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ThursdayScene THE BOSTON GL OBE THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2017 | BOSTONGL OBE.COM/LIFESTYLE

SAMANTHA STAMAS/GLOBE STAFF/AP

Holiday suggestions worth hearing New audiobook releases touch on literary fiction, Sherlock, silence, and space By Christina Thompson GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

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big stor y in publishing these days is the stupen­ dous growth in the once­ sleepy category of audio­ b o o k s . S a l e s a r e through the roof; cata­ logs are exploding; libraries are having to rewrite their bud­ gets to accommodate the demands of their users. So, in this season of giving, why not consider an audiobook (or a gift card with suggestions) not just for your ancient aunt or retired father but for al­ most anyone on your list. To get you started, here are a few recent releases.

“Astrophysics for People in a Hurry’’ and “Cosmos’’ (Blackstone and Brilliance) Here’s a great pairing, especially for people who like to be educated while they are being entertained. “Astrophys­ ics’’ was written and is narrated here by astrophysicist and science educator Neil deGrasse Tyson, host of the TV series “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.’’ Tyson has a marvelous voice, deep and calm­ i n g , a n d a s a n y o n e w h o h a s e v e r watched him knows, he has the science popularizer’s gift of being able to make even the most abstruse material fasci­ nating and easy to understand. Add to AUDIOBOOKS, Page G5

DANCE

MOVIES

Kurtis Blow is MC, but those beats are Tchaikovsky’s

A ‘Jumanji’ for the video­game generation

By Terence Cawley GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

In 1979, Kurtis Blow’s “Christ­ mas Rappin’ ” became the first hip­hop song ever released on a major label, paving the way for the man born Kurtis Walker to be­ come rap’s first true solo star with his iconic follow­up single “The Breaks.” Nearly 40 years later, Walker’s still spreading holiday cheer as the MC for “The Hip­Hop Nutcracker,” which comes to the S h u b e r t T h e a t r e T h u r s d a y through Saturday. Walker has been involved with

By Tom Russo GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

the show, in which a dozen hip­ hop dancers and an onstage DJ put a modern spin on Tchaik­ ovsky’s classic ballet, since its 2014 premiere at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Director, choreographer, and co­creator Jennifer Weber originally wanted to combine hip­hop dance with Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” but when the theater pitched “The Nutcracker” instead, Weber was game. UNITED PALACE OF CULTURAL ARTS “There’s something really in­ teresting about classical music be­ Kurtis Blow is MC for “The Hip­Hop Nutcracker,” at the ‘‘HIP­HOP NUTCRACKER,’’ Page G7 Shubert Theatre Thursday through Saturday.

What threatened to be cynical exploitation of an ele­ gant, critically lauded picture book instead proves to be something more palatable in the rollicking , if loosely adapted, “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.” Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, and Jack Black might not seem the likeliest casting for breathing life into the rich black­and­white pastels of Beverly­based illustrator Chris Van Allsburg (“The Po­ lar Express”). But the group’s thematically, comedically broad inversion of the source

material is consistently enter­ taining, and squeezes in some n i c e l y p l a y e d c h a r a c t e r growth to boot. Some might remember Robin Williams’s 1995 “Ju­ manji” feature also took liber­ ties with this Pandora’s box tale of a mystical board game, particularly in rendering the zoological chaos that it expec­ torated into the real world. But the quasi­sequel gets into wholesale changes straight­ away, scoffing at the fustiness of board games, and imagin­ ing that Jumanji morphs it­ self into a video game to maintain its dark allure. ‘‘JUMANJI,’’ Page G5

Inside TELEVISION

BOTTLES

PHOTOGRAPHY

ELVES AND ORCS IN MODERN­DAY LA

ANCHORING A TRADITION

SOMETHING CLICKED

Will Smith stars as a fed­up cop in Netflix’s pricey fantasy­thriller ‘Bright’

This holiday craft beer’s been going strong and getting stronger for 43 years

Exhibit samples Jay Hale’s treasure trove of concert images from the Middle East

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ThursdayScene THE BOSTON GL OBE THURSDAY, OC TOBER 19, 2017 | BOSTONGL OBE.COM/LIFESTYLE

A Donald Murray homecoming After nearly 20 years, the papers of the beloved teacher and award­winning writer have found their way back to the UNH campus in Durham BY JAMES SULLIVAN | GL OBE CORRESPONDENT DURHAM, N.H. — When Hannah Starobin was a child, her family planned a summer trip across the coun­ try. Her father, the writer Donald Murray, worked as he drove. He dictated while his wife, Minnie Mae, typed notes, on a typewriter perched on the Ford van’s center console. Murray was the lion of the renowned writing program at the University of New Hampshire, known to Boston Globe readers for his long­running, much­loved Over 60 column (eventually retitled Now and Then), his last one published shortly before his death in 2006 at age 82. When he wasn’t writing or teaching, he was thinking about his craft, always. “Writing, for me, has always been a necessary, secret act of selfishness — and survival,’’ he once wrote. “He loved nothing more than a stationery supply, a chart, a plan,” recalls Starobin, a psychotherapist in Westchester County, New York. Her father, a journalist

and author of more than a dozen books, kept squares of paper in his shirt pocket for notes, she says: “He was con­ stantly writing in his head.” Murray, who was born in Boston and grew up in Quincy, was a meticulous archivist of his own work, keeping an ever­present “daybook” of his ideas, rough drafts, revisions, poems, short stories, and much more. For nearly 20 years, those daybooks and other yields from Murray’s desk sat in more than 100 archival storage boxes at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Pe­ tersburg, Fla., awaiting future generations of writing stu­ dents. Now, in a move that some admirers felt long over­ due, Murray’s papers recently made their way back home to the UNH campus in Durham. “It’s nice to have them back,” says Starobin. Murray was a big man, and he had the corner office in the English department, says Rebecca Rule, the Yankee MURRAY, Page G7

AP

THEATER

In New Rep’s ‘Oleanna,’ a power play in academia By Don Aucoin GLOBE STAFF

WATERTOWN — In the New Repertory Theatre pro­ duction of David Mamet’s “Oleanna,’’ an angry young woman, having turned the tables on an arrogant mid­ dle­aged man she accuses of abusing his power, spells out the new state of play in un­ equivocal terms. “You can’t do that any­ more,’’ she tells him. “You. Do. Not. Have. The. Power.’’ Hear that, Harvey Wein­ stein? And all the would­be Harveys out there: All clear? This is not to say, howev­ er, that Mamet’s own sym­ pathies necessarily lie with

the woman in his intermit­ tently gripping but often te­ dious 1992 two­hander. In­ deed, anyone looking to for­ tify the oft­stated case that Mamet, the quintessential macho playwright, can’ t write fully dimensional fe­ male characters will find ample evidence in “Olean­ na.’’ A college undergraduate named Carol, played with unremitting intensity by Obehi Janice, is struggling mightily in a class taught by a middle­aged professor named John (Johnny Lee Davenport). Wearing a yel­ low sweatshirt and a red ‘‘OLEANNA,’’ Page G4

OCT 19, 2017–JAN 21, 2018

Inside

COMEDY

A ‘DAILY’ DOSE Roy Wood Jr., a ‘Daily Show’ correspondent, brings his standup act to town G3

MUSIC

MONK MADNESS New England Conservatory is hosting a celebration of piano great Thelonious Monk G5

PHOTOGRAPHY

‘Cheap, quick, and dirty, that’s how I like it!’ By Mark Feeney GLOBE STAFF

MEDFORD — What’s likely this year’s freshest, loosest, and most exciting art exhi­ bition is also the most ephemeral. “Robert Frank: Books and Films, 1947­2017,” an elaborate pop­up, opened at Tufts Universi­ ty’s Tisch Library on Oct. 7 and closes Nov. 5. The ephemerality extends beyond dura­ tion. The catalogue is a newspaper — yes, an actual, hold­it­in­your­hands newspaper — a 64­page special edition of Germany’s Süd­ deutsche Zeitung. Don’t worry, it’s in Eng­ lish. The show’s several hundred images — none of them framed or matted — are print­ ed on long sheets of recycled newsprint. Oh, and both show and catalogue are free. So

