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The Dartmouth
April 15, 2026
The Dartmouth
Arts
Arts

HEAR AND NOW: Spears, Take That share album title, not glory

By Rebecca Wall | January 6, 2009

Two words suffice to describe Britney Spears' newest album, "Circus" (2008). A masterpiece. Spears, however, is not the only multi-platinum artist to release an album named after the big top. Take That, the British supergroup best known for 1993 track "Relight my Fire," released "The Circus" (2008) in the United States just days after the release of Spears' album. Unlike Spears, who because the center of a frenzied buzz in anticipation of her release, Take That, which has sold over 30 million albums during its career, saw little excitement when "The Circus" hit the United States. Take That's unfortunate predicament is understandable; on the album, the band sounds like a drunken imitation of Coldplay's Chris Martin , if that imitation were done by the bastard child of Five for Fighting and U2. Take That singer Gary Barlow chucks in clichs like "the science of faith" and "If love is a game / then I've played all my cards" on the song "What is Love." Innovative stuff. "The Garden" and the album's title track are similarly hackneyed.

Greven has three other
Arts

Kid pens keen, funny dating guide

By Lauren Dowling | January 6, 2009

Courtesy of HarperCollins.com Dartmouth boys, take note -- a new dating guru is on the scene to help you win over girls of all ages with his new guide, "How to Talk to Girls." Clearly, starting young is part of the strategy because author Alec Greven is only nine years old. The book, which began as a project for Greven's third grade class, offers simple, specific advice to help boys of all ages "win victory" with girls.

Romantic scenes between the Drover (Hugh Jackman) and Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) lighten up Kidman's stiff performance in
Arts

Epic "Australia" fails to impress

January 5, 2009

Courtesy of MovieWeb.com Judy Garland's "Over the Rainbow" earned its place in musical canon as a result of the songstress' overflowing charm.

Arts

Country's Swift breaks into pop

By Amy Davis | November 20, 2008

Taylor Swift's 2006 self-titled debut album, a smash hit in the country world, earned her multiple wins at both the Country Music Television Awards and the Academy of Country Music Awards, but merely flirted with the mainstream pop audience. Two years later, Swift now finds herself firmly entrenched in the crossover from country to pop. Her sophomore effort, "Fearless"(2008), is as cute as she is. Though she nods to her country compatriots with occasional banjo and violin and her ever present twang, this album sonically strikes the listener as more like Carrie or Kelly than like Dolly, Reba or Lee Ann. Yet Swift's charm as singer-songwriter country darling is more than reminiscent of old-time Nashville chanteuses who also wrote their own material.

This term Dartmouth's Mainstage production features a cast of seven, compared to last Winter term's production of Julius Caesar, which featured 42 student actors.
Arts

Review: 'Stop Kiss' premieres at the Hop

By Allison Levy | November 17, 2008

Courtesy of Jennifer Lopez Walking out of the Moore Theater at the Hopkins Center for the Arts Saturday night, after that evening's performance of this Fall term's Mainstage production "Stop Kiss," audience members were left to grapple with the the play's handling of difficult issues and intense, raw emotion. "Stop Kiss," which premiered Thursday night, explores the coexistence of love and hate through the story of two women who identify as straight but slowly discover their attraction to one another, only to be torn apart by a heinous act of violence that interrupts their first kiss. The play's strength comes partly from the realism that dominates the script.

Students put on a set of headphones and become actors in the interactive show,
Arts

'Etiquette' brings interactive theater to Bookstore

November 13, 2008

Zach Ingbretsen / The Dartmouth Staff Passing by the Dartmouth Bookstore this week, you might have noticed something out of the ordinary: pairs of students sitting at a table with headphones on, deeply engaged in conversation while playing with miniature figures and eye droppers. You may recognize their faces through the window, but these students have stepped out of their roles as students to participate as actors in "Etiquette," an innovative interactive theater piece by the London-based group Rotozaza that blurs the lines between performing, acting and observing. Each participant in the performance wears a set of headphones that supplies verbal prompts for conversation and interactions.

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