tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35216948438970196302024-03-20T11:10:22.972-04:00Solange On TheaterCovering a rainbow of theater from Broadway to the classroom.Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.comBlogger109125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-87534031861278652422024-03-14T13:35:00.008-04:002024-03-14T13:56:39.080-04:00A "forza" of nature<p> The Metropolitan Opera's new production of Verdi's "La Forza del Destino" for me accomplished what Wagner called <i>Gesamtkunstwerk -- </i>a totally successful work of art. </p><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpgXQbf5Qc3hVP4VlmjiZjlPkP3RQud54MBefVmWO38NdwMdAE8bq1wkDTyFoj7jMxk6p6Ox16dWJmnk93SjgUd4puth-B6LoUgtQmKzZBKSVN3F4KJrjQq3p1glX11ceqrGUkHuf7wozt98OqWh2caBlh_8x76dFwowbHOT75bHECjWaw-4ZPLKoEO5_3/s469/Forza%20poster.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="340" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpgXQbf5Qc3hVP4VlmjiZjlPkP3RQud54MBefVmWO38NdwMdAE8bq1wkDTyFoj7jMxk6p6Ox16dWJmnk93SjgUd4puth-B6LoUgtQmKzZBKSVN3F4KJrjQq3p1glX11ceqrGUkHuf7wozt98OqWh2caBlh_8x76dFwowbHOT75bHECjWaw-4ZPLKoEO5_3/s320/Forza%20poster.png" width="232" /></a></div>Attending a March Saturday matinee, I was completely thrilled at director <span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;">Mariusz Treliński's cinematic conception, a brilliant cast led by superstar-to-be soprano Lise Davidsen, conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin's passionate interpretation of the score and Verdi's driving, intense compositions - "movie music" in the best sense, foreshadowing and underscoring scenic emotion. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;">Listen to the ominous three notes right at the beginning of the overture, played by brass and bassoons:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkPOVYg4Bxc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkPOVYg4Bxc</a><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Now, John Williams' Darth Vader theme from "Star Wars":</div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYMETt578MM">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYMETt578MM</a><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Like a good police detective, I say, "Coincidence? I don't think so!" Of course, after the three notes, the themes go in different directions, a heavy militaristic march from Williams and, from Verdi, the violins entering with an anxious, jittery theme. </div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJzDY6mB514Ik6o3qWdCtSXm9GczjyAZ3ma5_Pk9KFAvc0tsND7aXJecQoHhn7kJVJvu2ovm9mp4I1FzYwHBJCgcJ9uHP6SRvbZtFA8M08rYj8QtanUJVp_cYpHKvXnP99XIAJNorJJGURfwpxvMzzdQA27Pxlh4lc0R2ZYi_ZQtWshtqtltseDmECXnLw/s700/Forza%20Lisa%20magenta%20gown%20Karen%20Almond%20Met%20Opera.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="700" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJzDY6mB514Ik6o3qWdCtSXm9GczjyAZ3ma5_Pk9KFAvc0tsND7aXJecQoHhn7kJVJvu2ovm9mp4I1FzYwHBJCgcJ9uHP6SRvbZtFA8M08rYj8QtanUJVp_cYpHKvXnP99XIAJNorJJGURfwpxvMzzdQA27Pxlh4lc0R2ZYi_ZQtWshtqtltseDmECXnLw/w231-h176/Forza%20Lisa%20magenta%20gown%20Karen%20Almond%20Met%20Opera.jpg" width="231" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Solomon Howard and Lise Davidsen<br /> as the Marquis and Leonora<br />Photo: Karen Almond/MetOpera<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table>Treliński dramatizes the overture, so we see a statuesque woman, Leonora (Davidsen), in a gorgeous magenta evening gown </span><span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;">pacing in and out of the "Hotel Calatrava," nervously tossing a cigarette away. As </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Boris
Kudlička's t</span><span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;">rifold set revolves, she walks into the hotel's ballroom, where her birthday party is setting up and the henchmen of her father, the Marquis of Calatrava (Solomon Howard) are giving him a half-Nazi salute, then into his office next to the ballroom.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;">We soon see the source of her distress: her lover, Don Alvaro (Brian Jagde) climbs through the window, eager to spirit her away. The original story (published in 1835) says he is of South American Native heritage, but in our 21st-century eyes, his being a man of color is no reason why the two should not be together. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This "Forza" is set in a modern time, b<span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;">ut this, friends, is not a modern story. The Marquis discovers the two and violently opposes the match, declaring that Alvaro is beneath Leonora, that she has obviously been seduced and a marriage with him ("the baseness of your origins") will bring disgrace on her family. Alvaro protests and, to demonstrate his worthy intentions, throws his gun at the Marquis' feet. It accidentally discharges, killing Leonora's father. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjx99UnCWXhKDAuthfEJaAfF7voTWmBs1jGobMZ4ytsHSKQdELhJSRf2qzMBVHftNqaQdEpWRgEjmqZ1b_3xMOVKarCRUjjyp2JIOfll3O_dRN5qfWU5DNWGRPwq5JC3UJvt5I9o6zrbD3g_NaBuSX3Dk6zcdsiAY7XjhGqjd43n8m1w-3H9ChhMsxUfZC/s785/Forza%20Jagde.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="785" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjx99UnCWXhKDAuthfEJaAfF7voTWmBs1jGobMZ4ytsHSKQdELhJSRf2qzMBVHftNqaQdEpWRgEjmqZ1b_3xMOVKarCRUjjyp2JIOfll3O_dRN5qfWU5DNWGRPwq5JC3UJvt5I9o6zrbD3g_NaBuSX3Dk6zcdsiAY7XjhGqjd43n8m1w-3H9ChhMsxUfZC/w250-h188/Forza%20Jagde.jpg" width="250" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Brian Jagde as Don Alvaro<br />Photo:Karen Almond/MetOpera</i></td></tr></tbody></table>This is the terrible event that propels the hand of fate for all the characters. Leonora's brother, Don Carlo (Igor Golovatenko) swears vengeance. Leonora, poor girl, is so consumed with guilt at being the unwitting cause of her father's death that she seeks out a religious refuge in order to do penance. Alvaro flees, wanders the country and joins the army as war sweeps across the land. Don Carlo pursues both, with </span><span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;">a determined rage that echoes a Sicilian vendetta. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;">The cinematic flow of the action was enhanced by Projection Designer </span><span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;">Bartek Macias' moody scene-opening videos showing such scenes as soldiers marching through snow and Leonora driving through the rain.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;">Davidsen has, up to now, been known for roles in the German repertoire, such as Elsa in <i>Die Meistersinger</i>. She did not disappoint in her first Italian role. Her commanding yet beautifully rounded tone, seemingly effortless projection and dynamic control received several ovations during the performance. For example, in Act IV, Leonora, completely broken in spirit, asks God for peace. In the aria "Pace, pace, mio Dio," Davidsen spun out a high B flat so that the note floated through the house on pure wings of magic. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLfZ_96SmakG3iAzF-fN2rdN5IgcaZ8AwTm22FEym0EcZPJt7mXGb5d7yfj5rBWy_Ex9GpOY7nfhnlPEjHLDbOyWIgYN8aMOtphxesRQrmtSprV-UrHqOjoIoxmIR5I5WsCGWNX_-5Ej0YxeUkeu2MjurD_FK0LopKXwkNeeUsbI-DTf4K2lzVaJoqCdMy/s652/Forza%20Lise%20Davidsen%20Photo%20Karen%20Almond-Met%20Opera.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="652" data-original-width="444" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLfZ_96SmakG3iAzF-fN2rdN5IgcaZ8AwTm22FEym0EcZPJt7mXGb5d7yfj5rBWy_Ex9GpOY7nfhnlPEjHLDbOyWIgYN8aMOtphxesRQrmtSprV-UrHqOjoIoxmIR5I5WsCGWNX_-5Ej0YxeUkeu2MjurD_FK0LopKXwkNeeUsbI-DTf4K2lzVaJoqCdMy/w191-h281/Forza%20Lise%20Davidsen%20Photo%20Karen%20Almond-Met%20Opera.png" width="191" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Lise Davidsen as Leonora<br />Photo:Karen Almond/MetOpera</i></td></tr></tbody></table>All the principals meshed well in this cast. Jagde's ringing tenor and passionate acting gave Alvaro the same emotional strength as Leonora. Golovatenko's baritone matched Jagde in their three sizzling duets. Howard's majestic bass brought dignity and a sense of cruelty to the dual roles of the Marquis and Padre Guardiano, the abbot of the monastery where Leonora is to live in seclusion.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;">It sounds like an unrelentingly grim tale, but the depth of emotion and constant action are enthralling. The march of destiny progresses inexorably from the elegant hotel of Act I through scenes of army camps, prison-like enclosures and decadent clubs to a final scene in a bombed-out, gutted train station that reminded me of another apocalyptic movie - "Escape from New York." In "Forza," there's no escape. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: BaskervilleMTStd, serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-13449949564723935032023-07-29T15:39:00.005-04:002023-07-29T15:39:55.145-04:00Hattie McDaniel: Always in the picture <p>The question, "Who gets to tell your story?" receives an emphatic answer in Joan Ross Sorkin's play with music "misUnderstanding Mammy: The Hattie McDaniel Story," starring Tina Fabrique and directed by Seret Scott, being performed at the <a href="https://www.theschoolhousetheater.org/" target="_blank">Schoolhouse Theater</a> in Croton Falls, N.Y. through July 30. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Q7J18VnZS_omh_JOlbMQUEZ339OIte3QVW-_8UIu5E4Xg40Db2NVYLhzboa76sH_eyha3_YyHs1oMtPfVVp-vLUm8ZN4FkGwsnHMoEhA-QWOXOBgeOfhseCr3KRGBliBP5g7ZuHC4e2yJjozixesbnuftQ0LMOQXwstrzRqZRFe2-NzfqYf23_Y4ecuH/s940/Mammy%20poster.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="940" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Q7J18VnZS_omh_JOlbMQUEZ339OIte3QVW-_8UIu5E4Xg40Db2NVYLhzboa76sH_eyha3_YyHs1oMtPfVVp-vLUm8ZN4FkGwsnHMoEhA-QWOXOBgeOfhseCr3KRGBliBP5g7ZuHC4e2yJjozixesbnuftQ0LMOQXwstrzRqZRFe2-NzfqYf23_Y4ecuH/s320/Mammy%20poster.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>McDaniel, an accomplished actress and singer, was the first African American actor to win an Academy Award. In 1939, she took home the prize for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Mammy in "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_with_the_Wind_(film)" target="_blank">Gone with the Wind</a>."<p></p><p>In this one-woman play, which debuted in 2007, McDaniel literally takes center stage to celebrate her "firsts" (the Oscar wasn't the only one), relate her many-sided entertainment career, answer those who criticized the cook and maid's roles she played (especially the NAACP's Walter White) and stake her claim to being not just a survivor but a star in Hollywood and American society.</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ugaDZACuWmcskN2DtBajodkT2xhV7bNtL8EFdtylQMVb-cwZWThp8yhHhvzN040N5I3JzANECjd4EAuIjcV4-1yZMW77j09tv10qanYWGf5OLb99xmsmn7MqCHOstYNwGrVWOo8cZ5e4h_xRnxKfADgFyud6Eo5qFiirAAya3YPA_Lt9K9PRwlbSHQ7t/s300/Mammy%20McDaniel%20Oscar%20speech.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ugaDZACuWmcskN2DtBajodkT2xhV7bNtL8EFdtylQMVb-cwZWThp8yhHhvzN040N5I3JzANECjd4EAuIjcV4-1yZMW77j09tv10qanYWGf5OLb99xmsmn7MqCHOstYNwGrVWOo8cZ5e4h_xRnxKfADgFyud6Eo5qFiirAAya3YPA_Lt9K9PRwlbSHQ7t/s1600/Mammy%20McDaniel%20Oscar%20speech.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hattie McDaniel receives the 1940 Academy <br />Award for Best Supporting Actress</td></tr></tbody></table>The play is Schoolhouse Theater's second post-pandemic show (following the play "Red" last spring), and there's still a palpable sense of joy among the house staff that live theater is back.<div><br /></div><div>Not that the path to "misUnderstanding Mammy" was smooth. Artistic Director Owen Thompson announced before the show that the originally-contracted star had to bow out due to health issues (it was Myra Lucretia Taylor). <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2261904/" target="_blank">Fabrique</a> agreed to take on the 80-minute role with two weeks' notice, so the audience shouldn't be surprised if "a script magically appeared," Thompson said. </div><div><br /></div><div>We see McDaniel near the end of her life, coping with breast cancer and wearing a lavender robe, in a room in the Motion Picture House in Los Angeles. She's obsessed by the post-WWII campaign that the NAACP's White launched against "mammyism" -- stereotypical depictions of grinning servants rather than fully-rounded characters in a variety of roles -- and against her personally.</div><div><br /></div><div>Ruminating about her life and seeing White in her mind, she addresses him, noting that she is the "first colored patient" at the Motion Picture hospital. </div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivPoLqv3zQoD39-RtcDxA56c574pUgrdLV-mUZue8TgdSP61ZdBq2jQTFeBE3TeCcEl4zmK1uyVPtPBoH3IP70PPRt4VOnBcLDYT_VU_D3KzrJk4ukTnTtN6YyLZESYe0n3CzYsD80Vzyb-kASS5bvqTiCyuaZsK6f5Yw90YBqufsZFXxavtrxBiuecwKR/s504/Mammy%20Hattie%20in%20GWTW.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="504" data-original-width="397" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivPoLqv3zQoD39-RtcDxA56c574pUgrdLV-mUZue8TgdSP61ZdBq2jQTFeBE3TeCcEl4zmK1uyVPtPBoH3IP70PPRt4VOnBcLDYT_VU_D3KzrJk4ukTnTtN6YyLZESYe0n3CzYsD80Vzyb-kASS5bvqTiCyuaZsK6f5Yw90YBqufsZFXxavtrxBiuecwKR/s320/Mammy%20Hattie%20in%20GWTW.jpg" width="252" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hattie McDaniel as Mammy in<br />"Gone With the Wind"</td></tr></tbody></table>Fabrique powerfully brings McDaniel to life, forcefully expressing her bitterness at what she sees as unfair criticism and lack of respect for her many talents. Born in Denver in 1893, she was the youngest of 13 children to parents who were formerly enslaved. "I sang everywhere," McDaniel says in the play, and Fabrique, with a fine gospel/blues voice, demonstrates McDaniel's talent as a songwriter as well as a singer. </div><div><br /></div><div>She performed in her father's minstrel show and other touring ensembles. In the 1920s, a new radio station debuted in Denver, and she recalls that "I was the first Negro woman to sing on the radio." Nothing kept her down for long. Stranded in Milwaukee by the Great Depression, she worked as a washroom attendant at a nightclub, but her talent could not be repressed and eventually she became a regular singer at the club.</div><div><br /></div><div>However, more opportunity beckoned westward. "I arrived in Los Angeles with $20," and found her way to radio again, performing as "Hi-Hat Hattie," a bossy maid character. When radio work flagged, she worked as a maid. Gradually, she won parts in films, appearing opposite Mae West, Will Rogers and Jean Harlow. Look up the dinner scene in "Alice Adams," with Katharine Hepburn. McDaniel plays a maid who really couldn't care less and steals the scene. </div><div><br /></div><div>She was making very good money (the legend is she once said she'd rather make $700 a week playing a maid than $7 a week being one) when she auditioned for "Gone With the Wind," as she says, "dressed as Mammy."</div><div><br /></div><div>She made $450 a week for "GWTW," in 1939, when a loaf of bread cost eight cents. "I was paid to act. Did you think I had <i>control?</i>" she asks, sharply pointing out that she took what she could get. "I was making those parts funny, honest, not demeaning ... I fought for our people, lifting them up to the silver screen," she protests.</div><div><br /></div><div>She's clear-eyed about colorism as a heavyset, dark-skinned black woman. The implication is that she wasn't about to get the parts that went to Lena Horne or Dorothy Dandridge, light-skinned and glamorous. "I'm black as Africa and proud of it!" McDaniel declares, then needles Walter White for his name, his light skin and his white wife. </div><div><br /></div><div>Racism, as always, entered her career. The "GWTW" black actors were not allowed to attend the all-white Atlanta premiere of the film. It's not in the play, but the story is that Clark Gable threated to boycott the premiere, but McDaniel convinced him to go. In the play, she says disdainfully, "I said I was otherwise committed."</div><div> </div><div>She did attend the Hollywood premiere and, of course, the Oscar ceremony, but was seated at a separate table with her black escort and white agent. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you doubt Hattie McDaniel's acting prowess or why she received that Oscar, just look at this scene from "Gone with the Wind":</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GKHzeKnFEdw" width="320" youtube-src-id="GKHzeKnFEdw"></iframe></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Hattie McDaniel as Mammy tells Melanie</div><div style="text-align: center;">of Rhett's distress at the death of his child</div><div> </div><div>Tina Fabrique is always riveting as Hattie, even with a script in her hand, leaving me to wish that she'd had the time to memorize the part and bring even more nuance to it. No matter, Seret Scott directs with a sure hand, keeping Fabrique's movement about the bedroom set interesting, whether she is reminiscing, excoriating Walter White or addressing us, her audience, both in the 1930s and now. </div><div><br /></div><div>By the way, McDaniel went on to star in the early 1950s in a popular TV show, "Beulah," where she played a maid yet again, but as always, she stole her scenes. When she died, five thousand people attended the church service and the funeral procession consisted of 125 limousines. Many of her Hollywood friends attended.</div><div><br /></div><div>McDaniel was barred from her first choice of cemetery, Hollywood Cemetery, due to her race, and was buried at Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles. In 1999, Hollywood Cemetery erected a memorial to her. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you can, you should make Hattie McDaniel's acquaintance in this play. </div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p></div>Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-14323652273585872292023-04-22T22:31:00.001-04:002023-04-22T22:31:39.656-04:00The secret Ava Gardner<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG7oG_o08Yjl-TuFTNSzB1UjISl-yJuBDDbZg2flJtKg-g7RDTf-h99r1Kzibae-5MgKcEB_oaZHnXVQ5p6Db8aTSsmBRXhE2Sph17vvv2UDIaNsGG0dhUirUapd5DQ98ZAcdjlXO7OIV8gqsFWRd5fKsgx7AYUzOG_-TghT8Sq_-QeBi9D_i3uNrlGA/s616/Ava%20Gardner%20McGovern.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="324" data-original-width="616" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG7oG_o08Yjl-TuFTNSzB1UjISl-yJuBDDbZg2flJtKg-g7RDTf-h99r1Kzibae-5MgKcEB_oaZHnXVQ5p6Db8aTSsmBRXhE2Sph17vvv2UDIaNsGG0dhUirUapd5DQ98ZAcdjlXO7OIV8gqsFWRd5fKsgx7AYUzOG_-TghT8Sq_-QeBi9D_i3uNrlGA/s320/Ava%20Gardner%20McGovern.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elizabeth McGovern as Ava Gardner</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">A week's sojourn in Los Angeles developed a Hollywood theme - a visit to
the <a href="https://www.academymuseum.org/en/" target="_blank">Academy Museum of Motion Pictures</a>, a tour of <a href="https://www.sonypicturesstudiostours.com/" target="_blank">Sony Pictures Studio</a> and a play,
"</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3521694843897019630/1432365227358587229" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Ava: The Secret Conversations</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">," at the </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3521694843897019630/1432365227358587229" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Geffen Playhouse</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> in Westwood.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Elizabeth McGovern,
who played Lady Grantham in "Downton Abbey," wrote the play and stars
as actress Ava Gardner, who arrived in Hollywood at age 18 and attracted
attention from the beginning for the kind of looks that society deems extremely
beautiful.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The drama is based on the book, "</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3521694843897019630/1432365227358587229" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">," written by
journalist Peter Evans after a series of interviews with the actress in the
late 1980s.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">What could have been
a very talky play has been turned into a nifty piece of theater by director
Moritz von Steulpnagel and scene, lighting, sound and projection designers
David Meyer, Amith Chandrashaker, Cricket S. Myers and Alex Basco Koch.</span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsQnDbcg7e1k4slwM9zprMIC4b55btKGpGXWKhLsMdefXYUH6GCudo5VBG6XhFZW4uSWEVQrE9blTPTwX2nuwcT5aY5OVGPo1BjANaD9T7_L-8ewJBUpJWsDS_Q0i2CPFvx6_oNm__IGcgA1f1nTgPbng2_593j5TJ1mrxPe2JHOSLFmQvzrpODbWgpQ/s423/Ava%20Gardner%20as%20Julie%20in%20Show%20Boat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="423" data-original-width="320" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsQnDbcg7e1k4slwM9zprMIC4b55btKGpGXWKhLsMdefXYUH6GCudo5VBG6XhFZW4uSWEVQrE9blTPTwX2nuwcT5aY5OVGPo1BjANaD9T7_L-8ewJBUpJWsDS_Q0i2CPFvx6_oNm__IGcgA1f1nTgPbng2_593j5TJ1mrxPe2JHOSLFmQvzrpODbWgpQ/w162-h214/Ava%20Gardner%20as%20Julie%20in%20Show%20Boat.jpg" width="162" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ava Gardner as Julie in<br />"Show Boat" (1951)</td></tr></tbody></table><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In publicity
materials for one of her movies, Gardner was described as “The World’s Most
Beautiful Animal.” She possessed dark eyes, full lips and a cascade of brunette
hair that all apparently turned men's nerves to water, with a cleft in her chin
that only added delicious intrigue. Her gaze was direct and a devastating
sexual come-on, and her appeal was that of a classy goddess. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Although Gardner never expressed much confidence in her acting talent,
she had a top-notch career, with her best-known movies in the 1940s and ‘50s
(“Show Boat,” “The Barefoot Contessa,” “The Killers”). Her private life was
equally in the headlines, with marriages to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank
Sinatra, as well as a long affair with Howard Hughes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">When we first meet Gardner, in her London apartment in 1988, she is 65
years old, in a grey sweatsuit and not in good shape. A stroke has affected her
left hand and she needs money, she informs her interviewer-to-be. “It’s either
do the book or sell the jewels and I’m kinda sentimental about the jewels,” she
tells him, in a voice redolent of cigarettes and whiskey. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbI2tkX8pGEND0hHaKwz2VZEpsigiPhYnVB62FzbP_SQ9WH7VMSzFGZoo7RJ8wLKj1gTL5AFd7-0qhRYLLtGuqKz4rNDu_Hnn__yCHggw0xjtrCroCjorysSVp4ZhRXJIK_99Kcw8e3q-1FJrgW9tr5dQURPowK4QopA2w5ucKqrFrD28QHwUykLcxYg/s925/Ava%20Aaron%20Costa%20Ganis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="607" data-original-width="925" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbI2tkX8pGEND0hHaKwz2VZEpsigiPhYnVB62FzbP_SQ9WH7VMSzFGZoo7RJ8wLKj1gTL5AFd7-0qhRYLLtGuqKz4rNDu_Hnn__yCHggw0xjtrCroCjorysSVp4ZhRXJIK_99Kcw8e3q-1FJrgW9tr5dQURPowK4QopA2w5ucKqrFrD28QHwUykLcxYg/s320/Ava%20Aaron%20Costa%20Ganis.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aaron Costa Ganis as Peter Evans</td></tr></tbody></table>Evans, played by Aaron Costa Ganis, intrigued that she called him, breaks
the fourth wall, speaking to offstage agent Ed Victor (Ryan W. Garcia) and agrees
to take on the project. There’s a bit of “Sunset Boulevard” vibe, with the writer
fascinated by the aging star.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">They enter a dance of biographer and subject, punctuated by Gardner’s desire
to tell her story on her terms and the writer’s awareness that the commercial
market wants to know about her sex lives with “Mickey,” “Frank,” “Howard” and a
legion of others.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">She plays the game (“I loved to f---!”), then jumps back (“Let’s begin
the book with my stroke.”)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">McGovern beautifully inhabits the mercurial Gardner, with a touch of the Grabtown,
N.C. accent that was so thick, MGM gave her voice lessons to modify it. Unintimidated
by the starmaking machine, she rose to the top, but also says, “They took away
my voice.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In her sessions with Evans, Gardner seeks to know herself, in all her real
and fantasy roles. “I was the woman men dream about. Where’s my third act?”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">She’s amusing, tough and honest about her bittersweet lives with famous,
strong-willed men. Divorced from the philandering Rooney and bullying Shaw by
age 23, her marriage to Sinatra was a tempest of alcohol and nightclubs, but
both also produced very solid work such as “Mogambo” (her only Oscar
nomination) and “From Here to Eternity” (an Oscar win and career resuscitator
for him). She reveals Hughes physically assaulted her, (“Oh, he pinned me to
the couch.”) in a matter-of-fact tone that appalls Evans. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGB-VVwSsQ-Cqz01jO9ZsIgkMEZ70AOp45VuOgHBfXwnVPasj2nmwiSN4vnkPrMGIPnElKdI0UeWKEKStQIBH0KIg-NYMNZTQ058cnkcFIlQSpZ3VH1jIq9qHkGerUWN2To5jLxgSAIW8TK99j8XeQK1Xvvxv-0cM4BQx2OwIgFVxmt9kuaZLgEHYDsQ/s463/Ava%20Gardner%20w%20Sinatra%201951%20Ency%20Britannica.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="463" data-original-width="447" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGB-VVwSsQ-Cqz01jO9ZsIgkMEZ70AOp45VuOgHBfXwnVPasj2nmwiSN4vnkPrMGIPnElKdI0UeWKEKStQIBH0KIg-NYMNZTQ058cnkcFIlQSpZ3VH1jIq9qHkGerUWN2To5jLxgSAIW8TK99j8XeQK1Xvvxv-0cM4BQx2OwIgFVxmt9kuaZLgEHYDsQ/w247-h256/Ava%20Gardner%20w%20Sinatra%201951%20Ency%20Britannica.jpg" width="247" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner</td></tr></tbody></table>In addition to Evans’
dialogue with the unseen agent, Steulpnagel skillfully uses projections of the
real Gardner, Sinatra, etc., lighting changes that flow with Gardner’s moods
and Evans’ confrontations and costume changes by Toni-Leslie James that by the end
see the fragile actress restored to glamor in a glittering black dress. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">While McGovern is
magnetic to watch, Ganis actually has the more difficult role. This extraordinary
actor plays the British Evans in addition to Rooney, Shaw and Sinatra, in
scenes from Gardner’s life.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Ganis doesn’t “do” imitations
of each man, but subtly inhabits each persona and voice - including Rooney and
Sinatra's very well-known voices. Leaving the theater, I heard more than
one person remarking on Ganis’ great skill.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">One question one has
to ask is what relevance does this all have today? Much of the audience were people
old enough to remember Gardner’s films and era (she died in 1990). In an age
when women in show business have much more power – look at Beyonce, Lady Gaga?
