Events Feedback
New This WeekAround TownMusicFilmArtTheaterNews & FeaturesFood & DrinkAstrology
  HOME
NEW THIS WEEK
EDITORS' PICKS
LISTINGS
NEWS & FEATURES
MUSIC
FILM
ART
BOOKS
THEATER
DANCE
TELEVISION
FOOD & DRINK
ARCHIVES
LETTERS
PERSONALS
CLASSIFIEDS
ADULT
ASTROLOGY
PHOENIX FORUM DOWNLOAD MP3s



Waiting to exhale
Breath, Boom to premiere in Boston, Ute Lemper pays a visit, grand pianists converge on Symphony Hall, Club Passim marks a milestone.



Deep Breath

Commissioned by London’s Royal Court Theatre and debuted in America by New York’s Playwrights Horizons in 2001, Harlem playwright Kia Cothron’s Breath, Boom — which follows 16-year-old Prix, the leader of a teenage girl gang who, in the course of a 14-year odyssey from the streets to prison and back, becomes obsessed with creating the perfect fireworks display — will get its Boston debut in March courtesy of the Huntington Theatre. The Huntington is hoping to attract a younger, hipper audience to the show with a "pay-your-age" scale for anyone under 35 (which is more of a bargain if you’re in your teens or scoring the high-end seats). But it’s also using the production to promote a violence-prevention program in Dorchester. On February 27, cast members from Breath, Boom join Urban Improv and a panel of poets, educators, and former gang members for "Girl Gangs: Get Out While You Can," including excerpts from the play and a discussion to follow, at the Strand Theatre, 543 Columbia Road. There’s a $5 suggested donation for the event to benefit the Strand. Call (617) 282-8000. Meanwhile, Breath, Boom runs March 7 through April 26 at the Huntington, 264 Huntington Avenue in Boston. Tickets are $14 to $64; call (617) 266-0800.

Life as a cabaret

With Hollywood’s Chicago reviving the commercial prospects of the musical, and something of a grass-roots cabaret revival taking hold in dives from San Francisco to New York, there couldn’t be a better time to get another look at Ute Lemper, the vampish German-born star of stage and screen who, taking up where Piaf and Dietrich left off, has been the foremost popularizer of the decadent Weimer art-song tradition. She returns to the well of Weill, Brecht, and Brel on her forthcoming But One Day (out now in Japan, and coming soon domestically on Decca), which also features four of her own tunes. And she’ll make a rare Boston visit to the Berklee Performance Center, 136 Mass Ave, as part of World Music’s CrashARTS schedule, on April 26 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 to $37; call (617) 876-4275.

Twelve grand

A dozen of Boston’s top pianists converge on Symphony Hall next month to tickle the ivories in tribute to Steinway pianos, the Cadillac of keyboards. Among the performers for "Steinway at 150": Anthony di Bonaventura, Gabriel Chodos, Hershey Felder, Sarah Grunstein, Tong-Il Han, Veronika Jochum, Max Levinson, Joe Parillo, Andrew Rangell, Janice Weber, and Bob Winter. They’ll be playing pieces designed to show off the merchandise, including the first movement of Mozart’s Sonata in D for Two Pianos; Rachmaninoff’s Waltz from Second Suite, Two Pianos; and a jazz duet by Parillo and Winter. That’s on March 15 at 7:30 p.m.; Symphony Hall is at 301 Mass Ave in Boston. Tickets are $30 to $50, or $100 for VIP seats including a post-concert reception; all proceeds benefit Boston Symphony Orchestra’s youth-outreach programs. Call (617) 266-1200.

Passim turns 45

Two thousand three is already shaping up to be the year we return to a budget-cut economy, which means that as our troops prepare for war, the rest of us will be holding bake sales for nonprofits. That’s a class that includes Club Passim, the Harvard Square venue whose worth in the folk-music world cannot be overstated — Dylan, Baez, yadda yadda. But it’s worth remembering that Passim also supports the kind of arts education — through its "Culture for Kids" program and the Club Passim School of Music — that’s now less likely to show up in your local public school. And those programs are the benefactors of the venue’s annual benefit concert — "Club Passim: 45 Years of Folk Music Culture" — at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy Street, on March 14 at 8 p.m. Headlining is blues and folk legend Odetta, with additional performances by Greg Brown, Garnet Rogers, Rachel Davis, and the Resophonics. Tickets are $25 to $45; if you’d prefer a more personal view, on-stage VIP seats are available for $100. Call (617) 496-2222.

Issue Date: February 13 - 20, 2003
Back to the Editors' Picks
table of contents.

home | feedback | about the phoenix | find the phoenix | advertising info | privacy policy | the masthead | work for us

 © 2003 Phoenix Media Communications Group