The Arts Fuse Newsletter, February 21
Theater for the Working Class, Cowboy Junkies, Brittany Howard, and a Film for Foodies
From The Editor's Desk:
It was a pleasure to interview playwright Bernard Pollack about the workshop staging of his play Little Peasants, which the non-profit Food Tank is presenting at The Burren in Somerville. This is a comedy-drama about a diverse cadre of workers attempting to unionize at a Starbucks-like coffee shop in Middle America and, because its focus is on collective bargaining, the script is a telling one off. Unions may be on the rise in America, but there has been next to nothing in our theaters about the struggles of workers to organize or the fierce corporate opposition that often greets these efforts.
Why is that? Similar conflicts inspired exciting theater in the past. (It worked for Clifford Odets in Waiting for Lefty.) The silence could be proof that a powerful anti-union bias unites liberal and conservative theatergoers. Our stages rarely take up issues of power and economic justice, no matter how wide the income disparity grows, how painfully traumatic the Wall Street meltdowns may be, how many best-selling books point out the depredations of capitalism.
Does this indifference to matters of concern for the have-nots say something about the skewed agenda of those who call the shots on our major stages? As I ask in my interview with Pollack: “Why shouldn’t there be theater productions that reflect the experiences of the working class, plays and musicals that offer entertainment, solace, and critique?” Efforts such as Little Peasants suggest the arrival of theater artists who are anxious to meet that demand.
—Bill Marx, Editor-in-Chief
Concert Review: Brittany Howard — A Determined Musical Evolution
By Paul Robicheau
The set impressed in its diversity, boosted by the cohesive breadth of What Now, even as its homages grew overt in the second half.
Film Review: “The Taste of Things” – Gallic Feasts for the Eyes
By Ed Symkus
A 100-year-old novel provides the basis for sumptuous moviegoing -- about love and loss and longing … and food, glorious food.
Theater Interview: Dramatist Bernard Pollack on “Little Peasants” — A Holistic View of Union Organizing
By Bill Marx
.Must the stage only discreetly charm the bourgeoisie?
Concert Review: Cowboy Junkies — Still Outside the Mainstream
By Scott McLennan
For years now, Cowboy Junkies has been bringing its brand of contemplative, atmospheric rock ’n’ roll into a patchwork of independent venues in our region.
Concert Review: Du Bois Orchestra Serves Up a Feast of Music by Black Composers
By Aaron Keebaugh
The performance conveyed the essence of the Du Bois Orchestra’s mission: when played with exuberance, long-neglected and little-played works can generate as much excitement as they do wonder that they were ever overlooked.
Film Review: “Io Capitano” — When You Wish Upon a Star?
By Peter Keough
The plight of refugees is given a fairy-tale treatment in Matteo Garrone’s film Io Capitano.
Book Review: “Drums & Demons: The Tragic Journey of Jim Gordon” — Overcome by Madness
By Tim Jackson
Drums & Demons is at times frustratingly unclear on dates, but its research is comprehensive about the brilliant career and disastrous end of drummer Jim Gordon.
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Questions, comments, concerns?
Editor-in-Chief
Bill Marx
wmarx103@gmail.com
