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Off-Broadway, The
End of Longing, by Matthew
Perry, at the
Lucille Lortel Theatre, is an MCC production. Four
cast members, directed by Lindsay
Posner,
play irritating, unbelievable characters. One, the
playwright, acting as a photographer, is an
alcoholic, who cannot utter a sentence without the
f... word. What ever happened to sparkling, witty
dialogue, like that of Oscar Wilde or Noel
Coward? An attractive blonde is an escort, who
gives him free sex. The other two characters are
their friends. It is a 100-minutes,
intermission-less ordeal, of multiple short scenes,
each introduced by loud music, hard on one's
hearing. The revolving stage is dizzying. This play
could drive one to drink!
The 62nd Drama Desk
Awards offered
few surprises. Laura
Linney, Kevin Kline, Bette Midler and Andy
Karl all
won awards as Outstanding Actors in a Play and
Musical. Come
From Away, Oslo, Hello,
Dolly! and Jitney won
Outstanding Musicals and Plays. Jenn
Colella and Gavin
Creel (photo
below) won Featured Actors in a Musical. Bette
Midler did
not show up, and Kevin Kline and Danny
DeVito did
not pose for photos with their awards. However, the
after party at the New York Marriott Marquis was
wonderful, and we were able to congratulate Laura
and Andy, and other winners, presenters and
performers like Michael
Urie the
host, Cynthia Nixon, Danny
Burstein, Katrina Lenk and Jane
Greenwood. It was the end of a splendid night.
The 73rd Annual
Theatre World Awards was
held this year at the Imperial Theatre. It honors
twelve debut performances on Broadway and
Off-Broadway. Most honorees show up for the
occasion, but Josh Groban,
Lucas Hedges and Jeremy
Secomb were unable to attend. Among the
honorees, who did thank the audience, were Denee
Benton, Eva Noblezada, Cobie Smulders and Christy
Altomare. Among the presenters were Brian
Stokes Mitchell, John Rubinstein and Tony
Sheldon. Katrina
Lenk received
the Dorothy
Loudon Award from Lionel
Larner, and Glenn
Close received
her Lifetime Achievement Award from Len
Cariou, who also performed. Peter
Filichia was the
witty host, and the President of the Theatre World
Awards Dale
Badway thanked
the audience for attending. The after party took
place at the Copacabana.
Film Forum presented Moka, by Frederic
Mermoud, France/Switzerland, 2016, starring Emmauelle
Devos and Nathalie
Baye, two magnificent French actresses. Devos
seeks revenge for the death of her teenage son,
killed by a car. She goes across Lake Geneva from
the Swiss city Lausanne to the French town of Evian
to find the lady who was driving the car. Devos is
in every frame of the film, driving her car,
sleeping in her car, stalking Baye, who she believes
was responsible for her son's death, meeting a
hustler from whom she buys a gun, making friends
with Baye, her lover and her daughter, ad infinitum.
It is a slow moving, dull, boring film, with a twist
at the end, and with splendid acting by the two
stars. The photography is lovely, and Switzerland
and France are picturesque.
Woody Sez: The Life & Music of Woody Guthrie,
devised by David
M. Lutken and Nick
Corley,
at the Irish Repertory Theatre, is a wonderful show.
Four splendid musicians, David M. Lutken, Andy
Tierstein, Megan Loomis and Helen
Jean Russell, who
play many instruments, recall the life of the great
folk singer. Nick Corley directed these marvelous
performers. It was one of the best evenings that I
have spent in the theater this season. The songs are
a joy to listen to, sung by four magnificent
singers. In the gallery upstairs there is an
exhibition of Woody's life. Do not miss it! We
congratulated the cast at the opening night party at
Jake's Saloon, 202 9th Avenue.
