A WALK THROUGH WALES, by Anthony Bailey, HarperPerennial, 290 pages, $12. By way of preparing to write his 17th book, English author Anthony Bailey boarded a train at Paddington Station for Cardiff, Wales, starting point of his planned walking trip south to north. His ultimate… Read More
ORONO — Tides would be higher and days would be longer if the moon were closer to Earth, a University of Maine professor says in a book that takes readers to where science and speculation meet. The book by Neil Comins, a professor of physics… Read More
THE RUSTICATOR’S JOURNAL, edited by Tammis E. Coffin, Friends of Acadia, Bar Harbor, 104 pages, $14.95. Breathtaking. Awe-inspiring. Historical. Picturesque. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i… Read More
Lace up your saddle shoes. Grease back your hair. “Bye Bye Birdie” is back in town in a community production at Bangor High School’s Peakes Auditorium. With a peppy cast of nearly 40 local actors singing and dancing in this fund-raiser for Penobscot Theatre, there hasn’t been this… Read More
Some men are born great. Some have greatness thrust upon them. Billy Bishop, Canadian flying ace of World War I, falls into the latter category. By virtue of his warfare accomplishment of shooting down 72 enemy aircraft, seven of which he took down singlehandedly, Bishop became a Canadian… Read More
Two weeks ago, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, one of the greatest symphonic groups in the world, played to a half-full concert hall at the Maine Center for the Arts. People are still talking about the event, and the question that comes up the most often is: Why wasn’t… Read More
With 34 albums in 33 years, Elton John has a wealth of material to draw from while in concert. He sang songs from throughout his career for his sold-out evening show Sunday at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland. In an evening filled with… Read More
Imagine a situation in which a vibrant young woman falls in love with a charming young man. They marry, have two children, and their dreams of life and love change a little. Eventually, the husband begins staying out late at night and comes home drunk. And finally, he… Read More
Ancient Czech cave drawings by blind women. Hawaiian hollow-log drum schools that occasionally teach hula. Oujia boards that spell out your past lives. These are the tools of Laurie Anderson’s trade. No, she didn’t have them with her onstage last night at the Maine Center… Read More
After watching Ronald L. Brown play Don Quixote in the Jeriko Entertainment touring production of “Man of La Mancha” Saturday at the Maine Center for the Arts, I feel a little like chasing windmills myself. And, take my word for it, I’m not a person who thinks chasing… Read More
A new season of performing arts began at the Maine Center for the Arts Saturday night with Stars of the American Ballet, an ensemble of principal and core dancers from the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. Perhaps because a similar program opened the season last… Read More
The “Piano Man” himself was in fine form as he kicked off his River of Dreams Tour in Portland Friday night. Billy Joel wasted little time whipping the 9,000-plus fans packing the Cumberland County Civic Center into an early frenzy as he opened his nearly… Read More
It was a victory of substance over style Monday night, as the three Bangor network affiliates got together and taped an information-crammed special report on the Cable Act of 1992. (Ironic, considering the networks themselves usually take the opposite tact.) “The New Cable Law: Your… Read More
If you’re ever planning to go to a Gregory Hines show, here’s a tip for you. Take your tap shoes because Hines is such an audience-centered entertainer, that he may just invite you up to do a few ball-change steps with him. At least that’s what he did… Read More
There’s a common belief that blues is nothing more than a few lyrics built around endless three-chord, 12-bar progressions that, seemingly, anyone can play. Nothing could be further from the truth. While structurally simple, good blues is deceivingly complex. Perhaps more than any other form… Read More
If you were any place other than the Maine Center for the Arts on Saturday night, you missed a most exquisite evening of music. Les Arts Florissants, a vocal and instrumental group that performs music from the 17th and 18th centuries, presented two brief operas, and completely revived… Read More
Machias’ Downriver Theatre Company can never be accused of failing to venture into unchartered waters. “Last of the Red Hot Lovers,” a three-act, Neil Simon comedy, which opened Tuesday, is a case in point. While it might be safer to stick with previously successful, tried… Read More