ROBERT FRANK

Robert Frank’s “Welsh Miners” from 1953, on exhibit at Tufts University. maybe subversive is a better description than ephemeral. Subversion is something Frank has few peers at. Certainly, no other major living art­ ist has been so unpredictable and contrarian for so long: Frank turns 93 next month. His book “The Americans” (1958) trans­ formed photography, with its seemingly ca­ sual blend of skepticism and lyricism, alien­ ation and myth. Yet Frank soon gave up pho­ tography for experimental film. After a decade devoted to filmmaking, he took up FRANK, Page G7


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ThursdayScene THE BOSTON GL OBE THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2018 | BOSTON GL OBE.COM/LIFESTYLE

THE WOMEN YOU MISSED IN HISTORY CLASS Recalling a dozen ‘Badass Broads’ who’ve (mostly) been forgotten

BY MACKENZI LEE GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

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he author of the first novel, warriors and rulers, scientists and war heroes. History abounds with tales of trail­ blazing women long forgotten — espe­ cially those who were nonwhite, non­ Western, or not straight. Take a look at a dozen of the women in “Bygone Badass Broads” so you can begin to see what you missed in history class. Page G7

IMAGES FROM “BYGONE BADASS BROADS: 52 FORGOTTEN WOMEN WHO CHANGED THE WORLD”

Inside

THEATER

TELEVISION

The makers of “Icarus” set out to investigate doping in cycling; instead, they would come to expose widespread Russian corruption.

Subverting gender in Lyric’s sly ‘Orlando’ THEATER By Jeremy D. Goodwin

SHARING THE STAGE

GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

The intense relationship between dear friends and sometime lovers Vir­ ginia Woolf and Vita Sackville­West was not a scandal in their own house­ holds — the writers’ similarly free­ thinking husbands were reportedly fine with it. But when Woolf set out to write a light novel as a sort of love letter to her companion, she necessarily had to write in code. So she ingeniously creat­ ed a character based on Sackville­West who is born an enthusiastically hetero­ sexual man and wakes one day to dis­ cover that his anatomy has mysteri­ ously changed to that of a woman, though his — now her — amorous pas­ sions are unchanged. The fantastical device of having her ‘‘ORLANDO,’’ Page G7

In Lyric’s production of ‘Every Brilliant Thing’ the audience gets into the act G3

BOTTLES

A NEW SPIRIT OF ’76 Samuel Adams’s take on a low­ABV everyday beer is something to celebrate G2 MARK S. HOWARD

Jeff Marcus and Caroline Lawton in the Lyric Stage production of “Virginia Woolf ’s Orlando.”

NETFLIX

Impact of ‘Icarus’ wasn’t in the script By Isaac Feldberg GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

When the team behind “Icarus” first set out to inves­ tigate illegal doping in cy­ cling, they couldn’ t have known their work on the Os­ car­nominated documentary would spark an international incident with Russia, one with seismic, still­unfolding

repercussions. In fact, when filmmaker Bryan Fogel first approached Impact Partners, a social­jus­ tice documentary funder based out of New York, with the concept for “Icarus” (now streaming on Netflix), his pitch skewed more personal than political. It was 2013, ‘‘ICARUS,’’ Page G4


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THE BOSTON GL OBE THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2018 | BOSTONGL OBE.COM/LIFESTYLE

RON BATZDORFF/NBC

Glenn Howerton (left) and Patton Oswalt in “A.P. Bio.”

TELEVISION

High marks for the class clowns in ‘A.P. Bio’ By Matthew Gilbert GLOBE STAFF

It’s a sign of the times that Glenn Howerton, the star of NBC’s new sit­ com “A.P. Bio,” will be unfamiliar to many of the network’s viewers. Hower­ ton is in the ensemble of one of the most enduring comedies of the past two decades, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” which has run for 12 seasons and has already been renewed for two more. Indeed, after the next two seasons, “It’s Always Sunny” will tie — ironically, if you’ve watched the show — the super wholesome “The Ad­ ventures of Ozzie and Harriet” for the longest­running live­action sitcom ev­ er. But “It’s Always Sunny,” about the debauchery of a group of friends — in­ cluding pretending to be intellectually challenged to get welfare, going to an ‘‘A.P. BIO,’’ Page G3

THEATER

Ambition, racial justice collide in ‘Hype Man’ By Don Aucoin GLOBE STAFF

After a police shooting of an un­ armed black teenager, a hip­hop per­ former named Verb decides it’s time to create music that takes a stand against racial injustice in “Hype Man: a break beat play,’’ declaring: “I got things I want to say. I’m gonna say it.’’ That’s a stance Verb has in com­ mon with Idris Goodwin, the gifted dramatist who wrote “Hype Man,’’ and also, crucially, with Company One Theatre and its artistic director, Shawn LaCount, who is helming the outstanding world­premiere produc­ tion of Goodwin’s new play­with­mu­ sic. “Hype Man’’ has things to say and it says them, emphatically, without shortchanging the imperatives of sto­ rytelling and characterization. Com­ pany One’s production sizzles with the ‘‘HYPE MAN,’’ Page G4

Inside THING TANK

KEEPING TRACK OF TECHNOLOGY From Fitbit trouble to Internet shorthand, a review of the week online G2

MUSIC

A WORLD OF INFLUENCES Rostam explores musical connections, wherever they lead G3

PHOTOS BY PAT GREENHOUSE/GLOBE STAFF

A PATTERN HERE A new Museum of Science exhibit looks at the math in nature and all around us B y Ja m e s S u l l i va n | G l o b e C o r r e s p o n d e n t

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irst, a few hard facts about the newest exhibit at the Museum of Science: It’s 1,700 square feet. It features 30,000 LED lights. It’s com­ posed of 86 large mirrors. Metaphysically speaking, however, the Mir­ ror Maze is much more than the sum of its parts. It can show you forever. Through the optical illusion of an interlocking network of angled mirrors endlessly reflecting images off each oth­ er, the maze offers a profound — and fun — glimpse into the halls of infinity. It’s the centerpiece of a new traveling exhibit, “A Mirror Maze: Numbers in Nature,” that opens Sunday and runs till April 25. The exhibit, first developed for the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, aims to demonstrate math pat­ terns as they occur in the natural and physical world. Be­ MIRROR MAZE, Page G5

The “A Mirror Maze: Numbers in Nature” exhibit at the Museum of Science features a mirror maze (above) and other items like a 3­D model of a human lung (right) and the hexagonal pattern of a honeycomb (below right). Workers install panels for the mirror maze (below left).


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ThursdayScene THE BOSTON GL OBE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2017 | BOSTONGL OBE.COM/LIFESTYLE

Caroline Nugent’s humor leaves her mother, Dana, “bent over laughing with tears coming out of my eyes.” The 13­year­old’s mom says, “Being funny, being witty, is brilliant. I don’t want to see her lose that.”

