Arts

Beyond the big top

Cirque du Soliel's acrobatic theater
Calling Cirque du Soleil a circus is like calling Cinderella's splendiferous carriage a pumpkin. They're starting their 25th anniversary tour at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence (July 2 through 5) and, compared to Cirque, an ordinary circus appears vegetative, indeed.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | July 01, 2009

Funny business

Louis C.K. has work to do
"I'm pasty, pale, overweight and I have red hair. I see that Coldstone Creamery and I want to crawl inside and hide," Louis C.K. responded when I asked if he recalled just how disgustingly hot and muggy Rhode Island could be during his 4th of July headlining set at the Newport Yachting Center.

By: CHRIS CONTI | July 01, 2009

K is for clown

The lighter side of global annihilation
The lighter side of global annihilation

By: CLIF GARBODEN | June 30, 2009

Gershwin done right

Crazy For You's delightful musical mayhem
Crazy for You , the 1992 homage to the Gershwin brothers' 1930 musical Girl Crazy , is rockin' the rafters at Theatre By the Sea (through July 11). Building inspectors are going to have to check out the Matunuck summer barn theater for damage after every show, if the opening night musical mayhem is going to continue.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | June 24, 2009

Use your delusion

RWU'S Fool for Love hits emotional high notes
Fool for Love is pure Sam Shepard, as the playwright packs in an explosive blend of myth and Eros, ambiguity and knee-in-the-gut certitude, boiling it all down into less than an hour of existential essence. The current rendition at Roger Williams University Barn Summer Playhouse will impress even demanding theatergoers with its emotional confidence and finesse.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | June 23, 2009

Mixing it up

"Two Sculptors and a Painter" at RIC's Bannister Gallery
It seems like a simple exercise you might give students: Get a bunch of plastic bottles, lots of thread, and make some art from it. It's the kind of assignment teachers give to get students thinking about sculptural form and structure. And usually the results feel like a dumb exercise.

By: GREG COOK | June 24, 2009

Dr. Lovemonkey: Dress you up in my love

Dr. Lovemonkey answers your questions
Huh?

By: Dr. Lovemonkey | June 23, 2009

Newman's own

Mainstream life, good read
Among Shawn Levy's books is one of my favorite film bios, King of Comedy , with crazy-guy Jerry Lewis, so show-off goofy and schmaltzy, spilling all on every exuberant, excessive page.

By: GERALD PEARY | June 24, 2009

Endurance Reads

Summer-Book Therapy Sessions
Beach reading . The very phrase is abhorrent to book lovers, connoting as it does cheap paperbacks, tumescent with air-dried seawater and crunchy with sand, paragraph after paragraph of poorly written pulp meant to be read as fast as the passing of summer itself.

By: MIKE MILIARD | June 17, 2009

It Does Come Easy

Ringo Starr At Chabot, Quinn Taylor At Stairwell
Ringo Starr was the best artist in the Beatles. And, I believe, the best artist to appear on Shining Time Station too. (Sorry, George Carlin.) It feels really weird to say, but it's the undisputable conclusion I drew from seeing "Ringo Starr — Artist" at Chabot Fine Art Gallery (379 Atwells Avenue, Providence, through June 27).

By: GREG COOK | June 16, 2009

Hooked

Michael Stein Examines The Addict
Providence author and physician Michael Stein has an uncanny ability to make a medical case history read like a novel in his newest book, The Addict (William Morrow, 288 pages, $26). It's not only that he makes us care about the patients whose lives he describes; it's also that he puts himself into the narrative.

By: JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | June 16, 2009

The Ch-Ch-Ch-Change

Menopause The Musical at Trinity
If men had menopause, going postal would be the rule rather than the exception, and we'd have to get our mail from carrier pigeons.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | June 16, 2009

Numbed by Numbers

Children of the Dnipro should show, not tell
Such a difficult task, bringing horrific historical events to theatrical life. Ironically, the more vast the horror, the more difficult the challenge. Imagine the full sweep of something as enormous as the Holocaust reduced to stage scale.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | June 09, 2009

Time Machines

New pictures from old negatives at the PPL
There is a golden formula in photography: photo plus time equals increasing allure. Old books and poetry, old television and movies can turn stilted, tedious. But photos seem to grow ever more compelling with age, even if the shots were boring when they were first made.

By: GREG COOK | June 12, 2009

States of the art

New England museums worth traveling for
In New England, where you can't swing a sack of cranberries without hitting a venerable cultural institution, anyone with access to a car (or even a subway pass) can scope out these topnotch art museums.

By: SHAULA CLARK | June 09, 2009

Photos: From century-old glass plate negatives

An exhibit of photos from century-old glass plate negatives
An exhibit of photos from century-old glass plate negatives at the Providence Public Library

By: PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY | June 11, 2009

Frank's way

Simply Sinatra at Theatre by the Sea
Musical revues can be like videos of old golf tournaments — endless, amiable tedium interspersed with opportunities to wake up and smile nostalgically. Not so with My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra , at least not with this terrific production opening the season at Theatre by the Sea (through June 14).

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | June 02, 2009