Kardashian? for example – how does Gardner’s story resonate?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">For one thing, she’s
not forgotten. There’s an </span><a href="https://www.johnstoncountync.org/ava-gardner/" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Ava Gardner museum</a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> in
Smithfield, N.C., not far from where she grew up, that welcomes 7,000 visitors
per year.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Then in Hollywood, there’s
no doubt women still face predatory men – witness the #metoo movement spurred
by the sexual abuse charges against producer Harvey Weinstein. Actresses still
face the challenge of balancing sexuality as performers with personal values
and a sense of who they are. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Maybe there’s a
lesson in the way Gardner never seems to be a victim, unlike perhaps another
stunning beauty, Marilyn Monroe. Gardner certainly was not always in control
and wild behavior hints at a deep unhappiness, but her core of steel told the
world it would not get the better of her.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Love is nothing,”
is her conclusion, yet her vivid narration shows she held onto life with both
hands and had few regrets.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In the end, the book
project as it was envisioned in the beginning never came to fruition. Gardner
withdrew her involvement when she learned Sinatra had sued Evans for mentioning
certain Mob associations.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Years later, Evans
wrote about doing the interviews in the book this play is based upon, but the
text is more about him than her. The play sometimes feels disjointed, with too
much attention focused on the less-interesting person.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In the end, Gardner remains
an elusive character, to the biographer and possibly to herself. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><div><div><br /><p><br /></p><br /><p><br /></p><br /><p><br /></p></div></div></div>Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-88280287001237452352023-04-12T11:20:00.006-04:002023-04-12T15:15:00.078-04:00'Camelot' -- the once and future musical <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3gs86xOAR4xIMBTqjQ2AZmAYucR0lyQG8nBIvvFFMmtC-TTLnVxop-YOa1q4LJf36jNglV0iOeAMdIzmjHz8kWQAC_V99XvbKvOmYI9dhx1SxfC6bVGzCrNZKUcT1-yh4XT30DlB5GemhczcXpsKyPkpCOr59R-yJUXOVzApd4_KmUa_XDTltcuPryg/s3686/Camelot%201962%20program%20with%20ink.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2837" data-original-width="3686" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3gs86xOAR4xIMBTqjQ2AZmAYucR0lyQG8nBIvvFFMmtC-TTLnVxop-YOa1q4LJf36jNglV0iOeAMdIzmjHz8kWQAC_V99XvbKvOmYI9dhx1SxfC6bVGzCrNZKUcT1-yh4XT30DlB5GemhczcXpsKyPkpCOr59R-yJUXOVzApd4_KmUa_XDTltcuPryg/s320/Camelot%201962%20program%20with%20ink.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>If the original production of <i>My Fair Lady</i> was my first Broadway show, in 1961 at age seven (<a href="https://solangeontheater.blogspot.com/2019/02/a-fair-lady-for-all-generations.html" target="_blank">as I posted here</a>), then <i>Camelot</i> was my second, in 1962 at age eight.<div><br /></div><div>I even know exactly when my mother took me to the show, since she bought a program and memorialized it on the cover. - "Saturday matinee, September 8, 1962" (black line added digitally to photo).<p></p><p></p>There was very good reason that this was my second show - the lyricist-librettist/composing team of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe were following up their megahit (<i>Fair Lady</i>) and both shows were relatively family-friendly, but with complex adult themes.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN4pU1S8fxKwym8DEXPh1n4iREdRtzYwVQgjqJWtTa6VyQhI_k-fao_zWsXfx5rdG9W0ctmVG-7K5Pu1rq2hTThp2JRIbmDepsjG-Pc4KPmv6WBmEl0fc8OzHU4Cq2m33rYvJhz5e4JSpb_Mp2n0aoVbDvo0JBnwZfuKsZ4P_VX58LXXtvLxsaP265DQ/s374/Camelot%20LC%20poster.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="374" data-original-width="284" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN4pU1S8fxKwym8DEXPh1n4iREdRtzYwVQgjqJWtTa6VyQhI_k-fao_zWsXfx5rdG9W0ctmVG-7K5Pu1rq2hTThp2JRIbmDepsjG-Pc4KPmv6WBmEl0fc8OzHU4Cq2m33rYvJhz5e4JSpb_Mp2n0aoVbDvo0JBnwZfuKsZ4P_VX58LXXtvLxsaP265DQ/w207-h273/Camelot%20LC%20poster.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><div>Based on British author T.H. White's version of the King Arthur legend, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Once_and_Future_King" target="_blank">"The Once and Future King,"</a> <i>Camelot</i> tells the story of Arthur and Guenevere's romance and marriage, Arthur's establishment of the Knights of the Round Table as a force for good, Lancelot du Lac's arrival from France to join the Round Table, Guenevere and Lancelot's illicit affair and its destructive force upon Camelot and the ideals of the Round Table. </div><div><br /></div><div>Among other characters, the two main schemers conspiring to bring down Arthur's rule are his illegitimate son, Mordred, and Mordred's mother, Morgan Le Fay.</div><div><br /></div>Sixty years later, <i>Camelot </i>is getting the full <a href="https://www.lct.org/" target="_blank">Lincoln Center Theater</a> revival treatment -- 30-piece orchestra, Bartlett Sher directing, original Robert Russell Bennett and Philip Lang orchestrations.<p></p><p>I went to a preview performance, three days before opening night, set for April 13, 2023. Lerner's book has been rewritten by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Sorkin" target="_blank">Aaron Sorkin</a>; there's a more-diverse cast and there have been a few other tweaks for modern sensibilities, some of which work and some, I think, do not. </p><p></p><p>Hearkening back to the original show, one has to understand its impact. Ticket sales were slow until the Ed Sullivan show featured Richard Burton as King Arthur and Julie Andrews as Guenevere singing a couple of numbers.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQvHD4aiSj28KBXNKywli05JpliFbSd1WjA3HCWYiTKaonReCL1e929PhJgNnkRLWapQl-FL6joJo7QwyPjjN1AdTr40M4S0HgE2qx3CtNBzN_-cLTMctrFLIXN0wsGLG5HctACUZwaIgqBKtdA64PpDayMf77ugdt1GaxqV_mHUtnWlJcbASIjB8Efg/s300/Camelot_Original_Cast_Recording.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQvHD4aiSj28KBXNKywli05JpliFbSd1WjA3HCWYiTKaonReCL1e929PhJgNnkRLWapQl-FL6joJo7QwyPjjN1AdTr40M4S0HgE2qx3CtNBzN_-cLTMctrFLIXN0wsGLG5HctACUZwaIgqBKtdA64PpDayMf77ugdt1GaxqV_mHUtnWlJcbASIjB8Efg/w200-h200/Camelot_Original_Cast_Recording.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>The score was acknowledged to be extraordinary -- full of wonderful melodies and elegant lyrics -- but critics thought the show couldn't settle on a mood -- lighthearted in the first act, somber in the second -- and Lerner's book was criticized as being too talky and slow.</div><div><br /></div><div>Nevertheless, the score became so popular that the LP was found in many an American household, the songs played and sung over and over. <p></p><p></p>The show also rocketed a Broadway unknown - Robert Goulet - to stardom. Although he is the third in the Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot love triangle, he was listed below Roddy McDowell (Mordred) and Robert Coote (Sir Pellinore) on the album cover. <p></p><p>Goulet was astonishingly handsome, with a rich baritone voice like chocolate and red wine, and he made millions of hearts melt when he delivered the ballad that Lancelot sings to Guenevere, "If Ever I Would Leave You."</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizrKrgGo5XrJlLuXt1aE9WZfK9FV3wURTihkBKxHo2LHpVDlPOLRoVfzsvWexngn9cmm5CJTXmzsl2U9nVvgwl8_TXn4wHyGwZON5GsBXn1eHhpF26G4PQ4xzx70-SetmeITG4AGjPoh4ED1eNqJUkREt5SmrqNZXtP7RfDBhe_2-idmnorMz7rDjQzQ/s4000/Camelot%20Goulet%20autograph.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2440" data-original-width="4000" height="122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizrKrgGo5XrJlLuXt1aE9WZfK9FV3wURTihkBKxHo2LHpVDlPOLRoVfzsvWexngn9cmm5CJTXmzsl2U9nVvgwl8_TXn4wHyGwZON5GsBXn1eHhpF26G4PQ4xzx70-SetmeITG4AGjPoh4ED1eNqJUkREt5SmrqNZXtP7RfDBhe_2-idmnorMz7rDjQzQ/w200-h122/Camelot%20Goulet%20autograph.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>My fashion editor mom, Florence De Santis, had interviewed him for her celebrity fashion column, so we went backstage after we saw the show and he autographed that program. I remember him smiling and chatting and being very charming to a little girl. <p></p><i>Camelot</i> also became associated with the three-year administration of President John F. Kennedy, since shortly after his assassination in November, 1963, his widow Jacqueline said her late husband loved the lyrics, "Don't let it be forgot/That once there was a spot/For one brief shining moment/That was known as Camelot."<div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUCi5yPtq5BudhbLtJylrrjzyAYRTX-CdHg2ERpid2irPiOXo82IHFI0I8iSA3EG8dzMD2B35pkHYzMKv1V10bPN2uzd5u5T36XwjqxSlM0vGx6tZp5_aLxL6KSJbi2gcQSaUmcrdOtWGSw1ENVTxWCzP018NuPL9AUU0TVsu9KsuTV3zwy43NRKoQXw/s390/Camelot%20LC%20leads.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="292" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUCi5yPtq5BudhbLtJylrrjzyAYRTX-CdHg2ERpid2irPiOXo82IHFI0I8iSA3EG8dzMD2B35pkHYzMKv1V10bPN2uzd5u5T36XwjqxSlM0vGx6tZp5_aLxL6KSJbi2gcQSaUmcrdOtWGSw1ENVTxWCzP018NuPL9AUU0TVsu9KsuTV3zwy43NRKoQXw/w182-h243/Camelot%20LC%20leads.jpg" width="182" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrew Burnap as King Arthur<br />Phillipa Soo as Guenevere,<br />Jordan Donica as Lancelot<br />Photo/Joan Marcus</td></tr></tbody></table>So - rather a lot of baggage for one show, and <i>Camelot</i> arrives at Lincoln Center with a lot of anticipation.</div><div><br /></div><div>From the opening scene, when the courtiers are awaiting Guenevere's bridal carriage at the top of the hill, only to realize it is stopping at the <i>bottom</i> of the hill, creating a confusing new tradition, Sorkin's snappy, sitcom-quick dialog is playing for laughs, which it gets. </div><div><br /></div><div>One of the courtiers, however, complains consistently that "things are changing too fast," possibly foreshadowing future uneasy changes.</div><div><br /></div><div>Arthur (Andrew Burnap) drops out of a tree, musing in song that his people are thinking, "I Wonder What the King is Doing Tonight?" Terrified at the idea of his unseen bride, he replies, "He's scared." </div><div><br /></div><div>Guenevere (Phillipa Soo) runs from her retinue, none too thrilled at the idea of an arranged marriage. She is one tough cookie, showing up in black leather pants, with a pack and knife, yet she also bemoans "The Simple Joys of Maidenhood," in which girls could get a few knights to fight over them before they had to get married. I guess she wasn't wearing that outfit in the carriage and changed clothes going up the hill (?). </div><div><br /></div><div>When Arthur realizes who she is, he sings of his kingdom's lovely climate and winsome qualities in "Camelot." However, in Sher's staging, Guenevere constantly interrupts his singing with snarky comments, undercutting the song with which Arthur is supposed to be winning her over.</div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTy_CSRABmrMcyAcQ3ir1z52Funjgw6wm_jfvAnDC55ij1b3J6CkI83AXONzVCJdQh_GjkY4BCTbTeLg0QkgabB5lPnJZ0T6dedBtkvR6nXJOLSZlL5azN1QU5YsR58D4zxHCc5idNEGJG3ihTyYkeLoAhPVcEaD1jPCX3A6mINpFdh-H3Ax_cOfqvyg/s590/Camelot%20Guenevere%20and%20Arthur.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="590" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTy_CSRABmrMcyAcQ3ir1z52Funjgw6wm_jfvAnDC55ij1b3J6CkI83AXONzVCJdQh_GjkY4BCTbTeLg0QkgabB5lPnJZ0T6dedBtkvR6nXJOLSZlL5azN1QU5YsR58D4zxHCc5idNEGJG3ihTyYkeLoAhPVcEaD1jPCX3A6mINpFdh-H3Ax_cOfqvyg/w308-h167/Camelot%20Guenevere%20and%20Arthur.jpg" width="308" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phillipa Soo and Andrew Burnap as<br />Guenevere and Arthur. Photo/Joan Marcus</td></tr></tbody></table>Nevertheless, Burnap and Soo's beautiful singing voices and excellent diction deliver the essence of the first three witty numbers.</div><div><br /></div><div>One of Sorkin's declared changes to the book was that he was going to "get rid of the magic," to focus on the human relationships.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, the magician/Arthur's tutor, Merlyn (Dakin Matthews), makes only a brief appearance in the first act. The nymph Nimue is gone, and so is her enchanting song, "Follow Me," that lures Merlyn away from Camelot.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have to wonder, though, about taking magic out of a mythical person and place, in this era besotted with Harry Potter and accustomed to filmed entertainment that uses computer animation to be even more magical. </div><div><br /></div><div>Merlyn does get a good Sorkin line, however, as he realizes Arthur's plans - "A powerful man, determined to do good. Things can get dangerous."</div><div><br /></div><div>Determination of steel characterizes Lancelot, convinced that he's the perfect knight for the Round Table, in the song "C'est Moi." Jordan Donica was out for several performances, unusual for a preview so close to opening night, so at this performance, Lancelot was played by understudy Matias de la Flor. I certainly look forward to hearing his voice develop further, because his control of breath and volume was not up to the task. </div><div><br /></div><div>Guenevere and the court celebrate May Day with a country festival, a maypole and "The Lusty Month of May," made more obvious by Guenevere's way-off-the-shoulder dress and handsy behavior with the guys. Put off by Lancelot's boastful manner, the queen goads three knights to challenge him at the jousting tournament ("Take Me to the Fair").</div><div><br /></div><div>Lancelot easily bests two knights, then Arthur challenges him - a plot change from the original, in which Sir Lionel is the last challenger. So here, it's Arthur, not Lionel, who is grievously wounded (Or is he? He gets up pretty fast.) and brought back to life by Lancelot's intense faith and prayer. I suppose it raises the emotional stakes for the trio. It's certainly the first time in this production that Guenevere has shown she cares for him at all.</div><div><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJHJ_1WOVRqzZBojH2JrbeT-68y5ZlUhPf988aLR5G2l_ORWX84VKX5SE-uK06NElr-vlfFxXAvVkvTjrhHTt9bKbvHTgPvdjJtJLTh35yBNVoFcWzWNf7-QZ1F8iUcJFG7_4NQOvjc-grAH0E1egoUmU4wduIb_cAAytnvr0E_nBCQhgX4EHtqnG3Tg/s590/Camelot%20L%20and%20A%20fighting.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="590" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJHJ_1WOVRqzZBojH2JrbeT-68y5ZlUhPf988aLR5G2l_ORWX84VKX5SE-uK06NElr-vlfFxXAvVkvTjrhHTt9bKbvHTgPvdjJtJLTh35yBNVoFcWzWNf7-QZ1F8iUcJFG7_4NQOvjc-grAH0E1egoUmU4wduIb_cAAytnvr0E_nBCQhgX4EHtqnG3Tg/w314-h171/Camelot%20L%20and%20A%20fighting.jpg" width="314" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lancelot (Donica) and Arthur (Burnap)<br />in combat, as Guenevere (Soo) looks on.</td></tr></tbody></table>Seeing Arthur defeated felt unsatisfying to me since it seems Burnap has been playing him as a bit of a wimp, and Guenevere continues her snarky ways.</div><div><br /></div><div>There's little chemistry between the two, and in a conversation about their relationship, he calls her, oddly, his "friend and business partner."</div><div><br /></div><div>Dramatically, if two romantic leads just continue to snipe at each other, and there's no heat, boredom sets in. The young woman next to me was shifting in her seat and attempting to read her program in the dark. </div><div><br /></div><div>Guenevere and Lancelot are supposedly falling in love, but again, little chemistry. But nothing can harm my favorite ballad in the show, Guenevere's conflicted desire to see Lancelot go away - "Before I Gaze at You Again."</div><div><br /></div><div>Along the way, I realized that the snappy rhythms of Sorkin's dialog didn't jive with the long notes and lush Broadway sound of the score's original orchestrations, which the production proudly cites in its publicity. </div><div><br /></div><div>Sorkin again brings us down to earth with a Lancelot speech that argues against magic and God -- well, so much for his faith. But Lancelot <i>has </i>to wrestle with his faith, his conscience and his image of himself as a godly man -- as he pursues his adulterous love for Guenevere. In turn, both of them must feel and express great love for Arthur, as husband, as friend, as king, which makes their sin all the more tragic. Unfortunately, the feeling isn't there with enough force. </div><div><br /></div><div>The second act still turns dark, with the appearance of Mordred. Now we're getting a more nuanced picture of the king. He's made mistakes in his youth. Burnap's performance really shines, as he acquires gravity and seriousness as an older Arthur, wrestling with his ideals and with human nature. </div><div><br /></div><div>One of the most charming songs, "What do the Simple Folk Do?" where Arthur and Guenevere try to imagine how "ordinary people" cheer up, is staged frustratingly. The final stanza is "they dance," but Guenevere, instead of dancing with Arthur, keeps running from him and their dance lasts just a minute. </div><div><br /></div><div>Lured away from the castle, Arthur visits Mordred's mother, Morgan Le Fay, a sorceress in the original and here, a scientist -- which makes no sense. Back at the castle, with Arthur gone, Mordred stokes conflict among the knights and Lancelot comes to Guenevere's bedroom. The scenic video design and lighting (by 59 Productions and Lap Chi Chu) are outstanding here, toggling back and forth between Morgan's lair, with branches and stone floor, and the castle, depicted by shafts of light.</div><div><br /></div><div>The lovers are discovered, Guenevere is arrested, Lancelot fights his way free and she is to stand trial for treason. To my eight-year-old mind, the most thrilling song is here - "Guenevere" -- which, to a galloping, ominous rhythm, details the danger she is in. I accepted the switch to a more-grave second act. Maybe because mom read stories aloud and I read a lot on my own, I knew that life can turn quickly from light to dark, and that something very grown-up and serious was going on.</div><div><br /></div><div>Arthur's agony is heartbreaking: Adhere to your declared rule of law and you kill the woman you love. Let her go, and you're a hypocrite. Events drive toward an inevitable climax, but <i>Camelot</i> ends on a note of hope. </div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnW4IMkiXF9wubHSzZQ2lowd0jre56g23mEcrUAKHB_EmQZzU2ShTCDyso0rC0tQy4g8k9v1CtXLBduHbVM1Pik09TldMX7yz9xzfAUn-B9Wmi51useyApgW8k42asXrQAeIwfzWbBv0pMK2i7RC0hhMKPvElCjoWnbwo56sB_ZeiSmsR4leojjbrdA/s1093/Camelot%20Burnap%20as%20Arthur.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1093" data-original-width="884" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnW4IMkiXF9wubHSzZQ2lowd0jre56g23mEcrUAKHB_EmQZzU2ShTCDyso0rC0tQy4g8k9v1CtXLBduHbVM1Pik09TldMX7yz9xzfAUn-B9Wmi51useyApgW8k42asXrQAeIwfzWbBv0pMK2i7RC0hhMKPvElCjoWnbwo56sB_ZeiSmsR4leojjbrdA/w235-h290/Camelot%20Burnap%20as%20Arthur.jpg" width="235" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Burnap as Arthur</td></tr></tbody></table>The show is worth seeing for that magnificent score and Burnap's journey as King Arthur. His struggle with his own nature ("I shall have a man's vengeance!"), his ideals and his love are so affecting that I had the tissues out.</div><div><br /></div><div>I was also reminded of an event that will take place in three weeks - the coronation of another king of England - Charles III. He, too, is exploring, perhaps struggling with, what it means to be a king. </div><div><br /></div><div>For the other leads, it's a shame that Soo has been directed to make her character unlikable and I had no way of evaluating Donica's Lancelot. </div><div><br /></div><div>It's a truly bad actor that can't make the most of a great role such as Mordred and Taylor Trensch is a terrific actor, delivering his character's creed, "The Seven Deadly Virtues," with panache. Marilee Talkington is a striking, red-haired Morgan Le Fay and Dakin Matthews embodies old folks' wisdom and comedy in the dual roles of Merlyn and Sir Pellinore. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you go, just realize that there might be a couple of places in the show where you think, "hunh?"