KING KENRICK’S SPLINTER, by Sally Derby, illustrated by Leonid Gore, Walker, 32 pages, $14.95, ages 5-8 King Kenrick — a plump, whiny sort — gets a splinter, and the queen is determined to get it out of his royal foot. A scullery maid’s uncle is… Read More
DOCTOR, WHAT SHOULD I EAT?, by Isadore Rosenfeld, M.D., Random House, 425 pages, $25. Don’t be fooled by the dust jacket, a slick Madison Avenue production with a full frontal view of Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld himself, rimless glases, gray hair, power blue shirt and matching… Read More
A not-so-traditional repertoire presented a record-breaking crowd with a melting pot of musical offerings Monday night in Blue Hill village. Nearly 1,000 people packed into the acoustically challenged George Stevens Academy gym for the sold-out Blue Hill Pops holiday concert, ushered in by a rhythmic… Read More
On her wedding night, a young woman goes into the bathroom to put on a lovely white negligee. Still wearing the flowered headband of her wedding veil, she tiptoes out into the bedroom. There she sees her husband dressed in a long, red, flannel nightshirt, black socks and… Read More
I’ll admit it. When Pocahontas dove off the cliff in her opening scene of the film “Pocahontas,” I gasped out a “Yooooooooow!” Like a bird, like a plane, like Super Powhatan, she flew through the air at (roughly) 150 billion feet above the river. And I was right… Read More
You’ve got children to raise, bills to pay, rent to consider. And you have a business to keep on its feet if you want to put food on your own table. Is it possible in these times of upward mobility and career lifestyles to both be good and… Read More
If optimism is not your forte, then you may have rolled your eyes when you heard the Up With People busload of happy kids was coming to town. Toothy smiles, perfect hair, outstretched arms, message of joy. Forget it. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More
MAINE: The Pine Tree State from Prehistory to the Present, edited by Richard W. Judd, Edwin A. Churchill, and Joel W. Eastman, University of Maine Press, 616 pages, $50 hardcover, $30 paper. In his preface, Richard W. Judd, a professor of history at the University… Read More
DUCKTRAP: Chronicles of a Maine Village, by Diane O’Brien, photography by Peggy S. Bochkay. Available through the Lincolnville Historical Society, P.O. Box 211, Lincolnville Center 04850, $20 plus $3 shipping and $1.20 tax for Maine residents Mention Ducktrap to many of Maine’s year-round or summer… Read More
MAINE: Cruising the Coast by Car, by Arthur B. Layton Jr., Country Roads Press, 182 pages, $9.95. Remember a television show called, “So You Think You Know Maine”? We all would have been winners if we’d had a new book by Arthur B. Layton Jr. Read More
On my way out of the movie theater after seeing “The Bridges of Madison County,” I overheard a man say: “All the women are crying. All the men are quiet and shaking their heads. Yep, it must have been a good film.” Well, nope. He… Read More
Paul Tegels had to do some detective work to find Franz Joseph Haydn’s Concerto for Organ and Orchestra in D. He went to monasteries in Austria and the state library in Berlin to study manuscripts of the composer. But the investigation is over now, and Tegels, a Dutch… Read More
As celebrations across the world commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, productions of the musical “South Pacific” will be particularly appreciated this year. Based on James Michener’s “Tales of the South Pacific,” which was published in 1947 as an historical — and fictional… Read More
THE BERKSHIRE READER, edited by Richard Nunley, Berkshire House Publishers, Stockbridge, Mass., 530 pages, $16.95, drawings by Michael McCurdy. Of the making of anthologies there is no end. I know a couple of professional anthologists with whom I’ve worked who have now compiled several hundred… Read More
BLOODLINE, by Gerry Boyle, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 260 pages, $19.95. Jack McMorrow left a world of crime and corruption in New York City to settle down in rural Maine, but calamity has followed him like an obnoxious reporter chasing a lead. googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
Highbrow theatergoers don’t generally like works by Neil Simon. They talk about him the way the literati talk about Stephen King: He has made a lucky — and plentiful — living off of shtick. And like King, Simon is one of the most successful writers… Read More
If you’ve ever been in a small-town beauty salon, then you know it can be one of the hot spots on the block. For women, that is. And certainly Truvy’s Beauty Salon, the setting for Robert Harling’s peachy play, “Steel Magnolias,” now at Bangor’s Penobscot Theatre, is the… Read More
