Arts

Arts

Inside the rose-tinted world of ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’

By Spring LaRose | October 18

On the night of Oct. 12, I lost my virginity. The host challenged me and five other lucky virgins to do an impression of a Halloween character having an “earth-shattering orgasm.” The crowd jeered us on. A few minutes later, I found myself bent over a chair as, from behind, the host popped a symbolic red balloon against me. My latex cherry lay in ruins, and I was no longer a “Rocky Horror” virgin. 

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Arts

Gracie Abrams proves she’s not a whispery, sad girl

By Ryan Fairfield | October 18

After suffering a vocal injury that prompted the cancellation of her New York shows and rescheduling of her Philadelphia shows, rising star Gracie Abrams triumphantly returned to the stage at Boston’s MGM Music Hall at Fenway for a sold-out show on Oct. 9. Her Boston shows arrive towards the end of her The Secret of Us Tour and an overall whirlwind year where Abrams earned her first Grammy nomination and spent time on the road with her friend Taylor Swift as an opening act on the Eras Tour.

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Columns

Adventures of an A-Lister: Reviewing the popcorn buckets

By Odessa Gaines | October 18

With many highly anticipated franchise releases, AMC Theatres often will release a limited edition popcorn bucket to eager fans. Although pricey, these buckets are a fun piece of memorabilia for collectors and movie-goers. Today, I will highlight some of the more recent AMC popcorn bucket releases.

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Arts

Art intersects with activism in Tomashi Jackson’s ‘Across the Universe’ exhibition

By Fiona Hinrichsen | October 17

How can art drive change in the future? How will the world we live in shape the art of the future? These are questions that are asked in “Across the Universe.”

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Arts

WMFO 'Keeping It Freeform' for 50 years

By Maya Godard | October 17

Tucked in the top floor of Curtis Hall are the studios of WMFO, Tufts’ student-run freeform radio station. The station, running 24-hour broadcasting since 1974, features nearly 300 DJs from the university and surrounding communities, broadcasting anything from pop music playlists to live rock performances to talk-show style conversation segments.

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Arts

‘Nassim’ is a daring theatrical experiment at the Huntington

By Nate Hall and Odessa Gaines | October 17

Anyone who’s done theater has probably had some version of the actor’s nightmare: You find yourself alone onstage, you don’t know what the show is and you don’t know any of your lines. While this may seem like just a fantasy scenario, it’s actually the premise for the “Nassim,” a remarkable play from the Huntington Theater Company, now playing at the Calderwood Pavilion through Oct. 27.

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Columns

Read, Write and Be Merry: ‘Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop’

By Merry Jiao | October 17

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for “Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop” by Hwang Bo-Reum.You! Yes you, the person reading this article. You look like you need a hug. I’m imagining that movie clip from Migration, and I promise you will feel better after reading this. Apparently it’s midterm month over on the other side of the pond, so best of luck to all you poor unfortunate souls :)

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Arts

Blood, guts and butts galore: ‘The Substance’ attempts feminist horror

By Ava Dettling | October 16

Much to the disappointment of women and movie-lovers around the globe, recent feminist films have seldom been able to deliver in their nouveau-age, fight-the-man doctrines.“Barbie” (2023), “Poor Things” (2023) and “Blink Twice” (2024) come to mind; while highly stylized and daring, they also lacked in their message of female empowerment. Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance” teeters precariously on the precipice, dangerously close to joining the leagues of its fallen sistren.

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Arts

A Plea Trapped in Time: Mahler's Eighth Symphony and the BSO

By Matthew Winkler | October 15

Death loomed. Darwin bludgeoned nature, Einstein assaulted physics and Nietzsche killed God. Trapped by time, a gaunt man sat in the south of the Habsburg Empire, unaware of the coming continental baptism of hell. In eight years, the Great War would bathe Europe in the greatest bloodletting known to mankind. The dense trees and pearlescent waters of Maiernigg blockaded nascent modernity for Gustav Mahler.

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Arts

The Rare Occasions return home

By Shannon Murphy | October 10

On Oct. 4, indie rock band The Rare Occasions performed at the Crystal Ballroom in Davis Square. Their extensive discography consists of songs with catchy melodies, skilled production and introspective lyrics, but they are best known for their hit single “Notion” (2016), which rose to fame on TikTok and other social media platforms in the fall of 2021.

