Lately in his career, writer-producer J. Michael Straczynski has been successful bucking trends in TV programming. He designed his science-fiction epic “Babylon 5” as a contained program set to run for five years. It aired on syndicated TV for four years, then TNT picked it up for its… Read More
INSTINCT Clearly, Anthony Hopkins will appear in just about anything — even Jon Turteltaub’s gorilla film “Instinct.” googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) {… Read More
NOTTING HILL “Notting Hill” features Julia Roberts as one of the world’s most famous women. That’s quite a stretch for Roberts, one of the world’s most famous women, not to mention a terrific risk. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var… Read More
In “Hideous Kinky,” her first film since “Titanic,” Kate Winslet is Julia, a hippy English hippie in search of spiritual guidance from someone. Anyone. The film is far more benign than its tantalizing title suggests. But good luck getting your guru, lady. With her two… Read More
Snarkiness used to exist strictly within the realm of late-night TV, especially on talk and sketch-comedy shows. That brand of sarcastic, cutting, largely topical humor has wormed its way into prime time, as those who cut their chops in late night, such as “S.N.L.” alums… Read More
After the millennium, when we look back on theater of the 1990s, Tony Kushner’s two-part odyssey, “Angels in America,” is sure to stand out as profoundly as “A Streetcar Named Desire” from the 1940s and “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” from the 1950s. “Angels” is a deeply American… Read More
STAR WARS: EPISODE I — THE PHANTOM MENACE, written and directed by George Lucas. Running time: 133 minutes. Rated PG (for sci-fi violence and action). Is it The Force that makes “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace” feel so forced? Or is it… Read More
The Bangor Symphony Orchestra showed sparkling versatility Saturday at the Maine Center for the Arts, where it performed a benefit pops concert of Broadway tunes. Conductor Christopher Zimmerman, who recently joined the faculty at the Hartt School of Music at the University of Connecticut, blithely… Read More
It was kids’ night out Friday at the Maine Center for the Arts, where the Fred Garbo Inflatable Theater Co. showed up with its wacky act of oversized, air-filled floating shapes and human acrobatic routines. But as refrigerator-sized squares and balls zipped across stage, it was hard to… Read More
“Scheme a Dream” (Spaboop) — EverySunday Like many young musicians, Keith Tasker, George Gervais and Scott Lambert honed their skills by playing other people’s music. Now, older and wiser, they’re thrilled to be creating a sound of their own. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More
HOLES, by Louis Sachar, New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 233 pages, hardback, $16. A few years ago, the Little family underwent Wayside School mania. Whenever we traveled, we brought along the audiotape of “Sideways Stories from Wayside School.” In these wacky accounts of a… Read More
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, written and directed by Michael Hoffman, based on the play by William Shakespeare. Running time: 115 minutes. Rated PG-13. Oh, what fools this director, these actors be. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = [];… Read More
STEPHEN KING COUNTRY, by George Beahm, Running Press, Philadelphia, Pa., 1999, 144 pages, hardcover, $14.95. Saying that George Beahm digs Stephen King is like claiming Martha Stewart likes to hang curtains. The Virginia raconteur is devoted to Bangor’s gazillion-selling author, having chronicled his writings since… Read More
THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON, by Stephen King New York, Scribner, 1999, 224 pages, $16.95 Nine-year-old Trisha McFarland has to pee. That’s where all her troubles begin out on Maine’s Appalachian Trail one Saturday with her mother and older brother. But as mother and… Read More
THE MUMMY, written and directed by Stephen Sommers. Running time: 124 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for violence, mild language and partial nudity). Well, apparently the rumors are true: In spite of its title and the misleading fact that it was released just before Mother’s Day, “The… Read More
OUCH: SONGS FROM THE COAST OF MAINE, music and lyrics by Frank Gotwals, illustrations by Rebekah Raye, F&D Records, 1998, $14.95. Are you planning on traveling with young children this summer? Would you like your conversation on the road to rise above, “He breathed on… Read More
THE HUNGRY OCEAN: A SWORDBOAT CAPTAIN’S JOURNEY, by Linda Greenlaw, Hyperion, New York, May 1999, 263 pages, hardcover, $22.95. Linda Greenlaw first came into the public eye with the release of Sebastian Junger’s “The Perfect Storm.” He devoted a section to her as captain of… Read More
