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Linda
Lavin is
one of Broadway's esteemed actresses. She is
starring, unfortunately, in Our
Mother's Brief Affair,
by Richard
Greenberg, at the
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. It is a Manhattan
Theatre Club production, directed by Lynne
Meadow, about a dying
mother (Lavin) who reveals a secret affair to her
twins, a gay son and a lesbian daughter. A fourth
actor plays two roles. As her husband, he has a
brief monologue in which he expresses his anger and
frustration for having a sick wife. As her lover, he
reads the contents of a letter which includes the
titles of two popular pornographic films which
stimulated their sexual activity. Both monologues
are not funny. They are puerile and revolting.
Before intermission, the lights in the theater go
on, and the audience is subjected to the two
children giving them a lecture about the Rosenbergs,
who were executed following World War II as spies
for the Soviet Union. Their mother's lover tells her
he is David
Greenglass. a
co-conspirator of the Rosenbergs. There are other
ridiculous revelations in this unbelievable play.
The American Spiritual Ensemble
performed at the Florence Gould Hall at the French
Institute Alliance Francaise (FIAF), under the
direction of Everett
McCorvey, Founder and Music Director. It was
a marvelous evening of magnificent choral music. I
did not want it to end. All the soloists were
brilliant. It is unfair to single out anyone in
particular, but I must admit it was a delight to
listen to every number by a seventeen-member
ensemble. All the voices were excellent and the
selections were perfect. Make sure you attend their
next performance when they are in New York.
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Dark Horse: The incredible true story of the
race horse Dance Alliance,
by Louise
Osmond, UK. 2014, is a heart warming tale
of a group of working class people in a Welsh
village led by a determined woman, Jan
Vokes, forming a syndicate to buy a
racehorse, which amazingly has a successful
career in the cruel world of steeplechase
racing. It becomes a national phenomenon. The
racing world is full of multimillionaires and
aristocracy in the United Kingdom, and the poor
are generally excluded. However, the racehorse
becomes part of the family of thirty people and
fills them with hope for a dream come true. The
scenes at the racetrack and the mining village
are beautifully photographed. For horse racing
fans and the general public alike, it is a
lovely, endearing film.
MoMA is presenting All
That Jack (Cole), Jan 20-Feb 4, an
eighteen film series, featuring the choreography
and staging of Jack
Cole, influential on screen during the
1950s. On
the Riviera, by Walter
Lang, USA, 1951, stars Danny
Kaye as
a cabaret performer in France. His first song is
an imitation of Maurice
Chevalier in
a nightclub, and then he is hired to imitate a
famous French flying hero, whom he resembles. It
is a silly, convoluted story of mistaken
identity, but there are the wonderful dance
numbers created by Cole, which Kaye performs
excellently. But the highlight for me was to see
an untitled Gwen
Verdun leading
the chorus line. Her daughter, Nicole
Fosse, attended the screening and spoke
with Debra
Levine, who showed a clip of a different
movie and still photographs from the film before
the film began. Her father, Bob
Fosse, was a major influence on Cole. It
was an entertaining evening.
One of my favorite events is the
Casting Society of America (CSA) 31st Annual
Artios Awards for Outstanding Achievements in
Casting in Television, Theater, New Media and
Short Film, held this year at the Hard Rock
Cafe. While enjoying wine, beer and passed hors
d'oeuvres, the host Tituss
Burgess and
the presenters, among whom were Julianne
Margolies, Annaleigh Ashford, Rachel Dratch,
David Hyde Pierce, Michael Stuhlbarg and Jeff
Daniels, announced the winners. The
ceremony is bi-coastal taking place
simultaneously in Los Angeles and New York City.
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