EVELYN HOCKSTEIN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

n u F ny Girls Want to give your daughter a hand up in life? Encourage her inner Tina Fey. By Ellen McCarthy THE WASHINGTON POST

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aurie Menser was a 7­ or 8­year­old in Rockville, Md., when she wandered over to a neighbor’s house one day, slipped a glass eye in her mouth, and got the atten­ tion of the grown­ups in the room. Then she smacked the back of her head and stuck out her tongue — waiting for laughs. “They were appalled,” she remembers. “They were like, ‘You need to go home right now and tell your dad what you did.’ ’’ The neighbors didn’t know it was Menser’s father who’d picked up the fake eye at a yard sale and taught his daughter the gag. Don’t worry, he told her, “they just don’t get the joke.” Looking back, Menser wonders how the epi­

AP

sode might have gone had one element been different: What if she were a boy? Would they have laughed then? She suspects the answer might be yes. Menser is 38 and a director of development at a science association. She has scaled the cor­ porate ladder and thinks that, more than any­ thing, her success has been driven by her sense of humor. She just had to ignore all the voices telling her not to use it. “There was an expectation that girls would be quieter. And wouldn’t ruin their dresses and wouldn’t be roughhousing and cracking jokes in church,” she says. “And I was very often do­ ing a lot of those things,” thanks in part to her father’s encouragement to let her be what she HUMOR, Page G7

MUSIC

Roots artists Gilmore and Alvin found their happy place at the blues

A farewell to glass pinecones and Jackie O.? By Franklin Soults

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GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

he six men and one woman in Human Sexual Response will mount the House of Blues stage Friday night in their first home­ town reunion in five years — and perhaps their last public performance ever. According to members of the group, which formally disbanded in 1982, the all­too­hu­ man Humans may soon reach their natural limit at honoring the manic theatricality that made them a centerpiece of Boston’s New Wave/art­punk scene in the late ’70s and ear­ ly ’80s. “I think this will be the swan song,” says Dini Lamot, one of HSR’s four (count ’em, four) front vocalists. But Lamot doesn’t be­ tray any remorse. Instead, he stresses the pleasure of returning to the stage for the first

Inside

MICHAEL GRECCO

time since the Humans’ last House of Blues performance in 2012. “Everybody’s so upbeat about the way the band sounds. So it’s pretty magical. I bet it’s that way for most musicians that maybe have taken breaks and not played continuously and gotten back together. It’s like riding a bike.” HUMAN SEXUAL RESPONSE, Page G5

AP

Human Sexual Response (in an undated photo) plays a reunion show on Friday.

FRAZER HARRISON/GETTY IMAGES

Dave Alvin (above) is touring with Jimmie Dale Gilmore.

By Stuart Munro GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

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ave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore are both longtime mainstays in the roots­music world. Both started out in bands that, at least in certain circles, became legends (Gilmore in oddball progressive­country outfit the Flatlanders, Alvin with purvey­ ors of high­test American music the Blasters). Both went on to MUSIC forge successful solo careers, Gilmore offering a brand of country­folk marked by his high lonesome quaver, Al­ vin crafting an eclectic roots mix that he sometimes labels “loud folk.” At first glance, the notion of the two touring to­ gether as a duo may seem a bit surpris­ ing. But to Alvin and Gilmore, who have been friends for years, the surprise is not that they’re playing music together, but that they’ve never done it before. “We’ve known each other for so long,” observes Alvin, speaking last week from a tour stop in Minneapolis, “but outside of sing­alongs at the end of multi­artist shows, we’ve never played music togeth­ er.” They just resumed a tour that began out West earlier this year, and will make a stop at the Bull Run Restaurant in Shir­ ley Friday. ALVIN & GILMORE, Page G5

BOTTLES

THING TANK

TELEVISION

TAPPING INTO A NEW SPACE Down the Road to open brewhouse and tap room in Everett

A TASTE OF THE WEEK ONLINE

ANOTHER ATWOOD ADAPTATION

From controversial candy to unsound cheeseburgers to repulsive pizzas

Netflix drama ‘Alias Grace’ has a few things in common with ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’

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ThursdayScene THE BOSTON GL OBE THURSDAY, SEP TEMBER 21, 2017 | BOSTONGL OBE.COM/LIFESTYLE

HOME ALONE

AL WAGNER/INVISION/AP

Krauss is a daydream believer

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In determining when kids can be left by themselves consider their readiness as well as their ages By Allison Klein

The bluegrass siren talks of inspirations and collaborations

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By Lauren Daley GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

In conversation, Alison Krauss speaks so softly, it’s as if she’s trying not to wake a kitten sleeping in her arms. MUSIC “We grew up in town, but in Champaign [Illi­ nois] at that time, you drove five min­ utes, and there were corn and bean fields,” she says gently. Hers is a near ethereal timbre, and maybe exactly the voice you’d expect from the bluegrass siren, who signed her first record deal at then­Boston­based Rounder Re­ cords when she was a 14­year­old fid­ dle prodigy. It’s the voice that’s earned 27 Gram­ mys and 42 nominations — “Raising Sand,” her platinum 2007 album with Robert Plant, took home six alone — making Krauss, at 46, the most award­ ed female artist in Grammy history. She’s long proved to have a knack for finding songs she can make her own, and her latest studio album, “Windy City,” recorded without her band Union Station, is a mix of juke­ box beer­joint standards that suit her well — Willie Nelson’s “I Never Cared for You” and Glen Campbell’s “Gentle on my Mind,” among them. Krauss, who performs on a double bill Friday with David Gray at Blue Hills Bank Pavilion in Boston, spoke by phone from Nashville about her blue­ grass roots, her exposure to other forms of art at a young age, the thrill of collaborating, and the power of day­ dreams. Q. When did you first fall in love with bluegrass? A. I grew up in a college town [where there were] a lot of banjo players, fid­ dle players, and I guess I was about 6 or 7 when we started going to fiddle contests. I’d been taking violin lessons

AP PHOTO/GLOBE STAFF ILLUSTRATION

A CHECKLIST FOR PARENTS Ruthie Arbit, a therapist and licensed clinical social worker who practices in Washington, D.C., has come up with a four­point checklist for parents to consider before leaving a child alone for the first time. SAFETY: If your child needed to leave the house for an emergency, would they be safe? Is there a friend or neighbor nearby who can offer help in an emergency? RESPONSIBILITY: Can your child watch younger siblings, unpack groceries, do his own laundry? If kids are not responsible with you around, they probably won’t be responsible without you. COGNITIVE READINESS: Would they keep a level head if things didn’t go as planned? Arbit gives the example of a child slipping and falling. Would they stay on the floor and wait for you to come home, or would they assess their injuries and, if needed, grab a phone and call someone? EMOTIONAL READINESS: When you are gone, will they spend the entire 40 minutes crying in bed, or will they watch some agreed­upon television? ALLISON KLEIN

THE WASHINGTON POST

our kids are growing up so fast. They are getting smarter and more responsible, and they want more independence. It might be time to let them stay home on their own for a bit. Wait, what? Home alone? Without an adult? A lot can go wrong without grown­ up supervision. But if it’s done correct­ ly, experts say, this mile marker can give you and your kids some much­ needed freedom and feelings of accom­ plishment. It can also go a long way in establishing trust in your relationship. ‘‘It’s a big step in independence and should be recognized as a milestone,’’ said Patti Cancellier, education director at the Parent Encouragement Program in Kensington, Md. ‘‘Our job as parents is to make our children completely in­ dependent people.’’ Only a few states specify a mini­ mum age at which it’s legal to leave kids on their own. For example, in Maryland, it’s 8 as long as there are not younger siblings at home. In Massa­ chusetts, there is no specific law so such issues are decided on a case by case basis — whether, for instance, a situation triggers concerns about abuse or neglect. The general recommenda­ tion for age is 11 years old, but it de­ pends on the child, according to Maria Mossaides, director of the state Office of the Child Advocate. Clearly kids develop emotionally at different rates, making it a highly sub­ jective matter. A mature 10­year­old might be ready for freedom that an im­ mature 14­year­old couldn’t handle. Parenting experts say that once kids HOME ALONE, Page G7

KRAUSS, Page G5

‘I go on riding camels in my dreams’

Inside

‘Letters From Baghdad,’ at MFA, shows a woman far ahead of her time By Mark Feeney GLOBE STAFF

Did you ever see “Reds” (1981)? Warren Be­ atty’s drama about the radical journalist John Reed has an unusual twist. It’s a standard Hol­ lywood biopic, except that Beatty MOVIES intercuts the narrative with talk­ ing­head interviews with real peo­ ple who knew Reed. “Letters From Baghdad” does the opposite. It tells the story of Gertrude Bell mostly through her own words — Tilda Swinton reads Bell’s letters — as viewers see period footage and photographs. The twist is that the direc­ tors, Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum, in­ tercut talking­head interviews with real people who knew Bell — except that they’re played by actors. It’s “Reds” inside out. Such an odd combination shouldn’t work. Shot in black and white, the interviews are made to look as though they’re roughly contem­ poraneous with Bell (1858­1926). The first few times they appear on screen the effect verges on ‘‘LETTERS FROM BAGHDAD,’’ Page G7

COMEDY

LAUGHS AND LIFE LESSONS Ms. Pat comes to town for Boston Comedy Festival gigs and to tout her new memoir G4

THEATER

MAKING A SPLASH IN PROVINCETOWN Tennessee Williams festival puts Shakespeare in his place (a water tank, a boat, a park) MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON

Gertrude Bell advised Britain’s Foreign Office during WWI and later helped draw Iraq’s boundaries.