If this is the May sweeps, then it’s time again for ABC to show another miniseries based on a Stephen King work. This time, it’s “The Langoliers,” based on a novella from King’s 1990 collection, “Four Past Midnight.” The four-hour miniseries airs 9-11 p.m. Sunday,… Read More
At its best, a group such as the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater inspires promises. I promise to know faults. I promise to be joyful. I promise to be aware of my American heritage in all its shameful and glorious forms. As the season-closer Saturday at… Read More
BANGOR — Ah, if only life were simple … if the solutions to problems could be revealed in song … if the frustration of stymied dreams could be eased just by kicking up your heels. And yet the magic of Nunsense II Saturday night at… Read More
Brian Friel’s award-winning play “Dancing at Lughnasa” is a memoir. It’s narrator, Michael, takes us back to his childhood, to the summer of 1936 in the fictional town of Ballybeg in northwest Ireland. In that charmed and formative moment of his life, he was surrounded by his four… Read More
ORONO — A Sunday afternoon discussion and concert at the University of Maine became a celebration of sorts, a gathering of those who envision peace and can’t help but see its ethereal form take shape even when continuous violence threatens to all but obliterate it. Read More
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, which performed Saturday at the Maine Center for the Arts, gives new meaning to the term “gender bending.” Since the middle 1970s, this New York City-based troupe has had the distinction of being an all-male company that performs and parodies classical ballet… Read More
FRUIT TREES FOR THE HOME GARDENER, by Allan A. Swenson, Lyons & Burford, 164 pages, $12.95. A Chinese philosopher once advised people to do three things to ensure their own immortality: Have a child, write a book, and plant a tree. googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
TO GETTYSBURG AND BEYOND, by Michael Golay, Crown Publishers, 436 pages, $27.50. “I tell you the past is a bucket of ashes,” insisted Carl Sandburg. Some of those who disagree compare the past to a lantern whose beams light the way to the future. An… Read More
One had only to close one’s eyes at the Maine Center for the Arts last night to be there on the mean streets of New York as the Sharks and the Jets prepare for their rumble; to be aboard the HMS Pinafore while the sailors celebrate their camaraderie;… Read More
Fourteen of the world’s best figure skaters kept a sellout crowd in awe Friday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland. Discover Card Stars on Ice entertained the audience with a variety of solo, pair and group performances throughout the two-hour event. The… Read More
The musical offspring of the Allman Brothers and the Grateful Dead kept Hutchins Concert Hall dancing Thursday night. Widespread Panic performed a combination of muscular Southern rock and free-flowing jamming for a small but appreciative audience of 550 at the Maine Center for the Arts… Read More
Fans of whodunits, especially those who like a little humor to spice up their murder and mayhem, will enjoy Winterport Open Stage’s version of “Three Murders and it’s only Monday.” The theater group ends its inaugural season with Pat Cook’s play about murder inside the Peaceful Pines Sanitarium. Read More
Few classical composers make it into pop-star status these days, but Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has — largely because of Peter Schaffer’s comic thriller, “Amadeus,” which was a Broadway mega hit in the early 1980s and a big-screen hit in 1984. The story recounts (and, to a large degree,… Read More
It’s no secret that musicals are one of the most popular events at the Maine Center for the Arts. Last night’s touring production of “The Secret Garden,” loosely based on Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1910 novel of the same name, was no exception. Seventy percent of… Read More
If you’re used to watching a series of TV shows over the course of one evening, then the Belfast Maskers, a small theater troupe with big talent, has a wacky treat for you. And, thankfully, it’s not TV shows, but a live series of short one-acts packed with… Read More
If you closed your eyes and listened, it could have been a circus in full, noisy swing. Or elephants rhythmically walking across the plains. Once, it even sounded like someone zipping a whistle of air through an empty straw. But it was the Bangor Symphony… Read More
DOCTORS, THE BIOGRAPHY OF MEDICINE, by Sherwin B. Nuland, Vintage, 489 pages, $15. Dr. Nuland is a fine writer of the Yale group of medical historians. Former head of the department of neurosurgery at Yale Medical School, he has hung up his scalpel for his… Read More