Amyas Crale was having an affair. So his wife, Caroline, killed him. It was, apparently, that simple. Caroline went to jail, and that was that. But several years later, the convicted murderer died, and left a note to her daughter, Carla, explaining her innocence. Now Carla, at 21,… Read More
This weekend, one of my friends said that she couldn’t go to a movie because the weather was too beautiful. She just couldn’t justify being indoors. I felt the same way as I headed off to Blue Hill to hear a concert at Kneisel Hall. Afterall, these are… Read More
Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson and his powerhouse band, the Magic Rockers, served up a boiling kettle of raw, in-your-face blues Friday at the third annual International Blues Show in Calais. Johnson, a long-time sideman for late Chicago blues icons Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield) and “Magic… Read More
After seeing Tom Logan’s production of “Into the Woods” last night at the Penobscot Theatre, I am still woozy this morning with the lively music and enchantment of the show. And that’s not praise that comes easily from me. I’m a die-hard Sondheim fan, and “Into the Woods”… Read More
Although it’s not important to enjoying the play, there’s a historical detail that really adds intrigue to Moliere’s comic farce “The Imaginary Invalid,” playing through Aug. 8 at Acadia Repertory Theatre. Moliere wrote, staged and acted in the demanding title role of Argan, a hypochondriac governed by his… Read More
Saturday night’s comedy showcase at the Maine Center for the Arts wasn’t everything everybody had hoped for. Co-headliners Ellen DeGeneres and Kevin Pollak both seemed somewhat disappointed looking out into the hall, which was slightly more than half full, and both improvised jokes about the… Read More
A small but appreciative audience was treated in Machias Friday to “Pippin,” which may be Downriver Theatre Company’s most original and insightful production of its five summer seasons. The play, written by Roger O. Hirson, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (“Godspell”), is set… Read More
The Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Hancock County reprised its February production of “Yeomen of the Guard, or The Merryman and His Maid” on Thursday and Friday at The Grand in Ellsworth as a summer treat to the many G&S fans who live and vacation Down East. And… Read More
Nearly 100 years ago, after George Bernard Shaw saw the opening of Oscar Wilde’s play “The Importance of Being Earnest,” he wrote “It amused me, of course, but unless comedy touches me as well as amuses me, it leaves me with a sense of having wasted my evening.”… Read More
A hot, dusty breeze blew across the Blue Hill Fairgrounds yesterday as thousands of fans listened to the legendary folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, who gave a benefit concert following the WERU-FM Full Circle Summer Fair held earlier in the day. Young and old, native and newcomer,… Read More
He’s a curly-haired, diminutive, soft-spoken sax player and not the kind of musical act you’d expect to keep an album in the Billboard Top 10 for 33 straight weeks. But that’s exactly what Kenny G has done with “Breathless.” A properly titled album, to be… Read More
With “Sleuth,” the opening show of Acadia Repertory Theatre’s season, director Ken Stack has gone right for the jugular of summer theatergoing audiences: the detective story. You may have seen the Tony Award-winning two-man show during its long run on Broadway in the 1970s, or the 1972 film… Read More
EDITOR’S NOTE: Maine Style feature writers Dale McGarrigle and Alicia Anstead continue their occasional series of point/counterpoint movie reviews with “The Firm,” which opened Wednesday. Dale: The beach book of 1991 has become one of the hot movies of 1993. Those who loved “The Firm”… Read More
Barley Bree, a trio of string players originally from Ireland and, since 1978, Nova Scotia, made its Maine debut before several hundred people Saturday night at the Maine Center for the Arts. The music was lively and sincere, beautifully performed and indefatigably delivered. In fact, had these jovial… Read More
As I watched “Beauty and the Beast,” performed Saturday by the American Family Theater at the Maine Center for the Arts, I was reminded of the 1970s children’s show “The New Zoo Revu,” and the current popular program “Barney and Friends.” I didn’t like the former, nor do… Read More
Editor’s note: Maine Style feature writers Alicia Anstead and Dale McGarrigle continue their occasional series of point-counterpoint movie reviews with “Sliver,” which opened Friday. Anstead: For weeks before “Sliver” was released, we were taunted by the come-on “You like to watch, don’t you.” But, frankly,… Read More
