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The
Metropolitan Opera presented Il
Barbiere di Siviglia, by Gioachino
Rossini, in a delightful production, directed by Bartlett
Sher. The entire cast sang and acted splendidly. Javier Camarena (Count
Almaviva) sang beautifully. His voice reaches the high
notes easily, and he is certainly one of the leading
tenors of today. Pretty
Yende (Rosina)
was his equal. She is pretty and has a pretty voice. She
also sparkles in her high register, and is a superb
addition to the Met. Peter
Mattei(Figaro) ownes the role. I saw him in the
first performance of this production, and he was
wonderful then, and even better now, Maurizio
Muraro (Dr.
Bartolo), Mikail
Petrenko (Don
Basilio) and Karolina
Pilou (Berta)
sang powerfully, and contributed to the success of the
evening. The orchestra, conducted by Maurizio
Benini, played the glorious music excellently, and
the chorus directed by Donald Palumbo, as always, was
fine. It was a memorable night at the opera, and the
audience left well satisfied, granting tumultuous
ovations to the cast.
On
Broadway, Jitney, by August
Wilson, at
the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, is one of ten plays
describing Black life in ten separate decades during the
twentieth century in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This one
appeared Off-Broadway in 2000. It received good reviews,
at that time, for its realism. The current production
features a cast of nine characters, directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson.
It takes place in a dilapidated gypsy cab office on a
block, that is scheduled to be demolished. The owner (John
Douglas Thompson) and
his four employees have to find a way to survive. The
most dramatic scene is the confrontation between the
owner's son (Brandon
J. Dirden) and his father, upon his return from
prison after serving twenty years for murdering a white
woman. It is powerful, and the acting is superb. The dialogue
throughout the play is natural, and mainly small talk.
But each character on stage is realistically portrayed.
The New York
City Ballet presented an all Balanchine program of three
story ballets with three outstanding ballerinas. It
began with La
Sonnambula, music by Vittorio
Rieti (after
themes of Vincenzo
Bellini), with beautiful costumes by Alin
Vaes. Tiler
Peck as
the Sleepwalker was brilliant, well supported by Robert
Fairchild as
the Poet. The second ballet was Prodigal Son, music
by Sergei
Prokofiev, with a very modern art decor by Georges
Rouault, with Teresa
Reichlen as
the enchanting Siren, who seduces a marvelous Daniel
Ulbricht as
the wayward son. The final ballet was Firebird,
music by Igor
Stravinsky, choreography by George
Balanchine and Jerome
Robbins, with sumptuous scenery and costumes
designed by Marc
Chagall. Ashley
Bouder was
Firebird in a wonderful performance. Her superb dancing
made the audience believe she was a fluttering bird. The
orchestra, conducted by Andrew
Litton, played
the three different scores splendidly. It was another
memorable night at the ballet.
I
attended a Meet & Greet for the cast and creative team
of Significant Other, by Joshua
Harmon, which opens on Broadway at the Booth
Theatre, 222 West 45th St, on Thursday, March 2. A
terrific seven member cast is directed by Trip
Cullman. I look forward to opening night. |
I photographed the arrivals at the 32nd
Annual Artios Awards honoring
achievements in casting for Film, TV & Theater at Stage
48, 605 West 48th St. The ceremony was hosted by one of
my favorite actors, Michael
Urie. Among
the presenters were Margo
Martindale, Danny DeVito, who came with his daughter Lucy
DeVito, Reed Birney and Sam
Waterston. Among the casting directors, I spoke with
the charming Laurie
Smith of
Smith Talent Group. I also met David
Kirschner, the husband of another casting director,
who is an executive chef at dineDK.com. It was a lovely
event
The Morgan Library & Museum is one of the finest
buildings in New York. I attended a press preview of a
superb exhibition I'm
Nobody! Who are you? The Life and Poetry of Emily Dickinson.,
January 20-May 21. Nearly one hundred items are on
display, including manuscripts, letters, paintings,
photographs and even a musket from the Civil War. It is
a fascinating exhibition about a remarkable lady. Many
of the myths about her are shown to be wrong. She was an
outstanding poet, who insisted on living her life in her
own way. I admire her for her determination.While there,
I had brief look at Delirium:
The Art of Symbolist Book, January 20-May 14, with
artworks and books by Baudelaire,
Mallarme and
others. As I was unable to attend the press preview of Word
and Image: Martin Luther's Reformation, October 7,
2016-January 22, 2017, I also visited this brilliant
exhibition of art objects, including many paintings and
portraits by Cranach
the Elder. Thanks
to the invention of the printing press, an unknown
priest Martin
Luther became one of the most important men of his
age. I urge everyone interested in books and art to
visit this wonderful museum.
I
finally visited Metrograph,
7 Ludlow St, a new two theater cinema, with a lovely
restaurant on the second floor. I attended a press
screening of Anatahan,
by Josef
von Sternberg, 1953, filmed in Kyoto, the ancient
capital of Japan. The black and white film begins in
1944, when a dozen Japanese soldiers and sailors are
shipwrecked on a deserted volcanic island in the Pacific
Ocean. An embittered farmer, with a pretty young
woman, are encountered in an abandoned village. As the
years pass by, without any signs that they will
be rescued, tensions arrive between the couple and the
newcomers, resulting in four violent deaths.. Seven
years later, they realize World War II is over, and some
return home. It is an interesting story, and the cast
give realistic performances. |