Sunday news and reviews

Posted at 11:59 AM on November 14, 2010 by Marianne Combs
Filed under: News and reviews

A look at the arts stories making headlines, dominated by book reviews from the Star Tribune...in fact pretty much everybody else appears to have taken a snow day.

Architecture

1970s 'Utopia' to get a facelift - Linda Mack, Star Tribune
Ralph Rapson's visionary Cedar Square West development, which in many ways fell short of his dream, has won historic designation.

Art

The artist and the outcasts - Mary Abbe, Star Tribune
Photographer at the heart of "Waste Land" shows plenty of heart.

Books

Home and the home front
By Mary Ann Grossmann, Pioneer Press
Grossman reviews Home inspired by Love and Beauty and God's Angry Man

POWER COUPLE - Carl Rollyson, Star Tribune
Complementary skills and attributes buoyed the politics of both Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. And while each formed intimate relationships outside the marriage, their relationship was never only one of convenience.

An escape from a 'soul-killing cancer' - Pamela Miller, Star Tribune
Eric Wilson's account of how he found meaning and faith is unfailingly powerful.

The comfort and inconvenience of community
- Brigitte Frase, Star Tribune
A community is united and divided by the birth of a baby.

Ephron's trademark humor permeates book on growing old
- Laurie Hertzel, Star Tribune
It's Nora Ephron's sharp humor that draws readers -- primarily women readers of a certain age -- but it is her frank honesty that keeps us.

He did return - Jack El-Hai, Star Tribune
More than 60 years after his experiences as a WWII Japanese prisoner of war, Scotsman Alistair Urquhart writes dispassionately about the horrors he endured.

Memoir of homecoming is sturdy, honest
- Ann Klefstad, Star Tribune
A young woman returns to the family ranch and, with her father's help, builds a house.

Movies

Not your parents' holiday movies - Colin Covert, Star Tribune
Movies coming this holiday season are a truly odd lot, but include some gems worthy of hot anticipation.

Music

SPCO, Graf weave a tale of two cities - Larry Fuchsberg,Star Tribune
Austrian conductor Hans Graf put the dazzling music front and center as he led the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra through its stirring homage to Paris and Vienna. It was almost perfection, if not for the program notes.

A powerfully emotional journey - William Randall Beard, Star Tribune
On a march from Britten to Beethoven, the Minnesota Orchestra showed mastery.
(Note: this story was released on Friday, but was buried on the Strib's website, so only just found it - whoops!)

Behind the green mask - Graydon Royce, Star Tribune
She has soared high above the stage in her star turn as Elphaba in "Wicked." Now Idina Menzel takes off the green makeup and reveals herself in concert.