Alan Jackson returned to the Augusta Civic Center Thursday night after a two-year absence, and came back a more self-assured performer as a headliner. Jackson, dressed in faded blue jeans, a black T-shirt and a white cowboy hat, still proved to be more of a… Read More
If there were an award for musical productions in this town, Ken Stack would win first place for the Broadway-big musicals he keeps mounting on local stages. With “Guys and Dolls,” which plays through May 16 at The Grand, Stack is back on the marquee again with the… Read More
The “storm of the century” prevented the Bangor Symphony Orchestra from presenting its March 14 program, so the concert was rescheduled for yesterday. Although the Maine Center for the Arts was not as full as it might have been during the regular season, the change in dates was… Read More
You’ll have to go to confession after the St. Joseph Healthcare production of “Nunsense,” playing this weekend at Peakes Auditorium. It’s so much fun you’re sure to feel guilty for laughing. The premise of the musical is that a few nuns from the order of… Read More
On a first date with a man she had met, a girlfriend of mine was escorted to an high-style production of “Carmina Burana,” Carl Orff’s scenic cantata about springtime. The chorus sang about love, adoration, frolicking, and the bountiful pleasures of having a boisterously good time in life. Read More
Tom Logan likes musicals, and thank goodness, because every time he decides it’s show time, we get to hear some of the best singers in town perform in one of America’s best-loved musical genres. And probably, if it weren’t for Logan, these people would only be singing once… Read More
Clara Silberhaus, her family, friends and fantasies brought Christmas to town last night with the local opening of “The Nutcracker,” by the Robinson Ballet and Bangor Symphony Orchestra at the Maine Center for the Arts. Traditionally one of the most exciting family events of the holiday season, “Nutcracker”… Read More
Though not a masterwork — how many plays are? — “Charity’s Children” by Timothy Mason is a meritorious piece, well worth spending an evening in the theater. A good-sized, enthusiastic audience greeted this premiere on Friday night at the Penobscot Theatre in Bangor. The play runs through Nov. Read More
Crab rolls, buffaloes, and shuffles are keeping dancers tapping this weekend as the Bangor-Brewer YWCA presents the song-and-dance extravaganza “42nd Street” at Peakes Auditorium. Onstage and off, nearly 100 people have had a hand in this show, directed by former Bangor High teacher James H. Read More
Next year, “Oklahoma!” will be 50 years old. For most musicals, that’s not a big deal, but, for this unfailingly optimistic allegory of American virtue, it’s sure to be a year of revivals. After all, “Oklahoma!” is considered the musical that changed musicals forever by dispensing with an… Read More
A long line of theatergoers wrapped around the outside of the Waterville Opera House Saturday night in the hopes of getting tickets for the premiere gala benefit of the Waterville Performing Arts Centre. There was a buzz of excitement rising from the crowd as people raved about the… Read More
The Bangor Symphony Orchestra made an inspired choice with Mike Reid as the headliner of its first Super Pops concert of its 97th season. Although primarily known as a fledgling country act, the 45-year-old Reid showcased his versatility as a pianist, singer and songwriter Sunday… Read More
Garth Brooks showed why he’s one of the hottest performers not just in country music, but in popular music in general, with a sizzling performance Friday night at the Bangor Auditorium. Some have wondered how a husky man with a receding hairline has become a… Read More
When Janeen Teal was a little girl in the 1950s, she used to hide in her brother’s room and listen to the golden hits of Patti Page on the hi-fi. As did a lot of little girls, Teal played “The Tennessee Waltz” or “Changing Partners” and swelled with… Read More
Wynonna proved that she knew how to win over a crowd on her own Sunday night in Augusta. The daughter half of the longtime country duo The Judds came to the fore in a bold way before 5,200 at the Augusta Civic Center. While her… Read More
When you hear a group like the New England Piano Quartette, you get a vibrant sampling of chamber music the way it was intended to be played: never overbearing and without the tiniest hint of imprecision. Known for presenting unusual programs with style and authority, the Quartette upheld… Read More
Imagine singing “Amazing Grace” to the tune of “Gilligan’s Island,” (and vice versa, too). Or loosely translating the Spanish lyrics of the pop tune “La Bamba” into “La, la, la, listen to your mama.” That’s just what the Chenille Sisters did Saturday night at the Maine Center for… Read More