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ThursdayScene THE BOSTON GL OBE THURSDAY, OC TOBER 26, 2017 | BOSTONGL OBE.COM/LIFESTYLE

Making a splash at the deCordova

SUSAN DERGES PHOTOS BY CURTIS BAKER/NETFLIX

Susan Derges’s “Untitled (The Eye #3).”

By Mark Feeney

The ’80s?

GLOBE STAFF

LINCOLN — What a difference a preposition can make. Lakes and rivers and seas are bodies of water. Bodies in water are people swimming or bathing or otherwise relat­ PHOTOGRAPHY ing to the element that cov­ ers 70 percent of the planet’s surface and makes up 60 percent of adult hu­ mans. “Bodies in Water” is also the name of an exhi­ bition that runs at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum through March 11. Organized by the museum’s Martina Tanga, it consists of 28 photographs drawn from the deCordova’s perma­ nent collection. Clearly, the museum knows from water. After all, it’s located on Sandy Pond Road. Light likes water, which admits and trans­ forms it, as earth does not. This means photogra­ phy likes water, too. Susan Derges’s four photo­

STRANGER THINGS HAVE HAPPENED. ‘Stranger Things’ fan Ethan Gilsdorf inhabits for 24 hours the period in which the show is set — and in which he lived his wonder years

‘‘BODIES IN WATER,’’ Page G5

An exquisite duet in Lyric’s ‘Souvenir’ By Don Aucoin GLOBE STAFF

PHOTOS BY JOSH REYNOLDS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

By Ethan Gilsdorf GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

PROVIDENCE — “Snack Pack One,” I say, pushing the “talk” button. “This is Snack Pack 2. Do you copy?” I hear a crackly reply: “What?” “I said, ‘This is Snack Pack Two.’ Do you copy?” “Yes, I copy.” I’m talking to my wife via old­school mo­ bile communication — a walkie­talkie. I’m also sweating because I’m riding an old, kid­size chopper bicycle complete with banana seat while dressed in a vintage, checked polyester dress shirt, jeans, a jean jacket, and a red puffer vest like the one Michael J. Fox wore in “Back to the Future.” I’m also lugging a backpack crammed with three­ring binders and books, and a Pentax 35mm camera dangles from my neck. Why am I dressed like a middle­aged Marty McFly? Because I’m sojourning in the “Stranger Things” universe. Besotted by the first season of the smash Netflix series and egged on by the second, which debuts Fri­ day, I’ve decided to inhabit for 24 hours the

early 1980s, the period in which the show is set. I plan to immerse myself in the era’s pop culture, clothes, and technology — from New Wave and “Flashdance” and “The Breakfast Club” to mix tapes and Dungeons & Dragons. And I’m taking a few other “Stranger Things” devotees (some of them young enough to consider themselves his­ torical reenactors) along for part of the ride. In case you’re not a fan, “Stranger Things” takes place in an Indiana town be­ set by strange goings­on, including the dis­ appearance of a kid. The show is in­ spired by countless Spielbergian movies like “E.T.” and “The Goo­ nies,” with a healthy dose of “Alien,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” “Poltergeist,” and Ste­ phen King novels thrown in. In a world where adults are absent, obliv­ ious or inept, it’s up to kids — includ­ ing the bike­riding middle schoolers Mike, Lucas, Dustin, Will, and the telekinetic girl Eleven— to combat the supernatural, enter an alternate dimension called the Upside Down, and save the day. Like the show’s protagonists, I also came

Above left: Ethan Itkin, Anisa Raoof, Ethan Gilsdorf, and Amy Ewen are fans of “Stranger Things” (top). Above right: Gilsdorf rode a banana seat bike during his sojourn in the hit series’ universe.

It’s been a full decade since Leigh Barrett swanned across the stage in Stephen Temperley’s “Souvenir’’ as Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York socialite fabled for her serenely THEATER oblivious, wholly off­key concert re­ citals in the 1930s and 1940s. Between then and now, a certain Meryl Streep played Jenkins on film. But in an utterly delightful production of “Souvenir’’ at Lyric Stage Company, it takes Barrett no time at all to re­inhabit and re­ claim the role of the wayward warbler. Once again, as in 2007, the invaluable Will Mc­ Garrahan costars as Cosme McMoon, Florence’s long­suffering piano accompanist — and no one suffers more entertainingly than McGarrahan — and once again Spiro Veloudos is at the helm. “Souvenir’’ unfolds on a set of elegant simplici­ ty (by Skip Curtiss, who also handled scenic de­ sign for the earlier Lyric Stage production) in a se­ ries of flashback scenes narrated by Cosme in the mid­1960s, recalling his stint accompanying Flor­ ence in her annual recitals at the Ritz­Carlton ‘‘SOUVENIR,’’ Page G4

Inside THING TANK

REASONS TO BE FEARFUL, TIMES 3 The week online: from Halloween to a day of screaming, to Michael Bay’s ‘Dora the Explorer’ G2

MUSIC

ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER PLACE Colter Wall is bringing his vintage country — by way of Saskatchewan — to town

EIGHTIES, Page G7

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THE BOSTON GL OBE THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2018 | BOSTONGL OBE.COM/LIFESTYLE

THEATER

‘For Colored Girls’ still has the power to move By Don Aucoin GLOBE STAFF

It’s been more than four decades since Ntozake Shange’s “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf’’ first began speaking to audiences in an ar­ restingly original, even singular, voice. Today, in an era of #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, that voice still has plenty to say. An impassioned new production at Roxbury’s Hibernian Hall makes clear that Shange’s “cho­ reopoem’’ has lost none of its vitality or its power to move us. Directed by Dayenne C. Byron Walters and choreo­ graphed by W. Lola Remy, “For Colored Girls’’ features a lu­ minously expressive, seven­member cast that includes Wal­ ters. The production is presented by Praxis Stage, a troupe ‘‘GIRLS,’’ Page G5

SHE DIDN’T SEE IT COMING

CRAIG F. WALKER/GLOBE STAFF

Country singer/corrections officer Mickey Lamantia.