ADOPTING ALYOSHA: A Single Man Finds a Son in Russia, by Robert Klose, University Press of Mississippi/Jackson, 1999, 165 pages, hardcover, $22. Robert Klose knew he was facing a daunting task, but he was determined to become a father. The biology professor at University College… Read More
FALLING BODIES by Andrew Mark, Putnam, 259 pages, hardcover, $22.95. Coping with grief, finding a new love, and suspense are all delightfully at the heart of this debut novel by Mainer Andrew Mark. The writing is warmly introspective, and it has a rhythm and flow… Read More
As teen-agers, Kevin Sproul of Orono and Terry Spearrin of East Millinocket helped each other pick out the chords to rock ‘n’ roll hits on AM radio during family vacations on the shores of Upper Jo-Mary Lake. More than 20 years later, their musical tastes… Read More
THE BIRD, THE MONKEY, AND THE SNAKE IN THE JUNGLE; written by Kate Banks and illustrated by Tomek Bogacki; Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, New York, 1999; 26 pages, hardcover, $16. Do you have a beginning reader in your family? If so, I’ve found you a… Read More
A GARDEN OF CONIFERS, by Robert A. Obrizok, Firefly Books Ltd., 1999 (second printing), 117 pages, paperback, $24.95. Maine is conifer central. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0;… Read More
Every couple has a tune it calls “our song.” For world-class violinists Pamela Frank and Andrew Simionescu, who also happen to be engaged, the tune so designated is Bach’s Concerto For Two Violins and Orchestra in D Minor. If this choice is symbolic of their relationship, they sure… Read More
ENTRAPMENT, directed by Jon Amiel. Written by Ron Bass and William Broyles. Running time: 113 minutes. Rated PG-13. Jon Amiel’s “Entrapment” may have been written by Ron Bass and William Broyles, but it owes its soul to screenwriter John Michael Haye. googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
The most astounding work done by the Famous People Players, a Canadian group that performed Thursday at the Maine Center for the Arts, is not what you do see, but what you don’t see. The company uses “black light” performance techniques that illuminate life-size puppets and fluorescent props… Read More
HAPPINESS IS A KITCHEN IN MAINE, by Paula Boyer Rougny, Peapatch Press, Woolwich, 1998, paperback, 182 pages, $12.95. A cookbook may contain the secrets to the tastiest food in the universe, but if it doesn’t read right, it’s no fun cooking with it. googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
Georges Seurat, the French painter, was a fool for color. Break it down scientifically into dots of paint, he said, and the eye will put it together again magically. “Sunday in the Park with George,” the Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine musical now being performed by Penobscot Theatre at the… Read More
One thing is for sure: They sure have come out on top. At the “End of the World” festival in Orono Saturday night, Strange Pleasure brought in a flock of loyal fans and made many more. The band’s fusion of rock and a dab of… Read More
There has been a bumper crop of animated series popping up on network TV this season. Such a trend makes economic sense for younger networks UPN and especially Fox. After all, the show’s stars won’t squabble over creative differences or get into long, drawn-out contract… Read More
“Pushing Tin.” Directed by Mike Newell. Written by Glen and Les Charles, based on an article by Darcy Frey. Running time: 124 minutes. Rated R (language, sexuality, nudity). In spite of an awful title that suggests otherwise, Mike Newell’s “Pushing Tin” is actually more fun… Read More
All cats have a special name and a secret life that humans will never understand. That was the message that the Fourth National Touring Company of the musical “Cats” offered during five shows at Portland’s Merrill Auditorium over the weekend. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define… Read More
“Cookie’s Fortune.” Directed by Robert Altman. Written by Anne Rapp. Running time: 118 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for language, a brief scene of violence and mild adult content) Nightly, April 19-22, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. The new Robert Altman film is called “Cookie’s Fortune,” which crumbles… Read More
TALKING IN THE DARK, by Wesley McNair, Publisher, David R. Godine, Jaffrey, N.H., 1998, paperback, 70 pages, $13.95. In the course of producing five remarkable collections of poetry over the past 20 or so years, Wesley McNair has established himself as a first-rank American poet. Read More
Maybe the University of Maine can get some federal disaster relief aid, to help with the aftermath of Hurricane Ani at the Hutchins Concert Hall. Ani DiFranco, a genuine force of nature, took the stage at the performance venue of the Maine Center for the… Read More
