This week WGBH News’ Arts Editor Jared Bowen reviews an exhibition commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Boston Massacre and gives us his take on “rEVOLUTION” by Boston Ballet. Plus, a review of “The Treasurer” presented by Lyric Stage Company of Boston.
“Fire! Voices from the Boston Massacre,” free to the public and on view at the Massachusetts Historical Society through June 30
To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Boston Massacre, the Massachusetts Historical Society presents an exhibition re-examining what happened on that fateful night in Boston. Through a selection of artifacts, documents and testimony from the everyday men and women who witnessed the conflict between colonists and British soldiers, the Massachusetts Historical Society pieces together the muddy, sensational and sometimes contradictory pieces of evidence of the historic event.
“People were walking around on a dark evening in late winter without any lighting, really,” says librarian Peter Drummey. “Even a single witness could give several different, not necessarily substantially different, but different versions of their testimony.”
“rEVOLUTION,” presented by Boston Ballet at the Citizens Bank Opera House through March 8
Boston Ballet’s latest program is a nod to three choreographers who both revolutionized ballet and, as the title suggests, also charted its evolution. “rEVOLUTION” opens with “Agon,” choreographed by George Balanchine with music by his friend and longtime collaborator Igor Stravinsky. The second program is a knockout glimpse of bright humanity with Jerome Robbins' “Glass Pieces,” with music by Philip Glass. Closing the show is frequent Boston Ballet collaborator William Forsythe’s “In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated,” which he originally created for the Paris Opera Ballet in 1987 and set to an electronic score by Thom Willems.
“The Treasurer,” presented by the Lyric Stage Company of Boston through March 22
Guilt, dementia and family obligations collide as the Lyric Stage Company presents Max Posner’s “The Treasurer.” The play centers on a man (Ken Cheeseman) charged with controlling his elderly mother Ida’s (Cheryl McMahon) finances after his siblings discover how bankrupt she is. It’s a lofty task for a man who feels no connection to the woman who abandoned her family decades prior.
“It’s a morass of morals at play,” says Jared. “Unfortunately, this production is something of a morass itself, with a series of scenes that don’t meet the emotional tenor of the issues at hand.”