</div><div><br /></div><div>Footnote: In the sheer-coincidence department -- my father and brother were/are named Arthur and I just discovered that Robert Goulet's granddaughter is named ... Solange. </div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div><div><br /><p><br /> </p><p><br /> </p><div>, <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p><p> <br /></p></div></div></div></div>Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-18052591046577421512022-08-31T23:56:00.004-04:002022-09-01T11:43:29.134-04:00Wagner fans find Valhalla in Vermont<div>The emerging post-pandemic world is witnessing all kinds of artistic miracles but one of the most astonishing I've seen took place last week -- the resurrection of a wild, improbable idea that Richard Wagner's daunting operatic <i>Ring</i> cycle could be produced in the town of <a href="https://www.brattleboro.org/" target="_blank">Brattleboro</a>, Vermont (pop. 12,000).</div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSPKsBrcqa7vXP8h3oRrdBlHXU1xFYT9LNy6kVHuPBVcX-yVXixp-xqnfpcrR8J0P0euw4vsK-ZHclZ0_dseluPn-XBj1b6vw4pFAgoQ-n-bkoqcCRa5qdQtkCDN9SPFesjp9G6L_LM2GqQlcGbGiVwuINqYlVMBwctzrk4mO8WmFhHtihf03UXjs5Zw/s4000/Tundi%202022%201.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSPKsBrcqa7vXP8h3oRrdBlHXU1xFYT9LNy6kVHuPBVcX-yVXixp-xqnfpcrR8J0P0euw4vsK-ZHclZ0_dseluPn-XBj1b6vw4pFAgoQ-n-bkoqcCRa5qdQtkCDN9SPFesjp9G6L_LM2GqQlcGbGiVwuINqYlVMBwctzrk4mO8WmFhHtihf03UXjs5Zw/s320/Tundi%202022%201.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Latchis marquee also advertised<br />films in two of the theaters - "Emily"<br /> and "Beast."</td></tr></tbody></table>Theatrical reawakening took place with two performances each of <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Rheingold" target="_blank">Das Rheingold </a></i>and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Walk%C3%BCre" target="_blank"><i>Die Walk</i><i style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: times;">üre</span></i></a>, two of the four <i>Ring </i>operas, in a semi-staged performance at Brattleboro's historic, ornate <a href="https://latchis.com/" target="_blank">Latchis Theater</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>They were produced by a new company called <a href="https://tundiproductions.org/" target="_blank">Tundi Productions</a>, the brainchild of conductor Hugh Keelan and soprano Jenna Rae, who are married.</div><div><br /></div><div>With accompaniment by highly-skilled local orchestra players conducted with verve and finesse by Keelan, a company of professional opera singers threw their hearts into the work, communicating with dynamic beauty the essence of Wagner's deeply-felt insight into men, women and the gods of legend. </div><div><br /></div><div>There were excellent costumes, minimal stage furnishings and props, and video effects and surtitles on a scrim between the upstage orchestra and the downstage playing area. The focus was on the music. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRik9zNEGTtwdAGNYEUsDrUJOcO9N3MEYhO2aJAqf3EhMEF_iaM9rmMoRRHJdv6V4gxpRhRWKv8i7fTwlglzTdwu8n_wT-CjNEQzRV90Eb_KfV5-tOHGXqtzRV_6ApUsd6kPRnFKtvMDVl/s1600/TUNDI+logo.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1511" data-original-width="1500" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRik9zNEGTtwdAGNYEUsDrUJOcO9N3MEYhO2aJAqf3EhMEF_iaM9rmMoRRHJdv6V4gxpRhRWKv8i7fTwlglzTdwu8n_wT-CjNEQzRV90Eb_KfV5-tOHGXqtzRV_6ApUsd6kPRnFKtvMDVl/s200/TUNDI+logo.png" width="198" /></a></div><div>But first, some background, dating from pre-pandemic times. </div></div><div><br /></div><div>In August, 2019, Tundi staged Wagner's <i><a href="https://latchis.com/" target="_blank">Tristan und Isolde</a></i>, possibly as a four-hour hors d'oeuvre to the 21 hours of the <i>Ring</i>. </div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tristan </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(which gave its name to the production company, i.e. "T und I") and the <i>Ring </i>are</span> usually performed by major companies since they require a full orchestra (plus some instruments that Wagner added, such as anvils and his invention, the Wagner tuba) and the kind of big, tireless voices that can soar above all
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<br /></div>Though I had seen the company's <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turandot" target="_blank">Turandot</a> </i>in 2018, I'd never seen <i>Tristan</i>, coming late to the Wagner canon since my father had had a run-in with the Nazis (a small matter of a year in a prison camp) in World War II and, as a result, Wagner was never heard in my opera-loving household.<div> </div><div>I'd had my first taste of the Bard of Bayreuth in the 1990s in Toronto, with <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_fliegende_Holl%C3%A4nder" target="_blank">Der Fliegende Holländer</a></i> and my eyes were opened. What was this extraordinary sensory flow of constant music, somehow awakening deep emotion? How did he do that?</div><div><br /></div><div>However, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6tterd%C3%A4mmerung" target="_blank">Götterdämmerung</a>,</i> at the Metropolitan Opera about a decade ago, was my entry portal to the <i>Ring</i>. Now, I'd made fun of those <i>Ring </i>crazies who'd pay many, many dollars to fly around the world for many, many hours of what had to be dense, tedious opera. I wasn't the only one. Who hasn't seen Elmer Fudd chasing Bugs Bunny in <i>What's Opera, Doc?, </i>singing "Kill the wabbit!" to the tune of "Ride of the Valkyries?" </div><div><br /></div><div>However, a tenor friend was an extra and offered me a ticket in the top ring of the opera house. I came equipped with a sandwich for this 5 1/2-hour marathon -- and was completely blown away by the music and the drama.</div><div><br /></div><div>Why was Brunnhilde's family so awful and why was she so unlucky in love? Never mind that joking about a horned helmet and stout soprano, Brunnhilde met every betrayal with moral courage and was the true hero of the whole story! I was in tears at Siegfried's funeral music. I was aghast as Brunnhilde rode her faithful steed Grane into that enormous fire at the end.</div><div><br /></div><div>I staggered out of the opera house, determined to go back and see the other three parts of the <i>Ring - Rheingold, Walküre </i>and<i> Siegfried. </i>I took my then-14-year-old daughter to see <i>Rheingold</i> at the opera house and saw the other two (saving $$) at the Met in HD at a local movie theater. </div><div><i><br /></i></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEzmR8jeqMdMecc1ZKBSpSxRcH18XjHkZv-NZkJk7EhHmTs9QyEIyzd4PGfojrlgtMBBaRLCfvaHGEg8GReAahvmb76ZxY4AVUOKo0WtykjmQWVXYf6jVdgUsV6pLvhweSH6Ec1m2Q5p1K2QrVMZfF2cPaOLP0r4hGw0GHn2wW07gUkiO_IcWN6jcQug/s3264/tundi%202022%202.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEzmR8jeqMdMecc1ZKBSpSxRcH18XjHkZv-NZkJk7EhHmTs9QyEIyzd4PGfojrlgtMBBaRLCfvaHGEg8GReAahvmb76ZxY4AVUOKo0WtykjmQWVXYf6jVdgUsV6pLvhweSH6Ec1m2Q5p1K2QrVMZfF2cPaOLP0r4hGw0GHn2wW07gUkiO_IcWN6jcQug/s320/tundi%202022%202.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cast of <i>Die Walküre</i> (including the Valkyries) <br />takes a bow at the Latchis Theater.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>Forward to Brattleboro. Tundi's<i> Tristan</i>, with tenor Alan Schneider and Rae in the title roles, measured up to the Met in the most important realm - vocal quality.</div><div><br /></div><div>As the story of the lovers gave a new dynamic to “I hate you but I love you,” Schneider and Rae poured forth fabulous waves of sound, with Keelan conducting.</div><div><br /></div><div>You can read that <i>Tristan </i>features "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_und_Isolde" target="_blank">Wagner's</a> unprecedented use of chromaticism, tonal ambiguity, orchestra color and harmonic suspension." Or you can simply marvel at the way the master storyteller keeps you wondering, musically, what's coming next. </div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2bmYzQqz7_z87VE4gh-PAEa3FQWQqS9YSBqBcrYc3qBo9aYUgs_UgUtzUV3tTTgAySSOSvrtajW_z4ol7wwDzZWDOaHNOJDJwKtkfMn9mSY4D9O-XcWosuSIuuPTd7RkfjDXyO2JmeBYxONY5LId71RAtWURos1MLe-jP_Scr_4MfCQiGwp0imVnyNQ/s1105/TUNDI%20Jenna%20Rae.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1105" data-original-width="776" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2bmYzQqz7_z87VE4gh-PAEa3FQWQqS9YSBqBcrYc3qBo9aYUgs_UgUtzUV3tTTgAySSOSvrtajW_z4ol7wwDzZWDOaHNOJDJwKtkfMn9mSY4D9O-XcWosuSIuuPTd7RkfjDXyO2JmeBYxONY5LId71RAtWURos1MLe-jP_Scr_4MfCQiGwp0imVnyNQ/w155-h221/TUNDI%20Jenna%20Rae.jpg" width="155" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jenna Rae</td></tr></tbody></table>The two <i>Ring</i> operas again featured top-notch singers, with Rae as a passionate Brunnhilde, Cailin Marcel Manson as a dignified Wotan (the supreme god), Sondra Kelly as Wotan's wronged wife Fricka, Brian Ember as a riveting Alberich (the resentful dwarf who steals the Rhine gold) -- but it's difficult to single out particular cast members, as the entire ensemble was very strong.</div><div><br /></div><div>Veda Crewe and Todd Lyon are credited in the program with costume design and I was particularly taken with Crewe's costumes for the giants, Fafner and Fasolt, who build Valhalla for Wotan. They looked like living columns of rock.</div><div><br /></div><div>Possibly more love could have been given to the sparse stage furnishings and the program, with tiny type and no story synopsis. </div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjODpk5W-DStbbxt3EgwVYMAiWJt_s1--6pvpAw204VUudcrnL4g96iPhEGopblwaqg1GNkHvV8k78mMVqmPa4EnDG5lLQDcazuOHqs9edIxHaboXXSsdY-jtwR-mkCgGeo9pKpfpGHm4GycKzQcd2s-njwCT84U-9cy26HmgSp5SaYp2pZeGLoxqaWKw/s733/TUNDI%20Keelan.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="733" data-original-width="484" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjODpk5W-DStbbxt3EgwVYMAiWJt_s1--6pvpAw204VUudcrnL4g96iPhEGopblwaqg1GNkHvV8k78mMVqmPa4EnDG5lLQDcazuOHqs9edIxHaboXXSsdY-jtwR-mkCgGeo9pKpfpGHm4GycKzQcd2s-njwCT84U-9cy26HmgSp5SaYp2pZeGLoxqaWKw/w149-h226/TUNDI%20Keelan.jpg" width="149" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hugh Keelan</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div>I liked such staging delights as the three Rhinemaidens swirling strings of green lighted cords to symbolize the river's waves and the Valkyries using the balcony and side levels of the theater to join in their "ho jo to ho" battle call. </div><div><br /></div><div>With the orchestra driving the "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGU1P6lBW6Q" target="_blank">Ride of the Valkyries</a>" and eight sopranos, playing swaggering, badass women flying on magic horses, in full throat, the effect was absolutely thrilling. </div><div> </div><div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div>
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If Tundi can come out of a two-year pandemic pause with such vigor, then its future remains bright. A <i>Ring</i> cycle in maple syrup country? Sign me up!</div>
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<br /></div>Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-77598626245101555532022-08-08T17:09:00.000-04:002022-08-08T17:09:22.866-04:00Traveling down Heartbreak Road<p>"Fellow Travelers," a story set in the 1950s era of political paranoia dominated by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_McCarthy" target="_blank">U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy</a>, is the contemporary work in this year's <a href="https://seaglefestival.org/" target="_blank">Seagle Festival</a> opera program in the Adirondack mountain town of Schroon Lake, N.Y.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE4XLUrDODfojYMgLe_xVMJ4H1UizPCGWlTHmLjXMn1KKs2RxqiCRKmy6FB_d-2a1yvPUStob8-1jQW3-CodzOifiL3m9oXLPXyn5aLV6xCx2w70r4sOjrA902PceTIoLYg_kU4FySw5pAEs8rvG2lMIcEGBpugSO9Ku22EfUBVmDriWmaK2S9fJaX4w/s1231/Seagle%20travelers%20season%205.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="454" data-original-width="1231" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE4XLUrDODfojYMgLe_xVMJ4H1UizPCGWlTHmLjXMn1KKs2RxqiCRKmy6FB_d-2a1yvPUStob8-1jQW3-CodzOifiL3m9oXLPXyn5aLV6xCx2w70r4sOjrA902PceTIoLYg_kU4FySw5pAEs8rvG2lMIcEGBpugSO9Ku22EfUBVmDriWmaK2S9fJaX4w/s320/Seagle%20travelers%20season%205.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>A work with a tender heart by composer <a href="https://gregoryspears.com/" target="_blank">Gregory Spears </a>and librettist <a href="https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Greg-Pierce/" target="_blank">Greg Pierce</a>, "Fellow Travelers" is based on the novel by Thomas Malton, which traces the doomed love affair of Timothy Laughlin and Hawkins Fuller, federal government employees.<p></p><p>McCarthy's zeal to root out supposed Communists in the State Department and the U.S. Army also included homosexuals who, the theory went, were security risks as they could be blackmailed by a foreign agent who might threaten to reveal their sexual orientation.</p><p>McCarthy (R-Wis.) exploited genuine concern about the rise of the Soviet Union, the Iron Curtain of repression across Eastern Europe, China's conversion to Communism and the conviction and execution of the Rosenbergs for passing classified nuclear weapons information to the Soviet Union.</p><p>Throughout the mid-50s, he and his lawyer ally, Roy Cohn, led or influenced campaigns of persecution, accusing people in government, academia, Hollywood and the military of being Communists, Soviet spies or sympathizers, i.e., "fellow travelers."</p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKHeQ7qq3a6Z1tJjUb6lHBrT1Gr1Hbqjgu3ET56ZcBkTioqm3FWf48lzW3gVd36UJ54c7Q8VKK1pnOdKDxb_fn5pyrdRD61cuRFd--dfDvGtl8-0eB8PiaS_Xv7nXhHuzsVgbcTOgig6zf9GJFCZgduGFWjg1UrhcGH5sWmJpcfvtfLGWBP90MgFaIrQ/s1197/Seagle%20travelers%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="1197" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKHeQ7qq3a6Z1tJjUb6lHBrT1Gr1Hbqjgu3ET56ZcBkTioqm3FWf48lzW3gVd36UJ54c7Q8VKK1pnOdKDxb_fn5pyrdRD61cuRFd--dfDvGtl8-0eB8PiaS_Xv7nXhHuzsVgbcTOgig6zf9GJFCZgduGFWjg1UrhcGH5sWmJpcfvtfLGWBP90MgFaIrQ/s320/Seagle%20travelers%201.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daniel Esteban Lugo and Joel Clemens<br /> in "Fellow Travelers." Photo/Seagle Festival</td></tr></tbody></table>In the opera, Fuller doesn't have to travel far to find Laughlin, who is a young reporter sitting on a park bench at Washington, D.C.'s Dupont Circle, reviewing the notes he took for a story about McCarthy's wedding. </p><p>In a pre-show lecture, Seagle Artistic Director Darren K. Woods noted that Dupont Circle was a noted gay cruising area. As homosexual acts were illegal in many states, men often met clandestinely in public places, but were also vulnerable to arrest by undercover police. </p><p>Laughlin, played with shy sweetness by Daniel Esteban Lugo, is drinking milk with his lunch, prompting the self-assured Fuller, known as Hawk, playfully to dub him "Skippy." Fuller, smoothly played by Joel Clemens, recommends Laughlin for a speechwriting job in the office of Sen. Potter, Laughlin sends him a thank-you gift and Fuller drops by Laughlin's apartment.</p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW7BwP6uVSe2YYIFQGguF3MlX7MlTc5ASg2Bb6Mmyz_18P7AkALM78s1Jex3yWcwpX6Kea6fjR6Fz74feEPmSCJCVTP0x9e0KacHk23yHJb75PPOuiS8PNLVp22ZUkljQgy6qUWuCqHePozeXsnMNkG7XhdBf8MOoKlX8PizU9x_nNty7Gx7pldo9PTQ/s739/Seagle%20travelers%203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="739" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW7BwP6uVSe2YYIFQGguF3MlX7MlTc5ASg2Bb6Mmyz_18P7AkALM78s1Jex3yWcwpX6Kea6fjR6Fz74feEPmSCJCVTP0x9e0KacHk23yHJb75PPOuiS8PNLVp22ZUkljQgy6qUWuCqHePozeXsnMNkG7XhdBf8MOoKlX8PizU9x_nNty7Gx7pldo9PTQ/s320/Seagle%20travelers%203.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daniel Esteban Lugo and Joel Clemens<br /> in "Fellow Travelers." Photo/Seagle Festival</td></tr></tbody></table>Laughlin falls for Fuller's tough, savvy magnetism, tinged with danger - "I'm your first. I own you," Fuller tells him.</p><p>Spears has written music that brilliantly matches these vocal parts and characterizations, brought to life by Lugo's supple tenor and Clemens' thrilling baritone. They have a lovely duet, relaxing in Laughlin's apartment, just two men on a bed, singing about placing "my head on your arm."</p><p>After their sensual encounter, Laughlin has a slight problem - he's a devout Catholic, a denomination that to this day considers homosexuality "disordered." In a wonderful aria, he begins with "Forgive me, Holy Father, I confess," but ends with "Thank you, Holy Father, for sending him to me." Is there a more poignantly conflicted expression of love and faith, expressed without rancor?</p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXExep-HZuosubM8s7Nq1YVpiVz-188CqwNSiEmb2Ag7FHRGa7ZXSPr0dQQ0Nq_2_uhqIryAjnItx7f21oWo-M-sVixHVNcx2gjwWityx0-JUboIJPdHzezAnXffinCxDep6dyWOvy9q9MbeewcxYQ0x8qGv30AUye1Wnr3_l7oiuwBqQXEAZl9wx_HA/s1507/Seagle%20travelers%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="439" data-original-width="1507" height="93" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXExep-HZuosubM8s7Nq1YVpiVz-188CqwNSiEmb2Ag7FHRGa7ZXSPr0dQQ0Nq_2_uhqIryAjnItx7f21oWo-M-sVixHVNcx2gjwWityx0-JUboIJPdHzezAnXffinCxDep6dyWOvy9q9MbeewcxYQ0x8qGv30AUye1Wnr3_l7oiuwBqQXEAZl9wx_HA/s320/Seagle%20travelers%202.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From left, Daniel Esteban Lugo, Emily Finke, <br />Joel Clemens and Shannon Richards in <br />"Fellow Travelers." Photo/Seagle Festival</td></tr></tbody></table>Although gay couples have lived peacefully together since the dawn of time, in this very different mid-century world, Laughlin and Fuller can't settle down together. </p><p>Fuller doesn't even want to, proposing a threesome to the shocked Laughlin, then telling him he's not the monogamous type. </p><p>In this shadow world, women play particularly fraught roles. Hawkins' assistant Mary Johnson is attracted to him, but accepts reality. In another gorgeous aria, Shannon Richards' glowing soprano expresses Mary's concern ("I worry") about the fates of the two men.</p><p>In a plot turn that seems to be dropped in from nowhere but has obvious ramifications to today's news, Johnson reveals she is pregnant from a one-night stand but "knows a doctor in New Orleans" who "takes care" of such things. </p><p>When Laughlin, attempting to escape his anguished relationship, enlists in the Army, Hawkins marries another office worker, Lucy (Emily Finke), and tries to take up the life of a good suburban heterosexual husband. It was, and is, an all-too-common sham that devastated both men and women.</p><p>In the last few scenes, the story leans toward soap opera and seems to meander to its inevitable heartbroken farewell, but does reflect the ambivalence of each man's tie to their relationship. </p><p>In his lecture, Woods said that composer Spears' inspirations are George Frederic Handel and Philip Glass -- 18th century Baroque and modern minimalism. Glass' typical repetitive musical phrases and Handel's graceful embellishments give Spears' music a shimmering beauty and endless interest. Seagle's cast of "fellow travellers" and the dual pianists, Music Director Neill Campbell and Assistant Music Director Lindsay Woodward, made the most of it. </p><p>Under the overall stage direction of Richard Kagey, Evan Johnson's spare set design perfectly melded with Liza Schweitzer's lighting design. </p><p>"Fellow Travelers," was co-commissioned by G. Sterling Zinsmeyer and Cincinnati Opera, premiered in 2016 and has had nine productions by major opera companies. It deserves many more. </p>Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-9279022007959689152022-02-10T00:00:00.001-05:002022-02-10T00:05:05.811-05:00‘The Music Man’ and Hugh Jackman: Seventy-six Trombone Therapy<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Joy, joy,
joy.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">I needed a
dose of the j-medicine badly, grousing through a mid-winter week that was gray,
long and dispiriting.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">COVID,
Ukraine and the ordinary run of downers in the news galvanized me to buy a
ticket to the Broadway revival of Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man,” starring
Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster, in previews now with a Feb. 10 opening.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">It worked.
