Arts

Arts

‘Company’ Broadway revival puts fresh spin on classic Sondheim musical

By Nate Hall | April 25

Last November, the world lost a giant of musical theater when Stephen Sondheim died at the age of 91. His musicals, including “Sweeney Todd” (1979), “Sunday in the Park with George” (1984) and “Into the Woods” (1986), had a profound impact on generations of performers and theatermakers. His work lives on in last year’s film adaptation of “West Side Story” (2021) and a recent off-Broadway production of “Assassins” (1990), but perhaps the best commemoration of Sondheim since his passing is the revival of “Company” (1970), currently playing on Broadway at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre.

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Columns

The Art of Good Soup: Seder? I hardly know her!

By Sadie Leite and Ellie Lester | April 25

Today, we’re gonna be talking about an uncontested staple. The lifeblood of every Jewish family. The centerpiece of the Seder. The magnum opus of every little grandmother chanting “Dayenu” for the umpteenth time: matzo ball soup, bitch.

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Arts

Weekender: ‘12 Monkeys’ is a sci-fi masterpiece

By Drew Weisberg | April 22

Sterile, green text slowly crawls across a black screen reading, “5 billion people will die from a deadly virus in 1997 … The survivors will abandon the surface of the planet … Once again the animals will rule the world.” A brief line of text attributing the quote to a “clinically diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic” appears and disappears. Finally, the sounds of the arrangement “Suite Punta del Este” (1982) by Ástor Piazzolla cut through the eerie silence. The moment is unexpected, gripping, a bit strange and oddly alluring — a perfect illustration of what’s to come.

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Column

Hollywood is torpedoing special effects

By Sacha Waters | April 22

People have long stopped discussing Tom Hooper’s infamous “Cats” (2019), which features flat jokes, horrifying visuals and an Idris Elba cat that somehow manages to be so much more naked than any of the other cats. And I’m here to do the thing nobody asked for: bring it back.

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Arts

'This Is Us' wraps up a shaky but satisfying final season

By Nate Hall | April 21

Since its premiere in 2016, the NBC family drama series “This Is Us” has become known for its honest portrayals of family dynamics, its punchy emotional moments and its interconnected plotlines that chronicle the life of the Pearson family over the course of several decades. The series has been received with critical acclaim, and it has seen high viewership at a time when network television has struggled to compete with streaming services. As it wraps up its sixth and final season, the series continues to engage viewers, albeit without some of its original charm.

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Column

Micro-Trend of the Week: Look how they did the toes

By RaiAnn Bu | April 21

Introduced in the 1989 spring summer collection, the Tabi shoe has become the most iconic piece synonymous with the French luxury, high fashion brand Maison Margiela. Its polarizing silhouette, a split-toe sock reminiscent of hooves, has amassed a ‘colt’ followingready to defend Tabis to their very last breath.

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Arts

‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ will inspire, confuse and make you want to call your mom

By Alice Belaya | April 20

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (2022) is a breathtaking visual delight, spun by an action-packed plot and brought to life by Michele Yeoh in the lead. We follow Evelyn Wang, a laundromat owner juggling a failing marriage, a dwindling relationship with a resentful Gen-Z daughter and her father’s failing health, all while enduring a tax audit. Exhausted and exasperated, Evelyn is roped into a mind-bending mission to save the multiverse.

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Columns

K-Weekly: How to enjoy comebacks

By Odessa Gaines | April 20

K-groups make their musical comebacks throughout the year, but these next few months are going to be extra exciting with groups like Monsta X (April 26), TXT (May 9) and BTS (June 10) all confirmed to come back with new albums over the next few months, with others rumored to make 2022 comebacks and debuts.

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Arts

Arts editors and tour guides talk about their nontraditional connection to the arts on campus

By Jack Clohisy and RaiAnn Bu | April 15

Art comes in many forms, and it permeates all facets of life. No matter how removed from artistic practice some people may be, it’s undeniable the impact that art has on everyone. Two editors of the Daily dive into their own experiences with the arts and how they came to join a greater community of Tufts students who appreciate and celebrate art in all its forms.

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Arts

A nonexhaustive guide to Tufts theater

By Henry Chandonnet | April 15

Tufts has a vibrant theater community, with many options and on-ramps for prospective members. They range from department-run to student-led and vary in commitment level. This includes all facets of theater engagement, whether it be acting, directing, tech, costume designing or anything in between. For incoming students, the most important note is just how open and accepting the theater community is. However involved you want to be, in whatever form you would like, you’re welcomed. So, here’s an incomplete list of all the theater opportunities at Tufts. This list will surely miss a few, mostly because the theater opportunities here at Tufts are constantly changing and growing. Still, it’s helpful to have an idea of what the broader theater community looks like. So here it is: a nonexhaustive guide to Tufts theater. 

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Columns

Public Cinemy No. 1: ‘The Batman’ fails in its social justice commentary

By Sacha Waters | April 15

Every time I watch another superhero blockbuster, I can’t help but imagine the producers sitting around a table, breathing down the screenwriters’ necks as they decide which social issues to water down, aestheticize and shoehorn in. Will it be something contemporary, like the pandemic? A timeless classic, like misogyny? Or a safe choice, like wealth inequality?

