US – Sunday, March 14
The Grid
The week's releases
Metro staff reviews the latest CDs, DVDs and books for your reading pleasure.
 
My Television
Metro’s spring ’10 guide to television
Check us out all this month for our picks for the best series premieres, season returns and must-see episodes.
 
Music
Run this town
No living man but Jay-Z could get a sold out Boston arena so excited about New York City. But for two hours last night, the sold out crowd at the Garden was in an Empire State of Mind, as “The Blueprint 3” tour rolled into town.
 
The Word
Is nothing in her life real anymore?
When we first read that Heidi Pratt was firing husband Spencer Pratt as her manager, we thought, “Yay! Heidi’s new face is finally doing something right!” But then we found out that although she did fire Spencer, it seems like she’s replacing him with psychic Aiden Chase to take the reigns on her “career” — and then we got scared.
 
Movies
Pattinson: A vampire in Brooklyn
Robert Pattinson has been playing Americans so often that he has forgotten how to talk like a Brit. In his latest, “Remember Me,” the “Twilight” heartthrob stars as a soulful young New Yorker attending NYU, but he insists he didn’t need any help sounding like a native. “I’ve never had a dialect coach or anything,” Pattinson says. “Ironically, I’ve only had a dialect coach for this film I’m doing now, which I’m doing in an English accent. I guess I’ve forgotten how to do an English accent.”
 
Updated 23:05, September the 19th, 2007
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Stellar!

New Rep’s ‘Streetcar’ worth the ride

REVIEW. The New Repertory Theatre Company’s production of “A Streetcar Named Desire” is definitely a ride worth taking. The three-plus hour foray into the depressing world of Tennessee Williams is emotionally and physically draining, but director Rick Lombardo pulls off a masterful telling of the classic tale of Southern belle Blanche DuBois and her steamy, life-changing summer in the home of her sister, Stella, and angry, jealous brother-in-law, Stanley.

Everyone knows the film, and everyone’s heard someone yell “Stella” in his or her best Marlon Brando voice. As Stanley, Todd Alan Johnson tries just a bit too hard not to be Brando, and the result is an oddly South Jersey-sounding Stanley whose apish, aggressive walk belies the soft qualities Johnson brings to the role. Brute is better, at least in the Kowalski household.

Rachel Harker is a perfect Southern lady as her Blanche overtakes the dumpy flat, but her descent into insanity could use a bit more reserved Southern charm and much less hysteria.

You can go mad without going over the top.

As Stella, Marianna Bassham delivers a flawless performance. Though grounded, accepting of her fate and wonderfully uncomfortably pregnant, she subtly takes you on an emotional rollercoaster ride that even the actress herself has a hard time shaking by curtain call. 

Bates Wilder also delivers an understated yet powerful performance as Mitch, the quiet, awkward sometimes suitor of Blanche, whose own desperation and fear is barely concealed by his “aw shucks” demeanor. Maureen Keiller brings great warmth and humor to the production as the upstairs neighbor, Eunice Hubbell, and Paul D. Farwell finds the perfect mix of pathetic and sleazy as her husband, Steve.

The dumpy Janie E. Howland set creates the perfect tone for the piece, and Frances Nelson McSherry’s costumes seem to almost mirror the emotional changes the characters experience.

There is no happy ending in this part of New Orleans, but you can still enjoy a powerful, rewarding, albeit depressing, journey into the bleak world of Tennessee Williams’ “Streetcar.”

‘A Streetcar Named Desire’
Through Oct. 7
The Arsenal Center for the Arts
321 Arsenal St., Watertown
617-923-8487
www.newrep.org
 

 
 
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Music
MMMpod
The March MMMpod features conversation and music from Surfer Blood and The Allman Brothers Band (There's a double-bill you're not too likely to see. However, Gregg Allman does mention Hannah Montana!). We also speak with Vampire Weekend and the Dropkick Murphys.
 
 
 
Metro Life Panel
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