“The Front Page” has been a popular play since it first hit Broadway in 1928. Written by former reporters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, the farcical story about wily newspapermen has garnered acclaim through the years both on stage and in four film versions. A… Read More
Crickets chirped as the night sky rose with the chants and drum beats of the American Indian Dance Theatre Tuesday night at the Maine Center for the Arts. In the corner of the stage sat a shaman washing himself in smoke that rippled in a light breeze. Tapping… Read More
If all’s well that ends well, then Michelle Shocked’s Arkansas Traveler concert Monday night at the Maine Center for the Arts was an outstanding event. The last 30 minutes of Shocked’s performance, during which she played acoustic guitar with a three-piece string backup, sparkled with the homegrown excellence… Read More
When is the last time you stared into the eyes of a stranger? For approximately 80 theatergoers at Hauck Auditorium, it was Sunday night when Jo Ann Schmidman of Omaha Magic Theatre asked half the audience to look to the left and half to look right during the… Read More
The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky is one of the most celebrated of seminal works that issued in the modern era. At its opening in 1913 in Paris, the disquieting piece created a public scandal that has reverberated through music history. As the first… Read More
A colorful extravaganza of Chinese dramatic arts exploded last night when 18 performers from the Youth Goodwill Mission in Taipei brought their 1992 tour to the Maine Center for the Arts. Made up of amateurs from Taiwan’s colleges and universities, this troupe is one of… Read More
Success has changed life for Steven Wright. The deadpan comic, who will appear at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Maine Center for the Arts, likes to keep traveling, and he once joked “I can move in a cab.” But it’s not that easy anymore. Read More
George Balanchine was not afraid of lines. He focused on them in his symmetrical ballets, and crossed them with his neo-classical choreography. The New York City Ballet, which Balanchine ran from 1948 until his death in 1983, continues to dance these lines in “Hommage a Balanchine,” which was… Read More
WINGS OVER THE SEA, by L.K. Ingersoll, Goose Lane Editions, 142 pages, $15.95. When a friend from nearby Inner Wood Island brought a strange bird to the Moses family museum, Allan Moses could hardly have imagined the future this lost albatross would eventually bring him:… Read More
RUM PUNCH, by Elmore Leonard, Delacorte, 297 pages, $21. I stayed up too late this week, watching Elmore Leonard reruns on cable TV. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i =… Read More
Maine authors and illustrators of children’s books offer a nostalgic remembering of the life of young Italian immigrants in turn-of-the-century New York and a present-day look at cultures around the world. A spellbinding novel for young adults uses a Maine setting for a ghostly tale based on a… Read More
IN THE BACKYARDS OF OUR LIVES, by Rushworth Kidder, Yankee Books, 148 pages, $19.95. This collection of essays by prize-winning Christian Science Monitor columnist and founder of Camden’s Institute for Global Ethics is as refreshing as rain on a hot summer’s day. The genial Kidder… Read More
LITTLE LESS THAN GOD: A Story of Down-East Religion and Politics, by Frederick W. Whittaker, Cay-Bel, 384 pages, $17.50. In graduate school at Yale in the 1940s, Frederick Whittaker received the ultimate insult or compliment, depending upon one’s point of view. “You are an unrepentant… Read More
THE EROTIC SILENCE OF THE AMERICAN WIFE, by Dalma Heyn, Turtle Bay Books, 304 pages, $22. In “The Erotic Silence of the American Wife,” Dalma Heyn tries to understand the problems created by the dichotomy between women’s innate sexuality and the roles women are virtually… Read More
Country music fans got to hear Travis Tritt’s greatest hits Sunday night at the Bangor Auditorium. But they didn’t get a whole lot more music from the performer. Tritt, recently nominated for five Country Music Association awards, was scheduled to play from 9:15 to 10:45… Read More
Maine summer theaters have tended to produce shows that are crowd pleasers: comedies, musicals, love stories, and murder mysteries. Cold Comfort is the exception this summer with Lyle Kessler’s American drama, “Orphans,” which plays through Aug. 22 at Emerson Hall in Castine. A pastiche indebted… Read More
