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If you can get down to Boston this week, treat yourself to the Hopper exhibit at the MFA, which ends August 19th. It’s well worth the $23, and if you plan ahead you may be able to save some money by borrowing a pass from the Pollard Memorial Library.

What is it about Edward Hopper? His paintings seem fairly ordinary:  the side of a house, a row of brick buildings in the early morning light, two people staring out at the sea or sitting at a diner counter late at night. For me it became clear when I was looking at one of his early watercolors, ‘Prospect Street’– a perfectly fine painting of a street, a row of houses, a tree or two. Then, right next to it, the same painting redone in oils and renamed ‘Sun on Prospect Street’. Suddenly, the light on the side of a white house is incandescent; the tree at the end of the street takes on a new significance, the contrast of sun and shadow seems ominous, yet thrilling.  Then there is the blue he uses; that ’Hopper blue’.  In ‘A Room in Brooklyn’, one sees the blue rectangles of sky through long windows with green shades, that certain type of old-fashioned green shade that fits the room.  The room is austere, composed, airless – the blue of the sky is heartbreaking.  The same with ‘The Sea Watchers’, depicting a couple in bathing suits, side-by-side, but not looking, never looking, at one another, just staring out to sea.  The view is from the side, and beyond is that pitiless rectangle of blue sky.   

There are close to 100 paintings in the show, including the famous ‘Nighthawks’, and they span his whole career from early watercolors to his final, poignant work, ‘Sunlight in an Empty Room.’  At the beginning of the show there is a quote by the artist that sums it up, “All I wanted to do was to paint the sunlight on the side of a house.” 

Kerouac’s Last Call by New York journalist and playwright Patrick Fenton was performed as a staged reading last night by Lowell’s Image Theatre. This was the first time the local group that specializes in producing work by local playwright’s has gone out of New England for a play, but given the subject of Fenton’s work and the current excitement surrounding Kerouac’s legacy and the coming to town of the scroll of On the Road, it seems more than fitting.

 Stage set by local artist, Robert Bryan

Patrick Fenton, who was on hand to answer questions and share his thoughts and memories of Kerouac, started writing about Kerouac in 1964, when the author was really down. The fame of On the Road had died away, critics were dismissive of his talents and he had lost contact with the friends of his youth. He was living in Northport, Long Island with his mother and drinking at a bar called Gunther’s, which is where he held a farewell party for himself before moving to Florida. Someone made an audiotape of the evening which was the catalyst for Fenton’s play.  Jerry Bisantz, founder of the Image Theatre, read the part of Kerouac, backed by actors playing characters from the author’s memory, including his parents, best friend Neal Cassady and daughter Jan.  The playwright (and actor Bisantz) did a great job of catching Kerouac’s unique voice in some of the monologues, the way he could string words along rhythmically, riffing like a jazz musician or even as a kind of precursor to rap music. He also captured his end-of-life angst, the voices from his past, his ambivalence at being called “the king of the beats,” his ambivalence over his daughter and other relationships. The best line was when his father tries to get him to get a real job, asking him, “how many famous writers do you know from Lowell?”  At the end, each of the back-up characters tells a bit about Kerouac’s life, ending with the playwright’s claim that Kerouac belongs with America’s greatest authors of this century, with F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway. 

Our own Revolving Museum in downtown Lowell will be one of the featured stories on HGTV’s Look What I Did! show, airing tonight at 6 p.m. on channel 32. The program will highlight the newly renovated facility, which if you haven’t seen it, looks terrific, as well as the innovative youth programs offered at the museum. And, in case you haven’t heard, the Revolving Museum is the 2007 Commonwealth Award Winner for the category of “Community” from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Also, don’t forget to experience their ARTventures Public Art Festival this summer too! (If you’ve been driving around downtown, you’ve seen an inkling of what this festival entails.)

FREE tonight from 7-10 p.m. is the first of the Revolving Museum’s ARTventures Series.  The experience, at the Lowell National Park Visitors Center, will include massive video projections on a smokestack, carnival acts, a Native American Pow Wow, experimental light projects, and ethnic music and dance. Only in Lowell can you find an artistic revolution that spans all ages, turns history into urban rebirth, and partners artists with scientists, techies, and activists. According to their website: “…ARTventures will integrate some of the country’s most innovative art, science, and educational programs, creating a truly extraordinary artistic and theatrical adventure.” This sounds worth checking out–especially if the weather is nice.

Today is also the last day to see the amazing work of Lowell’s youngest artists, on display at the nearby ALL Arts Gallery across from the Visitors Center at 246 Market Street (gallery hours: 11-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m.) 

I would love to hear what others thought of the Cambodian opera that premiered in Lowell this weekend.

 I loved the opening scene when the monk says “you must listen to my story” and describes Cambodia in 1963, peaceful and tolerant, then ties it in with the murder of JFK. For my generation, it is almost a cliche to ask someone where you were when JFK was killed. It was the first significant event of my life. I was in first grade and my teacher was crying!  That makes a huge impression on a 6 year-old.  When the monk mentions the day that the Khmer Rouge fell upon Cambodia, in April of 1975, then falls to his knees, no more needs to be said about the horrors that followed.