“A Shayna Maidel,” which Winterport Open Stage performed over the weekend, is a reunification story of two sisters. Rose, who left Poland with her father before World War II, is entirely Americanized with a good job, pretty dresses, a Manhattan apartment and a bubble bath at the end… Read More
“The Last Days” A documentary directed by James Moll. Running time: 88 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for graphic footage and accounts of the Holocaust). Nightly, April 12-15, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var… Read More
BUILDING SMALL BOATS by Greg Rossel, WoodenBoat Publications, Brooklin, 1998, 278 pages, $39.95. If you think you’d like to build a boat, here’s how. This book, by someone who has built a lot of them and teaches boat building at the WoodenBoat School in Brooklin,… Read More
MOSBY, THE KENNEDY CENTER CAT, by Beppie Noyes, VSP Books, Alexandria, Va., 125 pages, hardcover, $14.95. Millions of dollars and much planning went into the design and construction of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Contributions to its splendor… Read More
IN THE RED, by Regan C. Ashbaugh, Pocket Books, 468 pages, $24. Maine’s Regan C. Ashbaugh has combined two backgrounds into a viscerally potent novel of murder and suspense. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner… Read More
THE COURTHOUSES OF MAINE, by Robert K. Sloane, Maine Lawyers Review, P.O. Box 6663, Portland 04101, paperback, 1998, 272 pages, $30 plus $5 shipping, handling and state sales tax. Robert Sloane’s history of Maine’s courthouses, presumably the first ever written, isn’t exactly bedtime reading. The… Read More
HEY KIDS! YOU’RE COOKIN’ NOW!, written by Dianne Pratt, illustrated by Janet Winter, Harvest Hill Press, Salisbury Cove, 160 pages, hardcover, $19.95. I have discovered the best family cookbook imaginable. In fact, I’m reviewing it because I don’t think my family library could be complete… Read More
There’s a moment in Penobscot Youth Theatre’s current production of “The Secret Garden” that is pure magic. It doesn’t involve fancy costumes, lighting, sets or special effects. It is, quite frankly, unspectacular. Yet when Mary Lennox, the orphaned heroine of the story, sees the secret… Read More
A new NBC sitcom, “Everything’s Relative,” is appropriately named. Relative to the evening news, it’s a laugh riot. But relative to a vast majority of the network sitcoms, it’s remarkably laugh-free. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = [];… Read More
GRAZING, by Ira Sadoff, University of Illinois Press, paperback, 72 pages. $12.95. Ira Sadoff’s fourth full-length collection, “Grazing,” opens with one of those poems that is bound to be the envy of any poet (myself included) who reads it: a seemingly perfect elegy. “My Mother’s… Read More
THE MATRIX, written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski. Running time: 135 minutes. Rated R (for language and violence). At the risk of sounding paranoid, I fear that the world as we know it is a hoax, a sham, a glimmering backdrop that exists… Read More
At first, it seemed as if Tuesday’s performance of “Sleeping Beauty” by the Russian National Ballet at the Maine Center for the Arts was going to be a disappointment. The hokey fake flowers, the canned music and frilly costumes were a distraction in the same way Saturday morning… Read More
100 EASY-TO-GROW NATIVE PLANTS FOR AMERICAN GARDENS IN TEMPERATE ZONES, by Lorraine Johnson, Firefly Books Ltd., 1999, 160 pages, paperback, $19.95. Plant books are as individual as gardens and gardeners themselves. Plants that may appeal to me may not entice anyone else, except perhaps a… Read More
EDTV, directed by Ron Howard and written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel. Running time: 123 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for language, brief nudity, sexual content). TV or not TV, that is the question in Ron Howard’s “EDtv,” which focuses on our obsession with instant celebrities… Read More
As the creators of several prime time animated series have discovered in recent years, “The Simpsons” is a hard act to follow. Since their debut as part of “The Tracey Ullman Show” in 1987, Springfield’s favorite clan has gone on to become not just the… Read More
“It’s like, you know” has a familiar feel to it. The new series, debuting at 8:30 tonight on ABC, is about four friends, three men and one woman. They hang out in a Los Angeles guest house, commenting drolly on the minutiae of life. None seems to be… Read More
HOMETOWN COOKING IN NEW ENGLAND, by Sandra J. Taylor, Down East Books, Camden, Maine, 372 pages, $17.95. Trying out a new recipe can be a gamble; either you relish the new dish or you’ve wasted your time and money. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More
