I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised when “Jungle Cruise,” the latest Disney period film to be based on a theme park ride (but almost certainly not the last), opened with an orchestral arrangement of a Metallica song — performed by Metallica themselves! It’s a bit of an odd choice, but the music, courtesy of James Newton Howard, continues to be wonderful throughout the entire film — thank goodness for its str...

For many lovers of theater, a performance of Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream” outdoors, on a beautiful Cape Cod August evening under the stars, is about as good as it gets. What could possibly be better? Enter Cape Rep's “Rock the Bard: Midsummer,” a romantic, sexy, silly interactive rock adaptation of the lovers' stories in the Bard's comedy of fairies and romantic intrigue. “Rock the Bard” features s...

ORLEANS – Poise (noun): Easy self-possessed assurance of manner; gracious tact in coping or handling (Merriam-Webster). See also: Violet Roche, Orleans resident. For someone who just recently celebrated her 13th birthday, Violet Roche has a remarkable amount of poise, in every sense of the word. She spent her birthday on stage, dancing at the US Nationals Irish Dance Championships, and while she did very wel...

“Home Sweet Home” is something most of us take for granted. The Alden family had their troubles during the Depression, but nothing prepared Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benjamin Alden for the tragedy of losing their parents, becoming orphans, and then “a problem” for local officials. Overhearing the authorities say the children will have to be split up, the four take to the road. This adaptation of “The Boxcar Ch...

One hundred years ago, on the clear morning of Wednesday, July 27, 1921, at 10:25, a passenger train on the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad derailed in Chatham, killing the engineer and fireman. Shortly afterwards, 9-year-old Eleanor Bearse bicycled up Old Queen Anne Road from her home on Main Street to observe the gruesome aftermath of Chatham’s only fatal train wreck. When Eleanor arrived, the bo...

There’s a buzz in the air and it isn’t just the bees. All over the world people are concerned about the environment, unnatural poisons in our air, water, and earth, climate change, the unprecedented decimation and loss of significant populations of birds, insects, and plants and a worldwide pandemic that continues to morph and spread. We are bombarded daily with information that is both confusing and misleadin...

On Sunday, July 25 at 4 p.m. Cape Cod Theatre Company/Harwich Junior Theatre (CCTC/HJT) will host a book signing and selected reading on the new outdoor stage with Harwich authors Pamela Chatterton-Purdy and Rev. Dr. David A. Purdy and their new book “Adoption in Black and White.” The Purdys' story starts with a mixed-race family involved in the Civil Rights Movement and continues with their ever-deepening sen...

If you have been wanting to take your children to see live theater, perhaps for the first time or after a long hiatus due to COVID, Cape Rep’s summer-long professional children’s show “The Fantastical House of Maya Mouse” is the perfect opportunity. The 50-minute, truly nonstop comedy centers around Maya, a movie-obsessed mouse with an imagination almost as big as her over-sized ears. After staying up all nigh...

BREWSTER — In 1921, Cape Cod was a rural place. The canal was only five years old, and the Cape’s first hospital had only opened the year before. But there was already concern about animal welfare, and the Animal Rescue League of Boston stepped in to meet the need. The first part-time agent, William Irwin of Cotuit, helped countless animals, including community cats and livestock, and visited schoolhouses to t...

NORTH HARWICH — When Jennifer Wiley of Brewster stepped onto the former Sea Horse Farm in Harwich during the winter of last year, the place had been in disrepair for a while. Snow was falling through the roof of the indoor arena, the paddock fences were falling down and the grass was overgrown “to our shoulders.” But Wiley and her husband Mo saw past all of that. They saw potential. Six months later, the Wi...

The authors of two new mysteries with backgrounds set in Cape Cod’s fascinating history will present their books this week. Paul Kemprecos will speak on “Killing Icarus” (Suspense Publishing, 2021) and Barbara Eppich Struna will sign copies of “The Old Cape Blood Ruby.” Kemprecos has written his first mystery with a female protagonist — Abi Vickers, an art historian and gallery owner who moves into a borrow...

Like many others, I often seek solace in familiar places where I’ve enjoyed solitude and refreshment of my spirit, if not enlightenment. Recently I was checking out possible locations for my outdoor painting class in Brewster. It was quite early and the sun, which would bring miserable heat later in the day, was still low behind the trees. Landscaping crews were out in force, and I wasn’t able to access the ar...