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Tony Frankel
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Film Review: RECON (directed by Robert Port)
RECON NEEDS A REDO There was something strange about Recon even before I saw it. Why is a film that clearly looks like a studio-budget WWII drama showing up on Fathom Events, the distributor that usually veers far from the world of heroic blockbusters, relying on cable, broadcast and Broadway for most of their showings,…
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Review: THE FLATS (Radio Drama from Aurora in Berkeley, CA)
INTRUIGING BEGINNING GOES FLAT As theater companies experiment with ways to continue producing entertainment during COVID, a number of platforms are being experimented with. Live, recorded, Zoom, staged — you name it. But very few have turned to radio, which is surprising. It’s been said that radio is the invisible medium that has the greatest…
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Album Review: JONI MITCHELL ARCHIVES VOL. 1: THE EARLY YEARS (1963-1967)
A BRAND NEW TREASURE TROVE OF JONI Today is quite a special day. Not only did a new President get elected, but it is also Joni Mitchell’s Birthday. How lucky is today? Joni turned 77 on November 7. The slot machine of life also comes up 777 for you. This is one of the greatest…
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Film/Blu-ray: THE VAMPIRE BAT (1933, directed by Frank Strayer, restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive)
PRE-CODE BATTINESS Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from a 35mm composite acetate fine grain master and a 35mm nitrate print, here’s your chance to see the American Pre-Code horror film The Vampire Bat (1933). Director Frank R. Strayer spins a thrilling tale from Hugo nominated screenwriter Edward T. Lowe (House of Frankenstein,…
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Film Review: DARK CIRCLE (Newly Restored; directed by Judy Irving, Christopher Beaver & Ruth Landy)
WHAT GOES AROUND… It’s been 75 years this month since the start of the Atomic Age, with the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing hundreds of thousands of civilians, but its trail of destruction has never ended. Dark Circle covers both the period’s beginnings and its aftermath, providing a scientific primer on the…
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Film Review: MONSOON (directed by Hong Khaou)
REFLECTIONS OF CULTURAL IDENTITY IN A BEAUTIFUL, GRACEFUL FILM An affecting and sturdy Henry Golding (who made his feature debut with Crazy Rich Asians), plays Kit, who hasn’t been to Ho Chi Minh City since he was six, when he was taken to England with his family so they could escape the brutal Vietnam War….
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Film Review: BARE (directed by Aleksandr M. Vinogradov)
THE TITLE SAYS IT ALL More prurient than incisive, Bare documents the creation of an all-male, all-naked modern dance piece by Belgian dancemaker Thierry Smits. From audition to opening night, there are so many wondrous money shots here, artful in a Robert Mapplethorpe style, that we are almost willing to forgive the fact we never…
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Film Review: CRUTCH (directed by Sachi Cunningham and Chandler Evans | DOC NYC Film Festival)
TOUCHED BY CRUTCH If you’re looking for inspiration (and who isn’t these days?), check out the documentary Crutch, which is having its world premiere at the DOC NYC festival from November 11-19. I confess I knew little about Bill Shannon, an almost uncategorizable performance artist who break dances and skates on crutches. Diagnosed in childhood…
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Music Preview: CELLIST DAVID FINCKEL AND PIANIST WU HAN (Beethoven/The Five Sonatas for Cello and Piano, Cal Performances)
A GIFT TO YOURSELF Get ready for cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han’s marathon program of the complete Beethoven sonatas for cello and piano — monumental works in the repertoire but also significant artistic touchstones for these amazingly gifted interpreters, a husband-and-wife duo who have been playing them together for more than 25 years….