COUNTRY LIVING, COUNTRY DYING, by Able Jones, The Mayfly Press, Augusta, 163 pages, $9.95 paper. Subtitled “A Maine Entertainment,” “Country Living, Country Dying” is an amusing mystery and social satire set in the fictional Maine town of Bosky Dells, described as “… a town that… Read More
ALWAYS, RACHEL: The Letters of Rachel Carson and Dorothy Freeman. Edited by Martha Freeman. Beacon Press. 567 pages. $35. Can two people of the same sex pursue a friendship that is passionate but not carnal? A convincing case in point is that of Rachel Carson… Read More
“Thinkin’ About You” (MCA) — Trisha Yearwood The Georgia blonde keeps her winning streak alive with her fourth album. “Thinkin’ About You” is more upbeat than 1993’s “The Song Remembers When,” probably reflecting Yearwood’s personal life, as she married Mavericks bassist Robert Reynolds last May. Read More
I’ve had it with Robert James Waller. In fact, I had had it with him in 1992 when his first novel, “The Bridges of Madison County,” was published. I found that book trite, redundant, and deeply disconcerting as a national phenomenon. As that book goes… Read More
The Warsaw Sinfonia made its local debut Saturday at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono and performed under Maestro Krzysztof Penderecki (pronounced -etsky) to a smallish audience of a couple hundred people. But the concert, which featured one of the conductor’s recent compositions, was a big… Read More
When it opened on Broadway in 1960, “Camelot” was not a smash hit. It promised all the glory of “My Fair Lady,” which the team of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe has delivered on a previous collaboration. But the production suffered a number of blows — particularly… Read More
Comedian Mark Curry knew he was in unfamiliar territory Friday night. “I just came up here to scare some white people,” Curry told the crowd of 600 at the Maine Center for the Arts. “`You should be playing, shouldn’t you?”‘ googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define… Read More
Michael Moschen has got a thing going on with gravity. The deal seems to be that gravity keeps Moschen’s feet on the ground, but isn’t as insistent about objects around him. At least, that’s what appeared to be happening last night, when Moschen brought his… Read More
It was a term once applied to a style of art that was ornamental, extravagant and rare. Eventually, however, the term baroque — which literally means pearl of irregular shape — came to describe a revolutionary era in music history. And the translation has never… Read More
The annual big band presentation is one of the most popular and lively concerts of the season at the Maine Center for the Arts. Last night, the Battle of the Big Bands, a collection of musicians playing the blockbuster standards from the 1940s, was no exception. For nearly… Read More
It’s no mystery why Penobscot Theatre put Paul Giovanni’s “The Crucifer of Blood,” which opened Friday, into its winter programming. This is a good time of year to whisk theatergoers away to India, where the play opens, and to 221-B Baker Street, the London flat of the master… Read More
HAUNTED ISLAND: True Ghost Stories from Martha’s Vineyard, by Holly Mascott Nadler, Down East Books, 141 pages, $10.95. The veracity of this diverting collection of 20 stories about things that go bump in the night on Martha’s Vineyard is vouched for by the author, an… Read More
“From the Bottom Up” (MJJ/Epic) — Brownstone Brownstone is the latest passenger on the overcrowded harmony train. But the trio, on the vocal strength of this debut album, could soon be the female answer to Boyz II Men. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var… Read More
SIMPLY THE BEST! The Cindy Blodgett Story — The Making of a High School Phenom, by Ron Brown, self-published, 248 pages, $22.95. In this, the latest literary tribute to Cindy Blodgett, a former Lawrence High School basketball star and current member of the University of… Read More
If you have plans to do anything this weekend, try to get out of it. Films, bean suppers, night skiing — just politely cancel. Instead, go to the Grand in Ellsworth and see “Iolanthe,” this year’s winter offering by the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Hancock County. Read More
It was a four-day art attack by the National Symphony Orchestra, which arrived in Maine late last week. The orchestra’s members came to share music and expertise, and in doing so performed several concerts and educational events in venues from Bangor to Presque Isle. Today,… Read More