MUSIC

Meet country’s most law­abiding outlaw By James Sullivan GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

When he was 22, Rhode Island native Mickey Lamantia had the good fortune to open a few shows for Willie Nelson. They played a string of summer tent shows around New England after he got noticed singing a karaoke version of the Randy Travis hit “Forever and Ever, Amen.” Twenty­five years later, Lamantia is just about ready to get that career going. He’s actually been knocking around the Rhode Island bars for years: “I’ve done more one­man shows than I care to remember, some nights to 10 people,” he says. Now, however, at 47, he’s looking to bump his unlikely, late­blooming career as an outlaw country singer into high gear. On Friday he’ll play a record release party at Sons of Liberty, a whiskey distillery and brew pub in South Kings­ town, R.I. LAMANTIA, Page G3

Annie Gaughen was focused on her YA novels, then diabetes threatened to take her eyesight BY JAMES SULLIVAN GL OBE CORRESPONDENT

Annie Gaughen (left) interviewed author Tamora Pierce during an event at Coolidge Corner Theatre this week and signed copies of her new book. Top: Gaughen’s patch­free eyes.

o celebrate her birthday in November, Annie Gaughen did something uncharacteristic: She splurged. When she and a friend learned that a new block of “Hamilton” tickets were available beginning with a show on Gaughen’s birthday, it felt like a sign. So they bought tickets and went to New York City. While there, Gaughen stopped by her publisher’s office. As it happened, they’d just received the finished copies of her new book, “Reign the Earth,” the first in a new young­ adult fantasy series called “The Elementae.” “When I went in, it was a perfect November day,” Gaughen recalls. “When I left, it was pouring.” She had to tuck copies of her book — “my beautiful new babies” — under her jacket “and book it five blocks back to my ho­ tel.” Gaughen, a rising star in the world of YA fiction, has faced plenty of challenges on the road to pursuing her dream. Having earned two master’s degrees, including one in education from Harvard, she still holds a full­time job for the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts, develop­ ing enrichment programs and diversity and inclusion training — creating, as she explains, “the moments when girls figure out how to be leaders.” More urgently, while writing “Reign the Earth,” her

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GAUGHEN, Page G7

Inside MUSIC

WORKING UP TO A SCREAM Phoebe Bridgers on how songs happen G3

THEATER

A SUBJECT ALL TOO REAL ‘Ripe Frenzy’ examines aftermath of shooting G4

PHOTOS BY CRAIG F. WALKER/GLOBE STAFF

WHAT’S YOUR PLEASURE?

FEBRUARY 22 — MAY 20, 2018 Witness the breathtaking detail of this Renaissance master up close and in a new light. Reunited for the first time since the 15th century, explore Fra Angelico's breathtaking visual storytelling in four, newly restored reliquaries.


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ThursdayScene THE BOSTON GL OBE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2017 | BOSTONGL OBE.COM/LIFESTYLE

Resisting ‘small men doing big and stupid things’ In his first novel, environmentalist Bill McKibben takes an offbeat look at patriotism

COREY HENDRICKSON FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

BY JAMES SULLIVAN | GL OBE CORRESPON DENT MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — Growing up in the historic town of Lexington, Bill McKibben loved stories of the American Revo­ lution. As a teenager, he spent his summers leading tours of the battle green. On the job, he proudly wore a tri­corner hat. Four decades later, McKibben is still talking about fighting the good fight. His first book, “The End of Nature,” published in 1989, helped introduce Americans to the concept of cli­ mate change, and most of his work since has amounted to one big, distressing warning about the environmental conse­ quences of imperialism and exploitation.

For his wife, and Brecht, Shalhoub will make time By Terry Byrne GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

‘Brooke [Adams] and I are happy to have the chance to work together.’ TONY SHALHOUB, on coming to Wellesley on his day off from Broadway to work with his wife on a staged reading of “Fear and Misery in the Third Reich”

MCKIBBEN, Page G7

Inside

THEATER

EVAN AGOSTINI/INVISION/AP/FILE

The message may be dire, but he finds the act of protest to be exhilarating. That’s why he wrote “Radio Free Vermont,” his first novel after more than a dozen nonfiction books about global warming, the loss of community, and how to live “lightly” on the land we’ve inhabited. The book, just out and subtitled “A Fable of Resistance,” follows a ragtag band of pranksters who urge their fellow Ver­ monters to secede from a union that has lost its way. The sto­ ry, as he writes in an author’s note, is one response to “small

Tony Shalhoub is a little surprised he’s been in such demand. The Emmy Award­winning actor, best known for TV’s “Monk,” and “Wings,” as well as his many movie appearances, from “Spy Kids” and “Big Night” to “Men in Black” and voice roles in “Cars” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” is currently starring on Broad­ way in the musical “The Band’s Visit.” He’s al­ so appearing in a new TV series, “The Marvel­ ous Mrs. Maisel,” due for release on Amazon Nov. 29. “I thought I’d be less busy at this age,” says Shalhoub, who just turned 64. “But this feels like the right time to be busy, to keep our­ selves sane.” In addition to performing eight shows a week in “The Band’s Visit,” Shalhoub is spending his day off Monday to join his wife, Brooke Adams, and a cast of 11 other actors in a staged, script­in­hand reading of “Fear and Misery in the Third Reich,” the opener for Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s 2017­18 season. “Brooke and I are happy to have the chance to work together,” says Shalhoub, “and we’ve known Steve [Maler, Commonwealth Shakespeare’s founding artistic director] for a SHALHOUB, Page G7

Music that won’t be typecast

THING TANK

FLIPPING OUT, FLIPPING OFF From an iPhone glitch to a fireable offense, a review of the week online G2

MUSIC

DEEP APPRECIATION Rising R&B star Kelela forges mutual admiration dynamic with her fans G5

SUZANNE KREITER/GLOBE STAFF

Composer Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol’s new choral piece is titled “DEVRAN.”

By Zoë Madonna

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GLOBE STAFF

stanbul­born, Boston­based c o m p o s e r Me h m e t A l i Sanlıkol has resided in the United States for decades, per­ forming and teaching all over Boston. However, he has never been made to feel like an outsider to the ex­ tent that he has recently. “I remember being in a cafe in Bel­ mont with my wife and my daughter,” he said, recalling then­candidate Don­ ald Trump’s December 2015 call for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the country. “Can you imagine, there were 10 screens in there, and nine of them it was Trump, saying what he’s saying. . . . It’s bizarre because I was here during 9/11, and

even then I didn’t have that kind of feeling.” Spurred on by his frustration with growing hostility toward Muslims in the country and stereotyping of Mus­ lims in the public consciousness, Sanlıkol set to work on “DEVRAN,” a choral piece that intertwines Renais­ sance polyphony and Islamic mysti­ cism. The new work is the centerpiece of two free concerts made possible by a grant from the New England Founda­ tion for the Arts’s Creative City pro­ gram, with the first on Nov. 9 at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall. In his native Turkey, Sanlıkol was surrounded by diverse Islamic reli­ gious traditions and practices. In con­ trast, he said, the most visible images COMPOSER, Page G5


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ThursdayScene THE BOSTON GL OBE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2017 | BOSTONGL OBE.COM/LIFESTYLE

The Obama presidency through the lens South Dartmouth native Pete Souza agreed to be the 44th president’s photographer under one condition: total access By Joseph P. Kahn GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

P PHOTOS BY PETE SOUZA; CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES (TOP RIGHT)

Clockwise from top left: President Obama at the White House in October 2016, the president being photographed by Pete Souza in 2013, Obama and his national security team monitoring the Bin Laden raid in 2011, hearing of the Sandy Hook shooting from adviser John Brennan in 2012, with the first lady heading to the inaugural ball in 2009.