Dr. Theater put his stethoscope to my heart and wrote out a prescription for
two and a-half hours of musical brilliance that put a smile on my face under my
mask for just about the whole time and kept the wintry blues at bay. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjqh0_BpQqKLhsHNcicQK_Hc_oBQp6aEd2dAazZkVYoNRp0DGyya-XC24SbgC9X2dYJj5b6ykZnk4KtUdLjJ4tmukYAFr_MPBL1SZNYpat5cNM_eanx02ujaSUm4mrsThxV88urY4ioZiKkFAkv2iW2fe9mrdQO_ZUhHsCrXZYGqHLusD6_LcHoLzZpJg=s1200" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1200" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjqh0_BpQqKLhsHNcicQK_Hc_oBQp6aEd2dAazZkVYoNRp0DGyya-XC24SbgC9X2dYJj5b6ykZnk4KtUdLjJ4tmukYAFr_MPBL1SZNYpat5cNM_eanx02ujaSUm4mrsThxV88urY4ioZiKkFAkv2iW2fe9mrdQO_ZUhHsCrXZYGqHLusD6_LcHoLzZpJg=s320" width="320" /></a></div>Megastar Jackman
as con man “Professor” Harold Hill and Foster as Marian Paroo, the librarian
who resists his charms, light up this wonderful revival of the American stage
classic that shot Robert Preston and Barbara Cook to stardom in the 1950s.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Jackman’s incandescent
sex appeal and singing/dancing chops perfectly fit the character of a man who
can convince an entire town to believe in phantom musical skills.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">His
dynamism and irresistible smile seduce the audience as well as the folks of
River City, Iowa in such great numbers as “Ya Got Trouble” (convincing the town
they need a band rather than a pool hall), “Seventy-Six Trombones” (overselling
the magnificence of the band-to-be) and “Marian the Librarian” (dancing to the
rhythm of readers opening and shutting books as he tries to woo Miss Paroo).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Foster’s shining,
wholesome charisma stays under wraps early as Marian tries to interest the
townspeople in literature, copes with loneliness and vows not to settle for the
wrong man, but glows later as she realizes that forgiveness and understanding
can inspire the wrong/right man. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh_JlFfbwvP6inUTUiEqStba8o0fuJtVLWtHSM5NUZm6QUUfWIKugFRWmwBhHO0fBmcLy5ZwHl8urn9ccy5Gq6qkfbNos9Hg-0Tn1Rfsx_vOXb0wkQcBgqA-nIk8Bb42y6aZwAqY-ULi1EIFomzo2b7amHEcv92r6wN4Eom01zsLsOgKF7T-vbkhymb9g=s904" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="610" data-original-width="904" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh_JlFfbwvP6inUTUiEqStba8o0fuJtVLWtHSM5NUZm6QUUfWIKugFRWmwBhHO0fBmcLy5ZwHl8urn9ccy5Gq6qkfbNos9Hg-0Tn1Rfsx_vOXb0wkQcBgqA-nIk8Bb42y6aZwAqY-ULi1EIFomzo2b7amHEcv92r6wN4Eom01zsLsOgKF7T-vbkhymb9g=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From left, Shuler Hensley, Hugh Jackman and<br /> Sutton Foster in "The Music Man."</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Her clear
soprano voice explores Marian’s emotional depths in the lovely “Goodnight, My
Someone” and “Till There Was You,” and most remarkably in a song that one needs
to see on stage, since it never made it into the 1962 movie. In “My White
Knight,” she seriously defines what she wants in a man. “I would like him to be
more interested in me than he is in himself/And more interested in us than in
me.”</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">This production
tunes up “The Music Man” for a modern age but retains all its heartland charm,
thanks to a team of veteran Broadway masters at the top of their game: director
Jerry Zaks, choreographer Warren Carlyle, costume and scene designer Santo
Loquasto, orchestrator Jonathan Tunick, lighting designer Brian MacDevitt, sound
designer Scott Lehrer, music director Patrick Vaccariello.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">A tip of
the hat also goes to Jackman and Foster, at ages 53 and 46, in great shape,
although Jackman was breathing a bit heavily after a couple of numbers. Eight shows
a week! I’m in awe. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">This group,
with decades of shows and awards in their back pockets (Tunick is 83!), freshens
the show’s strong nod to female empowerment and presents a cast that’s about
one-third African-American. Hill’s pursuit of Marian, which today could seem
like creepy stalking, is given a light touch, especially in the library number.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiaJbGPU1SPIHdteGFXUatdE_4j15-Dxu6z_MHKgDHy-kaKErQe1VHtvYs_LH3rpEt5iu2AfDVIxR3lflf97OljmkSANTB1MmngxYWLcshwitAuYWq8h5hGmrVLpnZT4FU6EzoNY-sE_WhPAN9llK22q7UCHEkLsHvTk8snB6xeosOBuhGGTZxqXhq3Ug=s2754" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1497" data-original-width="2754" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiaJbGPU1SPIHdteGFXUatdE_4j15-Dxu6z_MHKgDHy-kaKErQe1VHtvYs_LH3rpEt5iu2AfDVIxR3lflf97OljmkSANTB1MmngxYWLcshwitAuYWq8h5hGmrVLpnZT4FU6EzoNY-sE_WhPAN9llK22q7UCHEkLsHvTk8snB6xeosOBuhGGTZxqXhq3Ug=s320" width="320" /></a></div>Loquasto’s
red barn scrim and scenic green farmland backdrop strike the right Iowa country
notes and the opening number, “Rock Island,” is one of the greatest, giving “The
Music Man” the title of “first rap musical,” according to no less than Stephen
Sondheim. <o:p></o:p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Jackman as a teenager auditioned for the show, playing all eight parts:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk3l05_XveA" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk3l05_XveA</a><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">A motley crew
of traveling salesmen riding the Rock Island line sound off – <i>in the rhythm
of the train </i>– about a swindler named Harold Hill selling boys’ band
instruments and uniforms to the unsuspecting rubes, except that “he don’t know
one note from another” and skips town with the money.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Listen to
the lyrics, because these 1912 salesmen are also talking about change that
sounds very modern: "It’s different than it was.” “The Uneeda Biscuit in
an air-tight sanitary package made the cracker barrel obsolete.” “Gone with the
hogshead, cask and demijohn/Gone with the sugar barrel, pickle barrel, milk pan."
“Why it's the Model T Ford made the trouble/Made the people wanna go.” “Who's
gonna patronize a little bitty two by four kinda store anymore?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Right from
the start, that’s the answer to those who dismiss “The Music Man” as
old-fashioned hokum, or “dated,” as two women said in the row in front of me. Yes,
Zaks retains the silly, giggly girls in the ensemble, just a little, and the
pressure on Marian not to be “an old maid” doesn’t line up with today’s
sensibilities.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">But the
show has a tough spine, witnessed by the very next song: “Iowa Stubborn.” Willson
wrote that “The Music Man” was “an attempt to pay tribute” to his home state,
but he saw it with a clear eye: “There's an Iowa kind/A kind-a
chip-on-the-shoulder attitude/We've never been without that we recall.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">At the end
of “Rock Island,” a man who has been quietly listening behind a newspaper
stands up – “Gentlemen you intrigue me. I think I’ll have to give Iowa a try.”
His suitcase says “Professor Harold Hill,” and Jackman received a huge ovation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The
audience seemed to be saying, “Welcome back to Broadway and please use your
awesome star power to help the theater return to health!” (Only 19 shows are
running in Broadway’s 41 theaters.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Hill is
welcomed to town by an old friend, Marcellus Washburn, played with earnest good
nature by Shuler Hensley, a memorable Jud Fry in the 1998 “Oklahoma!” revival
that starred Jackman as Curly. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgJUDLF2CigB92_2lmT_Nr1c2gqsmE_um2hISO1LlXXD2oxxnE012AheEMcNTwiFKov2cQ3FOVZq6giXulkx8n9uqPmxtwVxhvsq_s3lKxjpx4MX1w0Xia0YgPHG1489XtiwfPDsRRm_D3RJ6ZBnL5idohkp30NUEF4PeiQ7b3VdOFHQ1zOGacVhrYiVQ=s675" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="675" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgJUDLF2CigB92_2lmT_Nr1c2gqsmE_um2hISO1LlXXD2oxxnE012AheEMcNTwiFKov2cQ3FOVZq6giXulkx8n9uqPmxtwVxhvsq_s3lKxjpx4MX1w0Xia0YgPHG1489XtiwfPDsRRm_D3RJ6ZBnL5idohkp30NUEF4PeiQ7b3VdOFHQ1zOGacVhrYiVQ=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jayne Houdyshell as Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Among the
supporting characters, Jefferson Mays and Jayne Houdyshell tear up the stage as
River City mayor Shinn, a sputtering bully, and his wife, the majestic Eulalie
Mackecknie Shinn, who directs the town’s historical pageants featuring herself
as the Statue of Liberty and “Columbia, Gem of the Ocean.” <o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Other
standouts were the acrobatic dancer Gino Cosculluela as the local bad boy,
Tommy, wanting to date Mayor Shinn’s daughter, Zaneeta (Emma Crow). Marie
Mullen brings Irish spunk to Mrs. Paroo and Benjamin Pajak is a wonderful Winthrop,
Marian’s little brother with a lisp who touches a level of compassion in Hill
that he didn’t know he possessed. If that kid isn’t actually playing the cornet
at the end with admirable skill, then I’m an Iowa cow. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">That this “Music
Man” is finally opening on Broadway pays tribute to the courage and
perseverance of all concerned. Rehearsals began in February 2020, with a
planned fall opening. Oh, the anticipation. Hugh Jackman! Sutton Foster! A $30
million advance!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Then Jackman,
Foster, Carlyle and then-producer Scott Rudin all came down with COVID and Broadway
subsequently shut down for 18 months. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">During
that time Rudin withdrew from the show after accusations of abusive behavior with
staff and the investing team brought in British producer Kate Horton. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Rehearsals
began again in fall 2021, with previews starting in December – then Foster and
Jackman tested positive for the latest go-round of COVID and the show shut down
for 11 days in early January.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjUslUp4sb5Sj_a2d04YeezbHNOwI2X3R9GhKbCoZDei7y9aL57x44U98SR1Ylocxghy8_LdHOOV1HwlAdyYByyFAMYKhKKsXHudpe5KXX50-3l9UtV7RiCSZfVk2MFeTyeQbEhIKlFeuSR8J2XUmdwxT1Xd4J5pJMWXeYe12o6GE4EEFkkXmw4UDYw_A=s3264" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjUslUp4sb5Sj_a2d04YeezbHNOwI2X3R9GhKbCoZDei7y9aL57x44U98SR1Ylocxghy8_LdHOOV1HwlAdyYByyFAMYKhKKsXHudpe5KXX50-3l9UtV7RiCSZfVk2MFeTyeQbEhIKlFeuSR8J2XUmdwxT1Xd4J5pJMWXeYe12o6GE4EEFkkXmw4UDYw_A=s320" width="240" /></a></div>No matter.
Though we may have had to line up outside the Winter Garden Theater with
vaccine cards and IDs, and breathe into our facemasks throughout, when the full
25-piece orchestra struck up the first notes of the overture – the jaunty “Seventy-six
Trombones” – we were in musical theater heaven.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">In the
end, “The Music Man” is about the transformative power of melody, rhythm and harmony
- making a beautiful noise together. Harold Hill may have come to town looking
for a wad of cash, but he really swindles Marian and the citizens out of their
stiff-necked, rigid pride, while finally listening to his own heart song.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Strike up the band!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-48983550994348103682021-10-23T23:23:00.003-04:002022-10-13T18:02:08.025-04:00Live theater in the mountains<p> Before "Utopia,", I dipped a low-key toe in the water first with two performances at the <a href="https://seaglefestival.org/2021-season/" target="_blank">Seagle</a> Festival, the century-old summer program for blooming opera singers in the scenic town of Schroon Lake, N.Y., in the Adirondack Mountains.</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQm52RwYoeWDPF20APaWpMt3pDkwIvASxNkcUTfjSwG-sFmHyn96L87X3yUQBlQQzeztjPKy7W5avSqvb-u6XXvPIrOUJa8jqJlgg3zG4ZWEHX9Uj-NmKD-zqlTKskB4-IRkckLMnu_uSV/s299/Seagle+theater.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQm52RwYoeWDPF20APaWpMt3pDkwIvASxNkcUTfjSwG-sFmHyn96L87X3yUQBlQQzeztjPKy7W5avSqvb-u6XXvPIrOUJa8jqJlgg3zG4ZWEHX9Uj-NmKD-zqlTKskB4-IRkckLMnu_uSV/s320/Seagle+theater.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Oscar Seagle Memorial Theater</td></tr></tbody></table><div>General Director Tony Kostecki and Artistic Director Darren K. Woods have, over the past few years, developed consistently fascinating programs that challenge their students and keep audiences engaged.</div><div><br /></div><div>This year, love and romance was the theme. There was a mix of classics <i>(La Boheme, Cinderella, The Fantasticks </i>and a Broadway revue), along with and new or little-known works. Having seen most of the classics in years of opera-going, I'm most interested in the new and overlooked gems and this summer did not disappoint.</div><div> <div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh3QzysDpvy4jN8QSixmu5tX1hRMUjkv7-oZpZJagXx9eeERzzBxRoWenH2SSc3YeY2IdZXIpHKz0_yV1_F3g8_h_FVX7LzalMDyngAZUfSmouDRAzqRDEoHQFgRjJb3TU9XQjalydkHzt/s225/Seagle+Tulipatan.jpg" style="clear: left; display: block; float: left; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh3QzysDpvy4jN8QSixmu5tX1hRMUjkv7-oZpZJagXx9eeERzzBxRoWenH2SSc3YeY2IdZXIpHKz0_yV1_F3g8_h_FVX7LzalMDyngAZUfSmouDRAzqRDEoHQFgRjJb3TU9XQjalydkHzt/s320/Seagle+Tulipatan.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Who knew that Jacques Offenbach, who stepped firmly into the classics world with "Tales of Hoffman" and "Orpheus in the Underworld," wrote a little gender-bending confection called <i>The Island of Tulipatan</i>?</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Written in 1868, this one-act operetta concerns a fantasy kingdom where the daughter of the steward of the supreme ruler (got that?) is a tomboy named Hermosa and Prince Alexis, son of the ruler, is a charming and pretty young man.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is not an early dramatization of trans life, but due to some silly decisions by their parents, Hermosa -- who is actually a boy -- has been brought up as a girl and Alexis -- who is actually -- well, you get the picture. They genuinely fall in love and marry, now dressed in the clothing usually identified by their actual gender. </div><div><br /></div><div>Directed by Seagle alumna Meaghan Deiter, this frothy confection sparkled. Daniel Esteban Lugo was a suitably energetic Hermosa and Andrianna Ayala a graceful Alexis.</div><div><br /></div><div>Last year, Seagle produced virtual performances, as did so many arts organizations. Arriving in person at the Oscar Seagle Memorial Theater in the woods, the live experience in 2021 didn't seem too much different from previous years, except for showing vaccination cards, wearing masks and not having intermission snacks or merch for sale. </div><div><br /></div><div>Seating was spaced out a little more for social distancing, but once the show started, it felt like being back in a comfy armchair. </div><div><br /></div><div>Several weeks later, I returned for the world premiere of <i>Harmony,</i> also directed by Deiter -- a very different work from <i>Tulipatan</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Who knew (again) that the brilliant American composer Charles Ives fell in love with the daughter of a prominent Connecticut family that summered in the Adirondacks, that her name was actually Harmony, that Mark Twain was a close family friend and advised the Twichell family about Harmony and Charles' relationship?</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWdtax8QFv7mWvpuCrmLGAVlRmMv-bEMMGEhM8wlzU09nBrsqZiiDDrt9WGhTKBSgZ833eX5oq6FpPo5z6x_q24DL_v4n8VY9snAoIoF5M-iFkW_1RpW_rgu5VPwXhw2ZBDvMWE1QkkaBr/s678/Harmony-Banner-678x136.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="136" data-original-width="678" height="64" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWdtax8QFv7mWvpuCrmLGAVlRmMv-bEMMGEhM8wlzU09nBrsqZiiDDrt9WGhTKBSgZ833eX5oq6FpPo5z6x_q24DL_v4n8VY9snAoIoF5M-iFkW_1RpW_rgu5VPwXhw2ZBDvMWE1QkkaBr/s320/Harmony-Banner-678x136.png" width="320" /></a></div>It's all true, and the basis for this new opera with music by Robert Carl and a libretto by author Russell Banks, who is married to poet Chase Twichell, of that same family.</div><div> </div><div>The action takes place completely in midsummer, 1908 at the Keene Valley, N.Y. summer home of the Twichells. The opera shapes the characters with great humanity and kindness. A central part of the plot is that Ives is a man with a secret. He has diabetes, which could not be treated at the time. All he can foresee is an early death and he loves Harmony too much to allow her to marry a sick man. </div><div><br /></div><div>Besides the fact that this is a work about Ives the composer told through music, the character of Ives in <i>Harmony</i> continuously refers to music, from the music of the spheres as he regards the summer night sky to a "tragic dissonance" in some words he hears. </div><div><br /></div><div>Charles Ives, besides being a successful, even innovative, insurance executive, was an astonishingly original composer.</div><div><br /></div><div>In 1966, Igor Stravinsky said that Ives "was exploring the 1960s during the heyday of Strauss and Debussy. Polytonality, atonality, tone clusters, perspectivistic effects, chance, statistical composition, permutation, add-a-part, practical-joke and improvisatory music: these were Ives' discoveries a half-century ago as he quietly set about devouring the contemporary cake before the rest of us even found a seat at the same table."</div><div><br /></div><div>It's probably not a spoiler to reveal that Charles and Harmony decide to get married as Twain advises them not to throw away love, wistfully recalling his late wife Olivia. Harmony is one tough lady. She has her eyes wide open; she is a nurse and understands Charles' situation.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTNnRf8Oniidq-a15FlGTexMgRcw-jWD5F0B2aLK561KKs1_i8hZBoEumedqQ3zq4nLykDgZEwGDqq-VewrS0X0cYI8_Iy3CxQxSsfDzlEORyJq4UcKLRS_EDem-HMOFXpN5uztufVaoMp/s1387/Seagle+Harmony+actors.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1387" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTNnRf8Oniidq-a15FlGTexMgRcw-jWD5F0B2aLK561KKs1_i8hZBoEumedqQ3zq4nLykDgZEwGDqq-VewrS0X0cYI8_Iy3CxQxSsfDzlEORyJq4UcKLRS_EDem-HMOFXpN5uztufVaoMp/w173-h200/Seagle+Harmony+actors.jpg" width="173" /></a></div>Banks' libretto sings with poetry and the cast did a beautiful job: Joel Clemens as Charles Ives, Victoria Erickson as Harmony Twichell (photo, left) and especially Timothy Lupia as Mark Twain, a character that could have devolved into caricature. </div><div><br /></div><div>Carl's music, however, was a harsh stumbling block for this listener. Perhaps the score's discordant sound was a tribute to or reflection of Ives; it just wasn't attractive to hear. </div><div><br /></div><div>At this performance, there was an incident that I could only have witnessed live. Seagle's audience is mostly north of age 60, and I wondered how this material would appeal to a younger audience. Then I spotted two young women seated in the row in front of me, students, perhaps. One of them was looking up Olivia Clemens on her iPad.</div><div><br /></div><div>I was pleased to learn through later research that the discovery of insulin in 1921 by Banting, Best and MacLeod did not come too late for Ives. He lived 79 years, to 1954, and Harmony lived to age 90, dying in 1969. What a fitting coda for their life songs. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-37008031534090178582021-10-11T20:42:00.002-04:002022-10-13T18:07:52.961-04:00"Making sense" of real-life theater with David Byrne<div>My return to live theater after the wrenching pandemic hiatus took place in two very different locations: the <a href="https://www.jujamcyn.com/theatres/st-james/" target="_blank">St. James Theatre</a> on Broadway and the <a href="https://seaglefestival.org/" target="_blank">Seagle Festival</a> (formerly the Seagle Music Colony) in the peaceful confines of New York State's Adirondack Mountains.</div><div><br /></div><div>My return to Broadway was the re-opening night of David Byrne's "<a href="https://americanutopiabroadway.com/" target="_blank">American Utopia</a>," which had been scheduled for a second Broadway run in the fall of 2020, but Broadway theaters were still closed then. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAhnfEWiVF5swRhnvBaQsXvZ1ZWJaHb_ACa33Egw0wIrXd8aoEiqIll11i8Jsm2ZX0YCgmMDY8poPJdacXe-mICZgTgNacC9Gve-Z0VR4fbCUtuQ0gNgLdeq87kuI6qrWnZ7iKSO1BI16S/s960/Utopia+-+SDS+at+theater.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAhnfEWiVF5swRhnvBaQsXvZ1ZWJaHb_ACa33Egw0wIrXd8aoEiqIll11i8Jsm2ZX0YCgmMDY8poPJdacXe-mICZgTgNacC9Gve-Z0VR4fbCUtuQ0gNgLdeq87kuI6qrWnZ7iKSO1BI16S/w293-h218/Utopia+-+SDS+at+theater.jpg" width="293" /></a></div>As I walked from the Times Square subway station down 44th Street to Eighth Avenue, I saw half the shows still had not opened and, most distressingly, there was a sign on <a href="https://www.sardis.com/htmldocs/cms/" target="_blank">Sardi's</a> front door that it was "under renovation" and would open in the fall. <br /><div><br /></div><div>Who wants "renovation" at Sardi's? Nothing should change! OK, maybe new carpet and fresh tablecloths. Don't touch those caricatures on the wall. Even the "Ladies" and "Gents" restroom <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGEfiMacwPCV81DJgB09vHM-fsrZlGzu6_qIJKvCiFZGGjNsZdoJ2pIM0TK_QlnxA1eaWlcNR7j-f0AD-Z8J3UKTLIDsc_wCXLp4iCAqBdlKadiHz1gWgTObEZEYkfbDrfBRUDLT9_LMpA/s2048/Utopia+Sardi%2527s.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGEfiMacwPCV81DJgB09vHM-fsrZlGzu6_qIJKvCiFZGGjNsZdoJ2pIM0TK_QlnxA1eaWlcNR7j-f0AD-Z8J3UKTLIDsc_wCXLp4iCAqBdlKadiHz1gWgTObEZEYkfbDrfBRUDLT9_LMpA/w295-h221/Utopia+Sardi%2527s.jpg" width="295" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A peek through the blinds at Sardi's.</td></tr></tbody></table>signs have been there for 40 years.</div><div><br /></div><div>At Eighth Avenue, I bought a hot dog from a street vendor for a quick supper and asked how business was going. "Kind of slow," he said. The tourists are only slowly coming back.</div><div><br /></div><div>I took in the blue-black sky, the busy lights and all us characters on the street. I remembered drinking with friends in Eighth Avenue bars in the 1970s, when the street was rough, and thought, with an inner smile of deep affection, "my city."</div><div><br /></div><div>I made this little video of typical hustle on just one street corner in the theater district, a scene of sweet clamorous joy compared to the recently-dead streets:</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CUxhlCagkZR/" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/p/CUxhlCagkZR/</a><br /></div><div> </div><div>At the St. James, vaccination cards and ID were checked. Everyone was in masks and I lingered in the lobby near the bar, enjoying once again the yakky noise surf of an audience finding its way into a theater, but this is now how it looks:</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CUxiyxHg0U5/" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/p/CUxiyxHg0U5/</a><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>If there was any doubt that theater was missed, from the moment the house lights dimmed, the mood was electric! After the first song, "Here," the audience jumped to its feet, cheering, clapping, as if for a show-ending standing ovation, causing Byrne, smiling and a little nonplussed, to say, "There's more."</div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM45V-EyX8jzRDg2AyQn5k0c3xkOoaNuQeTpqE_L-NvTCMWf685-0nJgg2iSFeEbZWvD5gVK5hCPEAM9vppEg9eeV1T8y_mZ8FaQbavQQmhrI9u-Yp1znhWX2yfoloM7zecLt7joaWpb8v/s1200/Utopia+stage+photo.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="674" data-original-width="1200" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM45V-EyX8jzRDg2AyQn5k0c3xkOoaNuQeTpqE_L-NvTCMWf685-0nJgg2iSFeEbZWvD5gVK5hCPEAM9vppEg9eeV1T8y_mZ8FaQbavQQmhrI9u-Yp1znhWX2yfoloM7zecLt7joaWpb8v/s320/Utopia+stage+photo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David Byrne, right, in "American Utopia"</td></tr></tbody></table>"American Utopia" is a concert with choreographed movement by Annie-B Parson of songs by David Byrne and his former group, Talking Heads, whom I remember well from late nights in the 1970s at the Bowery rock club CBGB, and other downtown locations. </div><div><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMtnpKKMVmZeFooOyQnl1-8ZGDvYbkv5VHhUCWro1lhLqiZucrXpQwqV1ofkfMi43AKwYfm4N7-5a5ZkBzij15oHcttBw8z5BG4orpxU8t6864jcJpe90bdR8TdkQAcVJVLxjOgYrXQp1I/s945/Utopia+TH+1070s.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="664" data-original-width="945" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMtnpKKMVmZeFooOyQnl1-8ZGDvYbkv5VHhUCWro1lhLqiZucrXpQwqV1ofkfMi43AKwYfm4N7-5a5ZkBzij15oHcttBw8z5BG4orpxU8t6864jcJpe90bdR8TdkQAcVJVLxjOgYrXQp1I/s320/Utopia+TH+1070s.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Talking Heads, 1970s, from left, David Byrne,<br /> Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth, Jerry Harrison</td></tr></tbody></table>Talking Heads wasn't so much punk as artsy/avant garde music that commented obliquely on the zeitgeist, but with a solid rock beat, often driven by bassist Tina Weymouth, a standout for rock groups, which were often all-male. <div><br /></div><div>Their first hit was "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O52jAYa4Pm8" target="_blank">Psycho Killer</a>," one of my favorites, but not included in "American Utopia," a show whose title, Byrne says, is not ironic. </div><div><br /></div><div>Dressed in the gray suit that is the cast's costume, Byrne begins seated at a desk with a model of the human brain. He talks about the brain's neurological connections, communicating the message that we are all -- including him, in his long career mastering various artforms -- just trying to make sense of our world. </div><div><br /></div><div>The show's arc reflects a man's long look at the landscape of existence, and songs that were arch 40 years ago now resonate with the perspective of age. Take "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IsSpAOD6K8" target="_blank">Once in a Lifetime</a>." The link to the YouTube video shows a young David Byrne asking the song's questions, accompanied by stylized, herky-jerky movements.</div><div><br /></div><div>But now, with both the singer and the listener in their 60s, these lyrics are not just questions: "You may ask yourself, well how did I get here?" "Am I right?" "Am I wrong?" and "My God, what have I done?" </div><div><br /></div><div>Mind and memory cast back to the exploratory energy of youth, but when there is more life behind you than ahead of you, these lyrics land with new meaning: "Time isn't holding us/Time isn't after us/Time doesn't hold you back." And the refrain: "Same as it ever was."</div><div><br /></div><div>When the years pass and you lose people you love; when the oldest and then the next-older generations pass and you are now the elder, you inhabit the song "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_sT6kw6aRk" target="_blank">Every Day is a Miracle</a>":</div><div><br /></div><div>Every day is a miracle</div><div>Every day is an unpaid bill</div><div>You've got to sing for your supper</div><div>Love one another</div><div><br /></div><div>The raucous, pent-up enthusiasm from the opening number did not wane! Throughout the show, the audience leapt to its feet at least half a dozen times, cheering, clapping, dancing to "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3eC35LoF4U" target="_blank">Burning Down the House</a>." I've never experienced anything like it in the theater. </div><div><br /></div><div>Byrne's larger message is not one of nostalgia, but of hope.</div><div><br /></div><div>He talks about the urgency of voter registration, with representatives from the organization HeadCount in the lobby with sign-up cards. He comments forcefully on the recent protests for racial equity and against racist police violence, performing Janelle Monae and Jidenna Mobisson's song "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fumaCsQ9wKw" target="_blank">Hell You Talmabout</a>."</div><div><br /></div><div>While identifying these ills, he reflects on the real physical illness abroad in the land, welcoming the audience at the beginning with "thank you for leaving your house," noting wryly that the phrase used to be a joke for the show's opening. </div><div><br /></div><div>At the end, he returns to the great mystery of the human brain: "Our brains can change. We are not fixed. We can imagine a different future."</div><div><br /></div><div>He notes that research shows that what people most like to view is not a lovely landscape or something as mundane as a bag of potato chips: "It's us - you and me, and that's what the show is. It's the connections among all of us." </div><div><br /></div><div>The show ended with the jaunty "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQiOA7euaYA" target="_blank">Road to Nowhere</a>," with a nihilistic title contradicted by lyrics such as "feeling that time is on our side/take you there" and "it's very far away/but it's growing day by day and it's all right.<span face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14px;">"</span></span></div><div><br /></div><div>In an unusual move, Byrne brought stage crew members out to join the cast for bows and the audience clapped and cheered on and on, reluctant to let anyone leave the stage. That can't be replicated on Zoom. </div><div><br /></div><div> * * *</div><div><br /></div><div>The next post: Utopia in the Adirondacks. </div><br />Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-89177005613669805832021-08-14T15:08:00.002-04:002021-08-14T15:08:18.315-04:00Why live theater really lives<p>I went to the theater during the pandemic, or rather, the