What does the color green look like to you? For National Symphony Orchestra associate conductor Barry Jekowsky, who directed a family concert on color and light Sunday at the Maine Center for the Arts, it looks like spring, with the trees and flowers coming to… Read More
Imagine a Mediterranean village waking from its afternoon siesta with vendors singing of their wares and customers entering the marketplace. While a merchant’s daughters dance a seductive tango to lure shoppers, a circus arrives with jugglers and monkeys and a ringmaster. The scene is strange… Read More
You’d have to be an curmudgeon of a concertgoer not to be warmed by the classical concert offered by the Bangor Symphony Orchestra Sunday at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono. If you could forgive the shuffles of latecomers during the first number,… Read More
MURDER ON HIGH, by Stefanie Matteson, Berkley Publishing Group, 244 pages, $18.95. “Murder on High,” the sixth Charlotte Graham murder mystery, should be a delight for Mainers to read. Its scene — the “high” in the title — is Mount Katahdin. And the murderer and… Read More
GALAXY GIRLS: WONDER WOMEN: STORIES, by Anne Whitney Pierce, Helicon Nine Editions, 190 pages, $12.95. How would you feel if, at the ripe old age of 8, you overheard a nosy neighbor saying that your single mother was never “sans homme” (“without a man”)? Or,… Read More
NO RICH MEN’S SONS: The Sixth Maine Volunteer Infantry, by James H. Mundy, Harp Publications, 276 pages, $39.95. Robert Penn Warren asserted that our country’s Civil War was the great single event of our history. The somber split between the North and the South over… Read More
“Aqua” (Pyramid/Rhino) — Asia Bet you thought Asia was defunct. But, even though they haven’t dented the charts in the U.S. for a decade, they’re alive and well overseas. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner… Read More
The Maine Center for the Arts was transformed Monday night into an intimate comedy club, as standup comic Paula Poundstone came to Orono with her intelligent, humorous observations. The gangly Poundstone entertained the audience of 900 for 90 minutes with her thoughts on a wide… Read More
Hold no pity in ye heart for Ebenezer Scrooge; save your condolences for the Salvation Army, which hasn’t yet thought of placing a shiny red bucket outside the Penobscot Theatre. Who better to solicit Christmas-time collections from, after all, than the newly replenished souls who… Read More
UNSPOILED HEART: The Journal of Charles Mattocks of the 17th Maine, edited by Philip N. Racine, Voices of the Civil War Series, Frank L. Byrne, series editor, The University of Tennessee Press, 482 pages, $36. Walt Whitman perhaps best described the dread reality of the… Read More
From board books for the very young, to picture books for early readers, and quality fiction for adolescents, there should be something for all the children on your holiday shopping list in this selection of new titles. Books for preschool children: googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
NEW ENGLAND HUMOR, by Cameron C. Nickels, University of Tennessee Press, 277 pages. A book with the title “New England Humor” would be expected to provide ample belly laughs or at least chuckles. Undoubtedly, an anthology would — similar to “Russell Baker’s Book of American… Read More
A YEAR IN THE MAINE WOODS, by Bernd Heinrich, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 258 pages, $22. J. Henri Fabre, celebrated 19th century naturalist whose vivid reports on the life cycle of insects mesmerized the public, was dubbed “the incomparable observer” by Darwin. Although Heinrich’s style is… Read More
“War Paint” (BNA) — Lorrie Morgan On her latest release, Lorrie Morgan takes another step forward as an artist, writing some of her own songs for the first time. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner… Read More
ORONO — Trash day will never be the same for those who witnessed a scintillating performance by Stomp at the Maine Center for the Arts on the University of Maine campus Thursday evening. The eight-member English troupe dazzled the packed house by taking common products,… Read More
When I caught myself singing a gospel version of “On the Street Where You Live” in the car Friday morning, I realized how inspiring the opening night performance of the Bangor-Brewer YWCA’s “My Fair Lady” was Thursday night at Peakes Auditorium. For me, it’s not… Read More
If you’re looking for a good time or upbeat entertainment from a night at the theater, don’t go see “Autumn Elegy,” which opened this weekend at Penobscot Theatre in Bangor. The play, written by Charlene Redick in 1989, is slow, uneventful and long. It’s nearly… Read More