‘In the ‘Heights’ soars at Wheelock By Don Aucoin GLOBE STAFF

With its teeming canvas, in­ cisive character portraits, and a g e m ­ s t u d d e d s c o r e t h a t blends hip­hop THEATER a n d s a l s a w i t h Broadway ballad­ ry, “In the Heights’’ showcased elements of Lin­Manuel Miranda’s signature style years before he built the blockbuster “Hamilton’’ on the foundation of similar creative compo­ nents. But even though “In the Heights’’ is probably destined to be remembered as Miran­ da’s other musical, a full­throt­ tle production at Wheelock Family Theatre, superbly di­

rected and choreographed by Rachel Bertone, offers a daz­ zling reminder that this was no mere warm­up exercise for Miranda. What is also made clear by the Wheelock production is that any Boston actor who wants to take a crack at play­ ing Usnavi, a bodega propri­ etor who is the chief protago­ nist of “In the Heights,’’ is go­ ing to have to somehow get past Diego Klock­Perez first, because he is claiming virtual ownership of the role, at least locally. The very last word of this m u s i c a l ’s s t i r r i n g f i n a l e is “home,’’ and seldom has

Inside

ete Souza first met Barack Obama, then a newly elect­ ed US senator from Illinois, in January 2005 while working as a Chicago Tribune photographer. And he covered him for the next two years. When the Obamas moved into the White House in 2009, they asked Sou­ za to be their official photographer. Souza, who had worked inside the Reagan White House, took the job on one condition: having near­total access to the president and his family. With that understanding, the South Dartmouth native and Bos­ ton University grad began capturing moments of behind­the­ scenes drama and poignancy that had been rarely, if ever, made public during previous administrations. Nearly 2 million pictures later, Souza, 62, had compiled a stunning visual record of the Obama presidency. Organized chronologically, around 300 of his most memorable photos are contained in his new book, “Obama: An Intimate Portrait,” published last week by Little Brown. He will be appearing Nov. 18 at the Harvard Science Center in Cambridge to discuss it. SOUZA, Page G7

The problem posed by a ‘Simpsons’ stereotype By Sonia Rao GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

MUSIC

HERE AND NOW Kay Hanley and bandmates discuss Letters to Cleo reunion shows in town G3

BOTTLES

A HOLIDAY ON TAP Brewing experts serve up some do’s and don’ts of Thanksgiving beer drinking

‘‘IN THE HEIGHTS,’’ Page G4

GO! GO G O! O GET YOUR KEY TO THE CITY!

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, the bum­ bling convenience store clerk on “The Simpsons,” has remained unchanged for almost 30 years. The TELEVISION character stereotypes S o u t h A s i a n i m m i ­ grants, and the oddity of his continued ex­ istence, doubled by the fact that he is voiced by a white actor, Hank Azaria, has largely flown under the radar. Comedian Hari Kondabolu is looking to change that through “The Problem With Apu,” a documentary created by Kondabolu and directed by Michael Melamedoff that premieres Sunday at 10 p.m. on truTV. “I thought the accent was funny, and that [Apu] was a funny character, and

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Paradise City

APU, Page G4

MINDY TUCKER

Comedian Hari Kondabolu, creator of the documentary “The Problem With Apu.”

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– Boston Globe


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ThursdayScene THE BOSTON GL OBE THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 2018 | BOSTONGL OBE.COM/LIFESTYLE

New love that grew from ashes of tragedy Lucy Kalanithi, whose late husband wrote an acclaimed 2016 memoir of his final years, is now in a relationshiop with John Duberstein, whose late wife wrote an acclaimed 2017 memoir of her final years

PHOTOS BY AMY OSBORNE FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

By Nora Krug

John Duberstein and Lucy Kalanithi at Kalanithi’s home in San Mateo, Calif. Right: The memoirs written by their late spouses, Nina Riggs and Paul Kalanithi.

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THE WASHINGTON POST

AN MATEO, Calif. — The literary pairing was inevitable. “When Breath Becomes Air,” Paul Ka­ lanithi’s memoir of his final years as he faced lung cancer at age 37, was published posthumously in 2016 to critical acclaim and commer­ cial success. “The Bright Hour,” Nina Riggs’s memoir of her final years as she faced breast cancer at age 39, was published posthumously in 2017 to critical ac­ claim and commercial success. The two books were mentioned together in numerous reviews, lists, and conversations. Perhaps less inevitable was that the late authors’ spouses would end up together, too. “I’m still surprised,” said Lucy Kalanithi of her rela­ tionship with Nina Riggs’s widower, John Duberstein. “I’m surprised by how ridiculous it is and how natural it is at the same time.” Sitting across the kitchen table from Lucy recently at her home, John agreed. “Everything seemed almost bizarrely to fit,” he said. “It was kind of stunning.” The story of Lucy Kalanithi and John Duberstein is both unlikely and destined, the stuff of a rom­com. It NEW START, Page G7

She’s got a piece of Joplin’s heart By Jeremy D. Goodwin GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

For Kelly McIntyre, it was just another audition — part of her new routine as a young ac­ tress trying to get THEATER star ted in New York. The New­ ton North High School gradu­ ate showed up first thing in the morning and put her name on the list. And then waited. S h e’d m o v e d t o t h e c i ty shortly after graduating from University of Hartford’s Hartt School six months prior. With­ out an agent or any other busi­ ness representation, she quick­ ly got used to the routine of sit­ ting around all day at auditions for casting directors to see members of the actors’ union first, before she’d eventually hear her name called.

A lively, stylish ‘Shakespeare in Love’ By Don Aucoin

On this day, McIntyre got the part. Her first big job was a major one: the alternate for the lead in “A Night With Janis Jop­ lin.” She spelled star Mar y Bridget Davies, who’d been nominated for a Tony Award for the role, on matinees during the show’s first national tour in 2016. McIntyre has since bumped up to the full­time lead for the show’s second national tour, which visits the Boch Center Shubert Theatre for three per­ formances beginning Friday. (Katrina Rose Dideriksen is scheduled to play the role in the Saturday matinee.) “It’s going to be crazy,” she says of her homecoming perfor­ mance. “Some people that are coming to see it haven’t seen MCINTYRE, Page G5

GLOBE STAFF

RANDY JOHNSON

Kelly McIntyre stars in “A Night With Janis Joplin.”

“Shakespeare in Love’’ actu­ ally revolves around two ro­ mances, not just one. At the center THEATER of Lee Hall’s play, now receiving its Ne w E n g l a n d p r e m i e r e a t SpeakEasy Stage Company, is the affair between the besotted Bard and a woman named Vio­ la de Lesseps, who has dis­ guised herself as a man so she can perform onstage. But what also courses unmistakably through “Shakespeare in Love’’ is a sheer love of theater and the eccentric, egotistical, obsessive, theatrical people who make it. At one point, Viola, who is winningly played at SpeakEasy by Jennifer Ellis, declares to ‘‘SHAKESPEARE,’’ Page G5

NILE HAWVER

Jennifer Ellis and George Olesky in SpeakEasy Stage’s “Shakespeare in Love.’’

Inside TELEVISION

THING TANK

MUSIC

A CONVOLUTED ‘COUNTERPART’

MOUTHING OFF

ALL ABOUT BROTHERHOOD

J.K. Simmons plays duplicates tracking an assassin in the Starz show

The week online: presidential holes, detergent pods, and stifled sneezes

Fresh off ‘Power of Peace,’ the Isley Brothers come to the Wilbur Theatre

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ThursdayScene THE BOSTON GL OBE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2017 | BOSTONGL OBE.C OM/LIFESTYLE

A THANKSGIVING MEDIA BINGE Tired of endless football games? Sample and savor these movie, TV, and podcast offerings with family and friends.

AP

PODCASTS By Nicholas Quah GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

TELEVISION

THE RADIO ADVENTURES OF ELEANOR AMPLIFIED For those with young kids that you may be trying to pry away from TV cartoons, this is a gem. Follow “Eleanor Amplified,’’ a world­famous radio reporter, as she goes on adventures around the world to get to the truth of things — and to out­ smart some bad guys along the way.

By Matthew Gilbert GLOBE STAFF

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS Watch it with your family when you’re all stuck together over the holidays; watch it alone when your family is away. Just watch it. You’ll see a beautifully acted and heartfelt show about football that isn’t about football at all. Bonus: Great act­ ing all around, particularly from Connie Britton and the young cast.