theater came to me. Every performing arts venue in New York closed in March
2020 and once the shock sank in, performances went online. I saw Metropolitan
Opera performances, play readings, musical salons – all through streaming
services, Facebook live or via Zoom.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Concerning theater, actors and companies made a valiant
effort, reading their parts, sometimes in costume, in the little video Zoom
boxes. I bought the tickets, made the donations to keep the producers going,
applauded in my home office. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now, an unfathomable year and a-half later, live
performances are set to return, though still under the shadow of the COVID-19 virus
delta variant. I’ll be at a <a href="https://seaglefestival.org/">Seagle
Festival</a> performance tonight, in Schroon Lake, N.Y., among the Adirondack
Mountains, and I am recalling what live theater has meant to me. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Since attending, as a child, my first performance, I love
the gathering anticipation of live theater – the hubbub in the lobby as people
reach for tickets, greet each other, critique the restaurant where they just
had dinner, read the cast list on the wall, then the voices in the theater as people
take their seats, the sound dying as the house lights fade to black.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I don’t know why, but the echo-y sound of theater actors’
voices on stage enthralled me. This was LIFE, bigger and grander and more
thrilling than the existence I’d just left on the sidewalk. There they were,
right in front of me, in one more dimension than a movie screen, speaking and
singing, the shape of their voices molded by the theater’s acoustics and the
sound-absorbing weight of our bodies.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To this day, I can recall vividly live moments in the
theater.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0MPzTwDo5ODdV09NqDrCzoZ1g0ltVPfXfOK33YH58EAdRgfnPDOkJuMv8g-BH_IZRdYOeK2Ie7Wyp59XhRLjmHoZcfNHIP19v63YZe0oFImqEJpHzPN5QE-BPwPx0J27O-8bcwvcvyGrn/s640/2006ac5597-Sir-Laurence-Olivier-in-William-Shakespeares-The.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="519" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0MPzTwDo5ODdV09NqDrCzoZ1g0ltVPfXfOK33YH58EAdRgfnPDOkJuMv8g-BH_IZRdYOeK2Ie7Wyp59XhRLjmHoZcfNHIP19v63YZe0oFImqEJpHzPN5QE-BPwPx0J27O-8bcwvcvyGrn/w183-h228/2006ac5597-Sir-Laurence-Olivier-in-William-Shakespeares-The.jpg" width="183" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Olivier as Shylock</span></td></tr></tbody></table>How about the great actor category? At the end of “The
Merchant of Venice,” Shylock the moneylender is forced to convert from Judaism to
Christianity. In London, in the 1970s, no one who was in the theater could forget
Laurence Olivier’s terrifying, anguished, howling cry of despair. I can hear it
yet. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Or Christopher Plummer, in his 80s, reciting from memory the
great speeches from “Henry V,” <a href="https://solangeontheater.blogspot.com/2011/09/two-magnificent-henrys.html">in
concert with the New York Philharmonic</a>, commanding the stage as his voice rang
in the St. Crispin’s Day oration, inspiring his troops to battle. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How about audience reaction? I saw “Les Miserables” in
London with my then-partner, Hank, a big, strong guy with a sensitive side, but
a fairly macho guy nonetheless. As Jean Valjean was dying, you could hear
sniffles all over the theater – including in the seat next to me. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One summer on Prince Edward Island, Canada, I attended a
show by the storyteller David Weale, who specialized in collecting and
dramatizing islander reminiscences of the place’s unique way of life. As<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqxhBovT7ATEatDbYn7pD4-BqSpKtO50JiM4C_N2oVYz6AZ5NTz52eIpavfZj3Uy_RF-HowH_3czuzEf60GX6zYHZpAoxaWaHYJPUsN6_M7e2fAX7THbP-t7DNN4RWJk0J0tdlTnXDaMO7/s295/Weale+jpeg.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="269" data-original-width="295" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqxhBovT7ATEatDbYn7pD4-BqSpKtO50JiM4C_N2oVYz6AZ5NTz52eIpavfZj3Uy_RF-HowH_3czuzEf60GX6zYHZpAoxaWaHYJPUsN6_M7e2fAX7THbP-t7DNN4RWJk0J0tdlTnXDaMO7/w181-h165/Weale+jpeg.JPG" width="181" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">David Weale</span></td></tr></tbody></table>you
might expect, most of the audience members sported quite a few gray hairs. As
he began a story about the island’s old one-room schoolhouses, he described a
certain wooden pencil case that kids carried then. At that moment, there was an
audible intake of breath from what must have been more than half the audience. They
hadn’t thought about that pencil case in years, but the mere mention of it was
like Proust’s madeleines – a touchstone for a flood of memories about childhood
and school. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Another time, the absence of sound created an indelible
theater memory at <a href="http://solangeontheater.blogspot.com/2019/03/silent-cries.html">a theater
performance for deaf people</a>. I learned that deaf audiences applaud by
waving their hands. I saw a dance of sign language, spoken narration, video and
actors’ movement for the hearing and non-hearing audience members. You could do
it in two dimensions, but the impact was immeasurable in person.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Although I enjoyed – somewhat – the streamed performances,
the play readings on Zoom had a distanced quality, with little emotional
impact. A live evening at the theater follows an emotional arc – anticipation,
engagement, release. I always feel a little cheated if I have to go straight
home after a show and don’t have time to go out with my companion and discuss the
production. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After “<a href="https://solangeontheater.blogspot.com/2011/04/show-to-shake-world.html">American
Idiot</a>,” I waited while my 14-year-old daughter, Flo, gathered with the
crowd at the stage door for Billy Joe Armstrong’s autograph. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsZSHkb7EX6r9OqY1dcwj4FJhzPItMmMRx5B6N8O5clc0ioN9jG3FDXeEamMRHoCPx0Fg1PZI4hzYxmYWvE0C8VjhjSDWVuEuRQquXelVb9QG0p7Rvbn00OMGEr3tWbwuWG2Hvr_L9uj_B/s261/newfield+jpeg.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="261" data-original-width="211" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsZSHkb7EX6r9OqY1dcwj4FJhzPItMmMRx5B6N8O5clc0ioN9jG3FDXeEamMRHoCPx0Fg1PZI4hzYxmYWvE0C8VjhjSDWVuEuRQquXelVb9QG0p7Rvbn00OMGEr3tWbwuWG2Hvr_L9uj_B/w168-h209/newfield+jpeg.JPG" width="168" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Anthony Newfield</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br />After “1984,” Flo, her boyfriend Ryan and I joined my
friend, cast member Anthony Newfield, and his friends for a meal and lively
stories of acting in this play and other Broadway shows. This was Ryan’s first
Broadway play – what an extra treat!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Perhaps the best of all – when I was quite young, Mom took
me to Sardi’s (where she was a regular) for a post-theater bite. It was Welsh
rarebit, I recall, and I was intrigued by this new food as Princess Grace, Prince
Rainier and Jessie Royce Landis swept by, on the way to their post-theater
repast. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I can’t wait to savor all of theater’s dimensions again. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-78246836984008806232019-08-06T20:19:00.003-04:002019-08-16T19:37:34.741-04:00‘Manchurian’ intrigue at opera colony<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The premise of <i>The
Manchurian Candidate</i>, subject of a novel, two movies and now a terrific new
opera seen this summer at upstate New York’s <a href="https://seaglecolony.org/" target="_blank">Seagle Music Colony</a>, has always
been shocking. However, in 2019, one could ask whether this tale is a relic of
the Cold War or has some modern relevance. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpgJQiLSeINoOHAdV32Wu5SLWxPUBipgZOtQcztRbvypXFG44dXtUaWYj3jYI_P3XZHuHfvXqm50AbyatIgi5SteQq9ZvHq0gWiyipgWS6r_QlyjR8LoOPmSlmj8V6ae_qeqjJUiYQaegh/s1600/Manchurian-FinalScene.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="635" data-original-width="1000" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpgJQiLSeINoOHAdV32Wu5SLWxPUBipgZOtQcztRbvypXFG44dXtUaWYj3jYI_P3XZHuHfvXqm50AbyatIgi5SteQq9ZvHq0gWiyipgWS6r_QlyjR8LoOPmSlmj8V6ae_qeqjJUiYQaegh/s320/Manchurian-FinalScene.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cast in rehearsal for <i>The Manchurian Candidate.<br />Photo: North Country Public Radio</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In Richard Condon’s 1959 novel, five American soldiers are
kidnapped by Russian and Chinese Communist agents and subjected to mind control
experiments aimed at unleashing them as assassins within the United States. The
story reflected the West’s anxiety about the various forms Communist aggression
might take – including “brainwashing,” which according to <a href="https://warontherocks.com/2014/05/brainwashing-the-manchurian-candidate-and-cold-war-america/">one
account</a> could transform a man into “a living puppet – a human robot.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The opera, with music by Pulitzer Prize-winner Kevin Puts
and libretto by Mark Campbell, opens with a single note, repeated hypnotically,
that will become the brainwashing theme. (The performance was accompanied by
two excellent pianists, John Cockerill and Eric Frei, conducted by Jennifer
McGuire) <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Three U.S. Army officers and two privates are seated in an
interrogation room. Incongruously, eight ladies in flowered dresses and hats
are also in the room – the products of their hallucinating minds which, we are
told, believe they are at a party given by “the Ladies Garden Club of Northern
New Jersey.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The chief interrogator shows off the prize – Sergeant
Raymond Shaw (sung by the commanding Thomas Lynch), who is “triggered” by
seeing the queen of diamonds playing card, and on command kills the two
privates. “He can kill and kill again without memory of it. He has no guilt or
fear,” sings the interrogator (Katherine Kincaid). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQLz7V_7bPvGSrhK691eUd2OG9m4SemPWKVXa0IJ_1QIH8F93vN4Gbz6jA6rw5TXStbYxJotL2_5Op8g3FjazUhVp27x388UoNg_F1EGtdAgEhWuZSIQoE49g8U4e7k0gZxHwV_YX-TAgC/s1600/Manchurian+movie+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="349" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQLz7V_7bPvGSrhK691eUd2OG9m4SemPWKVXa0IJ_1QIH8F93vN4Gbz6jA6rw5TXStbYxJotL2_5Op8g3FjazUhVp27x388UoNg_F1EGtdAgEhWuZSIQoE49g8U4e7k0gZxHwV_YX-TAgC/s320/Manchurian+movie+poster.jpg" width="235" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 1962 movie. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The music enters unsettling territory, with the “garden
ladies” singing a pretty choral background as terrible acts unfold. “Americans
are easy,” sings the interrogator, to musical snippets of “The Star Spangled
Banner.” The other men, including Captain Ben Marco (the very affecting Andrew
McGowan) do not react, being in trance states.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Subsequently, Shaw and Marco return to the U.S., greeted as
“heroes” at the airport by Shaw’s relentlessly ambitious mother, Eleanor Iselin
(Ashlee Lamar), and her husband, Senator Johnny Iselin (Reno Wilson, a handsome
guy who manages to be appropriately oily in this character). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Iselin is aiming for a vice-presidential nomination at the
upcoming Republican national convention, and is riding a campaign of McCarthy-like
anti-Communist fervor. Meanwhile, Marco is disturbed by strange dreams, echoing
his interrogation and brainwashing. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Baritone Lynch and tenor McGowan convincingly portray the
anguish of men who are being torn apart psychologically by toxic political
forces. Lynch will kill again, destroying his happiness with the woman he
loves, Jocelyn Jordan (beautifully played and sung by soprano Melaina Mills),
before he is stopped. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Soprano Lamar unleashes a formidable stage presence and a
tornado of emotion as Eleanor Iselin, especially in her soliloquy at the end of
Act I. Believing her plans for her husband are being blocked, her rage and
frustration comes across as a combination of Lady Macbeth and Mama Rose,
overlaid with political rhetoric – “We are at war. Choose between right and
freedom.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, things are not what they seem in this story – on
many levels, including Eleanor’s – and there are no easy solutions. As the
storylines wind to tragic conclusions, the opera’s final lines are, “I’m
scared,” and “I am, too.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Director Richard Kagey’s pace never flags, propelled by
music that uses compelling dissonance accented by moments of tonal beauty. Designer
Jim Koehnle’s set – brown flats on a turntable that effectively changes scenes
– also uses five 1950s-style television screens to broadcast several scenes as
they are taking place. Costume designer Pat Seyller’s work particularly shines
in the women’s beautifully-patterned 1950s dresses. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This work was presented at Seagle as a venture of its
American Center for New Works Development, which has in the last few years
supported such exciting new operas as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://solangeontheater.blogspot.com/search?q=roscoe" target="_blank">Roscoe</a> </i>and <i><a href="https://solangeontheater.blogspot.com/2017/07/waiting-for-hamlet.html" target="_blank">Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead</a></i>. The Seagle Colony itself, now in its second century in Schroon Lake, N.Y., is a summer training program for emerging opera singers. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Manchurian Candidate</i>,
reimaged as an opera, relevant to our times? We might think that the work was
inspired by the controversies surrounding Russian influence on President Trump
and whether he is in thrall to Vladimir Putin’s government for some yet-unknown
reason. (“Americans are easy.”) <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perhaps Puts and Campbell were thinking of Trump’s rhetoric (“Make/Keep
America Great”) and fervid rallies. (The political slogan in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Manchurian Candidate </i>is “Our Time
Has Come.”)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, the 1959 novel was made into feature films in 1962
and 2004 – and this opera premiered at Minnesota Opera in 2015, well before
Trump’s win in the 2016 election. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Throughout the opera, its relevance to today’s political
scene is astonishing. Clearly demagoguery never disappears. It is part of the human condition and can
only be fought to a standstill.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-49957416885173439612019-03-29T21:15:00.001-04:002019-03-29T21:15:27.907-04:00Silent criesIn my last post about attending <i>My Fair Lady </i>as a child, I said that part of the theatergoing magic was the "chatty hubbub" in the lobby before the show.<br />
<br />
When I entered the auditorium recently at the Baruch College Performing Arts Center for a performance of <i>Crying Hands </i>by Norway's <a href="https://www.teatermanu.no/produksjoner/gratende-hender/?lang=en" target="_blank">Teater Manu</a>, I had the opposite experience.<br />
<br />
Never have I entered a theater full of people (about 200, including the actress <a href="https://www.marleematlin.net/" target="_blank">Marlee Matlin</a>) where there was so little noise. Teater Manu is a sign language theater and about 90% of the audience were deaf people. Flo, Ryan and I dropped our voices to a whisper, instinctively reacting to the quiet environment, then realized that was ridiculous.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH64kbvBnaSE-gWdUdLO_cK9x7FrXA9V0IgBCUhryDOnm4CNL90ENGwco-wWPWtxq-HjSqUObHgbJvuL5KS-CcndIy3qiUri_EXDn4eVl_V3TwSMhcqQ_15nBlSGC91DMkIVGqjaJx16A1/s1600/Crying+Hands+cast.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1057" data-original-width="1586" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH64kbvBnaSE-gWdUdLO_cK9x7FrXA9V0IgBCUhryDOnm4CNL90ENGwco-wWPWtxq-HjSqUObHgbJvuL5KS-CcndIy3qiUri_EXDn4eVl_V3TwSMhcqQ_15nBlSGC91DMkIVGqjaJx16A1/s400/Crying+Hands+cast.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From left, Eitan Zuckerman, Ronny Patrick Jacobsen,<br />
Ipek D. Mehlum in Teater Manu's production of <i>Crying Hands.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Although I did not hear much talking, the air was alive with hands conversing in sign language and people making the sounds of words. People were seated, yet dancing through a language I didn't understand. I was definitely in the minority and it was not a comfortable feeling.<br />
<br />
I knew that I was about to see a play presented in both sign language and oral narration, but now I vaguely wondered if there were different customs among the deaf in the theatergoing experience itself. Flo recommended the play since she is taking a course in "deaf culture." It was the first time I had heard that expression.<br />
<br />
Artistic director Mira Zuckerman introduced Teater Manu and the production, explaining that there had been some problem with lights. After she finished, the audience raised their arms and wiggled their hands. It was the first time I had seen deaf people applaud. <br />
<br />
The set we were viewing was sparse - a gray rear wall and six chairs, two bearing Nazi uniforms, two with civilian clothing and two with prison clothing. The signing actors, Ronny Patrick Jacobsen and Ipek D. Mehlum, sat on two chairs. A third signing actor, Eitan Zuckerman, stood at stage left and narrated in sign language. "Voice actor" Kjersti Fjeldstad sat at stage right and narrated in spoken language.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNRSGsfDqRLtJ9_V1S_i79BgerbT8KmOaL_epCXwp4P0CljR9pUw_egk0F3Xoi4sxx8-mJmd5LavRgD9N1Hq2LMMCvukusdVM1cF0kW7gD8hqwwS3oAE0kXEqLpx8-eEzrMqI-NRUSv75g/s1600/Crying+Hands+Hans+and+Gertrud.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNRSGsfDqRLtJ9_V1S_i79BgerbT8KmOaL_epCXwp4P0CljR9pUw_egk0F3Xoi4sxx8-mJmd5LavRgD9N1Hq2LMMCvukusdVM1cF0kW7gD8hqwwS3oAE0kXEqLpx8-eEzrMqI-NRUSv75g/s400/Crying+Hands+Hans+and+Gertrud.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ronny Patrick Jacobsen and Ipek D. Mehlum</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>Crying Hands </i>was created by playwright and director Bentein Baardson from interviews with 10 deaf survivors of the Holocaust. Their experiences were distilled into the two characters onstage - Hans (played by Ronny Patrick Jacobsen) and Gertrud (Ipek D. Mehlum) - but not fictionalized. "Everything we tell you has happened," Zuckerman said, telling us that the two characters "could have been anyone" and asking us to consider whether it could happen again.<br />
<br />
Hans is a deaf boy who tells us that as he grows up in Berlin, he is fascinated by motorcycles and becomes good at maintaining them. Attracted by Hitler's vision of a strong Germany, he joins the youth wing of the Nazi party. He enthusiastically goes on group rides with other boys in uniform and casually mentions that sometimes they would "have fun teasing and harassing Jews."<br />
<br />
Gertrud, who can hear, grows up in a middle-class family and is interested in science from a young age. She becomes a doctor, interested in healing "society and people," and begins to explore theories of how to improve the human race. The Nazi party, she believes, is "the new doctor for the German people" and she becomes a proponent of eugenics to "improve the gene pool."<br />
<br />
As they tell their stories, photos curated by video designer Simon Valentine are projected against the back wall, sometimes accompanied by sound effects. Clearly, Baardson wants to include the hearing audience. Sometimes the sound effects, such as the rumble of motorcycles, had a tactile component that could be felt by the deaf viewers.<br />
<br />
As we hear of Hitler consolidating his power, both actors face the back wall, where a photograph of a giant Nazi rally is projected, and slowly, chillingly raise their arms in the "Sieg Heil" salute.<br />
<br />
Then, things begin to turn.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOyKRLPSyOpRDvLcG8c83iZVnSjScEXQFrCIHy3t0cWydl2VIIs-uYpKtaZFmCT02R3Y7nlcYkyKU-amdLRIMYNmVF81au_tG2mKWhle4x7UlhvN4ZDefORokT_5za4Ovu3UAyy-5io2jG/s1600/Crying+Hands+voice+actor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOyKRLPSyOpRDvLcG8c83iZVnSjScEXQFrCIHy3t0cWydl2VIIs-uYpKtaZFmCT02R3Y7nlcYkyKU-amdLRIMYNmVF81au_tG2mKWhle4x7UlhvN4ZDefORokT_5za4Ovu3UAyy-5io2jG/s320/Crying+Hands+voice+actor.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Voice actor Kjersti Fjeldstad </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Hans is dismayed when his corp of deaf soldiers is disbanded because Hitler doesn't want disabled troops. "Eugenics" means that people deaf from birth must undergo forced sterilization since "anyone who carries a hereditary disability may not reproduce." Hans escapes that fate (members of his family are not so fortunate), but is sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.<br />
<br />
Gertrud, who says she "did not consider Jews a threat," finds her professional and social position upended when it is discovered she had a Jewish grandmother. Now she is part of the "final solution" and put on a train to Auschwitz.<br />
<br />
Hans and Gertrud are forced into survival mode and witness scenes of horror and torture, some involving children. This section of the play is the most difficult to endure. It is here where we learn of the terrible reason for the play's title. For this hearing listener, the steady tone of voice actor Fjeldstad made it almost bearable. <br />
<br />
One reason <i>Crying Hands </i> is so powerful is that it is a tale of Nazi Germany where the protagonists started as the oppressors, then ended up in the opposite space.<br />
<br />
