Culture Watch

Who Would Think to Pair Andy Warhol and Norman Rockwell?

by Bruce Chadwick

The curators at the Norman Rockwell Museum, in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in a new, fascinating, exhibit.

The Real Animals at a 1950s Zoo: Review of the Edward Albee Play

by Bruce Chadwick

"At Home at the Zoo" is a very strong play, highlighted by astonishingly good acting, and calls into question much about our lives.

Why You Don’t Want to Marry Your Pen Pal

by Bruce Chadwick

A review of "Intimate Apparel," a long, gripping saga about race, class and gender in turn-of-the-century America, a time when the nation was bursting with yet another wave of immigrants, rising crime and political upheaval.

Yes, You Should See the Movie About Dunkirk

by Bruce Chadwick

Despite weaknesses, "Dunkirk" is a stunning, new and different kind of war movie.

How Shakespeare Imagined Julius Caesar's Invasions of Britain

by Bruce Chadwick

The play is Cymbeline.  The latest production is being staged in the Berkshires.

Still Playing at the Byrd Theater after Nearly Ninety Years …

by Bruce Chadwick

The Byrd, one of the oldest movie houses in America, opened its doors in 1928 in Richmond and except for a brief seven-month period in the late 1970s, never closed them.

Should Smart Black Students Be Sent to Special Schools?

by Bruce Chadwick

That's the question addressed in a new play, "Pipeline," running at Lincoln Center. 

A Revealing New Tribute to America’s Architectural Genius – Frank Lloyd Wright

by Bruce Chadwick

Frank Lloyd Wright was to architecture what Michelangelo was to painting. They were both geniuses, both eccentric and their works will live forever, as a new exhibit shows.

Now Shakespeare's Being Set in a New Jersey Junkyard?

by Bruce Chadwick

Yes. It's  "A Midsummer Night’s Dream."  And it works.

How's that New Movie About Slain Rapper Tupac Shakur?

by Bruce Chadwick

"All Eyez on Me" is a fierce, vivid look at rap music history in the 1990s and the way that Tupac and his music shook up a nation of young people in search of a new world and a new star to lead them to it.

Deep Soap Opera and Villainess (?) in 1830s England

by Bruce Chadwick

"My Cousin Rachel" is a delicious romantic puzzle and a good old English family squabbles tale, and DuMaurier fans will love it.

The Shameful Attack on the New York Public Theater Production of “Julius Caesar”

by Ed Simon

What the rightwing is really upset about is how Shakespeare helps us see the tyrant for what he is.

A Playwright Set Out to Draw Attention to the Overlooked Larger-than-Life Black Characters in the Old West

by Bruce Chadwick

Alas, Bella: An American Tall Tale, is a struggle to sit through. 

Does Oliver Stone Have a Weak Spot for Dictators?

by Peter Kuznick

That’s what some people think. It’s not true.

Wonder Woman Takes on the Germans, the God of War and Any Villain She Can Find in WW I

by Bruce Chadwick

This movie shows that not only are girls smarter than boys, but they can crack heads better than them, too.

How Hollywood Keeps Getting Afghanistan Wrong

by Robert W. Thurston

From the glory of Charlie Wilson’s War to the pathos of Brad Pitt’s new movie, War Machine.

Mary Poppins Soars Again in 1910 England

by Bruce Chadwick

See the Paper Mill’s Mary Poppins. It is, in a word, adorable.

Forget Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller: This Band Can Really Play the Music of WWII

by Bruce Chadwick

A dynamic new musical not only recreates the big band sound of the 1940s with all new music, but provides a fascinating look into the lives of the returning soldiers and the women and friends they left behind them when they went off to war.

Marketing World War I Through Posters: An Exhibition that Feels Frighteningly of the Moment

by Bruce Chadwick

"This exhibition helps us confront challenging themes that are part of our nation’s history and have never completely faded into the past."

Murdering the Tsar and His Family – Set to Music

by Bruce Chadwick

The new Broadway musical "Anastasia" tells the story of the daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last monarch of Russia. The play is dazzling  –  one of the best musicals of the year, a historical thriller and a sure-fire multiple Tony nominee.