TRUE CRIME, directed by Clint Eastwood. Written by Larry Gross, Paul Brickman and Stephen Schiff. Based on the novel by Andrew Klavan. Running time: 127 minutes. Rated R (for violence, sexuality and language). At some point — one hopes soon — somebody in Hollywood will… Read More
Over the past several months, the Sci-Fi Channel has been making tentative strides in original programming. First, in June, it was new episodes of “Sliders,” formerly on Fox. Then came the original series “Welcome to Paradox” in August. Now the cable channel has said goodbye… Read More
MAKING PEACE, by George Mitchell, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1999. Hardback, 188 pages, $24. Former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell of Maine will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House today, fittingly, St. Patrick’s Day. The award, the highest civilian honor… Read More
When we reached the top of the stairs at City Slickers, a new Tex-Mex restaurant on Broad Street in the former Greenhouse Restaurant in Bangor, we knew we had dressed all wrong for the occasion. The image of a big red yahooing chili-waving a cowboy hat was the… Read More
John Larroquette’s new comedy “Payne,” which debuts at 9:30 tonight on CBS, faces an arduous challenge. Many U.S. sitcoms have been Americanized versions of British shows, “All in the Family” and “Sanford and Son” chief among them. But as executive producer, the Emmy Award-winning Larroquette… Read More
Rick Steadman wears plaid. He snorts when he laughs, trails toilet paper on his heel, and stockpiles pencils in his shirt pocket. Classically speaking, he’s a nerd. In fact, he is ostensibly THE nerd in Larry Shue’s farcical comedy “The Nerd,” which Penobscot Theatre opened… Read More
AFFLICTION, written and directed by Paul Schrader. Based on the novel by Russell Banks. Running time: 114 minutes. Rated R (for violence and language). Nightly, March 15-18, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. Paul Schrader’s outstanding film “Affliction” features Nick Nolte in an Academy Award-nominated performance that… Read More
MADAME OF THE HEIGHTS: The Story of a Prostitute’s Progress, by Marianne Hancock, Windswept House Publishers, Mount Desert, 1998, 230 pages, paperback, $15. It was the house, not its notorious owner, that first caught Marianne Hancock’s attention. But when Hancock, a Somesville writer, visited the… Read More
WE WANT TO BE KNOWN: Learning from Adolescent Girls, a collection edited by Ruth Shagoury Hubbard, Maureen Barbieri, and Brenda Miller Power, Stenhouse Publishers, York, 190 pages, paperback, $18.50. I read something recently that really scared me. If you have daughters, it should frighten you,… Read More
CACHE LAKE COUNTRY: LIFE IN THE NORTH WOODS, by John J. Rowlands, The Countryman Press, 1998 (reissue of 1947 edition), 272 pages, paperback, $14. For those jittery about the impending Y2K disaster, the reissue of John Rowlands’ “Cache Lake Country” has happened in the nick… Read More
MAINE FAMILY ADVENTURE GUIDE, by Roger Woodson, The Globe Pequot Press, Old Saybrook, Conn., 1997, 168 pages, paperback, $10.95. Calling all parents of young children: We’ve done another Maine winter. We’ve doctored those colds and bugs, wiped those noses. We’ve coaxed our sons and daughters… Read More
PATH THROUGH DEEP WATERS, by Betsy Alexander, Windswept House, Mount Desert, 1998, 349 pages, paperback, $10. Books by and about women historically are not valued as highly as those written by and about men, so I’m forever searching for new woman-written books. I was initially… Read More
THE OLD IRON INN B&B COOKBOOK, by Kate McCartney, Graphique DesignWorks, Caribou, 1999, 79 pages, $12. Kate McCartney thinks life can be like a waffle: aromatic, golden and satisfying. But maybe it also could be like a chocolate cheesecake muffin: rich, smooth and sensuous. googletag.cmd.push(function… Read More
It would be sooo easy to dismiss “Strange World” as another “X-Files” knockoff. The new series, which debuts at 10 tonight on ABC, features a man who finds himself an innocent trapped inside a conspiracy being run as a shadowy quasi-governmental organization. In that, it… Read More
DANCING AT LUGHNASA, directed by Pat O’Connor. Written by Frank McGuinness, based on the play by Brian Friel. Running time: 94 minutes. Rated PG (for mild language). Nightly, March 8-11, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. Pat O’Connor’s timid yet heartfelt “Dancing at Lughnasa” follows five proud,… Read More
The setting of “Total Recall 2070” reveals a pastiche of influences. In the new Showtime science-fiction series, the latest in plasma screens and surveillance equipment sits atop old wooden desks, in a room of massive concrete pillars and beams. The characters are dressed in surprisingly 20th century clothing. Read More
