile phone online viewing room often process encourages a kind of seems like nothing more engagement that can make ed examination brings the art hard-to-crack works accesthan a glorified webpage. to life in a way that, even with sible to someone without an And many online tours are art background. For someone a docent present, would be pixelated, akin to looking at with it, it is simply a new difficult with the work a few art through foggy glasses. way of looking. I can’t say feet behind a glass wall.

In my own empty, virtually I’ve ever really considered Divided into four exhibirendered Met, however, I tion sections - Nature, Power, how much of each color Joan was surprised to find that I Mitchell used in a particular actually spent more time with Home and Journey - the painting, but there are cersome of the art than I have in experience follows the “big tainly less useful ways to look art history” model popularperson. ized by the Met Breuer a few her work.

“Fifty-Four Scenes From years ago. Works from across Surprisingly, the program The Tale of Genji,” a pair millennia and continents are really succeeds with the large of six-panel folding screens works. Tasked with finding made in Edo period Japan, for brought together based on flying condors, among other example, is immediately strik- broad themes (see: exhibiing for its immense detailing tions “Like Life: Sculpture, details, in Frederic Church’s and scale. But if you aren’t Color, and the Body (1300 “The Heart of the Andes,” the familiar with the 11th-centu- Now)” or “Unfinished: work somehow feels larger, ry Japanese epic and able to Thoughts Left Visible”). richer. Sure, a 5 1/2-by-10-foot parse the dozens of scenes Such a model invites the work viewed on a 6-by-3-inch and figures, it’s difficult to usual criticism: It can be so iPhone sounds like a disaster. find an entry point to begin to vague as to be meaningless; But when sized down to your understand it. it reaches for connection fingertips, what’s monumental in person becomes both In “The Met Unframed,” where there is none. In this more vast and more intimate. you’re tasked with finding virtual world, too, many of Overall, “The Met Undetails of various scenes - for the curatorial choices seem example, three girls rolling strange. Landscapes by Albert framed” is an exercise in a large snowball or Genji’s Bierstadt and Frederic Edwin looking. It might - as was the case for me after I traversed wife confronting his former Church somehow wind up in Church’s landscape - make mistress. It’s no art history the “Power” section. Remcourse and would be great if it brandt van Rijn’s self-portrait you more excited to see the went even deeper - like Dutch is inexplicably featured in the art in person, to find the details you zoomed into on your “Journey” exhibit. public broadcasting service phone. It might even make In other cases, the change NTR did with Hieronymous you homesick for that regal brings welcome, unexpected Bosch’s “The Garden of building on Fifth Avenue.

Earthly Delights.” But a guid- contrasts. Typically, thou-

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | E11

Wine CONTINUED FROM PAGE E8

• 2016 Morgon Les Charmes Mommessin Beaujolais Region: Morgon, Beaujolais, France Grapes: Gamay Tasting notes: This is another wine I have absolutely loved for the past few years.

I also thought it was worth mentioning since there’s still a great deal of misunderstanding about Beaujolais wines. When most people think of Beaujolais, they think of the wine just harvested and bottled and sold each November. But France’s Beaujolais region produces so many other, wonderful wines, including 10 villages in the region that specialize in making Beaujolais “cru” wines with Gamay grapes. This particular wine comes from the Beaujolais cru village of Morgon. This voluptuous, luxurious, velvety smooth wine has wonderful, round, subtle fruit flavors that range from blackcurrant to blackberry and plum. Give this wine a little time to open up.

Then be prepared to be dazzled and seduced by its charming flavors and aromas.

Champagne • Palmer & Company Champagne Brut Reserve Region: Reims, Champagne, France Grapes: Blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier Tasting notes: No Valentine’s Day wine column would be complete without mentioning a wonderful, crisp, dry Champagne. In December, I recommended several other Champagnes and sparkling wines recently around the holidays, so I wanted to highlight another, lesser-known Champagne. This understated, earthy Champagne has hints of almonds and apricot flavors, along with a dash of hazelnuts and pears. You can pair this wine with many different foods – from oysters to popcorn to steak – or simply enjoy this beautiful wine on its own.

Cheers!

Wine Press by Ken Ross appears on Masslive.com every Monday and in The Republican’s weekend section every Thursday.

E12 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2021

Theater CONTINUED FROM PAGE E7

The most ambitious initiative yet may well be Post Theatrical, which encompasses 13 “mail-based theatrical experiences” from companies in the United States, Lebanon and Hong Kong. Through June 30; posttheatrical.org ‘Yorick, la Historia de Hamlet’/’Yorick, the Story of Hamlet’ Remember Yorick, the jester whose skull plays a big part in “Hamlet”? He takes center stage in Francisco Reyes’ solo with puppets “Yorick, la Historia de Hamlet”/”Yorick, the Story of Hamlet,” presented by the Los Angeles contempory-arts center Redcat.

American audiences may know Reyes from his role as Orlando in the Chilean movie “A Fantastic Woman.” In English with Spanish subtitles. Feb. 12-14; redcat.org

WEEKEND

THE REPUBLICAN | MASSLIVE.COM

Clubbed Thumb’s Winterworks festival This enterprising New York company is best known for Summerworks, a festival of new plays that has provided a launchpad for favorites like “What the Constitution Means to Me” and “Tumacho.” Now, Clubbed Thumb is opening up its developmental showcase, Winterworks, to a wider audience on platforms like YouTube, Instagram and Twitch. The shows open at regular intervals throughout this month, with several livestreaming before going on-demand for a limited time. The programming is director-driven, so there should be some interesting innovations. In “Kyk hoe Skyn die Son (Look at How the Sun Shines),” for example, Keenan Tyler Oliphant writes a letter live and on-screen, while artists re-imagine his memories.

Other participants include Leonie Bell and Michaela Escarcega. clubbedthumb.org

DVD

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“The Right One”: A writer (Cleopatra Coleman) falls for a constantly changing, eccenCONTINUED FROM PAGE E5 tric man (Nick Thune) who “Greenland”: A man (Geinspires her as a muse. rard Butler) struggles to bring “Sputnik”: A young doctor his family to safety amid an (Oksana Akinshina) must extinction-level threat from a check out an astronaut (Pyotr comet.

Fyodorov) who returned to “Love Story”: 1970 roman- Earth with a mysterious paratic drama following young site. In Russian. couple’s (Ryan O’Neal and “Wander Darkly”: Couple Ali MacGraw) grappling with (Sienna Miller and Diego terminal illness has been Luna) experience a horrible restored in a limited edition accident that forces them into Blu-ray. a shared traumatic reality.

“Monster Zone”: Animated film follows teenage boy at Out on Digital HD this week boarding school who stumbles upon another dimension, “Happy Times”: What inadvertently summoning starts as an innocent Shabmonsters. Features voice tal- bat dinner transforms into a ents of Jamie Bell, Jayssolitt deadly night at a Hollywood and Ruby Rose. estate. Stars Stéfi Celma, Mi“The Little Prince”: 2015 chael Aloni and Shani Atias. animated film available on In Hebrew and English.

DVD and Blu-ray for the first “The Reunited States”: time follows girl who hears Documentary follows people the soul-affirming story of dedicated to bridging political the young royal on Asteroid divide.

B-612. Features vocal talents “Tazmanian Devil”: A of Mackenzie Foy, Jeff Bridg- Nigerian immigrant college es, Rachel McAdams, Paul student (Abraham Attah) is Rudd, Marion Cotillard, Beni- torn between his evangelist cio del Toro, Albert Brooks estranged father and a local and more. frat.