Theater Review

Half-way through actor Ken Howard’s endearing one-man show, “According to Tip,” I found myself thinking about what an amazing experience it would be to spend an evening listening to Tip O’Neill tell his old political war stories.

Sadlly, “According to Tip” is as close as we’re going to get. The powerful North Cambridge politician who helped lead a liberal surge in both Massachusetts state politics and later in Washington, passed away in 1994. But Howard’s remarkable — at times, uncanny — resurrection of the gregarious politician makes you more deeply appreciate his legacy and mourn his loss.

Not me. I just watched “Un Secret,” one of the 21 films featured at the 13^th Annual French Film Festival at the Museum of Fine Arts, and it’s rekindled my love of French films, which began when I was an impressionable teen.

James Levine thought he knew what he was in for when he programmed a concert version of Berlioz’s massive and rarely performed “Les Troyens” as the closer of the 2008 BSO season.

 “You always get surprises,” says Levine who, along with the orchestra, put in endless hours of preparation and rehearsal. “There are always things that go more easily than you thought they would, and things that come out to be more thorny that you thought they’d be.”

 The hard work paid off. The reviews called the concert a triumphant success.

 But it turns out that Levine’s season closer was pretty much a grand rehearsal for Tanglewood’s opener.

Abigail Breslin turned 12 in April, yet she’s a veteran actor. The TV commercials started at age 3, and now she has a starring role — and her name above the title! — in the new film “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl.”

 You remember Breslin. She picked up a supporting actress Oscar nomination for her turn as an unlikely beauty pageant contestant in “Little Miss Sunshine.”

 She’s been surprisingly adept onscreen, playing cute and vibrant (“Little Miss Sunshine”), eccentric (“Signs”), and insightful (“Definitely, Maybe”). But in person, she’s — and this news is nothing less than refreshing — a little girl, no airs about her, giggling, squirming a little at certain questions.

No matter what you think of the small space at 186 1/2 Hampshire Street, no matter how you describe it, longtime Cambridge resident Rob Chalfen, who runs Outpost 186, prefers that you don’t use the term “club.”

Those who know Lee as the soulful crooner who sings “Arms of a Woman” will be surprised to hear the Philly musician singing songs about infidelity (“What’s Been Going On”) and feeling that a relationship is doomed (“Better Days”).