THE OLD TOWN CANOE COMPANY: OUR FIRST ONE HUNDRED YEARS, by Susan T. Audette with David E. Baker, Tilbury House Publishers, Gardiner, 1998, 176 pages, $50 hardcover, $30 softcover. This gorgeous history of a venerable Maine business contains more thrills and spills, twists and turns… Read More
Giuseppe Verdi was 73 and had taken a 15-year hiatus from composing when he set the sordid story “Otello” to music in 1887. A lifelong admirer of Shakespeare, Verdi wrote what some consider his masterpiece, a groundbreaker for tragic opera and a propellingly imaginative role… Read More
EIGHT MILLIMETER. Directed by Joel Schumacher. Written by Andrew Kevin Walker. Running time: 123 minutes. Rated R (for strong violence, perverse sexuality, strong language). Let’s face it — there are those who will insist on seeing Joel Schumacher’s “Eight Millimeter” not because of its pseudosubversive… Read More
If you think you’re having a hard life, consider Odysseus. This poor guy fights the Trojan War for 10 years, and spends 10 more stuck on an island and trying to get back to his wife and son. It’s safe to say that the big O-man doesn’t seem… Read More
What do South Park, Ace Ventura and William Shakespeare have in common? Not much until elements of each collide with the Aquila Theatre Company of London, which performed a hyperkinetic production of “The Comedy of Errors” Monday at the Maine Center for the Arts. Filled with cartoonish antics,… Read More
CENTRAL STATION. Directed by Walter Salles. Written by Joao Emanuel Carneiro and Marcos Bernstein. Running time: 115 minutes. Rated R (for language). In Portuguese with English subtitles. Nightly, Feb. 22-25, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. For some, Walter Salles’ “Central Station” will undoubtedly recall John Cassavetes’… Read More
If there are human-sized Dalmatians on the ice, it must mean that Disney on Ice is in town (at least, that’s what it said on the wall-to-wall concessions booths). Merciless merchandising aside, the 4,218 in attendance at Wednesday night’s ice show at the Cumberland County… Read More
Among those who love musicals, few feel lukewarm about the works of Stephen Sondheim. You love him, or you hate him. In 1987, when “Into the Woods” hit Broadway, many of the haters decided to give Sondheim another chance. They dressed up their kids and traipsed hopefully off… Read More
DESIRE LINES, by Christina Baker Kline, William Morrow and Co., New York, 1999, 343 pages, $24. There’s something unsettling about the purple-pastel jacket of Christina Baker Kline’s second novel. Pictured alongside a Maine road map, with Bangor at the center, are images of a compass,… Read More
You tend to think of the coast as a spot for fine-dining excursions in the summer. It’s a place to drop the week’s grocery allotment on gourmet food and ambience. And, on a completely opposite note, you are loath to imagine any trace of flavor if the word… Read More
“Gods and Monsters,” directed by Bill Condon, based on the novel “Father of Frankenstein” by Christopher Bram. Running time: 105 minutes. No MPAA rating (brief nudity, mild profanity, adult content). Nightly, Feb. 15-18, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. In late spring 1957, when director James Whale… Read More
Grisha Coleman says the a cappella quintet Hot Mouth thought up its name over dinner one night about five years ago. She doesn’t explain nor does she give hints about the meaning. But when Hot Mouth shows up, as it did Friday at the Maine Center for the… Read More
In his latest ABC sweeps extravaganza, Stephen King sure hits close to home for Mainers. The backdrop for “Storm of the Century,” airing at 9 p.m. Feb. 14, 15 and 18, is the bane of Mainers’ existence, the paralyzing snowstorm. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define… Read More
SOARING WITH THE WIND: THE BALD EAGLE, by Gail Gibbons, Morrow Junior Books, New York, 1998, 32 pages, hardcover, $16. MARSHES AND SWAMPS, by Gail Gibbons, Holiday House, New York, 1998, 32 pages, hardcover, $15.95. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]];… Read More
Making music, for Gregory Young, is like “playing with Legos, but with more expensive equipment.” He and his partner, Mathew Young, who are not related, make up the duo Headphone People, formerly Wild Style. They are on the cutting edge of a music revolution made… Read More
FOUR LITTLE BLOBS, by Helen Earle Simcox, Windswept House Publishers, Mt. Desert, 1998, 30 pages, paperback, $8. ALEX & ZIG, written by Barbara Murray Klopp, illustrated by Gail Apgar Faulkner, Hallowell Printing Co., 1997, 48 pages, paperback, $10.95. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var… Read More
THE BALLOON MAN, by Charlotte MacLeod, Mysterious Press, 280 pages, $23. Here’s a whimsical whirl that dances around the lifestyles of the “idle rich,” as your New England great-grandmother might have used the term. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var… Read More