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Arts

“ATTENTION: MILEY LIVE” captures all the highlights of Miley Cyrus’s career with a rock and roll twist

By Ryan Fairfield | April 14

Ever since her performance of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” (1978) at the 2020 iHeartRadio Festival, fans of Miley Cyrus have been in awe of her pop-rock talent. The love only continued when Cyrus released her album “Plastic Hearts” (2020) two months later. A big shift from her Hannah Montana era and pop albums like “Younger Now” (2017) and “Bangerz” (2013), Cyrus tapped into a rock-and-roll side of herself with “Plastic Hearts,” which was ranked No. 23 on Rolling Stone’s “Best Albums of 2020.”

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Columns

Micro-trend of the Week: Woke jeans

By RaiAnn Bu | April 14

Fashion is one of the strongest social performances of gender expression. Through clothing, one communicates social status, identity, affiliations and values, allowing fashion to be one of the apparent rebellions against gender conformity as well as the strongest chain to the gender binary.

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Arts

‘Severance’ turns workplace drama into a gripping dystopian thriller

By Nate Hall | April 13

When you have a busy schedule, it can feel impossible to find the right balance between work and life. How do you meet all your deadlines and get everything done while still having time for friends, family and social activities? In “Severance” (2022–), a new drama series that premiered on Apple TV+ this February, the dilemma of ‘work-life balance’ is explored with a dark, dystopian twist.

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Arts

From pop star to pop legend: Ariana Grande’s transition to icon status

By Jack Clohisy | April 13

There’s no doubt that Ariana Grande has become a household name across the United States. She’s the female artist with the most No. 1 debuts on the Billboard Hot 100 and the only artist to debut her first six lead singles in the Top 10 for a reason: Grande is a musical force within her industry. Especially in light of her three recent Grammy nominations, 28-year-old Grande is making a pivotal transition in her career as she attempts to transcend from the pop obsession she’s been for nearly the past decade into a long-lasting icon.

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Arts

Omar Apollo’s “Ivory” shows musical growth at its finest

By Geoff Tobia Jr. | April 12

The growth and rise to pop stardom by Omar Apollo is still in progress, but the progress he’s made in the past five years is wild. Apollo has gone from sporadically dropping singles to releasing two very solid EPs and distributing his first mini-album experience on “Apolonio” (2020). It’s been a long way since his EP “Stereo” (2018) days, but he’s still held onto that same passion and boldness that helped him work his way out of his bedroom in Indiana to make big waves in the LA pop scene. “Ivory” (2022), Apollo’s latest addition to his catalog and a debut, full-length album, has even more personality. It’s his most explorative, drawing from many different fascinating inspirations and bringing it all together on one album. 

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Columns

A Compendium of Actors: Lily Collins can do it all

By Henry Chandonnet | April 12

Often, we try to box actors and actresses into their appropriate category: indie actor here, big-budget action star there. This column has surely fallen prey to that same difficulty, establishing genres and niches that actors may unilaterally fill. Still, actors are not monoliths. They can do what they like, take on the projects they want and thus spread their talents far beyond a singular career pathway. This multifacetedness is exemplified by Lily Collins, an actress who takes on both trashy Netflix shows and prestigious Oscar films and does so with ease. This is a testament to her talent; Collins is able to tackle a myriad of roles, making her a jack of all trades.

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Arts

'Bridgerton' is back with a more emotional, complex second season

By Ryan Fairfield | April 11

In 2020, Season 1 of “Bridgerton” (2020–) was the most-watched original series on Netflix, with 82 million households watching the series within 28 days of its initial release. Adapted from Julia Quinn’s bestselling novels, the series follows the Bridgertons, a noble family in 19th-century Britain, as they attempt to find love and their place in society. The first season followed the eldest daughter, Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor), as she debuted in London society and set her heart on finding a husband, only to fall for the most desired man in the city — the Duke of Hastings, Simon Bassett (Regé-Jean Page). The second season turns its focus to the eldest son of the Bridgerton family, Anthony (Jonathan Bailey), who has finally decided to settle down and find his match. Anthony does not anticipate that finding love will be an easy task, but it only becomes more complicated when the Sharma family arrives from India. Anthony starts courting the younger sister, Edwina (Charithra Chandran), only to start falling for the older sister, Kate (Simone Ashley).

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Columns

The Art of Good Soup: Lucky and charming

By Sadie Leite and Ellie Lester | April 11

We are tired. Sadie has purple feet (and them dogs are BARKING). Ellie ate salsa for breakfast. With salt. But it was pico de gallo, which makes it a little better?

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Arts

WEEKENDER: Sammy Rae & The Friends fill the Royale with gratitude

By Henry Chandonnet | April 8

Sammy Rae & The Friends have brought their radical joy to Boston once again. The band triumphantly returned for a double feature at the Royale on March 26 and 27 with its 2022 tour, filling the venue with cheerful bliss and uptempo funk. The shows were filled with both optimism and a deep sense of catharsis, having been the band’s final performances before a one-month tour hiatus.

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