36 QUESTIONS Fun, romantic, with just a smidge of melancholy, this “pod­ cast musical” features Jonathan Groff and Jessie Shelton as a couple trying to rescue their teetering marriage using 36 questions designed to inspire love. It’s a little rough around the edges, which is to be expected given its relatively experi­ mental nature, but the verve and charm of the performances more than makes up for everything.

BLEAK HOUSE This PBS­BBC production is one of the best Charles Dickens adaptations out there. Written by master classic adapter An­ drew Davies and built around an epic legal case, the series has everything you’d expect: mystery, romance, comedy, murder, and indelible characters played by a fine cast led by Gillian Anderson as Lady Dedlock. It’s a thoroughly entertaining eight­hour binge.

MAKING OPRAH Go inside the rise of a living legend. WBEZ’s Jenn White ex­ plores the life and legacy of Oprah Winfrey in this tightly pro­ duced three­part documentary that lifts you up with its deeply thoughtful touch. HEAVYWEIGHT Regret plays a huge role in this show by the endlessly talented Jonathan Gold­ stein, which sees the host embark on ca­ pers to help people grapple with the past. This makes the show not an obvious choice for Thanksgiving. But “Heavy­ weight’’ is also reflective, funny, compli­ cated, and, in the end, life­affirming.

ROSEANNE A classic network sitcom that’s worth a view or a re­view — except for the last season, which was abysmal and should be eternally banished to no­ wheresville. I mention the pioneering series, which is as much about dysfunction and financial struggles as it is about family bonds and foible­filled behavior, because it’s be­ ing revived next year in the manner of “Will & Grace.” ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT This influential domestic comedy includes adult gags: It’s hard to find many family series that are appropriate for both ends of the age spectrum. But as it upends everything from taxes to treason and includes one of TV’s best­ever mama’s boys (played by Tony Hale) who spent 11 months in the

PODCASTS, Page G7

MOVIES By Ty Burr GLOBE STAFF

THE DRESSMAKER OK, maybe not for the little kids, but this enjoyably demented fashionista spaghetti western — in which Kate Winslet’s title character takes revenge on the outback town that bullied her — will tickle everyone else. HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS Eye­popping martial arts epic with a kick­ass heroine, choreo­ graphed with gorgeous overkill by China’s Zhang Yimou. If you and the family haven’t seen “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” start there first. HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE New Zealand director Taika Waititi just grabbed the brass ring with the new “Thor” movie, but his last outing was this hilarious comedy­adventure about the friendship between a boy no one wants (Julian Dennison) and cranky old Sam Neill. MOVIES, Page G7

TELEVISION, Page G7 AP

A ‘Julius Caesar’ that flips the Shakespearean script By Don Aucoin GLOBE STAFF

Before the opening scene of “Julius Caesar’’ at Actors’ Shakespeare Project, the audience is treated to the sight of a body hanging above the stage, punctuated by the percussive THEATER hammering of music over the sound system. Although the corpse is wrapped in black plas­ tic from head to toe, we have a pretty good idea who it is. Thus does director Bryn Boice establish a foreboding mood while suggesting the patterns of fatefulness that will subsequently run through her darkly compelling if sometimes draggy pro­ duction of Shakespeare’s tragedy. In this all­female “Julius Caesar,’’ it is women

who rule, women who map a strategy to elimi­ nate a figure they view as a tyrant in the making, women who collectively execute that strategy (and that figure), and women who ultimately (to borrow a phrase) “cry ‘Havoc!’, and let slip the dogs of war.’’ Arriving at a cultural moment rife with ac­ counts of male misdeeds, including a photograph of Al Franken treating a sleeping woman as a sex­ ual prop, there’s an undeniable impact to a “Ju­ lius Caesar’’ where the women are anything but helpless. In adding gender to the equation, the ASP pro­ duction also subtracts it, asking us to consider the play’s questions about power, ambition, and violence in a re­imagined world where men are ‘‘JULIUS CAESAR,’’ Page G5

Inside THING TANK

CELEBRITY CONTROVERSIES From Pink to Lena Dunham to Paris Hilton, a review of the week online G2

TELEVISION

REINVENTION’S GOTTA HAVE IT

MAGGIE HALL

Marianna Bassham, Liz Adams, Marya Lowry, and Bobbie Steinbach in “Julius Caesar.”

Spike Lee has adapted his breakthrough film into a 10­episode Netflix series G3


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ThursdayScene THE BOSTON GL OBE THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2018 | BOSTONGL OBE.COM/LIFESTYLE

CRAVING THE

SILENT TREATMENT In winter we spend more time cooped up inside with a constant cacophony. Here are some places and activities to help you hit the mute button.

B y D i a n e B a i r a n d Pa m e l a Wr i g h t G l o b e C o r r e s p o n d e n t s

Above: Getting away from winter’s noise can reduce stress, and blood pressure. Right: Quiet can be found at the Bates Hall Reading Room at Boston Public Library.

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ur world gets small­ er and louder in winter. We spend more time cooped up inside with a constant cacophony of blaring TVs and radios, ringing phones, shuffling shoppers, grinding treadmills, and restless children. It’s maddening and potentially unhealthy — with recent studies suggesting that a steady diet of noise can increase blood pres­ sure, stress, and sleep disorders. It’s time to hit the mute button. Here are some places and ways to find a little peace and quiet.

UNWIND ON A WINDING PATH Labyrinths have been around for more than 4,000 years, usher­ ing walkers into sessions of quiet reflection. Slow down and follow the winding passages of the Har­ vard Divinity School labyrinth, lo­ cated near Andover and Rockefell­ er halls on the campus green. The design was modeled on the famous 13th­century labyrinth found on the floor in the nave of Chartres Cathedral in France (www.hds.har­ vard.edu/life­at­hds/religious­and­ spiritual­life/retreats­and­quiet­ places). You’ll likely have it to your­ self, and simply walking the circuit in silence can be a soothing elixir for your racket­induced angst. An­ other Chartres­inspired installa­

TOM HERDE/GLOBE STAFF/FILE

QUIET, Page G7

MUSIC

By Ed Symkus GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

CBS

TELEVISION

In telling Clapton’s life story, Zanuck returns a favor

Lili Fini Zanuck is an Oscar­ winning film producer, with “Cocoon,” “Driving Miss Daisy,” and “Mullholland Falls” on her résumé. Eric Clapton is a Gram­ my­winning guitar god who’s played in the Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith, and Derek and the Dominos. Though their names aren’t often associated, they’re longtime friends, and their working relationship stretches back more than a quarter of a century. Clapton scored “Rush,” the 1991 film that marked Za­ nuck’s debut as a director. She went on to direct the videos for Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven” (1992) and “Pilgrim” (1998). It was Clapton who contacted Za­ nuck when he needed a director for the new documentary “Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars,” which had a limited theatrical run in November and makes its Show­ time premiere Saturday.

Buskin & Batteau retaking the stage in a healthier state By Dick Trust GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

ANNIE TRITT FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

David Buskin (left) and Robin Batteau.

CLAPTON, Page G4

The long, glorious run of folk duo Buskin & Batteau could be coming to an end. On the other hand, if the music gods are agreeable, Bus­ kin & Batteau could be coming to a listening room near you for years to come. What will determine wheth­ er David Buskin and Robin Bat­ teau’s first shows together in nearly four years trigger a tour for the singer­songwriters who formed a perfect union in the late 1970s and built a legion of followers that exists to this day? BUSKIN & BATTEAU, Page G3

Inside THEATER

THING TANK

MUSIC

CONFRONTING A CAPTOR

WRITE AND WRONG

MILLENNIAL BEACH BOY

A man, and a nation, are put on trial in ‘Death and the Maiden’

From a meh memo to error­filled e­mails, a review of the week online

BØRNS brings a host of influences to his show at the House of Blues

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ThursdayScene THE BOSTON GL OBE THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 2018 | BOSTON GL OBE.COM/LIFESTYLE

Why you should be watching your kids’ screen time — and your own In ‘The Art of Screen Time,’ Anya Kamenetz discusses the importance of parents modeling a healthy approach to using technology ADOBE

BY KATHERINE REYNOLDS LEWIS | WASHINGTO N P OST

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n her new book, “The Art of Screen Time,” Anya Kamenetz, NPR’s lead digital education reporter, tackles possibly the toughest question facing today’s parents: how to manage kids’ use of technology. Kamenetz looks at the latest research about the impact of screens on kids’ well­being and makes the case that rather than viewing technology as a boogeyman that will doom our children, parents should be clear­eyed and realistic about the limits they set. In a recent interview, she discussed the book and her belief that there’s value to be found in the opiate of the masses. Here is an edited excerpt.