Some of my favorite moments were:  the song about having “no mothers” and the accompanying dance where a mother is teaching her daughter the intricate Cambodian dance forms; the recurring song “That’s the way love goes”; the moment at the end, when Dara reappears in a monk’s saffron robes and embraces Sam; the scene between Bopha, her sister and Khan, where we see how the family dynamics have evolved out of the horrors of the past; the older monk, and what he is able to teach the younger generation about compassion. I felt like the opera hinged on memory:  some of the most poignant moments were when Sam remembered his father playing the buffalo horn, or when Dara reminded Sam of when they were in the refugee camps together. And yet, there is the sense of how much memory has been lost because of the Khmer Rouge.

While the love story was not that compelling and some of the character motivations were not easily understood, these problems seemed less important as the story progressed.  

I just got back from one of the final dress rehearsals before this weekend’s premier of the Cambodian Rock Opera, Where Elephants Weep.  If you read any of the extensive Globe coverage  in Sunday’s paper, you know this is a blending of East and West, past and present, young and old, set loosely to a Cambodian folktale, Turn Teav. I get the impression this story is somewhat like Romeo and Juliet and certainly there are similar elements in the plot. But, as in all operas, the plot is the least interesting part of the production, and there is much more going on in this story than the fate of the star-crossed lovers. I was particularly impressed with the layering of different themes and emotions; at one point I thought, they are trying to do too much, trying to encompass genocide, the feelings of orphans, the loss of country, spirituality versus the secular world, ties of family versus the rights of the individual, all tied up in the agony of Sam (reflecting that of his country) as he tries to come to terms with his past and find his future path.   I am happy to report that my fears were unfounded, the opera soon transcends the simple love story and does full justice to its many important themes.

The opera is sung in English and Khmer with subtitles in both languages. The stage is shared by a traditional Cambodian orchestra, with instruments such as the haunting buffalo horn and a Angkor-era xylophone that had to be fitted with extra notes in order to integrate Western style octaves and harmonies into the music. The other half of the stage features a modern rock band. The music works; the singers, especially Sam, Dara and the older monk who tries to guide them, are wonderful; and the bits of dance, whether modern, hip-hop, or traditional Cambodian that are interspersed into the show add to the drama.

In short, go see it. There are only three performances in Lowell, all at Lowell High’s Cyrus W. Irish Auditorium, this Friday at 7 pm, Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 2 pm. Admission is $20, $10 for students, seniors or groups of 10 or more. To add to your evening’s enjoyment, attend the Fifth Annual Taste of Culture on Saturday, from 5:30-7:30, at the Hellenic Center on Broadway. For a $5 donation (children are free), you can try many types of ethnic food and watch performers from different cultures demonstrating traditional dances (if you’ve never seen Capoeira, the Brazilian dancing/fighting art, this will be your chance).  For a $20 donation, you can receive a free ticket to the opera!

 ”Portrait of Vinnie” by Anthony Perez, first-place winner in the high school category:

If you have any doubt about the creative talent of Lowell schoolchildren, you absolutely have to visit the Visual Voices III exhibit at the ALL Arts Gallery, across from the National Park Visitor Center at 246 Market Street. The gallery is currently showing art work from Lowell students in grades K-12, and the range and quality of this exhibit is astounding. The show is an incredible array of paintings, sculpture, pottery, mixed media, photography, computer graphics, and drawings from the city’s youngest emerging artists. Free to the public, the exhibit is open Saturdays (11-4) and Sundays (12-4) through May 12.

Due to space limitations, a jury could only select 100 pieces to display from more than a thousand entries in this third exhibit of student work from Lowell schools. The Arts League of Lowell (ALL) provided the professional gallery space to display the student work, and the show was funded in part by the Lowell Cultural Council. Jay Hungate, sculptor at the Brush Art Gallery and Western Ave Studios, helped hang the children’s show.

Organized by Daley School art teacher Lolita Demers, the exhibit is a testament to the commitment of Lowell art teachers as well as the talent of the many young artists in the city. As part of the exhibit’s opening day reception on Saturday, April 14, music teacher Pat Jussaume led the Daley School chorus in a medley of songs, including a rendition of Lean on Me that brought tears to my eyes. Hundreds of adults and children attended the exhibit opening, which was well worth the visit.

Each of the students whose art was chosen to be displayed in the show was a winner due to the incredible competition, both in terms of the quality of the work and the number of entries, but first, second and third prizes were also awarded by grade categories for outstanding artistic achievement. A listing of the teachers and schools represented in the show, the top three student winners for each category, and additional photos follows. more »

It’s not too late to catch two great theatre productions in Lowell. Well, it’s almost too late to see Syncopation at the MRT which has it’s last production today at 2:00 pm. I saw it Friday night, and while the plot is predictable and a bit dated, the acting and especially the dancing are both great. The first act was one of the best theatre experiences I’ve had in a long time. Given the lousy weather today, there may be a few empty seats in the audience….so it might be worth a call if you dare to venture out. 

We’ve been fans of the Image Theatre since their first venture, a series of ten-minute plays written by local playwrights, and performed back in 2005. Their latest offering is A Distant Music, which is set in an Irish pub in Cambridge, and performed in one of Lowell’s great Irish pubs, The Old Court. The plot is anything but predictable and the acting is great. It’s funny, moving, philosphical, poetical, lively and engaging – the schedule of Friday at 8 pm, and Saturday at 4 pm and 8 pm will be continued next weekend.

It was a great theatre weekend here in Lowell!