When Vassar Clements plays the fiddle, he makes that fiddle chuckle, guffaw, wail, and whine. It’s amazing to hear, and even more amazing to see, because, while the fiddle laughs away, Vassar Clements appears hardly to break a sweat. But hot he is, and hot… Read More
Sir Claud Amory is dead. And isn’t it too bad because he was just about to gain recognition and wealth for his atomic-bomb formula which would revolutionize mass destruction of humans. Oh well. At least he had his favorite meal of fried sole for dinner, but, my, wasn’t… Read More
“In Our Grandmother’s Attic,” written by Elaine Hewes with music from the 1920s-1940s, is a reunion play that willy-nilly plunges three sisters into a pool of long-ago-filed memories and unexpected discoveries stimulated by the scrapbook and personal effects of their deceased grandmother, Lillian Moore. Sponsored by New Surry… Read More
COLONY, by Anne Rivers Siddons, HarperCollins, 466 pages, $20. Anne Rivers Siddons is a Southern writer, so it was somewhat of a surprise to note her newest book is set in Maine. Siddons has spent summers at Cape Rosier in Penobscot Bay for many years,… Read More
THE CLEVELAND INDIAN: The Legend of King Saturday, by Luke Smith, The Smith, 285 pages, $24.95. Expanding on the legend of Louis Sockalexis, the Penobscot Indian from Old Town who starred in national baseball a century ago, Luke Smith has woven an intricate tale about… Read More
IN THE HANDS OF PROVIDENCE: Joshua L. Chamberlain and the American Civil War, by Alice Rains Trulock, University of North Carolina Press, 569 pages, $34.95. “The Civil War is, for the American imagination, the great single event of our history. Without too much wrenching, it… Read More
Paul Corrigan’s first poems were about childhood summers at his family’s camp at Millinocket Lake. In his latest collection of poems, “At the Grave of the Unknown Riverdriver,” a $10.95 premium trade paperback from Maine’s North Country Press, he writes, “Those early years fostered in me an appreciation… Read More
CHIMNEY POND TALES: Yarns Told by Leroy Dudley, by Clayton Hall, Jane Thomas, and Elizabeth Harmon, Pamola Press, 114 pages, $9.95. Leroy Dudley was a guide of some renown on Maine’s majestic Mount Katahdin during the late 19th century until his death in 1942. Ray,… Read More
Animals in fiction and non-fiction, a mother’s cure for a daughter’s blister, and a Native American tale round out the offerings from these Maine authors and illustrators of children’s books. TALES AT THE MOUSEHOLE, by Mary Stolz, illustrated by Pamela Johnson, Godine, 101 pages, $15.95,… Read More
Popular Opera of Pittsfield, a New York City band of singers that performs Gilbert and Sullivan shows in Maine each year, offered one of last summer’s most memorable hits with “Pirates of Penzance.” It was gloriously well-done — funny, crisp, sophisticated — even for Maine, where the G&S… Read More
I don’t have any statistics to back this up, but the soft-rock musical “Godspell” must be one of the corniest musicals ever to hit the stage. The show’s success is truly miraculous given that it uses manufactured festivity and vaudevillian tricks to present a simplistic and cloying portrayal… Read More
What has a Diva and her banshees, a lizardman named Trink, a space punk and his band of out-of-this-world superheroes and the villainous Shak Graa, ruler of the Innerworld? They all can be found in Downriver Theater Company’s “Starmites,” a sci-fi comedy-adventure which opened Tuesday… Read More
Brass-band enthusiasts may have been entranced by the New Orleans sounds of the ReBirth Brass Band last night at the Maine Center for the Arts. And they were right to appreciate the fine musical talents of this young eight-piece ensemble devoted to playing respectable jazz… Read More
The slings and arrows of love were some pretty dangerous tools back in Cupid’s time. If you got caught in a scandalous liaison, you could lose your voice forever, or lose your ability to love anything but your own reflection. In either case, eternity is a little harsh… Read More
Two very different groups took the stage at the Bangor Auditorium Monday night, with the main similarity being that both bands have their roots in Maine. Devonsquare, made up of Portland’s Herb Ludwig and New Hampshire natives Tom Dean and Alana McDonald, returns to Bangor… Read More
Music review Concertgoers attending Patty Loveless’ afternoon show Friday got the usual greatest hits package common to shows at the Bangor State Fair. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i =… Read More
If you’re one of the consumers who became frustrated with criticism of U.S. workers and decided to buy American-made products, the Made in the USA Foundation has published a book you probably would find useful. “Made in the USA, 1992 Edition” lists hundreds of products… Read More