Could it happen again? Of course. There have been genocides since World War II - Cambodia, Rwanda. Perhaps plays such as <i>Crying Hands</i> and groups such as Teater Manu appeal to the best in humanity sometimes by showing us the worst.<br />
<br />
At the end of the play, the hearing members of the audience clapped, the deaf members raised their hands and waved their fingers -- and also stomped their feet. It was the first time I had experienced an audience for whom vibration was more important than sound. There's a lot to learn about deaf culture.Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-84821982880315283492019-02-07T22:55:00.000-05:002019-02-07T23:22:13.346-05:00A "Fair Lady" for all generationsWe had cameras, of course, in 1961 but not cellphones so there is no selfie of a woman and a seven-year-old girl outside Broadway's Mark Hellinger Theater just before a matinee of <i>My Fair Lady.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
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<br />
It was my first Broadway show. Fifty-eight years later, <i>My Fair Lady </i>was a young man's first Broadway musical - a time-spanning dose of historic theater magic that brought generations together.<br />
<br />
Before <i>My Fair Lady,</i> Mom had taken me and my little brother to a couple of local shows in Queens, but Broadway involved dressing up and taking the subway into "New York" (Manhattan) - an intensely exciting process.<br />
<br />
Theater-going (and theatrical personalities) run in my family. In the Depression, my mom (who would later become a fashion writer) and her sister would buy $1.00 balcony seats and have $1.00 spaghetti dinners at <a href="http://www.sardis.com/htmldocs/cms/" target="_blank">Sardi's</a>. They saw such luminaries as Laurence Olivier and Katharine Cornell.<br />
<br />
Last weekend, I filled in the young man (Ryan) on the plot of <i>Pygmalion, </i>the Shaw play on which <i>My Fair Lady </i>is based, (leaving room for suspense), and I'm pretty sure my mom (Florence) would have done the same, being a natural teacher. Florence's granddaughter (Flo), also in the selfie, has been to considerably more shows, beginning with <i>The Lion King.</i><br />
<br />
<i>My Fair Lady </i>opened in 1956 and was an instant, gigantic hit. The story of Eliza the Cockney flower girl transformed into "a lady" by phonetics professor Henry Higgins along with Frederick Loewe's music, Alan Jay Lerner's lyrics, Moss Hart's direction, Rex Harrison as Higgins, Julie Andrews as Eliza, made it the toughest ticket on Broadway for years.<br />
<br />
By 1961, the principals were played by suave British actor <a href="https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Michael_Allinson" target="_blank">Michael Allinson</a> and the first American to play Eliza, the charming Margot Moser, who <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/11/nyregion/american-eliza-doolittle-margot-moser.html" target="_blank">is still alive</a>. The show was at the magnificent <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Hellinger_Theatre" target="_blank">Mark Hellinger Theater</a>, with its soaring golden lobby and rococo interior. I absorbed the chatty hubbub in the lobby, the walk to our seats, the darkening auditorium and then - those slashing eight notes that start the overture.<br />
<br />
I was thrilled and seduced by that masterpiece of a score, from "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" through to "The Rain in Spain" and "With a Little Bit of Luck." That afternoon began a lifelong love affair with the theater.<br />
<br />
Today, Lincoln Center Theater uses a proper 30-piece orchestra, conducted by Ted Sperling, and Flo and Ryan felt the same excitement: "That's the overture, Ryan." As the violins swept into the melody from "I Could Have Danced All Night," I was overcome by memory and emotion.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP7XlVLt8mUbjZ1DRq64_KpSv8m8xJbQ8rMeCCswt87-LsvOMEvSK1ijk55_Cs2WKlBWE0Uh1QBPDx0WAT3Q5aqWOABGTLVYcvTbzBQTiDd4ydwjk1m3SfHL5p1eNHs5DQM2mP-QKi9Qzh/s1600/my+fair+lady+higgins+and+eliza.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="600" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP7XlVLt8mUbjZ1DRq64_KpSv8m8xJbQ8rMeCCswt87-LsvOMEvSK1ijk55_Cs2WKlBWE0Uh1QBPDx0WAT3Q5aqWOABGTLVYcvTbzBQTiDd4ydwjk1m3SfHL5p1eNHs5DQM2mP-QKi9Qzh/s400/my+fair+lady+higgins+and+eliza.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From left, Harry Hadden-Paton as Henry Higgins, Laura Benanti <span style="font-size: 14.4px;">as</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.4px;"> Eliza Doolittle and Allan Corduner as Colonel Pickering in "The Rain in Spain."</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Harry Hadden-Paton and Laura Benanti were our Higgins and Eliza, and my appreciation of their performances changed throughout the show. They are closer in age (both in their late 30s) than the characters Shaw wrote (Higgins is in his 40s and Eliza is 20, as were Harrison and Andrews), which meant that the lovely Benanti and her glorious soprano came across as very much a woman, not a girl, as she is referred to in the script.<br />
<br />
I missed the older/younger dynamic, but this <i>Fair Lady</i> focuses on Eliza's discovery of her own strength and self-reliance. I thought Hadden-Paton might be too handsome and "nice," but he found Higgins' edge and delivered an intense "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" at the end that showed a man falling apart as he realizes the depth of his feelings for a woman.<br />
<br />
Both of the principals brought fire to Eliza's declaration of independence ("Without You,") and a scene of intellectual jousting over how they can possibly relate to each other now that they are on more-equal terms.<br />
<br />
I particularly enjoyed Allan Corduner's warm, kind Colonel Pickering and Linda Mugleston's steel-spined Scottish Mrs. Pearce. The great Rosemary Harris, at 91, gave us a Mrs. Higgins (Henry's mother) of grace and wisdom. Danny Burstein was the force of life itself as Alfred P. Doolittle, Eliza's father -- a sly street philosopher who undergoes his own transformation when he gets an unexpected windfall.<br />
<br />
Christopher Gatelli's choreography shone during Alfred's send-off into marriage. "Get Me to the Church on Time" was a rousing music-hall number and such a delightful riot that such odd directorial touches as can-can girls and a cross-dressing bride simply seemed part of the joyful ruckus. Ryan particularly liked this number.<br />
<br />
Director Bartlett Sher's production was properly sumptuous. Catherine Zuber designed costumers in shades of grey, silver, lavender and pink. Michael Yeargan's sets most spectacularly featured a revolving, mobile set of Higgins' townhouse that allowed actors to travel through three interior and exterior areas while performing. Ryan noticed particularly Donald Holder's lighting which <a href="https://www.livedesignonline.com/theatre/design-don-holder-lights-my-fair-lady" target="_blank">Holder said</a> referenced "the color and quality of early electric light while also reveal[ing] the cool exteriors of central London."<br />
<br />
Our post-show discussion focused on Sher's change in the the always-problematic ending and the question of whether Eliza comes back to Higgins. Flo wondered whether the final scene in Higgins' study actually took place in his imagination - an unusual, but valid, interpretation. I thought the ending was illogical, but perhaps symbolic. Ryan felt the show wanted to end on a message of Eliza's empowerment but still wanted to have a final send-off between the two characters. He also noticed how Sher's blocking (stage movement) had the two circling each other in their final scene.<br />
<br />
We talked about Shaw's ideas about class and society, about how men and women get on with each other - and about how it was all set on a brilliant comedy-drama and glorious songs.<br />
<br />
If you don't "get" theater, you don't understand how something called "a show" can actually be life-changing, but <i>My Fair Lady </i>is one of those shows. There are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/05/theater/theater-loverly-memories-of-my-fair-lady.html" target="_blank">reminiscences all over the Internet </a>about its effect.<br />
<br />
It's the perfect "first time," with the potential to light up the mind and heart for a lifetime. The theater gods -- as they do -- arranged everything abso-bloomin'-lutely perfectly.Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-69295478225468390812018-09-03T23:17:00.001-04:002018-09-06T22:39:46.963-04:00The Hamilton birthday rap<br />
How does a mom beg, steal borrow or barter<br />
A gift for her only daughter<br />
Now turning twenty-one<br />
Show her history and a night of fun?<br />
<br />
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A musical named Hamilton<br />
Sellin' tickets by the metric ton<br />
They're the price of an airfare<br />
Take a trip to another age<br />
<br />
The mom loves history<br />
Not rap or hip hop<br />
Mom says check out this old song<br />
the daughter says, what?<br />
<br />
The World Turned Upside Down.<br />
That's the one, says mom, with violins and flutes<br />
That's the tune they played<br />
On the Yorktown parade<br />
When the British went mute.<br />
<br />
Nah-unh says the girl<br />
It's in this great show<br />
Lemme play it all for you<br />
Mom says whoa!<br />
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<br />
They play it all again and again<br />
Sing the songs from Miranda<br />
A time-breaking story for us today<br />
With the music and the colors,<br />
It's a whole new play.<br />
<br />
Fast forward to the day.<br />
They start at Fraunces Tavern<br />
Downtown Manhattan.<br />
In the late 18th century,<br />
The room that they sat in.<br />
<br />
The centuries meet<br />
They walk past Federal Hall<br />
Where Washington took the oath<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcUXikP6UvA1cPoxTK5BYN6ZtruNw2IPw6mW4VJyws-DoxPS6cIM8qRL06OYz_RK2RilxNym6c7SCDGxwgjoQJO_JdRrqS4PRWPpBqZQiP4jxm8l9qsmoMyhmz_cPPJONHPMreXUfd7j1G/s1600/Hamilton+Trinity+churchyard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcUXikP6UvA1cPoxTK5BYN6ZtruNw2IPw6mW4VJyws-DoxPS6cIM8qRL06OYz_RK2RilxNym6c7SCDGxwgjoQJO_JdRrqS4PRWPpBqZQiP4jxm8l9qsmoMyhmz_cPPJONHPMreXUfd7j1G/s320/Hamilton+Trinity+churchyard.jpg" width="320" /></a>And started it all.<br />
<br />
They arrive soon at Trinity.<br />
Alexander, Angelica,<br />
Philip, Eliza<br />
Resting for infinity.<br />
<br />
Up at Times Square<br />
At last they're gonna walk in<br />
The Rodgers theater<br />
So excited they're barely talkin'.<br />
<br />
Daniel Breaker starts the show as Burr<br />
Man what a performance<br />
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From suave to anger-murder<br />
We clutch hands<br />
We get the whole sense.<br />
<br />
Michael Luwoye<br />
Yeah, we say Whoa yay<br />
A Hamilton with passion<br />
When brilliance was in fashion.<br />
<br />
Lexi Lawson does Eliza<br />
Alex's wife with her sister to advise her<br />
Mandy Gonzalez, Angelica<br />
Sees in Alex a new America<br />
<br />
The story of the nation<br />
Born from war with the King<br />
Euan Morton as George<br />
You rebels don't get a thing<br />
<br />
The American miracle<br />
Seen at heart-pounding speed<br />
The dancing, the costumes<br />
Light the words and seal the deed.<br />
<br />
Tired, happy, sated<br />
They leave the theater slowly<br />
In awe of the work<br />
Now none of it's dated.<br />
<br />
Make Hamilton and all of<br />
the rest of them proud.<br />
Go high, don't go low<br />
and do it out loud.Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-51362886750181904502018-07-14T23:24:00.002-04:002018-07-19T19:29:59.729-04:00In Nashville, It's Still Grand<br />
On a trip to Nashville this summer, I finally made it to a performance at the Grand Ole Opry, but it was a long time coming.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2IOEUW6r742FiuR43c3fuBPaszYHjTPrr9KB8ZiJ3GvmQG9UaF2tvfMLLS7h5bvxlMJg-Npq8AMt4cqaYQMLodr-J4_VUpAcSzzVzO2L1uZDCtxeKzYYeOsnx99w8_dvEVlAfcoG0HmF9/s1600/Elvis-at-the-Graceland-Gates.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="308" data-original-width="440" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2IOEUW6r742FiuR43c3fuBPaszYHjTPrr9KB8ZiJ3GvmQG9UaF2tvfMLLS7h5bvxlMJg-Npq8AMt4cqaYQMLodr-J4_VUpAcSzzVzO2L1uZDCtxeKzYYeOsnx99w8_dvEVlAfcoG0HmF9/s320/Elvis-at-the-Graceland-Gates.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elvis at the gates of Graceland</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
On the evening of Aug. 16, 1977, I paid homage by driving past the Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville, home of the Opry for 31 years. The radio was playing Elvis songs, as was every other station on the dial, no matter the format - rock and roll, blues, gospel, country, easy listening.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">I had arrived in town a few hours before, heading east on the road across America, interviewing for reporter jobs at newspapers along the way. Earlier that day, I'd visited the Memphis Commercial Appeal and driven past the musical-note gates of Graceland, just to see the legendary house where Elvis lived.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Upon arriving in Nashville, I phoned the Banner's editor, Bracey Campbell, and identified myself as calling from the Associated Press, since I was working for AP Broadcast in New York at the time. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">"You must be calling about Elvis," he said. "Why, Mr. Campbell?" I responded. "He's dead!" the editor said. "Oh, Mr. Campbell, that's terrible, Elvis being dead and all. We had scheduled my job interview for tomorrow," I said. This was, understandably, the least of Mr. Campbell's concerns. "Honey, I got more here than I can say grace over. I can't give you your job interview. "</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">So that night, not having much else to do, I drove around Nashville, twirling the radio dial. Even then, the Grand Ole Opry was no longer at the red brick Ryman, having moved in 1974 a few miles out of town to something called Opryland. Downtowns were deteriorating and theme parks with car-friendly acreage were on the rise.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Upon my return, I discovered Opryland was long gone and my conference was booked into a huge hotel called the Gaylord Opryland Resort, but the theater was right next door.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">The Opry started in 1925 as a live broadcast on WSM radio featuring an hour of "barn dance" music. It followed a classical music program, and one night announcer George Hay said the grand opera program would be followed by the "grand ole opry."</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Riders in the Sky</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">It was a Saturday night staple for decades, where Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl and Ernest Tubb reigned. Today, the Opry runs four nights a week in the same live-broadcast format, mixing the biggest stars in all sorts of music genres with up-and-comers. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Tickets were remarkably easy to get for a Saturday night. It's like a vaudeville or TV variety show, with each act doing 10-15 minutes. We took our seats in the pews, a style transferred from the Ryman. I was beyond excited, ready to experience American musical history.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">However, not being real country music fans, my daughter and I agreed we would each get a point if we had heard of a particular act.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">The host of the opening segment was Jeannie Seely, a dynamic, 78-year-old veteran of the Opry, tough and funny as hell. But there was also a male radio announcer reading broadcast ads for such products as Springer Mountain Farms chicken between sets.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Seely introduced The Sisterhood, the duo Ruby Stewart (daughter of Rod Stewart) and Alyssa Bonagura, whose soaring harmonies were more rock-tinged folk than classic country. They just made their Opry debut last year. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Banjo player Mike Snider took the stage with his group, beginning with self-deprecating humor, assuring us that his group would not "over-entertain" us. Snider, of course, then launched into banjo riffs that proved his National Banjo Champion credentials.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Next up was an old-timey Western group, Riders in the Sky, complete with chaps and amusing patter. I was starting to warm to a show that clearly welcomed performers in their 70s who still had a lot to give. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">A couple of times, between other acts, the Opry Square Dancers filled me with joy as they pranced through their paces in teal satin costumes on a stage that really didn't have a lot of room for square dancing. The Opry stage production, however, was absolutely top-notch -- especially the sound, which transmitted every note and voice with absolute clarity. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">The people sitting around us were from Tennessee and Iowa, enthusiastically into the music. By the way, the Opry is apparently perfectly all right with people snapping cell phone photos during the show, as I looked around and saw lots of folks doing just that. Other acts were Bobby Osborne & the Rocky Top X-Press, bluegrass group Dailey & Vincent, TV star Charles Esten and comedian Heather Land. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">For me, the best came at the end. Charley Pride is 84 and one of the very few black country music stars -- a situation that occurred when he started out in the 1970s and exists to this day. In her autobiography, Loretta Lynn pointedly said she thought Pride was good for country music, to prove "it belongs to everybody." But as I looked around the theater, it appeared the audience was overwhelmingly white.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Still, Pride is a big star, yet he can amble onto the Opry stage, smoothly sing a couple of songs and uphold decades of history by himself. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jamey Johnson</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The final singer's name had only crossed our path the day before, as we were waiting for breakfast at the local Cracker Barrel. A friendly young man from Mississippi insisted we listen to a video of Jamey Johnson, who looks like he just came down from the mountain.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Johnson and his acoustic guitar stood at the WSM microphone and simply held the audience spellbound with his deep baritone singing voice and storytelling. He sang one of his hits, "In Color," about a grandfather looking through the black-and-white photos of his life, saying "you should have seen it in color." I swear even men were weeping.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;">I had set aside any thoughts of politics as I attended the Opry, wanting simply to experience the music on its own terms. Johnson expressed the best of country music: stories about people that ring true. "In Color" may or may not have been based on an actual person, but the people listening to it clearly were walking through the histories of their own families. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">I ended up with two points (Charley and Jamey) and Flo had one (Jamey). In the next post: we attend a musical and spiritual experience with an audience of a different color. </span>Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-62845063474287337362018-02-23T07:51:00.001-05:002018-03-01T23:17:50.293-05:00A family affairMozart and Sly Stone may not have much in common besides music, but it was Sly's hit "It's a Family Affair" that ran through my head after Distinguished Concerts International NY's (<a href="https://www.dciny.org/" target="_blank">DCINY</a>) latest concert<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">, at Carnegie Hall.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The performance, titled "Perpetual Light: The Requiems of Mozart and </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Duruflé," was the second in DCINY's tenth-anniversary year, which is playing on the concept of light in a couple of its 20 programs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">As I wrote in <a href="http://solangeontheater.blogspot.com/2017/11/a-carnegie-debut-in-hall-of-memories.html" target="_blank">this post about singing in DCINY's "Messiah,</a>" the company invites choirs from around the world to perform in New York, maintains a regular orchestra and engages soloists. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzzZzjKGDQHLWAoPzRsg1IFS6seA_2WikljvEuKNQFJJvN5KETRXZ-_zyivSFpiWdUQWrSZunSbg1FTRxBNxt8dofUh0iRYUW0_co3hM1AC-rxDdd2LVqMlY9zHkZ1IwdZ58hYS6o7lM0A/s1600/DCINY+Light+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzzZzjKGDQHLWAoPzRsg1IFS6seA_2WikljvEuKNQFJJvN5KETRXZ-_zyivSFpiWdUQWrSZunSbg1FTRxBNxt8dofUh0iRYUW0_co3hM1AC-rxDdd2LVqMlY9zHkZ1IwdZ58hYS6o7lM0A/s320/DCINY+Light+poster.jpg" width="213" /></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">At "Perpetual Light," the 250+ singers on stage came from 20 choirs (U.S., Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, U.K.). Many family members were in attendance, buoyant with pleasure at seeing a relative onstage in the glamorous venue.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">At intermission, I met two ladies from Louisiana, there to support an 87-year-old mother-in-law. The program listed the First United Methodist Church Chancel Choir from Lake Charles, La., which also had a 92-year-old member in the concert, the ladies said. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">A young man named Chaz Adams, from San Francisco, was there for his mom, Ingrid Gosney of Kalama, Wash., not too far from Portland, Ore. (Portland Choir). For her, performing at Carnegie Hall was "a dream come true," he said.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The invited choir members support the concert financially. To its credit, DCINY staff maintain a professional but warm atmosphere while handling 3,500-4,500 singers a year. You could call it a family.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The real bottom line lies in this question: is the music of high quality? The answer, with a couple of qualifications, is "yes."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">DCINY supports and enhances its amateur singers with solidly professional conductors, orchestra musicians (especially concertmaster Jorge </span><span style="color: #424242; font-family: "montserrat"; text-align: center;">Á</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">vila) and soloists. If my experience in December is any guide, the choirs generally have been working on the music at home for weeks before coming </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">together to rehearse in New York for a couple of days before the concert.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">For me, the Mozart Requiem towers above all others in its high drama and emotion. There is not much going gently into that good night in the work that Mozart was composing even on his death bed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Maestro James M. Meaders set an exciting pace in the "Dies irae" ("day of wrath") and brought out the lovely melodic line in the "Hostias" section. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Soloists Maribeth Crawford (soprano), Ceclia Stearman (mezzo-soprano), Shawn Mlynek (tenor) and Patton Rice (bass) navigated their parts expertly, but Crawford projected most fully into the hall.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The choir sang with real feeling, but often the precision wasn't quite there that exists when a group sings together regularly, and it seems the singers gave way to the temptation to blast. I recall from my experience that maintaining <i>piano</i> and varying the dynamics, according to the conductor's rehearsal instructions, sometimes was forgotten in the excitement of the moment. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">However, the singers really seemed to gel in the </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Duruflé</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">, conducted by </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Jean</span><span style="background-color: white;">-</span><span style="background-color: white;">Sébastien Vallée, with its echoes of Gregorian chant. Stearman really shone in a sublime "Pie Jesu," scored for accompanying solo cello and organ, and the soprano section stood out in the "In Paradisum."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">One advantage of these family events is the presence of young people in the audience, and (a few) in the choir. A girl, perhaps 15, sat in front of me, intently absorbing the music. Across the aisle sat one girl with blue hair and another with fuschia hair. It may not be explicitly stated in DCINY's mission, but the "parent" organization is also raising the classical music children of the future.</span></span>Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-75118067479963630692017-12-18T21:47:00.000-05:002017-12-20T12:41:42.686-05:00Messiah II - slim and dancing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
A great work such as Handel's "Messiah" -- especially if it has been around for nearly three centuries -- will inevitably be subject to different interpretations as it passes through musical styles and eras.</div>
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My second "Messiah" of this Christmas season looked back toward the baroque 18th century, while the first had more in common with the Romantic 19th. This time, the venue was <a href="http://www.saintthomasmmrk.org/" target="_blank">St. Thomas Episcopal Church</a>, Mamaroneck, N.Y., celebrating its bicentennial year.<br />
