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Rounding the bases with "Spring Awakening"

I would fool around with "Spring Awakening," but I wouldn't ask it to go steady. The touring production of the Tony-winner that opened last night at the Colonial was the most entertaining musical I've seen in a while, but not the heartbreaking work of staggering genius that the New York reviews indicate. (Not since "Rent"...) Maybe you have to be 16 or so to fully empathize with the play's frustrated lovers and the tragedy that follows when they act on their desires. It all seemed a little ABC After School Special to me: True love can't wait, and a repressive society will punish it for doing what comes naturally. It's actually a pretty old story. The unsurprising takeaway: Ignorance is not bliss. But the performances were good, the singing mostly so, the production interesting, the sexy parts sexy.

Germany's Frank Wedekind wrote the original play in 1891, but it was controversial because of its candid depiction of adolescent sexuality and not produced in an unexpurgated version until 75 years later. The Zeitgeist Stage Company is doing the play at the BCA through May 9 with actual teenagers in the roles, and I'd like to see that. What it might lose in polish, it could gain in edge; the reviews there have been good too.

Melchior is the bright, together kid who has renounced God. Moritz is his goofy, wound-up friend who's having a hard time in school - and facing up to his repressive father. Wendla is the ripe beauty whose mother fails to properly inform her of the facts of human biology. Their small troupe of friends include two gay kids, one randy and unashamed, the other clueless. SPOILER ALERT! By play's end, everyone gets some except poor Moritz, who pulls a different kind of trigger. But there's also S/M, incest, shame, pregnancy, reform school, a stabbing, a botched abortion and two tragic deaths.

And singing! And dancing! Musicals are so weird.

Symphony By The Sea latest Madoff victim

Came home from a dog walk to find The Daily News of Newburyport on my doorstep with this story: "Symphony by the Sea has canceled its final performances of the 2008-2009 season, an all-Beethoven program planned for this weekend." Big 30 percent drops in both attendance and donations led to the program's cancellation, and the orchestra board president says the Madoff scandal "hit hard" on the flow of money from supporters. But the overall picture is good, she says.

Coolidge Corner honors Quay Brothers

Animation innovators the Quay Brothers are recipients of the 2009 Coolidge Award and - d'oh, my bad - the monthlong celebration actually began last night with a screening of their first live action film, "Institute Benjamina." But there's lots more coming in the next weeks, including the annual awards ceremony on May 6, featuring clips and discussion with the brothers, critics and collaborators. Tix are $50, or $150 with the meet-and-greet. Call 617-734-2501 ext. 112. Aside from numerous screenings of the Quays' work, events include a May 7 screening-and-discussion with the brothers, and an exhibit of their "original handmade and highly detailed puppet décor sets" at The Fourth Wall Project, 132 Brookline Ave. There's a public opening reception for the gallery show this Thursday from 7-9 p.m. Info on all the events is here.

Sandra Bernhard to star for Boston Gay Men's Chorus

Comedian Sandra Bernhard will rock the mic for the annual Boston Gay Men's Chorus fundraising gala Crescendo on May 9 at the Roxy. Expect funny, fierce and filthy. The event also includes a silent auction with tasty prizes like a trip to watch a Red Sox-Orioles tilt from home plate seats at Camden Yards, a trip to spend a week in a luxury condo in Buenos Aires, and - you don't get this at other fundraisers - Drag Camp for four with Verna Turbulence. Also: a chance to conduct the BGMC in concert. Tickets are $75, $100 with private reception, and you can get them at www.bgmc.org or 617-542-SING.

Blogging the Rumble, hating "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past"

Or, Everything I Should Have Been Blogging While I Was Playing Outside. Good post here giving props to Ryan's Smashing Life and Boston Band Crush for their Rumble coverage. ... Up here on the North Shore there was a bit of a fuss last year when Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner, among others, turned up 'round Ipswich for the filming of "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past." But it looks like the thrills ended there. ... Greg Cook shows us some images from Joe Johnson's “Mega Churches" at Gallery Kayafas to go with his review here.... Oh, and the Michael Showalter/Michael Ian Black AltCom! show scheduled for May 7th at the Somerville Theatre has been cancelled due to scheduling conflicts with taping of their cable show.

