“Sing” delivers a joyful musical for all ages

Seana Rowell
April 27, 2017
Filed under Arts & Entertainment

In 2016’s “Sing,” everyone wants to be a star: the young kid singing in a city alleyway while keeping an eye out for cops; the stay-at-home-mom hopelessly trying to convince her houseful of kids and too-busy-too-notice husband that she’s just as good as the girl on the radio; the girlfriend playing...

In the Moog: odd pub, good grub

Melenie Peters
April 27, 2017
Filed under Arts & Entertainment

After opening the door to Moogs Place, which shares a building with Fisher Auto Parts next to the Bijou theater in Morrisville, I entered a dimly lit, small dining room. Goldenrod yellow walls did nothing to brighten the place. The people seated at tables on the opposite wall looked up disapprovingly...

Skinny Pancake oozes flavor

Nellie Tamboe
April 27, 2017
Filed under Arts & Entertainment

Snow fills the air on Montpelier’s bustling Main Street. Many people, their faces pink and pinched from the wind, hurry into various shops in a race to get out of the cold. Up ahead is an inviting brick building with a rustic sign painted on it reading The Skinny Pancake. Instantly after...

“Cabaret” brings wonderful Weimar weirdness to Dibden

Cayla Fronhofer
April 27, 2017
Filed under Arts & Entertainment

When the lights went dark and the audience quieted, a voice rang through the space, introducing the play and discouraging the use of cellphones during the performance. The anticipation felt oddly like the beginning of a ride at an amusement park, and I watched the stage with rapt attention. “Cabaret”...

George Saunders’ tortured Lincoln

Josh Lemay
April 27, 2017
Filed under Arts & Entertainment

While “Lincoln in the Bardo” is George Saunders’ seventh foray into the world of fiction, it is his first, and thus far only, journey into the land of novel writing. The author of the brilliant collections “Tenth of December” and “Pastoralia” rose to national attention with a dark and cutting...

Viewers beware: You’re in for a trip with this looney movie

Avery Bliss
April 27, 2017
Filed under Arts & Entertainment

I’ve never tried LSD. But I have a sneaking suspicion that the effects of the drug would be remarkably similar to watching the movie “Looney Tunes: Back in Action,” because I don’t quite trust my eyes or mind anymore. “Back in Action,” which came out in 2003, hasn’t aged quite...

Wooden acting and dumb beards in a sad “King Arthur” knock-off

Avery Bliss
April 14, 2017
Filed under Arts & Entertainment, Movies

I realize that, right now, Hollywood is currently in the phase where remaking movies is all the rage. Sometimes that works out and the audience gets a halfway decent movie, like the recent “Godzilla” movie. And then other times, the remake drifts into the territory of “lock it in the basement...

Original play offers unique look at mental illnesses

Cayla Fronhofer
April 14, 2017
Filed under Arts & Entertainment, Stage

The theater is dark and quiet until white lights suddenly sweep across the stage, accompanied by the sound of a car’s engine. It quiets, white lights shift to red, and the sound of a blinker is heard. After a moment, the sounds fade and the play begins. “The Cover of a Book” is an original play...

New book addresses farcical coverage of 2016 election

Lisa Kent
April 14, 2017
Filed under Arts & Entertainment

Matt Taibbi is a Rolling Stone correspondent and an author. During 2015-2016, he reports on the presidential campaign and the ensuing election, and then combines his dispatches into “Insane Clown President.” Before he starts his dispatches, he writes of his prior book “The Great Derangement,”...

Disney remake brings beauty and anachronism to the big screen

Emily Mullaney
April 14, 2017
Filed under Arts & Entertainment, Movies

“Beauty and the Beast” was extravagantly gorgeous, well written and performed well. Director Bill Condon (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn 1 and 2) struck a good balance between following the old story and adding new material. While most of the new material is nice, none of it is essential, and some...

Throwing back to hairspray and classic rock in “Adventureland”

Avery Bliss
March 23, 2017
Filed under Arts & Entertainment, Movies

Hey, do you like the ’80s? Teenage angst? Kristen Stewart trying her damnedest to make a normal human expression? Well then, “Adventureland,” featuring Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart, is the movie for you. Even though this movie came out only a few years ago, it has that definite feel...

Wolverine’s last ride

Cayla Fronhofer
March 23, 2017
Filed under Arts & Entertainment, Movies

Three years after his second solo film, Wolverine has returned to the big screen with his claws out and his taciturn demeanor fully intact. Following the enormous success of last year’s “Deadpool,” 20th Century Fox has released its second attempt at an R-rated X-Men film: “Logan,” the 10th...