The Height of the Storm ,
by Florian
Zeller ,
translated by Christopher
Hampton ,
at the Manhattan Theatre Club Samuel J.
Friedman Theatre, stars two of England's top
actors, Jonathan
Pryce and Eileen
Atkins .
The cast of six actors is directed by Jonathan
Kent .
It takes place in a country house outside of
Paris, in four short scenes, without an
intermission. The elderly couple, Jonathan
Pryce and Eileen Atkins, have lived together
for fifty years, and the wife has just died.
Their two daughters have to decide what to
do with their father, who seems incapable of
living alone. It is a very typical problem
in modern times. The two stars are brilliant
and believable. It is worth a visit.
The York Theatre presented Fifty
Million Frenchmen,
music and lyrics by Cole
Porter,
book by Herbert
Fields,
in their Musicals in Mufti Series,. The
eleven member cast was directed by Hans
Friedrichs.
The story is silly, but the music and lyrics
by Cole Porter are always a joy to hear. We
congratulated the cast at the opening night
party in the Music Room afterwards. Cast
members Karen Murphy, Madeleine Trumble,
Ashley Blanchet, Kristy Cates and Evy
Ortiz are in the photo below.
My good friend, a member of the Irish
Repertory Cpmpany, invited me to see Dublin
Carol, by Conor McPerson. The
opening night party took place at Jake'
Saloon, 202 9th Avenue, where we
congratulated the three splendid actors and
director, Ciaran O'Reilly, who I
photographed with the leading lady, Sarah
Street (photo below).
The New York City Ballet presented a
program of four ballets. Symphony in
C, music by Georges Bizet, choreography
by George Balanchine, was the
first ballet I saw New York in 1952, at
City Center, when I attended a dress
rehearsal with my friend, who was
invited to sketch the ballet.
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He was a student of the Art Students League.
I was enchanted with the ballet, and it has
been my favorite ever since. Music Director Andrew
Litton introduced the ballet with See
the Music... It was a pleasant
introduction to the ballet. The ballerinas
were in top form. Ashley Bouder, Sterling
Hyltin, Indiana Woodward and Brittany
Pollack were well supported by their
partners. The program began with Opus
19/The Dreamer, music by Sergei
Prokofiev, choreography by Jerome
Robbins, followed by two new ballets, Lineage,
music by Oliver Davis, choreography
by Edwaard Liang, and The Shaded
Line, music by Tan Dun,
choreography by Lauren Lovette. In
spite of the fact that superb dancers like Maria
Kowroski and Sara Mearns danced
in the first one, and Georgina Pazcoquin in
the second, they were disappointing.
Three magnificent exhibitions await the
visitor to The Morgan Library & Museum, 225
Madison Avenue. Verdi:
Creating Otello and Falstaff-Highlights from
the Ricordi Archive, September 6,-January 5,
2020. Giuseppe
Verdi (1813-1901 was my favorite opera
composer. Set design, costumes, manuscripts,
letters, videos, and recordings are all on
display. It is an opera lover's delight. Guerino:
Virtoso Draftsman, October 4-February 2,
2020, whose name was Giovanni
Francesco Barbieri (1591-1666), is a
wonderful collection of his drawings. He was
the most diverse draftsman of the Italian
Baroque era. John
Singer Sargent: Portraits in Charcoal,
October 4-January 20, 2020, is a
marvelous exhibition of one of greatest
portrait artists of his time. John
Singer Sargent (1856-1925 knew and
painted every celebrity, writer and artist
of his era, from Winston
Churchill to his favorite Sybil
Sassoon. The collection of portraits in
charcoal is astounding. Do not miss these
three exhibitions! You will be amply
rewarded.
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