American ballet Theatre (ABT) presented Le
Corsaire, staged by Anna-Marie
Holmes, at the Metropolitan Opera House. Five
composers contributed to the score, providing lovely
music throughout
the three act ballet, with the
orchestra conducted by David
LaMarche. Christine
Shevchenko (Medora)
replaced the injured Gillian
Murphy, and achieved an outstanding success. She
danced brilliantly, and earned tumultuous applause.
She seemed to float on stage, and her turns, jumps
and overall performance was a joy to watch. Daniil
Simkin (Ali,
the slave) stole the second act with his
magnificent jumps and turns. Alban
Lendorf (Conrad,
a pirate), Aaron
Scott (Birbanto,
a friend) and Stella
Abrera (Gulnare,
Medora's friend) were all equally good, and Melanie
Hamrick, Lauren Post and April
Giangeruso as
Odalisques in the first act were just superb. It was
another wonderful night at the ballet.
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They presented a marvelous program at Carnegie Hall,
with a multitude of Broadway and Opera stars, like Matthew
Broderick, Danny Burstein, Rebecca Luker, Marin
Mazzie, Steven Pasquale and Isabel
Leonard from
the Met. A dinner dance followed at the Mandarin
Oriental where I photographed the honorees and their
proud families. It was a magnificent event.
Film Society at Lincoln Center
presented the 24th
New York African Film Festival on Wednesday May
3 at the Walter Reade Theater and will continue to
May 9. I photographed the arrivals, including the
director Akin
Omotoso of
the opening night filmVaya and
many of the other directors, actors and celebrities.
I then reviewed the film and chatted with many of
the guests at the reception afterwards in the Frieda
and Roy Furman Gallery. Vaya, by Akim Omotoso South
Africa, 2016, is a powerful film, about three naive,
innocent young people who travel to Johannesburg
from small towns, and, unfortunately, are mistreated
in the the large city. One young man finds his
cousin is a gangster, and is forced to kill another
mobster. Another young man comes to take his dead
father back home for burial, only to find his late
father had another family in the city, and they had
already claimed the body. The third person is a girl
taking a young cousin to be reunited with her
mother, who is now living with another gangster. The
acting is superb, and the photography is wonderful,
but it is a grim tale. It is also full of violence,
without any humor whatsoever. It is based on true
stories.
We had a Meet and Greet for Michael
Moore at
Sardi's. He will appear on Broadway at the Belasco
Theatre in July in a one man show The
Terms of My Surrender, directed by Michael
Mayer. I eagerly await opening night in Augus
Another Meet and Greet was held at
Ripley-Grier for Building
the Wall, by Robert
Schenkkan, directed by Ari
Edelson, and starring Tamara
Tunie and James
Badge Dale. It opens on May 21 at New World
Stages. I eagerly await opening night.
Metropolitan Magazine and 25A
Magazine celebrated
the April Cover Star of Author & Philanthropist Jean
Shafiroff at
Selena Rosa Restaurant, 1712 2nd Avenue. It was a
delightful event with margaritas and delicious
Mexican food. Among the guests were former Miss
America, the lovely Suzette
Charles.
Heterosexuals, gay men and lesbians
having been filling the screen lately. It is now
only fair to include trans. 3 Generations,
directed and co-written by Gaby
Dellal, which stars Elle
Fanning as
a girl who wants to be a boy, Naomi
Watts as
her confused mother, and Susan
Sarandon as
her lesbian grandmother, who live together on the
top floor of a townhouse. Mounting that staircase
each day is a wonderful exercise to keep all
three slim. To go through the operation, Naomi has
to seek permission from Elle's father, Tate
Donovan.
He abandoned the family, when Naomi slept with his
brother, Sam
Trammell.
She obviously is confused, because in another
scene, we see her in bed with a black man also. This
is a very dysfunctional family. I forgot to include Linda
Edmond, Susan's
lover, who also lives with Elle and Naomi. I think
you can understand this is a very convoluted plot.
By the way, trans,
by Rogers
Brubaker,
2016, is a book you should read to understand about Gender
and Race in an Age of Unsettled Identities. The
acting by the three leading actresses is superb. |