CLOUD NINE, by Luanne Rice, Bantam Books, New York, 323 pages, hardcover, $19.95. From the outset of New York City resident Luanne Rice’s novel Cloud Nine, we’re in familiar territory: a sentimentalized Maine story, penned by someone from away. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More
Nearly every month from October to April, the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, the oldest continuous community orchestra in the country, unveils a new program of classical music for its many patrons. Concert-goers get to enjoy the polished result of weeks of rehearsal by the orchestra, now… Read More
If you’ve ever wondered how a little theater troupe in Down East Maine can take its show on the road and win an international contest, then make time this weekend to see the annual presentation by the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Hancock County at the Grand in… Read More
VISIONS: QUILT EXPRESSIONS, edited by Stevii Thompson Graves, Rutledge Hill Press, Nashville, Tenn., 1998, 96 pages, $19.95. NORTHERN COMFORT: New England’s Early Quilts 1780-1850, by Lynne Z. Bassett and Jack Larkin, Rutledge Hill Press, Nashville, Tenn., 1998, paperback, 118 pages, $19.95. googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
A hundred years after Henrik Ibsen wrote “Hedda Gabler,” which opened at Penobscot Theatre over the weekend, we still recognize a shade of our own image in the play. That’s not just an obvious testament to Ibsen’s insightful take on humanity. Indeed, he was a man before his… Read More
At the start of his program Saturday with the Padua Chamber Orchestra at the Maine Center for the Arts, David Shifrin simply smiled amiably toward the audience. He let the suspense build, and then raised his clarinet for Mozart’s Concert in A Major for Clarinet and Orchestra. It… Read More
HILARY AND JACKIE, directed by Anand Tucker. Written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, based on the book “A Genius in the Family,” by Hilary and Piers du Pre. Running time: 121 minutes. Rated R (for language and sexuality). Nightly, Feb. 8-11, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. Anand Tucker’s… Read More
ELIZABETH, directed by Shekhar Kapur. Written by Michael Hirst. Running time: 124 minutes. Rated R (for graphic, bloody violence and sexuality). No need to take a reign check from theaters this week. “Elizabeth” and “Shakespeare in Love” are two excellent period movies precisely as we… Read More
“Family Guy” melds the best parts of Fox’s two biggest comedy hits into something new and improved. The new animated series, a sneak preview of which will be shown after the Super Bowl on Sunday, melds the cartoon absurdity of “The Simpsons” with the outrageous… Read More
GLORIA, directed by Sidney Lumet, written by Steven Antin, based on a story by John Cassavetes. Running time: 108 minutes. Rated R (for violence, language and adult themes). Over the course of her career, Sharon Stone has had a penchant for playing tough women, including… Read More
Live music doesn’t get any more intimate and inviting than when Eugenia Zukerman, the flutist, and David Leisner, the guitarist, step onto the stage. Under the auspices of the Maine Center for the Arts, the classical — as well as classy — duo appeared Sunday at Minsky Recital… Read More
As the fastest-growing comic strip in syndication, it’s only natural that “Dilbert” would soon attempt to conquer the world of television. The animated “Dilbert,” which debuts at 8 tonight on UPN, is a faithful adaptation of the strip, which is a staple of bulletin boards… Read More
To describe something as “solid” is too often seen as being derogatory. “Solid” isn’t spectacular. It isn’t flashy. But likewise, it isn’t schmaltzy. It isn’t hackneyed. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for… Read More
The Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s concert Sunday at the Maine Center for the Arts was strenuous and insistent. It demanded attention. It started big and just got bigger. It was moody, gutsy and oddly serendipitous. From the outset of Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic’s “Uneven Souls,” a ferocious percussion piece written… Read More
The WB has flourished on the strength of such well-received dramas as “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer,” “Dawson’s Creek,” “Charmed” and “Felicity.” Now, “Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane” marks the fledgling network’s latest attempt to launch a sitcom that is, well, funny. googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
WILD ABOUT GAME, by Janie Hibler, Broadway Books, N.Y., 1998, hardback, 311 pgs., $30. In recent weeks, I have been trying out some recipes in “Wild About Game” by Janie Hibler. This newly published cookbook bears little in common with “Joy of Cooking” or “Betty… Read More