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Music Director <a href="http://www.ericmilnes.com/" target="_blank">Eric Milnes</a> led a chamber orchestra of about 15 playing on period instruments, and a choir of about 25, compared to the 400 singers and 70 instrumentalists performing at Carnegie Hall last month in a concert produced by <a href="https://www.dciny.org/" target="_blank">Distinguished Concerts International NY</a> (DCINY).</div>
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As I wrote about "Messiah" I, <a href="http://solangeontheater.blogspot.com/2017/11/a-carnegie-debut-in-hall-of-memories.html" target="_blank">making a Carnegie Hall debut in this work</a> was a thrilling and very special experience.</div>
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"Messiah" II was astonishingly different.</div>
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At Carnegie, the DCINY chorus, consisting of more than a dozen choirs from around the world, produced a mighty and magnificent sound, aided by conductor Jonathan Griffith's inspired antiphonal placement of singers at the ends of the first balcony. </div>
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With just three rehearsals, it seemed to me that Griffith was, first of all, striving for clarity of expression as he melded the choirs. There were unique characteristics, such as his emphasis on taking silent breaths. Can you imagine 400 people all audibly taking a breath at the same time?</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Messiah" at St. Thomas Church, Mamaroneck, N.Y.</td></tr>
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At St. Thomas, the church was full -- but this audience numbered about 220, compared to 2,800, an intimate living room compared to an awe-inspiring hall. </div>
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Milnes, a baroque specialist who has conducted "Messiah" many times, has <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/performance/index.ssf/2011/12/messiah_review_portland_baroqu.html" target="_blank">put his individual mark</a> on this work. He conducted from the harpsichord, whose gentle, ethereal sound complemented the warm sonic color of the baroque instruments. </div>
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With a much smaller group and more time for rehearsal, Milnes conducted a "Messiah" that was quite brisk. This "Messiah" <i>danced</i>, with rising and falling dynamics that shaped phrases like an urgent conversation. It was as if we were speaking one-on-one -- "Have you seen the glory of the Lord? Let me tell you about this. It's wonderful!"</div>
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He also varied the articulation. One example that resonates in my head was the phrase in the sublime chorus, "Worthy is the Lamb." The next few words are "that was slain." I've only ever heard the phrase sung legato, but Milnes had us detach the last three words - "Worthy is the Lamb. That. Was. Slain." Now there is a poignant contrast between the two phrases. </div>
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Here's Milnes conducting the Hallelujah Chorus in rehearsal at St. Thomas, with a tympani solo at the end that I've never heard before. </div>
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Milnes' collaboration with a stellar group of soloists and skilled instrumentalists produced a "Messiah" that received a tumultuous ovation at the end. However, this interpretation also touched people directly in the heart.</div>
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After the applause and bows, as musicians were packing up and audience members shrugging into their coats, a woman came backstage with tears in her eyes, just looking to find someone to whom she could say, "that was profoundly moving. I have never heard 'Messiah' like that."</div>
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Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-69862000346370625762017-11-27T00:17:00.001-05:002018-12-09T23:20:24.071-05:00A Carnegie debut in a hall of memoriesRadio dramas are described as "theater of the mind," but a work of music that comes pretty close to that description for me is Handel's "Messiah," which captivated me from a young age.<br />
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I was electrified by the drama baked into the oratorio's music as it told the story of humankind's redemption through the coming of the Christ. When the tenor opened with "Comfort ye, my people," the violins accented with a sweet, soothing melody. In the bass air, when "the nations so furiously raged," so did the music. When the holy one is betrayed - "He was despised," "Thy rebuke hath broken his heart" -- the grief is palpable.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh99g_ZRWFuO__jJlWsp4beJKYyXfzvLm3BO09oqRI4SGeR6zOrwJginTZGm5XMfRJmnO5k-LcGXKI5Q0Md1PwcOvtptZ3Ec-5EPzx8Ucgy6TRprAZfD_OzFKNC3fDTL3u5Dw7li1a44rD4/s1600/Carnegie+Hall+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh99g_ZRWFuO__jJlWsp4beJKYyXfzvLm3BO09oqRI4SGeR6zOrwJginTZGm5XMfRJmnO5k-LcGXKI5Q0Md1PwcOvtptZ3Ec-5EPzx8Ucgy6TRprAZfD_OzFKNC3fDTL3u5Dw7li1a44rD4/s320/Carnegie+Hall+poster.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Messiah - Refreshed" at Carnegie Hall</td></tr>
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The great soaring choruses - "Hallelujah," "Worthy is the lamb" and the "Amen," "For unto us a child is born" - seemed to break open a vision of the heavens.<br />
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Growing up in New York, "Messiah" was a part of Christmas, usually at Carnegie Hall. My mother would take me and my brother and sometimes one of our friends. She got box seats - a special experience with red velvet chairs and a vestibule to hang coats.<br />
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Since I tend toward anxiety, I always worried about whether anyone would stand during the Hallelujah Chorus. Would I be the only one? If no one else stood, should I sit down quickly?<br />
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So the curtain rose on a multi-layered theater of the mind on Nov. 26, 2017 when I made my Carnegie Hall debut in the chorus (soprano section) of "Messiah," produced by <a href="https://www.dciny.org/" target="_blank">Distinguished Concerts International of New York </a>(DCINY).<br />
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This organization, celebrating its tenth year, produces concerts, including large scale choral works with auditioned and invited choirs from around the world, which also contribute financial support. This mighty "Messiah," using the Thomas Beecham/Eugene Goossens 1959 version for full symphony orchestra, featured more than 400 singers and around 60 instrumentalists. The concert title was "Messiah - Refreshed," referring to this version more suited to the Romantic age.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With conductor Jonathan Griffith. </td></tr>
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A few weeks before the concert, they needed additional singers and reached out to a Connecticut group with which I'd sung "Messiah." That group put the word out to its list and it took me a nanosecond to say "yes" to appearing on the august stage of the hall inaugurated by Tchaikovsky in 1891 and since host to so many immortals. (As a pianist, it's a thrill to tread the same floor as Horowitz and Rubenstein.)<br />
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Our first rehearsal, in a hotel ballroom, besides resembling a cattle call, indicated DCINY's reach and attraction. I was astonished to hear ensembles introduced that had traveled from several states as well as Canada, Mexico, Austria, France, Hong Kong - and Australia!<br />
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Our dynamic maestro, DCINY co-founder Jonathan Griffith, led rehearsals with a big personality and deep choral knowledge, shaping the drama of the work and bringing out the group's best sound. When we "got" an important point, he would let out a triumphant "YES!"<br />
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Singing soprano means you get to hit the thrilling high notes, such as the high A toward the end of the great "Amen" that slices into the music with ecstatic joy. As our section gelled, the sound waves from my neighbors' voices resonated in my head.<br />
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After two days and seven hours of rehearsals, concert day began with a dress rehearsal and I stepped onto the stage for the first time. Note: there is very little wing space on stage right, so since my group was in an assembly room four flights up, we were lined up and waited ... then we hustled down the stairs and whoosh! - right onto the bright lights of the stage.<br />
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The lovely white and gold auditorium, with its gently curving balcony lines, seems to embrace the performer, and its acoustics are legendary. How is it possible that a 2,800-seat hall can seem like an intimate music salon?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carnegie Hall: the view from the stage.</td></tr>
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Our choral group was scheduled to perform in parts 2 and 3. The chorus for part 1 took seats on both ends of the first balcony. They also sang "Hallelujah" and "Worthy is the lamb," with us, for a surround sound effect. For the first time, we heard the rich orchestral instrumentation. "The trumpet shall sound" -- another favorite air.<br />
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After lunch break, we reassemble. This is it; showtime. Breathe. Stretch. Focus. Hum. Warm up the voice. Relax the jaw. Relax the tongue. Prepare for those Handelian high Fs, Gs and As. Hurry up and wait. Line up. Down the stairs. Music down at the side, in the left hand. Bright stage lights! Walk onto the riser ... carefully. Turn. The house lights are still up and there is a person in every seat. My daughter springs up to wave. I smile.<br />
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The house lights fade to black. I look up at the box seats and see my mother, with two kids, laying down a legacy of music in a magical hall, in a great city. I hope my daughter will also feel it, generation to generation.<br />
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We open our books and we're away. We're onstage for more than an hour, but it goes fast. At the first few notes of "Hallelujah," people begin to get to their feet and by the time we swing into "for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth," everyone I can see is standing.<br />
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Look mom, I'm standing on the stage of Carnegie Hall. It's a miracle. How do we sound? Hallelujah.Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-19574407052972177072017-07-23T14:53:00.001-04:002018-02-20T23:09:40.268-05:00Waiting for Hamlet<div class="MsoNormal">
Milton’s famous dictum – “they also serve who only stand and
wait” – came to mind while experiencing the existential confusion of the duo at
the heart of a new opera, <i>Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern are Dead.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Composer and librettist <a href="http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/music/composition/faculty/garfein">Herschel
Garfein</a>’s work musicalizes <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosencrantz_and_Guildenstern_Are_Dead">Tom
Stoppard’s 1966 play</a>, which took two minor characters at the edges of <i>Hamlet </i>and gave them universal anxieties
– “What is my part in great events?”, “What am I doing here?”, “Do I really
understand what’s going on?” <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Rosencrantz </i> is receiving a fully-staged (and sensationally
good) production with piano accompaniment at the <a href="https://seaglecolony.org/">Seagle Music Colony</a> in Schroon Lake, N.Y.
as part of the summer opera training program’s expanded initiative to support new
works. Last year, the program produced a memorable staging of Mack and McGuire’s
<a href="http://solangeontheater.blogspot.com/2016/08/politics-as-opera.html"><i>Roscoe</i></a>
based on the William Kennedy novel, which went on to have an orchestral,
semi-staged production with Deborah Voigt and the Albany Symphony.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A scene from the opera <i>Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.</i> Photo/Seagle Music Colony</td></tr>
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In <i>Hamlet, </i>Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern are two school friends of the prince, hired to spy on him and
deliver him to an assassin. They prove to be unequal to the task and their
eventual fate is announced with the dry line, “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are
dead.”</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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With a healthy nod to Beckett’s existential <i>Waiting for Godot,</i> Stoppard created two
bewildered bumblers trying to make sense of events whipping past their eyes – a
prince who pretends to be mad, a murder mystery surrounding the previous king,
a vengeful current king, a queen with loose morals. He also brilliantly created
major characters out of the Player and his “tragedians” – the troupe that
arrives at court and mimes the circumstances of the former king’s death – who
deliver witty comments on acting and theater, artifice and reality.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Garfein</td></tr>
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Garfein’s intriguing music generally follows a narrative
line since R and G are mostly passive characters commenting on the action, and
he delightfully uses vaudeville style in “Your Uncle is the King of Denmark.” In
addition, “Guildenstern’s Aria,” “The Butterfly Song” and the final chorus,
“Was It All for This?” are particularly striking.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s the first staging for <i>Rosencrantz</i>, which has had excerpts produced, and it’s to be hoped
the opera will have further development. While Garfein and director Richard
Kagey’s staging have beautifully mined the absurdist humor in the play, the
dramatic drive sags in the second act, with, for instance, one too many
ruminations upon death.<o:p></o:p></div>
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A bit more exposition for those not familiar with <i>Hamlet</i> would help audiences through what
seems to be a puzzling plot. In the final duel scene, for instance, Hamlet’s
opponent Laertes’s name isn’t mentioned until halfway through the scene, much
less why he’s dueling. Although any theater work can be enjoyed on its own, reading
at least a synopsis of <i>Hamlet</i> before
seeing the opera will help. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crowle</td></tr>
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In this production, the ensemble acting is particularly
strong. The July 22, 2017 cast featured Joshua Cook as a genial Rosencrantz,
Zachary Crowle as a brooding Guildenstern, Andrew Henry as a charismatic
Player, Kevin Bryant as a magnetic, arrogant Hamlet and Bridget Cappel as the
sweet-voiced boy actor Alfred.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Clearly the cast had strong training in farce and absurdist
styles, and director Kagey’s blocking created some beautiful stage pictures. Andrew
Bisantz conducted with verve as master pianists Jennifer McGuire and José
Meléndez
negotiated the fast-moving score with enormous skill. Jim Koehnle’s set is simple
but effective, with a barn-board backdrop, steps creating several levels and
some clever projection work (Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy is
projected on the backdrop while he mimes it downstage). Of Therese Tresco's Elizabethan costumes, the colorful plume on the Player's dramatic black hat was particularly effective. </div>
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In the beginning, R and G note that “we were sent for,” but in
the end they bungle their mission completely. Let’s hope that any of us
responds to a similar call with more aplomb – but, of course, nothing is a sure
thing.</div>
Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-85205859498755436352017-03-17T09:41:00.003-04:002017-03-17T09:41:47.643-04:00Far away from violence and fearI knew the cast of <i>Come From Away</i>, a new Broadway musical that celebrates the best of humanity in the dark days following 9/11, would get the Newfoundland accents right where a woman said early on that planes were landing at the "hairport."<br />
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The Rock's version of Celtic speech -- attaching an "h" to a beginning vowel and speaking with a rhythmic verve -- was just one of the island's unique ways that greeted 6,500 passengers from 38 planes forced to land in the town of Gander on that day of terror.<br />
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As American authorities closed U.S. airspace, dozens of incoming flights were diverted to Canada. With just 10,000 people, Gander's extra-long runway, from the days when it was a transatlantic refueling stop, made it a perfect location. <br />
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What happened to the passengers next was first told in a 2003 book by journalist Jim DeFede, <i>The Day the World Came to Town.</i><br />
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The people of Gander and its neighboring towns mobilized in an army of concern and hospitality, opening churches, community halls and schools as shelters, providing clothing and food (even kosher meals), setting up phone banks and fax machines.<br />
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Then they went further - inviting the "plane people" into their homes for a bed and a shower, taking care of the animals on the planes, offering to lend personal vehicles for sightseeing.<br />
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In a place that's mostly white and mostly Christian, they took care of people from all over the world -- a point that now resonates most powerfully in a time of suspicion and fear.<br />
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The Canadian creators of <i>Come From Away</i>'s book, music and lyrics<i>, </i>Irene Sankoff and David Hein,<i> </i>attended a tenth-anniversary reunion in Gander in 2011. The show was then initially developed by producer Michael Rubinoff at Canada's Sheridan College, where the dynamic music theater performance program held a celebration in New York on opening weekend.<br />
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Featuring an ensemble cast, the show opens with a rousing "Welcome to the Rock," a fast-moving introduction to Newfoundland, a windswept island on the edge of the north Atlantic, "where the winter tried to kill us." The island's harsh weather serves as a clue to its culture - sturdy people in a seafaring economy whose instinct is to band together for survival and whose humor is legendary.<br />
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Lest the idea of a "9/11 musical" (as some unfortunate headlines had it) conjure up the ultimate in bad taste, the horrific events in the U.S. are referred to through reactions - to a radio report, an unseen TV, a phone call.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left, Jenn Colella as American Airlines pilot Beverley Bass, and passengers..<br /></td></tr>
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A musical in the modern style that mixes narrative, song and movement, the 12-member cast plays many parts against Beowulf Boritt's spare set of planks and trees.<br />
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Director Christopher Ashley and choreographer Kelly Devine move the action swiftly, from the local Tim Hortons coffee shop to the airport, the planes and the town.<br />
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An eight-piece onstage band keeps the Irish-flavored music whirling, especially in a bar scene where some of the newcomers are made honorary Newfoundlanders by drinking the fiery rum called "screech" and kissing a cod.<br />
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One of the most affecting moments - again, in today's atmosphere - was a song called "Prayer," where the firefighter's mother prays at a Catholic church, the Muslim goes down on his knees and a Jewish rabbi chants. The song begins with the prayer of St. Francis: "Make me a channel of your peace." <br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">The stress and tension of those days isn't glossed over - the school bus drivers are on strike and have to be convinced to come off the picket lines to drive hundreds of passengers from the airport, a Muslim passenger is the object of suspicion, people stuck in a strange place just want to get home, a woman is desperate for news of her firefighter son in New York.</span><br />
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The cast are all excellent, but standouts for me were the zestful Jenn Colella as American Airlines' first female captain, Beverley Bass and Joel Hatch as Gander Mayor Claude Elliott. <br />
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At times, the party atmosphere and celebration of all things Newfoundland made me a little uncomfortable, given the context. Yet the joy of discovering such humanity in a moment of ultimate darkness and evil bubbles to the surface, especially since one realizes that Americans were the refugees at that moment and were given shelter.<br />
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This was expressed most amusingly as an African-American passenger, played by Rodney Hicks, is told by the mayor to go get some barbecue grills out of some backyards so a big cook-out can help feed the passengers.<br />
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The black man is convinced he's going to be shot, then wonderingly relates how "every single person invited me in for a cup of tea and offered to help me steal their own grill."<br />
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"Sure, if you need it, go ahead and take it" -- that was the prevailing reaction in Gander, Newfoundland and its next-door towns on September 11, 2001.<br />
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This wonderful musical extols generosity and emotions that should last long after the current angry climate is swept away.<br />
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Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-31248256920111533762016-12-26T23:39:00.001-05:002016-12-29T00:14:57.399-05:00L'Amour de Loin: operatic dream world<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Opera may be the most tradition-bound of art forms (on a par with symphony orchestras), but the Metropolitan Opera continues to explore exciting new methods of musical storytelling with its new production of Finnish composer <a href="http://saariaho.org/" target="_blank">Kaija Saariaho's</a> <i>L'Amour de Loin (Love from afar).</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The production has made headlines because it's only the second opera by a female composer produced in the Met's 133-year history. In addition, it's only the fourth time that a woman has taken the podium -- the <span style="background-color: transparent;">Finnish conductor </span><span style="background-color: transparent;"><a href="http://susannamalkki.com/" target="_blank">Susanna Malkki</a>.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">Far from a gimmick, both women are in the midst of respected careers and it seems a shame that the New York classical music world would seem to be a bit behind Europe and other areas in creating opportunities for female artistic leaders.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">Now, <i>L'Amour de Loin</i> (which premiered at the Salzburg Festival in 2000) has very little action and practically no change of scene. However, Canadian director Robert LePage and set/costume designer Michael Curry have created a visual world that moves while exploring such non-physical realms as mind and emotion. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfXl59ODCvMSEdPxiInVkpZ8LDy_KM7i2jyq9-vXlIdKPq87BK95MqgXCoxCVS909ic7VC2QcrochqrDVyDdqpjiV5p7ZyXFBwNeadHLpcsI0xkCZyNl2_jcQGm0PPUsIrz30A4Q8JAGMx/s1600/amour1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfXl59ODCvMSEdPxiInVkpZ8LDy_KM7i2jyq9-vXlIdKPq87BK95MqgXCoxCVS909ic7VC2QcrochqrDVyDdqpjiV5p7ZyXFBwNeadHLpcsI0xkCZyNl2_jcQGm0PPUsIrz30A4Q8JAGMx/s400/amour1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 14.4px;">Left to right, Tamara Mumford, Susanna Phillips<br />
and Eric Owens in <i>L'Amour de Loin</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The plot concerns the 12th century French poet and troubador, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Jaufré Rudel,
who was said to have fallen in love with the Countess of Tripoli (one of the
Crusader states in what is now Lebanon) simply from descriptions of her virtues
brought to France by pilgrim travelers. He sets sail across the Mediterranean
