Archive for the ‘Art’ Category

Lady killer

10Sep22

Tony Costa is the most vicious serial killer you never heard of, which is all the more remarkable considering he plied his trade right here in Massachusetts. He didn’t just murder his victims. He eviscerated and dismembered them. And like so many other serial killers, Tony Costa was a real tough guy. He preyed on […]


Many years before I became an ink-stained wretch, I toiled in another branch of local media. It was way back in the last century, the 1980s, to be precise, when I produced and directed Wakefield’s first regularly-scheduled TV comedy/talk show. Cable TV was new and all the rage. Cable companies vied for lucrative contracts in […]


Policy of truth

17Sep21

“We’re only getting rid of the Warrior logo. The Warrior name can stay.” How many times did we hear those soothing words of assurance over the last year? I didn’t believe it the first time I heard it and I don’t believe it now. Even before they cancelled the logo, I said, “They’ll be back […]


READING — When brilliant, Radcliffe College-educated Henrietta Leavitt (played by Grace Sumner) receives a letter at her Wisconsin home inviting her to come and work for Edward Charles Pickering, director of the prestigious Harvard College Observatory, she is thrilled by the prospect of doing important astronomical research.


By MARK SARDELLA GLOUCESTER — Imagine Mel Brooks pressed into service to direct an Alfred Hitchcock movie. You might get something like Patrick Barlow’s witty stage adaptation of Hitchcock’s classic mystery thriller, The 39 Steps. The play version, currently in production at Gloucester Stage, is much more comedy than mystery. And as comedy, it’s very […]


First, they came for your plastic bags. Now, they’re back for your property rights. Article 26 on the April 29 Annual Town Meeting warrant proposes a new bylaw that would pertain to vacant storefronts. Under the proposed bylaw, property owners of first-floor storefronts that are vacant for more than 90 days would have to register […]


Cold comfort

06Dec18

‘Tis the season to be banning things. You’ve no doubt heard about efforts to ban the song Baby, It’s Cold Outside. And that’s not even the most absurd example. It’s becoming harder to argue that the War on Christmas is a myth when stories like the following keep surfacing. In 2018, 69 years after it […]


By MARK SARDELLA What does it take to create art? Is it education, discipline and skill? Or is it raw talent and real-life experience? It often takes some of both, as we witness in Sam Shepard’s True West, currently in production at Gloucester Stage. Set in their mother’s home 40 miles east of Los Angeles, […]


Memorial Hall in Melrose was “All Shook Up” last Saturday night as the Polymnia Choral Society presented its “Tribute to Elvis, the King of Rock.” Polymnia and the King share a historical timeline. Polymnia was founded in Wakefield in 1953, the year Elvis Presley recorded his first demo at Sun Studio in Memphis. In 1956, […]


By MARK SARDELLA Supporting the arts and local artists would be a good enough reason to attend Quannapowitt Players’ “Suburban Holidays Six,” especially since at least three Wakefield residents are involved with the current show as actors, directors, producers and playwrights. But you don’t need an altruistic reason to go see this year’s festival of […]