MAGIC

SCREEN TIME, Page G7

Inside

Adam Trent had to learn the trick to becoming a magician

MUSIC

IT’S THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS Prepping for Tune­Yards’ gig at Royale, Merrill Garbus reflects on self­examination G3 JOHN TLUMACKI/GLOBE STAFF

Adam Trent at the Floating Hospital for Children.

By James Sullivan GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

For four years, Adam Trent performed magic tricks on the Santa Monica Pier. Hoping to hold the tourists’ attention, he “yelled for eight hours a day,” he says. The competition was stiff: the relentless sun, the breakdancers blaring music, the homeless guy who once stole his briefcase. Trent worked nursing homes, birthday parties, college caf­ eterias. It was all part of the master plan. At age 12, already determined to be a professional magician, he had asked the Las Vegas veteran Mac King for advice. TRENT, Page G4

THING TANK

GATHERING EVIDENCE The week online: from what really curbs gun violence to what’s become of the Oscars G2

THEATER

Solo, but not really in ‘Every Brilliant Thing’ By Don Aucoin GLOBE STAFF

Jo h n U p d i k e f a m o u s l y averred that he focused so in­ tently and minutely on the ev­ eryday in his writing in order “to give the mundane its beau­ tiful due.’’ “Every Brilliant Thing’’ ap­ pears to harbor a similar ambi­ tion, although the impetus for its protagonist’s celebration of small quotidian joys has to do with life­and­death stakes, not literary matters. The unnamed Narrator in this 70­minute solo play, por­ trayed at SpeakEasy Stage Company by the inimitable Adrianne Krstansky, starts compiling an inventory of life’s ‘‘BRILLIANT,’’ Page G4

MAGGIE HALL PHOTOGRAPHY

Adrianne Krstansky interacts with the audience in “Every Brilliant Thing.”


ThursdayScene

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THE BOSTON G L OBE THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2018 | BOSTON GL OBE.COM/LIFESTYLE

Can’t shake winter blahs? POONEH GHANA

Try goofing off.

Dan Auerbach on stage with the Easy Eye Sound Revue.

B y D i a n e B a i r a n d Pa m e l a Wr i g h t G l o b e C o r r e s p o n d e n t s

MUSIC

When you’re Dan Auerbach, there are no days off By Robert Steiner GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

There’s no disputing that Dan Auerbach, the powerhouse gui­ tarist and one half of the Black Keys, is a very busy man. Since taking a well­deserved break from the band in 2015, he’s col­ laborated with artists from the Pretenders to A$AP Rocky, re­ corded and toured with psyche­ delic side project the Arcs, and

last summer released “Waiting on a Song,” a solo album featur­ ing contributions by John Prine, Mark Knopfler, and many other music legends. All of this, and he also found the time to launch his o w n r e c o r d l a b e l , E a s y Ey e Sound — a productive time for someone technically on vacation. Auerbach is currently on tour with the Easy Eye Sound Revue, AUERBACH, Page G4

TELEVISION By Matthew Gilbert GLOBE STAFF

MICHELE K. SHORT/HBO

Bill Hader plays a hit man who turns to acting in “Barry.”

Hader’s ‘Barry’ a killer comedy

“Barry,” Bill Hader’s excellent new HBO se­ ries, is a comedy, make no mistake. It’s wry, mostly, but it can also be kooky and flip, as it chronicles a man’s ef­ forts to transition from violent hit man to LA actor. I laughed out loud a number of times w h i l e w at c h i n g t h e eight episodes of the first season, usually thanks to Henry Win­ kler as failed­actor act­ ing coach Gene Cous­ ineau. Sitcom vet Win­ kler, like Ted Danson in “Bored to Death,” is the show’s seasoned pro; he definitely has not jumped the shark. But there’s a dra­ matic undercurrent to “Barr y,” which p r e ­ mieres Sunday at 10:30 p.m. after the return of “Silicon Valley.” And

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GO BOWLING Lace up those cool, retro shoes, and hit the lanes. It’s fun; it’s afford­ able; and anyone can do it (thank you bumpers!). We love the vintage feel of family­owned South Boston Candlepin (617­464­4858, www.southiebowl.com, $25 per hour, $2.50 shoes), with wood­ carved ball returns, paper and pen­ cil scoring, and manual lane resets. They have 20 lanes that you can re­ serve online. You could also spend lots of time goofing off at King’s Dining & Entertainment in the Sea­ port District (617­401­0025, www.kings­de.com, bowling $7­$10 per person per game or $15­$20 per hour, $5 shoes), with 16 ten­pin lanes, arcade games, shuffleboard, foosball, air hockey, and billiards.

‘‘BARRY,’’ Page G7

Inside BOTTLES

DANCE

TAKING ON HEAVY HITTERS WITH LIGHT BEER

REFLECTING ON GOLDEN MOMENTS

Night Shift hopes to steal shelf space from Bud and Miller with low­alcohol Nite Lite

Local dance luminaries talk about Alvin Ailey and company on the occasion of a 50th­anniversary visit

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eel like you’ve got spring in your step yet? We may have just passed the equinox Tuesday, but things still seem pretty wintry. If you’re starting to show symptoms of too much dark and cold, consider taking some mental­health time. It just so happens that March 22 is the unofficial National Goof­Off Day and even if you can’t mark this “national holiday’’ on the day itself let us suggest some activities to give you a goofy little break.

KAYANA SZYMCZAK FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

TAKE A SUNDAY DRIVE ON THURSDAY

DIANE BAIR FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

When’s the last time you hopped in the car with no par­ ticular place to go? A ride with no rush, a drive taken for sheer pleasure. Our suggestion: Head north for a slow, sce­ nic cruise on Cape Ann (the other Cape). Follow Route 1 to Route 128 east, passing the strip malls and office build­ ings, until you reach the bridge over Annisquam River, a narrow estuary that divides Rockport and much of Glouc­ ester from the mainland. Follow Route 127, with pretty water views, and consider a stop at Halibut Point State Park for a walk around the quarry and along tidal pools. Back in the car, head into Rockport, and take a selfie next to the famous Motif No. 1 fishing shack, considered the most painted building in the world.

PLAY GAMES You’re locked in a room; the clock is ticking; you have 60 min­ utes to escape. You and your team­ mates need to solve the puzzles, find the clues to complete the mis­ sion, and unlock the door. You have become an action hero. Sound like fun? For an hour, you’ll think of nothing except the game at hand. No wonder escape rooms are all the rage. Check out Trapolo­ gy, ranked as one of the country’s top escape rooms (857­285­2085, www.trapologyboston.com, $30). The current themes are the Drunk Tank, the Hustler, and the Retreat. None is easy; all offer immersive, pressure­packed fun. GOOF OFF, Page G5

Paradise City

FINE CRAFT, ART AND SCULPTURE THAT EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS

jewelry furniture sculpture glass ceramics wearable art painting wood lighting gifts

EYE-POPPING VISUAL SPLENDOR!

– Boston Globe

MARCH 23, 24 & 25

ROYAL PLAZA TRADE CENTER | MARLBOROUGH, MA

GET YOUR KEY TO THE CITY!

paradisecityarts.com


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