TWO IF BY SEA, by Edward M. Holmes, Nightshade Press, 263 pages, $14.95. University of Maine alumnus and teacher Edward M. Holmes depicts small-town life in Maine during World War II in his new novel. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]];… Read More
ALL THE TROUBLE IN THE WORLD: The Lighter Side of Overpopulation, Famine, Ecological Disaster, Ethnic Hatred, Plague and Poverty, by P.J. O’Rourke, Atlantic Monthly Press, 344 pages, $22. Humor falls into several categories. First comes amusing, second is the slightly humorous, and then there is… Read More
A CELEBRATION FOR MAY SARTON: Essays, edited by Constance Hunting, Puckerbrush Press, 290 pages, $24.95. In June 1992, Westbrook College hosted a national conference titled, “May Sarton at 80,” which celebrated this noted Maine author’s place and importance in 20th-century American literature. Numerous presentations were… Read More
“Platinum Jive” (Capitol) — Big Chief You’ve got to admire the chutzpah of a group that subtitles its major-label debut “Greatest Hits 1969-99.” There’s no sense waiting for the masses and radio to determine what constitutes a hit. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var… Read More
THE BEST MAINE STORIES, edited by Sanford Phippen, Charles Waugh and Martin Greenberg, Down East Books, 312 pages, $11.95. This eponymous anthology of short fiction written by writers long on talent flashes with the prismatic moods of Maine’s people and places. Divided into seasonal categories,… Read More
With the second classical concert of the season completed, the Bangor Symphony Orchestra is showing itself brightly disposed under the direction of conductor Christopher Zimmerman. At Sunday’s concert at the Maine Center for the Arts, the symphony had a mannered style that increasingly seems to be Zimmerman’s mark. Read More
Whether you say “jig” or “gigue,” the Franco-Irish Summit Tour at the Maine Center for the Arts Friday was a rollicking, frolicking, kicking night of music. The combination of Quebec’s La Bottine Souriante and Ireland’s Patrick Street brought together the traditional music of two of Maine’s predominant cultural… Read More
What do you get when you cross an up-and-coming band with a sellout crowd? You get three hours of great music, thanks to Phish and an enthusiastic Bangor Auditorium audience, most of them high school and college age. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var… Read More
It was a little like bringing the mountain to Mohammed, but the Newport Jazz Festival strutted into town last night with its 40th anniversary touring show, which was performed to a sold-out crowd at the Maine Center for the Arts. The 11-man ensemble of good-time jazz musicians left… Read More
Reba McEntire showed a sellout crowd Sunday night at the Augusta Civic Center why she is one of the most popular touring acts in country music. Artists giving stadium shows rife with special effects (in other words, Garth Brooks) have raised the stakes in country… Read More
Those who came to see Tori Amos Friday night at the Maine Center for the Arts got more than just a concert. They got an event. The sell-out, mostly college-age crowd had come to see the critical darling. And they didn’t leave disappointed. googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
He loves them and leaves them. He steals their hearts. He squashes their wills. And then he shamelessly laughs as he reclines on silken pillows and gorges himself with fine foods while he dreams of new ways to ravish women. What a creep that Don… Read More
A disclaimer needs to accompany this review of “Brigadoon,” which opened last weekend and continues this weekend at The Grand in Ellsworth. I hate this musical. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for… Read More
When a stage set has nine entrances, several staircases, a cast of actors playing actors , and a script that meshes slapstick with wisecracks, you can count on laughing. You can, at least, count on some good belly laughs with Michael Frayn’s zany sex comedy “Noises Off,” which… Read More
Newly appointed music director Christopher Zimmerman made his debut appearance Sunday at the first concert for the Bangor Symphony Orchestra 1994-1995 season. In a guest appearance at David Klocko’s lively pre-concert lecture, Zimmerman spoke about preparing this season’s classical concert series. “I tried to give… Read More
MAINE ROOTS: Growing Up Poor in the Kennebec Valley, by Mark Walker, Picton Press, 178 pages, $23. Maine has long enjoyed a reputation — even if undeserved — as inhabited by iconoclastic, hardy, shrewd Yankee traders or seafarers. Casual readers seem to always find humorous… Read More
“Nothin’ But Good” (DECCA) — Dawn Sears A few years ago, with her country-music career failing to take off, Sears was ready to give up and enroll in medical school. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var… Read More
