1) Shakespeare & Company's production of "The Secret of Sherlock Holmes" in Lenox, Massachusetts will be scrutinized by devoted fans for accuracy. 2) Michael Hammond, who plays Sherlock Holmes in the production, expects feedback and corrections from Sherlockians. 3) The article profiles Hammond and previews the month-long run of the play adapting the relationship between Holmes and Watson.

1. ae
THE SUNDAY REPUBLICAN OCTOBER 14, 2007
SECTION
H
ON BROADWAY “Forbidden Broadway:
Rude Awakening,” starring Valerie Fagan
and Michael West, gets 5 stars. 2H
rts& ntertainment
play
THE
mond on opening night two weeks ago. “It’s
BY BUD WILKINSON
great to be the object of their curiosity, but
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
now curiosity is going to lead to scrutiny.
ENOX, Mass. — It will be the
L We’re going to get corrected, we’re going
Sherlockians, the ever-devoted
IS
to get mail about how we got it wrong, I’m
readers of Sir Arthur Conan
sure. But that absolutely comes with the
Doyle’s fictional tales of con-
afoot
territory.”
sulting detective Sherlock Holmes and his
Hammond views “The Secret of Sherlock
faithful friend and investigative helper, Dr.
Holmes” from two distinct perspectives.
(John) Watson, who will ultimately deter-
As associate artistic director of Shake-
mine the accuracy and artistic worth of
speare & Company, he was already enjoy-
Shakespeare & Company’s monthlong pro-
ing the widespread interest that the U.S.
duction of “The Secret of Sherlock
premiere of the Jeremy Paul play had gen-
Holmes.”
erated in the preceding months. He called
‘The Secret of Sherlock Holmes’ reveals elementary “We’re bracing ourselves for all sorts of
it “a very pleasant surprise.”
corrections and scoldings, and they’re go-
relationship between detective and sidekick ing to happen,” predicted Michael Ham- See HOLMES, Page 7H
SHAKESPEARE & COMPANY
Michael Hammond, left, as Sherlock Holmes and Dave Demke as Dr. John Watson in Shakespeare & Company’s monthlong production of ‘The Secret of Sherlock Holmes’ in Lenox, Mass.
Art lovers reflect
Opera without the soap
while Yale collects
‘Tosca’ comes to the Palace Theater
artist boyfriend. In 19th-centu-
BY BRYNN MANDEL
ry Rome, they become entan- nifarious exhibit. It is explosive
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN BY TRACEY O’SHAUGHNESSY
gled with a rogue police chief and exuberant, expressive and
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
Call them soaps on steroids, and a fugitive. Confusion violently original.
only in a foreign tongue. abounds over love interests In 1922, still dizzy with the Five works by Davis, many of
Or they could be described as among the main characters. aftershock of the Armory Show them big, lusty, idiomatic
over-the-top Italian, French There is love, torture, an “In- and casting about for a new pieces like “Combination Con-
and German musicals, with an decent Proposal”-type American vernacular, Stuart crete #2” (1958), greet viewers
emphasis on the performers’ proposition and murder. Davis began to tease out a new in the newly renovated lobby of
powerful pipes. Despite themes that vocabulary that would embody the museum. Brace yourself.
However explained, opera echo those found any the New Age. This rich clutter of geometry,
combines the power of the arts night of the week on Those tentative steps, cap- rearranged into recognizable
and emotion. Death, drama, prime time television, tured in a slender black and and synthetic bits, is very like
mystery, love — all can be found opera plays to a limited white sketch, are part of the the staggering jumble of art-
among the notes of any opera. audience. Opera com- glittering, expansive new ex- work Yale has assembled for
In “Tosca,” which the Con- manded a 3.2-percent hibit “Art For Yale: Collecting this 300-piece exhibit.
necticut Opera company brings attendance rate among for a New Century,” at the Yale In the past 10 years, the Yale
to Waterbury’s Palace Theater American adults in University Art Gallery. In University Art Gallery has ac-
on Oct. 28, political insurgency 2002. ethos, if not in content, Davis’ quired nearly 15,700 works. YALE UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY
Stuart Davis, ‘Combination
provides a backdrop to a story landscape “Curve Go Slow”
See TOSCA, Page 4H See YALE, Page 5H
about a famous singer and her epitomizes this impressive, om- Concrete #2,’ 1956 — 58.