“The Sunshine Boys,” now playing through Aug. 9 at Acadia Repertory Theatre, is surely one of Neil Simon’s funniest plays. A rambling two-hour series of one-liners and who’s-on-first routines honed during Simon’s early days as a gag writer, the script can make us laugh big laughs at every… Read More
Music Review A near-capacity crowd at the Maine Center for the Arts was treated to a concert by one of the great young voices in country music, Suzy Bogguss. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner… Read More
THE DREYFUS AFFAIR: A Love Story, by Peter Lefcourt, Random House, 290 pages, $20. It’s 1995 and Randy Dreyfus is the best-hitting, best-fielding and most happily married shortstop in the American League West. As he leads his expansion team, the Los Angeles Valley Vikings, through… Read More
THE WORLD ALMANAC OF PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS, by Eileen Shields-West, illustrated by Jeff MacNelly, World Almanac, 250 pages, $10.95, paperback. This year’s presidential campaign is shaping up to be one of the most interesting in recent history. The stakes are so high and the climate so… Read More
MAINE IN TRANSITION, by Betty Joyce, Phoenix Publishing Co., 219 pages, $25. I have heard it said that there are two Maines — one north of Bangor, and the other south of there. I’m not sure with which half Bangor itself would prefer to be… Read More
Rebecca L. Goodwin, author of “Their Eyes Hath Seen the Glory,” recently gave a presentation of her soon-to-be-released book at the Friends of the Lincoln Memorial Library reception. The reception was held to celebrate the incorporation of the Friends group. Goodwin, a Lincoln resident, retold… Read More
NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION: Money, Firepower, Fear, by Josh Sugarmann, National Press Books Inc., Washington, D.C., $19.95. The NRA is made up of some very bad and stupid people, if you believe Josh Sugarmann. Sugarmann is the author of “National Rifle Association: Money, Firepower, Fear.” He… Read More
GERALD’S GAME, by Stephen King, Viking, 303 pages, $23.50. In his tightly crafted new novel, “Gerald’s Game,” Stephen King delivers a strange and disturbing mix of elements. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false;… Read More
ANSEL ADAMS: Our National Parks, edited by Andrea G. Stillman and William A. Turnage, Little, Brown and Co., 127 pages, 80 duotone illustrations, $16.95. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote that only one picture in 10,000 was worthy of the applause of mankind. He was wrong. Less than… Read More
SECOND TO NONE: The Story of the 2d Maine Volunteers, “The Bangor Regiment,” by James H. Mundy, Harp Publications, 280 pages, $34.95. Finally, someone has spent the time and the energy necessary to put into perspective the monument to the 2nd Maine Regiment of Volunteers… Read More
WHERE THE BLUEBIRD SINGS TO THE LEMONADE SPRINGS: Living and Writing in the West, by Wallace Stegner, Random House, 227 pages, $21. This collection of essays by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Stegner takes its title from the hobo ballad “The Big Rock Candy Mountain” that Harry… Read More
FATHERLAND, by Robert Harris, Random House, 338 pages, $21. Berlin, 1964: President Kennedy — that’s Joseph P., not John F. — is coming to town to meet with the Fuhrer. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var… Read More
At the end of the first act in Simon Gray’s pseudo-thriller “Stage Struck,” Widdecombe, a glib psychologist, questions Robert, the jilted and vengeful husband of stage star Anne O’Neill. His inquisition comes with rapid-fire directness:”How often have you been unfaithful to your wife? Have you harbored any desires… Read More
MACHIAS — One of Washington County’s best kept secrets may be the Lubec-based Harmony Seekers. For two hours Friday, the Rubicon Playhouse in Machias echoed with nostalgia as the Harmony Seekers sang, marched and performed skits in a program titled “Music From the War Years.”… Read More
DAVID AND JONATHAN: On Coming of Age and Surviving the Holocaust, by Cynthia Voight, Scholastic, 249 pages, $14.95. This is a story of the friendship of two young men, forged, torn asunder, and healed. Henry Marr, a starchy New England Gentile, and Jonathan Nafiche, youngest… Read More
PARLIAMENT OF WHORES, by P.J. O’Rourke, Vintage Books, 233 pages, paperback, $12. Call him the cynic’s cynic. 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
OH CANADA! OH QUEBEC! by Mordecai Richler, Knopf, 227 pages, $23. Mordecai Richler’s gift of writing is gilded with wit and wisdom. Born and bred in Montreal, he brings to his perceptive analysis of Quebec’s insatiable hunger for separation from Canada a shrewd assessment of… Read More