to see her, falls ill on the journey and, upon arrival, dies in her arms.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is wholly in keeping with improbably opera plots, but as is often the case, plot isn't the main point. Inhabiting the mythical status of the story, <i>L'Amour de Loin </i>explores the quality of purity in love, divorced from love's object. The poetic libretto by Amin Maalouf even asks, "What good is love from afar?"</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The undulating sea is suggested by rows of thousands of LED lights suspended across the stage. A pilgrim traveler (Tamara Mumford) and Rudel (Eric Owens) travel in a small boat, but a large set piece resembling a bridge on a single pivot also suggests a boat and, when stationary, a shore or the rim of a castle. The lights swirl with color and are separated by enough space that the chorus seems to rise from the sea.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The work of lighting designer Kevin Adams, lighting image designer Lionel Arnould and sound designer Mark Grey is seamlessly integrated. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">While firmly tonal, Saariaho's music includes electronic sounds. Each character, the chorus and the orchestra is given differentiated music. (I was particularly struck by the nearly-human quality of the woodwind voices.)</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Malkki's conducting drew out all the sectional qualities with a clear sense of pace. However, the score's overall flowing, dreamlike quality did produce one unintended effect: my seat companion and I found our eyelids lowering during the first half. At intermission, we agreed that we were so fascinated by what we were seeing and hearing that we were fighting the somnolent urge.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The small cast was thrillingly committed to the music. An announcement before the performance told us that Owens was battling bronchitis, but "he wishes to sing for you." His commanding bass-baritone voice seemed slightly diminished in power, with an occasional cough, but beautifully expressed Rudel's discontent and longing. I was glad Owens made the effort.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mumford's pilgrim traveler shuttled between the lovers with a sturdy sense of mission and compassion. As the countess, soprano Susanna Phillips seemed to glow with both physical beauty and wistfulness, soaring in her final moments as she rails against fate and prays to - whom? God or her "love from afar?" The mysterious qualities of love seem to intersect with faith to pose eternal questions. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-22055206213363785742016-12-04T22:42:00.001-05:002017-03-04T00:01:52.139-05:00Never stop the pressesI visited an old theatrical friend last fall - a limited Broadway run of the 1928 classic play about newspaper journalism, <i>The Front Page</i>.<br />
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As far as I'm concerned, no play to this day has captured better the sheer exuberant adventure of being a newspaper reporter, wrapped in long hours, grubby conditions and low pay. With its brilliant structured plot, rapid-fire overlapping dialogue and snappy pace, <i>The Front Page </i>remains sensationally entertaining nearly 90 years later.<br />
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I first encountered this look at the raucous world of Chicago journalism in a 1969 Broadway revival, then in a 1994 production at Canada's Shaw Festival.<br />
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The current production, starring Nathan Lane, not only unwittingly illustrates the seismic 21st century changes in the newspaper business but also, in today's overwrought political landscape, how journalism may well save us. That may be too heavy a load to place on the shoulders of what is intended as a comedy, but it's there, nonetheless. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfypGk5ddhEmNvDKUMvrnVQPQZIQkbRUeSdYm22oZTzoibAFDtMaq2cz9_FmbJPCMiDVfGXNOKTWGrAtdhAFv3bJSFojGOTLqQWYsY6-OAYUaOp7odXjaE0c7omF43rvUqyn_iW2WUx6I8/s1600/Front+Page+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfypGk5ddhEmNvDKUMvrnVQPQZIQkbRUeSdYm22oZTzoibAFDtMaq2cz9_FmbJPCMiDVfGXNOKTWGrAtdhAFv3bJSFojGOTLqQWYsY6-OAYUaOp7odXjaE0c7omF43rvUqyn_iW2WUx6I8/s320/Front+Page+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Slattery, left, as Hildy Johnson and<br />
Nathan Lane, right, as Walter Burns. Photo/Variety </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It all takes place in the press room of the downtown Criminal Courts Building on the eve of a hanging. Reporters on the courts beat make this room their home - phoning updates to their copy desks while passing the time playing cards and cracking wise.<br />
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They seek to drum up stories from the police scanner, leading to one of my favorite lines, from McCue of the City Press: "Is is true, madame, that you were the victim of a Peeping Tom?"<br />
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They are a powerful group - representing <i>eight</i> newspapers in a pre-television and certainly pre-Internet age. Radio was just beginning to grow in popularity.<br />
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Into their midst swaggers Hildy Johnson (played by John Slattery), star reporter for the <i>Examiner</i>, about to get married and move to New York for the plush confines of advertising and a salary of $150 a week. Not, however, if his editor, Walter Burns (played by Lane, whom we initially hear simply as an irascible voice barking orders over the phone) has anything to say about it.<br />
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The condemned man, Earl Williams (John Magaro), makes an improbable jailbreak, Hildy and Walter try to hide him for the scoop of all time, and the mayor (Dann Florek) and sheriff (John Goodman) are exposed as craven and corrupt opportunists.<br />
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Hildy tries to break free of the <i>Examiner</i>, Burns and the thrill of chasing the next big story as fiancee Peggy (Halley Feiffer) and her mother (Holland Taylor) grow impatient.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRlOwucSk3_dCT4S427sNcXZWugkl1wxgr0DNTy-qVwVWBM9ty9YYk-z9aVLdToZor0s1FiUTu-ebBajA0sM7WuenBm5ydTo9NK6wVRT91HK3Cjstxc2IG72viHEhVZBFKVB9NwAqrJYQp/s1600/frontpage+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRlOwucSk3_dCT4S427sNcXZWugkl1wxgr0DNTy-qVwVWBM9ty9YYk-z9aVLdToZor0s1FiUTu-ebBajA0sM7WuenBm5ydTo9NK6wVRT91HK3Cjstxc2IG72viHEhVZBFKVB9NwAqrJYQp/s320/frontpage+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From left, John Goodman, John Slattery and Nathan Lane.<br />Photo Sara Krulwich/New York Times</td></tr>
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It's not fair to compare performances, but the definitive Walter Burns for me was craggy Robert Ryan in the 1969 revival. Lane can play many things, but a tough guy isn't one of them. In fact, I was surprised to see him playing Walter and Slattery playing Hildy; the roles should have been reversed. Where Ryan prowled, Lane bustles. <br />
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Douglas W. Schmidt's wood-paneled set beautifully evokes the shabby grandeur of a 19th century municipal building.<br />
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The pace of the production could have been faster, however, and the comedy style a little less "knowing." Farce is at its best when it's played completely sincerely; any sort of "comment" on the action dilutes the fun for the audience.<br />
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As a former newspaper reporter and current editor, I love this play with all my heart. To me, the most romantic sentence is, "I am a newspaper reporter." The Canadian production got it wrong when it thought it was a critique of the business.<br />
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<i>The Front Page </i>glories in the raffish adventure of newspaper journalism, the adrenaline high of chasing the story, beating the competition, pounding out the words - even as it skewers with a clear eye the grubbier aspects of the process.<br />
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In covering and meddling in the saga of Earl Williams' escape, Hildy, Walter and the <i>Examiner </i>expose the incompetent sheriff and corrupt mayor - exactly what journalism is supposed to do.<br />
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The standup telephones are now smartphones and the typewriters now laptops, but journalism is more necessary than ever. Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-42982206330166851852016-08-07T08:42:00.000-04:002016-08-07T11:01:22.403-04:00Politics as operaIn this fraught political year, the <a href="https://seaglecolony.org/" target="_blank">Seagle Music Colony</a> in upstate New York has premiered <i><a href="https://seaglecolony.org/2016-season/" target="_blank">Roscoe</a>,</i> a brilliant work by composer <a href="http://www.evanmack.com/" target="_blank">Evan Mack</a> and librettist <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-mcguire-a8292918?authType=NAME_SEARCH&authToken=ocwb&locale=en_US&trk=tyah&trkInfo=clickedVertical%3Amynetwork%2CclickedEntityId%3A62017730%2CauthType%3ANAME_SEARCH%2Cidx%3A1-1-1%2CtarId%3A1470573253443%2Ctas%3Ajoshua%20mcguire%20vanderbilt" target="_blank">Joshua McGuire</a> on the dark methods of governing at the state capital, Albany.<br />
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Based on the novel of the same name by Pulitzer Prize-winning author <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Kennedy_(author)" target="_blank">William Kennedy</a>, this daring work, here directed by Richard Kagey, excitingly advances the cause of modern opera, bringing a story of 20th century political intrigue to the dramatic level of a <i>Rigoletto</i> or a <i>Tosca</i>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwumsu9bsQeFW-WCq9xvzt4E93PdSR5xpcHStlveCl6KWqCo6esdA7GEq1yHufg7Uppm72p8guu8sd3LYKP49WOC6a1tvHNp_wWeC5qoHEEez1j8e6F6cm_L-OkTyxOn1xw807lj5wZz9x/s1600/Seagle+Roscoe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwumsu9bsQeFW-WCq9xvzt4E93PdSR5xpcHStlveCl6KWqCo6esdA7GEq1yHufg7Uppm72p8guu8sd3LYKP49WOC6a1tvHNp_wWeC5qoHEEez1j8e6F6cm_L-OkTyxOn1xw807lj5wZz9x/s320/Seagle+Roscoe.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left, author William Kennedy. Right, composer Evan Mack.<br />
Illustration/Hudson Sounds<br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">In nurturing </span><i style="text-align: center;">Roscoe,</i><span style="text-align: center;"> the Seagle Music Colony, now in its second century, is also advancing its own cause. Located in the Adirondack mountain town of Schroon Lake, Seagle is a summer training camp for young opera singers, who are shaping the roles in this new work even as they receive vocal, stage and career training.</span><br />
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This year, Seagle's program also includes <i>The Elixir of Love, The Music Man and The Most Happy Fella. </i>It's a courageous move by Seagle Artistic Director Darren K. Woods and General Director Tony Kostecki to present a work that is very different from those three other classics of musical theater and opera. However, <i>Roscoe</i>'s four-performance run was a sell-out, proving that audiences want to be engaged by great stories, masterfully told.<br />
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The opera opens on V-J Day in 1945, with lawyer and Democratic fixer Roscoe Conway (played on Aug. 6 by Scott Purcell) musing on getting out of politics after two decades as Democratic Party fixer and bagman.<br />
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There is an impressionistic feeling from the beginning. The ensemble, singing a wistful punctuation to Roscoe's thoughts, seem to be people from his past. Designer Jim Koehnle's black and gray set features long metal window frames, a visual sense that we are looking into hearts, minds and years. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyQqIWiGOHA7GqSPjkYEKTSsziMOcnl0JGh1Y6XwDGZkbENzFZCQ36VeIzWwqfWJXZ-5yU7ELWAC3s54ViH3Efd5rlCDngjGdEhAkQ4UgmpYT2d9Wqk5B15IGrkhYeTAxJFonHtGJmf0PG/s1600/StoryPicTheater2658.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyQqIWiGOHA7GqSPjkYEKTSsziMOcnl0JGh1Y6XwDGZkbENzFZCQ36VeIzWwqfWJXZ-5yU7ELWAC3s54ViH3Efd5rlCDngjGdEhAkQ4UgmpYT2d9Wqk5B15IGrkhYeTAxJFonHtGJmf0PG/s320/StoryPicTheater2658.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Oscar Seagle Memorial Theater<br /> Photo/Seagle Music Colony<br /></td></tr>
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Hamlet-like, Roscoe's late father, Felix (Jon Oakley), appears as a vision, setting a major theme of the opera - how one generation frees or handcuffs the next.<br />
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The swirling plot involves corrupt cops and judges, illegal cockfighting, whorehouses, political payoffs, fixed party conventions (!), Republican and Democratic maneuvering and the questionable parentage of two characters.<br />
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Roscoe re-connects with his great love, Veronica (Lauren Cook), whose husband, Elisha (Johnny Salvesen), has committed suicide. However, Veronica's sister, Pamela (Tascha Anderson), is suing for custody of the son, Gilby (Harvey Runyon), she gave up to Veronica for adoption. <br />
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Mack's music echoes the times, with jazz strains, lyrical love themes and intense drama that thrillingly advances the story. The male quartet ending Act I and love duet in Act II are particularly powerful. McGuire's lyrics soar with poetry and author Kennedy's wry and poignant view of these flawed characters.<br />
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Musical accompaniment was expertly handled at the Aug. 6 performance by Kostecki as conductor, pianists Jennifer McGuire and Matthew Stephens and percussionist Bob Halek.<br />
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Vocally, all the principals exhibited skill and strength, with Purcell, Oakley, Salvesen,<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga8mvOPC6slhn5YDgC-2RqqeGB_bJc8axpkw62DlVZMHZT2-dmGNN3i957sWUqzDYMMpgah1856r4blbytf6r3wGRq1IS-CrGGvNRVaK-pHFky0Ui_58tK9WLSrnv1FIWYMB1BDbKujHvN/s1600/Eagle+Scott+Purcell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga8mvOPC6slhn5YDgC-2RqqeGB_bJc8axpkw62DlVZMHZT2-dmGNN3i957sWUqzDYMMpgah1856r4blbytf6r3wGRq1IS-CrGGvNRVaK-pHFky0Ui_58tK9WLSrnv1FIWYMB1BDbKujHvN/s1600/Eagle+Scott+Purcell.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scott Purcell<br />Photo/Seagle Music Colony</td></tr>
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Cook and Anderson standing out.<br />
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However, the Oscar Seagle Memorial Theater, while a beloved venue, has serious limitations, including a small stage that makes blocking (stage movement) and set design somewhat cramped, and uncomfortable seats that should be taken out and set on fire immediately. The colony is currently <a href="https://seaglecolony.org/donate/" target="_blank">raising funds</a> for a sorely-needed new theater. <br />
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Those who may be uncertain about modern opera might like to know that <i>Roscoe </i>will be produced in a concert version in October with Metropolitan Opera superstar Deborah Voigt and the <a href="http://www.albanysymphony.com/upcomingconcerts/2016/3/3/roscoe-an-american-grand-opera" target="_blank">Albany Symphony.</a><br />
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It will be fascinating to hear this work fully-orchestrated and it should be headed for a long life in the repertoires of major opera companies. Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-21878720839279741942016-05-30T10:31:00.002-04:002016-05-30T16:04:15.644-04:00Motor dreamsDominique Morisseau has nailed the rhythms of working people at a dying auto plant in her play <i>Skeleton Crew</i> at the <a href="https://atlantictheater.org/" target="_blank">Atlantic Theater Company</a>, now in its second run through June 19.<br />
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It's a landscape I walked from 1990 to 1991 at the old General Motors Scarborough Van Plant on the outskirts of Toronto, chronicled in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Life-Line-Womans-Sweat-Survival-ebook/dp/B004G8P2KK?ie=UTF8&keywords=%26%2334%3Blife%20on%20the%20line%26%2334%3B%20de%20santis&qid=1464615767&ref_=sr_1_1&s=books&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Life on the Line:One Woman's Tale of Work, Sweat and Survival.</a><br />
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The van plant closed in the early 1990s recession; Morisseau's unnamed metal stamping plant, an auto manufacturing supplier, is about to become a victim of the 2008 economic collapse.<br />
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Our stories were about the people who labored like and with machines, who hung on to a middle-class existence through well-paid union labor, who were sometimes victimized by management and union alike, facing an uncertain future with equal parts dread and courage.<br />
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It's a testament to <i>Skeleton Crew</i>'s skillful director, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, that one always gets the sense of many more people at the plant behind the four characters who meet in the break room -- tough, middle-aged Faye (Lynda Gravatt); young, volatile Dez (Jason Dirden); pregnant Shanita (Nikiya Mathis); supervisor Reggie (Wendell B. Franklin).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The "crew": from left, Dez (Jason Dirden), Faye (Lynda Gravatt), Shanita (Nikiya Mathis).</td></tr>
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I often thought of how the workers and machines performed an intricate ballet every day amidst the crashing sounds of robot welders, the metallic creaks of the drag chain pulling the van bodies through the plant, the sharp <i>pffts</i> of pneumatic tools and <i>skrees</i> of drills.<br />
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<i>Skeleton Crew</i>'s scenes are effectively punctuated by Robert Kaplowitz's mechanized music and the jerky dances choreographed and performed by Adesola Osakalumi, seen in half-light.<br />
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Although the situations were similar, my story took place in a diverse, but mostly white, community, while Morisseau is chronicling the decline of the mostly-black Motor City, in this third of a Detroit trilogy.<br />
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She skillfully paints her characters with a broad brush in the play's first half, so we get comfortable with gruff Faye, who insists on smoking despite the sign reading "No Smoking FAYE." Sweet and sassy Shanita fends off Dez' constant advances. By-the-book Reggie puts up more signs (No Gambling Dez This Means You) in vain attempts at control.<br />
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In the second half, the characters' rough poetry soars and these excellent actors give us the depths of their rage and pride. Dez, who uneasily packs a gun in his backpack, questions economic morality - "Is there zero tolerance for criminal activity upstairs or does that road only go one way?"<br />
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Reggie, pulled between his rise from the assembly line and his bosses upstairs, desperately wants to hang to a house and college savings for his daughter. "I need my job just like everybody else and I don't have the union to protect me," he tells Faye, the union rep, as he confides in her that the plant is doomed.<br />
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Shanita expresses something I heard many times, which may be counter-intuitive for people who are used to the white collar life in an office - pride in working a manual job at an auto factory. Facing the rumor of the plant closing, she has a job offer (at much less pay) at a copy center. At the plant, "I feel like I'm building something important, that's got a motor to take someone somewhere," and her success there has made her father, a former line worker, proud.<br />
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Faye reigns as the moral center of the play as we learn, from a heart-wrenching speech, that with "cancer treatments kicking my ass," she's lost her house to foreclosure and has been living out of her car or actually sleeping in the break room. Is this possible in America, even with union-negotiated medical benefits and salary? Yes, it is.<br />
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After 29 years, Faye feels as if she is as much a part of the plant as the couch mended with duct tape and the OSHA posters. "I can see through lockers. I know everything about this place. The walls talk to me. The dust on the floors write me messages."<br />
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The dust, chipped paint and dirty fluorescent light fixtures are expertly rendered in Michael Carnahan's set, with appropriately harsh lighting by Rui Rita. Projections between scenes, including Detroit's magnificently ruined Michigan Central Station, are by Nicholas Hussong.<br />
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"Tell 'em they can't write us off," Faye asks Reggie. That was the inspiration behind <i>Life on the Line </i>as well as <i>Skeleton Crew</i>: these people matter and they deserve to be heard. </div>
Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521694843897019630.post-23039639599319811752016-03-05T01:03:00.003-05:002016-03-05T16:44:54.122-05:00The Who's on firstUsing an astonishing array of technical expertise, The Who turned its classic rock and roll songs into music and video theater at Madison Square Garden in New York last night.<br />
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This tour has been billed as "The Who Hits 50,"but since they actually formed around 1963, "50" is a kind of a loose marker. It's also supposed to be yet another farewell tour. (I recall writing about a Who farewell tour in the 1980s.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joan Jett with the Blackhearts</td></tr>
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Due to a couple of kind Toronto friends, the 18-year-old daughter and I found ourselves in excellent seats for the show and here I want to salute the opening act, which is often cannon fodder for the headliner. Not this time. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.<br />
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Jett is 57, looks fabulous and rocked as hard as ever in a 40-minute set that included the great "I Love Rock and Roll" and her marvelous cover of Tommy James and the Shondells' "Crimson and Clover." Her "I Hate Myself for Loving You" is one of the great titles.<br />
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She and The Who also have some history, as a print crawl on a big video screen behind the stage noted that when Jett's fortunes were at a low ebb, The Who's management let her run up a $60,000 recording bill and said, "You can pay us later" -- which she did.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend</td></tr>
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The video screen at intermission also carried a lovely tribute from The Who to David Bowie, noting he'd been a dedicated follower of the band, even climbing a wall at a London venue to get his first album to Who leader Pete Townshend, and attending many of their shows during his later New York years.<br />
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The Garden was full, and pumped for The Who. Advance reviews of this leg of the tour had been good, but show business is never a sure thing. Even in the anarchic world of 1960s rock and roll, The Who were unpredictable, smashing guitars and hotel rooms with abandon.<br />
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In fact, this show was a makeup date for an October postponement as lead singer Roger Daltrey battled a virus. He had just turned 72 and lead guitarist Townshend is 70, for gosh sakes. <br />
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The set was impressive as the band took the stage, to enormous applause. Pete, Roger and the boys don't do much these days in the way of costumes (remember the Union Jack jacket from the 60s?), but Madison Square Garden has been revamped to include high-definition video screens behind and flanking the stage, and The Who took full advantage.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The giant video screen behind the stage - mega light.</td></tr>
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Opening with "Who Are You?" they did just about the full catalog of great songs throughout a two-hour-plus set, with stunning graphics, videos and photo montages on the huge screens. With original drummer Keith Moon (I wrote his obituary when I was with Associated Press Radio) and bassist John Entwistle gone, Ringo Starr's son Zak Starkey filled in on drums and Townshend's brother Simon on guitar.<br />
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Townshend and the band were in fine musical form. Maybe he didn't jump as high as in previous years, but he could still windmill his arm and slam those chords. Daltrey, between songs, thanked fans for all their good wishes last fall and had no trouble with his trademark howls on "Baba O'Reilly" and Rain On Me."<br />
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They were just in great shape and at their age, that's work and dedication and respect for your audience -- and some luck. The fans included a wide range of ages, from a girl who looked to be about four and sported a pair of noise-dampening headphones to us folks who had been there at the beginning. I think I had a smile on my face for the whole two hours, along with 20,000 other dancing, singing, cheering people.<br />
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The 18-year-old knew all the songs, courtesy of the classic rock radio stations played by the elders in her life. However, a montage of events from the last 50 years from Vietnam to 9/11, during Townshend's instrumental "the Rock," resonated most powerfully with me.<br />
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As the concert continued, I wondered if we weren't just seeing an energetic version of an oldies show. Townshend is an accomplished writer - surely he was also interested in introducing newer material?<br />
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In the end, The Who's work, delivered with conviction and power, stood up. For one thing, in this crazy election year, we can all hope we "Won't Get Fooled Again."Solange De Santishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01584045582749238772noreply@blogger.com0