Our spring visit to Mass MoCA

When it comes to recreational consumption of fossil fuel, there are few nicer trips in Massachusetts than driving up Route 2 to North Adams on a sunny day in the spring, as we did Saturday. And at the other end of the trip was Mass MoCA, the contemporary art museum spread out in a gazillion square feet of disused former factory space in the center of town, hard by the concrete chute of the Hoosic River. As always the art was a hugely mixed bag, from actual genius to quite mockable silliness. But we never leave MoCA without feeling like we've really been somewhere. And that sensation was especially strong this weekend.

The main reason, of course, was the new Sol LeWitt career review, which went up in November for a long-term stay of, gulp, 25 years. Sol LeWitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective comprises 105 of LeWitt’s large-scale wall drawings, spanning the artist’s career from 1969 to 2007, and filling most of the 27,000-square-foot Building #7 at the MoCA complex. If you're not familiar with LeWitt, his work seems like a dry intellectual concept. Each wall drawing begins as a set of instructions to be followed in executing the work, as in "A square, whose bottom side lies on the axis between the midpoint of the left side and the midpoint of the bottom side..." Nearly three dozen students, staff and local artists spent six months re-creating the works on the walls of the gallery. Watch a time lapse video of the process. The end result is nothing like a dry concept, ranging from the fine pencil lines of his early stuff to brightly colored pieces as eye-jangling as anything in pop art.

After the jump: More pix, more blather, and a few words on the other works currently on display at MoCA.

Museum news update

Layoffs at the Gardner, including "secretaries, conservation staff members, and a painting curator." Nothing to do with the Gardner's controversial building project, they say. And nothing new, really, at the Rose. Brandeis administration seems to be winning its battle to shut down the Rose Art Museum to save money. A committee has been appointed, and the Globe headline says the museum is getting a "reprieve" that will keep its doors open through the summer. But the curator and most of his staff are getting the buh bye push from Brandeis in May. And nothing new has popped up from the opposition except a letter signed by 30 faculty decrying the moves. To which Brandeis administration is going to say something like Ooooh, we're so scared. If you want to see the Rose, I strongly advise you to do so before Labor Day. ... I'm off to MassMoCA today, assuming it's still there.

Celebrity Series 2009-2010: Suzanne Vega, Sondheim, Simon Rattle

And that's just for starters. The 37-event season opens on Sunday, October 4 with mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade's Farewell Recital at Symphony Hall. Other highlights of the Celebrity Series of Boston 2009-2010 season:

• Singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega (right) on November 6 at Sanders Theatre
• Stephen Sondheim in conversation with critic Frank Rich on November 14 at Sanders Theatre
• Berlin Philharmonic with Sir Simon Rattle, conductor on November 15 at Symphony Hall
• Mark Morris Dance Group with the Boston premiere of "Mozart Dances," January 29-31 at The Opera House
• Violinist Christian Tetzlaff gives an unaccompanied solo recital on January 31 at NEC's Jordan Hall

WMBR's Bernhardt celebrates with Bevis Frond and more

Back in the day, when I had to be at the Herald for 10 a.m., I would roll down Route One listening to... WMBR (88.1 FM) disc jockey Jon Bernhardt will celebrate his 25th anniversary on the Breakfast of Champions radio show on Friday, June 26, from 8 - 10 a.m. And Bernhardt has convinced some of his most-played bands to perform at a pair of benefit concerts at two Boston area clubs. The #1 on his list, Bevis Frond, will play in his only U.S. appearance on Sunday, June 21 at TT the Bear’s (18+) along with the Condo Fucks and Sleepyhead. The thing to note here is that the Condo Fucks are actually a garage-rockin' side project of Yo La Tengo (#2 on his list).

Landmarks Orchestra honors Frederick Law Olmstead this summer

This week the Boston Landmarks Orchestra announces a 2009 schedule of nine concerts and three movies (?) at the Hatch Shell, as well as several neighborhood concerts. The season runs July 15-Sept. 9. The best part is that the orchestra commissioned local composer Thomas Oboe Lee to write a piece called "The Story of Frederick Law Olmstead," honoring the landscape architect who had a lot to do with the way Boston's green spaces look. The piece will be heard at four Concerts for Children in August, premiering at a concert in Codman Square in Dorchester on August 6 at 9:00 am. You may remember the Landmarks commissioning Daniel Pinkham to write "Make Way For Duckings" for the orchestra. The complete announcement, including other dates, is after the jump. (Pictured: Charles Ansbacher, the Conductor and Founder of Boston Landmarks Orchestra, right, speaking with Gerry Wright, the Founder and President of Friends of Jamaica Pond, who is dressed as Frederick Law Olmsted.)