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Film Review: DROWNING (directed by Melora Walters)
DROWNING UNDER TOO MANY HATS It’s unimaginable to think what parents go through when their child has been deployed to war. The wait, the worry, the hand-wringing. For Rose (Melora Walters), her son’s deployment has put her in an implacable funk. She found heroin in his room, and told him if he’s gonna die it…
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Theater Review: THE SPIN (Interrobang Theatre Project, Chicago)
THE SPIN IS A SPECTACULAR SPARKLING SPUNKY EXPLOIT Satisfying, enriching, entertaining and proof that Chicago contains some of this country’s greatest actors and theater, The Spin is writer/director Spenser Davis’s brilliant blend of theatric sensibilities in a digital format. This offering from Interrobang Theatre Project in Chicago “opened” last night and it is hands down…
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Theater Review: RUSSIAN TROLL FARM: A WORKPLACE COMEDY (TheaterWorks Hartford, TheatreSquared, The Civilians)
TRENCHANT TROLLS TRIUMPH BY TRANSMOGRIFYING TRUTH Somewhere in the bowels of Saint Petersburg, Russia, there is an agency made up of both Americans and Russians that trolls the internet, creating hashtags and Facebook posts and memes from people who do not exist, and hurl them around the internet so that gullible Americans become so divisive…
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Concert Preview: THE SETH CONCERT SERIES (November 2020)
THE SETH CONCERT SERIES CONTINUES WITH A STUNNING LINE-UP IN NOVEMBER Time and again these live-streamed concerts with the gregarious, giving, gadfly Seth Rudetsky have been uplifting, charming, funny and down-to-earth. Each week, Seth — accompanying Broadway greats on the piano from his New York flat — extemporaneously chats it up with they of the…
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Theater Review: 45 PLAYS FOR AMERICA’S FIRST LADIES (The Neo-Futurists in NYC, Chicago, and San Francisco)
WHO’S ON FIRST, LADIES? The program states: “Rather than presenting a purely biographical story, this project uses the “honorary” office of First Lady as a lens to examine the roles that women and other marginalized individuals have played in the development of America.” That this recorded production is coarse in value only seems to heighten…
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Album Review: ELLA FITZGERALD: THE LOST BERLIN TAPES (Verve)
SHE’S BACK! Ella Fitzgerald’s feathery swinging touch is instantly recognizable: her acumen, heart, and technical finesse ’” that subtlety in deftness and taste ’” combined with her jazzy roots in bebop and novelty, and her skill in using her voice as if it were an instrument, made her the foremost jazz singer in the history…
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Film: SAN DIEGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2020
FILM FESTIVAL COMES HOME I’ve been struggling to find some kind of blessing about the COVID pandemic as it concerns the arts. But it doesn’t look good. Theaters are desperately delivering 10-minute plays and other frivolities; there are a few live music concerts at drive-ins; museums are showing art online; and music and dance organizations…
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Music Preview: 19TH ANNUAL JOHN JARRARD FOUNDATION SONGWRITING SHOW (Bluebird Café in Nashville)
HERE COME THE BLUEBIRDS OF HAPPINESS One of the very few blessings arising from COVID-19 is that concerts that are only seen by a privileged few can now be seen virtually around the globe. Tonight, Friday, Oct. 23 at 8pm ET, the 19th Annual John Jarrard Foundation Songwriter Show will be livestreamed from the Bluebird…
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Event Preview: HUMOR FOR HUMANITY (Jimmy Tingle’s 20/20 Vision: Why Would a Comedian Run for Office?)
NOW, ON A LIGHTER VOTE… As our divided nation approaches the election of 2020 with emotions, passions, and suspicions running at an all-time high, Jimmy Tingle’s 20/20 Vision will entertain, enlighten and challenge you to move beyond the current politics of presidential tweets, sound bites, and the nightly news cycle and into the realm of…
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Review: FATE OF THE LHAPA (soundtrack by William Susman)
IT’S FATE THAT THIS SOUNDTRACK IS AVAILABLE It amazes me how many films today have a soundtrack that isn’t informed by the movie itself. This interchangeable claptrap has made it almost impossible to review. But composer William Susman flavors the setting of Sarah Sifer’s Fate of the Lhapa beautifully. Interestingly enough, I saw this documentary…
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Theater Preview: SKELETON CREW / GUARDS AT THE TAJ (Atlantic Theater Reunion Readings)
TWO DO-NOT-MISS READINGS FROM ATLANTIC THEATER Atlantic Theater Company in New York is presenting a free virtual reading series of plays that had their World Premieres at Atlantic Theater Company. The Fall Reunion Reading Series launches October 22, 2020, and will include broadcasts of Dominique Morisseau’s amazing Skeleton Crew (review) and Rajiv Joseph’s best play to…
Theater Review: ST. NICHOLAS (Black Button Eyes / City Lit / Chicago)
by Croydon Fernandes | July 3, 2026
in Chicago, TheaterFAST PAYOUT CASINOS USA 2026 — 5 BEST INSTANT WITHDRAWAL CASINOS RANKED
by Michael Carr | July 3, 2026
in ExtrasTheater Review: MEN OF SOUL (Black Ensemble Theater / Chicago)
by Mitchell Oldham | July 1, 2026
in Chicago, Theater
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