SARAH ORNE JEWETT: Her World and Her Work, by Paula Blanchard, Addison-Wesley, 397 pages, $27.50. This scholarly biography calls to mind a phrase in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”: Rich, not gaudy. Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909) — famed for the evergreen splendor of her magnum opus, “The Country… Read More
POLLY’S MAGIC GAMES: A Child’s View of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, by Constance H. Foster, illustrated by Edwin A. Chase, Dilligaf Publishing, 64 Court St., Ellsworth, 20 pages, $12.95. Polly and Annie, 10 years old and best friends forever, had so much in common they seemed just… Read More
BASEBALL, AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY, by Geoffrey Ward and Ken Burns, Alfred Knopf, $60, 486 pages. The series and the season are history, but Baseball lives on. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for… Read More
THE BIOPHILIA HYPOTHESIS, Stephen Kellert and Edward O. Wilson, editors, Island Press, 484 pages, $27.50. Early in the history of humankind, when sheer survival depended upon a closeness and empathy for all of nature, primitive people populated the world about them with spirits inhabiting the… Read More
What becomes a country-music legend most? It’s charm, modesty and a sense of humor, as Waylon Jennings showed a near-capacity crowd Monday at the Maine Center for the Arts on the University of Maine campus. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]];… Read More
Halfway through Friday night’s performance of the Red Star Red Army Chorus and Dance Ensemble at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono, a man sitting in the last row of the hall said happily, “Watching these people makes my joints hurt!” The “OOOHS”… Read More
After a visit from the 1994 Chinese Youth Goodwill Mission last night at the Maine Center for the Arts, there has been perhaps enough of this brand of “goodwill” to last well into the next Chinese New Year. Although the show began with intriguing images of Chinese culture… Read More
Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll might have been the subtitle of Tabitha King’s new novel “The Book of Reuben.” Add to that the elements of a coming-of-age story, an expose of small-town life, of lust, of love, of murder, alcoholism, adolescence and war, and you have the… Read More
THE GAME OF THIRTY by William Kotzwinkle, Houghton Mifflin, 262 pages, $21.95. It’s all too rare to find the elements of a tightly plotted murder mystery and outstanding literary style between the same covers, but that’s exactly what William Kotzwinkle delivers in his latest novel,… Read More
“Tempted” (Sire/Reprise) — The Waterlillies “Tempted,” the group’s second full-length album, finds the Waterlillies weaving many different sounds into a enveloping sonic sofa into which to settle, transporting the listener away from everyday concerns. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var… Read More
TEMPLE, by George Dennison, edited by Geoffrey Gardner and Taylor Stoehr, Steerforth Press, 195 pages, $19.50. Chuck: “Tall, slim, puzzled, suffering from the difficulties of life here (boredom and the terrible scarcity of jobs) and suffering especially from the failure of his marriage. He works… Read More
A SNAKE IN THE HOUSE, by Faith McNulty, illustrated by Ted Rand, Scholastic, 32 pages, $14.95, ages 5-8 A young boy brings a snake home in a jar, only to have it escape its glass confines and slither through the house, seeking its way back… Read More
IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE BARN?, by Elizabeth Yates, North Country Press, 208 pages, $10.95. Veterinarian Forrest F. Tenney was an uncommon man. Plain of appearance, he nevertheless had a smile that could melt an icicle and his presence in a barn was balm… Read More
Leave it to Bill Raiten to make the impossible dream possible. As artistic director for the Training and Development Corp.’s Theatre Arts Works in Bucksport, Raiten has mounted a production of “Man of La Mancha” that is daring and delightful because of its youthful energy. Read More
The threat of rain daunted no one. They came with chairs. They came with picnics. They brought their dogs and children and honeys. And the people of Bangor and surrounding towns parked themselves in a field at Husson College to listen to the Bangor Symphony Orchestra perform its… Read More
There’s no way to predict all the feelings Brian Friel’s play “Dancing at Lughnasa” may evoke in you. But if you see the Tony Award-winning drama, which opened Friday at the Belfast Maskers Railroad Theater, be prepared to laugh and cry and wonder at the ways of the… Read More