Near the beginning of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Visit, on a train en route to a weeklong stay with grandparents they’ve never met, 15-year-old Becca (Olivia De Jonge) and her 13-year-old brother Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) discuss the worst possible scenarios. “What if they’re scrapbookers?” “What if they think boy bands are cute?” Shotguns, butcher knives, and inexplicable projectile … [Read more...]
‘Hyper-theatricality’ on tap for PB Opera’s ‘Hoffmann’
Jacques Offenbach made and lost several fortunes in the course of turning out about 100 operettas for the French stage, but he wanted to write at least one serious grand opera that would show the world that he had more than frivolity up his sleeves. It was during the composition of that long hoped-for piece, Les Contes d’Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann) that he became … [Read more...]
Painter takes intimate look at the face of Wall Street
Men in dark suits and ties are seen voraciously tackling the phone, their blurry faces fixed on the screens higher up and on their desks. They wear watches, glasses and sport thinning hair. This used to be the image of a respectable man. An exhibition of paintings by Ben Aronson, currently running until Feb. 10 at the Ann Norton Scuplture Gardens, may not be the hottest show … [Read more...]