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Arts

Zedd’s Telos Tour is a burst of energy

By Ryan Fairfield | October 10

Grammy-winning music producer and DJ Zedd never seems to stop. After a summer of seemingly nonstop playing at multiple clubs in Las Vegas and headlining Lollapalooza in Chicago, Zedd released his third studio album “Telos” and embarked on the Telos Tour. On Sept. 19, the Telos Tour arrived at MGM Music Hall at Fenway for its first of two shows at the venue.

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Arts

Ballerina Michaela DePrince dies at 29

By Katie Galligan | October 10

Michaela Mabinty DePrince, a Sierra Leonean war orphan turned ballerina, passed away suddenly on Sept. 10 at the age of 29. Her cause of death has not been revealed, but there has been an outpouring of reflections on the inspirational legacy she left behind.  DePrince’s story gained attention ...

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Columns

Adventures of an A-Lister: Movie of the week

By Odessa Gaines | October 10

On Oct. 11, 1975, almost exactly 49 years ago to this day, “ NBC’s Saturday Night” premiered. Half a century later, the live sketch comedy show still somehow graces our screens. And to celebrate such a long, perhaps overstayed, tenure on the network came “Saturday Night,” directed by Jason Reitman. The film follows the first cast of “Saturday Night Live” as they geared up to debut the not yet finished show — 90 minutes of anxiety-inducing scores, witty comebacks and sheer hope and passion holding it all together.

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Arts

‘What’s Wrong with New York?’

By Erin Zhu | October 9

Guess who: A pale, thin, slightly sleazy, ostensibly British man dressed in a black blazer donning sunglasses with a cigarette in hand gallops around the streets of New York. Who else could it be other than The Dare?

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Arts

MJ Lenderman is carving his own indie rock legacy with ‘Manning Fireworks’

By Ethan Essner | October 8

The indie rock genre has split into a plethora of spheres. The introspective lyrics and driving rhythms are standard qualities of an indie album. In essence, it has become a more mainstream style — and seemingly broken away from its narrow identity during the 2000s. It’s been a transformative period for the indie scene with many fine takeaways, but what it desperately lacked was an album elevating and fusing the classic identities of the indie albums from previous decades.

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Columns

Read, Write and Be Merry: ‘Babel’

By Merry Jiao | October 8

I was recently informed by the streets that we have had a dearth of scathing reviews. Everyone, including myself, has been too positive in their critiques, and apparently, insults are what make the editing process entertaining. So here we go.

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Arts

Moonbox Productions’ ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’ fails to meet expectations

By Nate Hall and Odessa Gaines | October 7

Moonbox Productions, one of the newest additions to the greater Boston theater scene, opened its first full season at Arrow Street Arts in Cambridge with a production of “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” on Sept. 27. Based on the 1988 film starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine as the titular con men, the musical version of the classic comedy made its Broadway debut in 2005. While Moonbox found three excellent actors to fill its leading roles, their production feels incomplete and leaves much to be desired.

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Columns

Adventures of an A-Lister: Going to the movies by myself

By Odessa Gaines | October 4

On Oct. 11, 1975, almost exactly 49 years ago to this day, “ NBC’s Saturday Night” premiered. Half a century later, the live sketch comedy show still somehow graces our screens. And to celebrate such a long, perhaps overstayed, tenure on the network came “Saturday Night,” directed by Jason Reitman. The film follows the first cast of “Saturday Night Live” as they geared up to debut the not yet finished show — 90 minutes of anxiety-inducing scores, witty comebacks and sheer hope and passion holding it all together. 

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Arts

‘Romeo and Juliet’ soars beyond Shakespeare’s expectations

By Jeremy Stern and Alexander Minagar | October 3

“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” Everyone recognizes these iconic words from WilliamShakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” a classic of 9th-grade English.

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Arts

Conan Gray brings back vibrant 1980s aesthetic in his Found Heaven tour

By Liv Jordan | October 3

Conan Gray performed a satisfying mix of songs that showcased both his emotional depth and his animated personality during the Found Heaven tour at MGM Music Hall at Fenway on Sept. 25.

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