|
The Niceties – Manhattan Theatre Club Click here to watch In Eleanor Burgess’ play, Zoe, a black student at a liberal arts college, is called into her white professor's office to discuss her paper about slavery's effect on the American Revolution. What begins as a polite clash in perspectives explodes into an urgent debate about race, history, and power. The play stars Lisa Banes and Jordan Boatman. It’s hard to ignore the obvious traces of David Mamet’s Oleanna, a corrosive hit play with a similar setting – a professor’s office and the conflict between student and professor – but the issues here are different, not sexual abuse, but the truth about the Black American dilemma. Streaming May 27 through June 13. Poulenc Songs - Graham Johnson Click here to watch You have to know quite a lot about music and have a love for the composer, Francis Poulenc, to appreciate this musically illustrated talk by Graham Johnson from Wigmore Hall but, if you do, it’s endlessly absorbing. Distinguished pianist/accompanist Johnson is an enthusiast as well as an expert, probably the expert, having written the book about him as well as a number of books on Lieder, including a 3-volume work on the vocal music of Schubert. In this talk he focuses on Poulenc’s songs which he discovered, along with his fellow student, Dame Felicity Lott, when they were both studying at the Royal Academy of Music in the late 60s. Just after the First World War Poulenc became part of an informal collection of contemporary composers which also included Satie, Milhaud and Tailleferre, known as Le Six, not because of any particular stylistic kinship but because they were all friends and emerging at the same time. Quietly spoken, Graham Johnson makes Poulenc’s life and music lively and worthy of our attention. The talk sent me back to listen to recordings of those songs as if for the first time. We Know What You Did During Lockdown – Internet privacy Click here to watch This is not strictly an arts film although it’s a work of fiction. Written by playwright James Graham and performed by Lydia West and Arthur Darvill, it examines an issue we haven’t yet begun to confront, our own privacy. A disturbing and adult look at what we gave up, knowingly and unknowingly, to fight Covid-19, and how algorithms have invaded every part of our lives. It shows the tension between the need for data to track and trace, and the right to privacy and justice. What have we lost and can we ever get it back? An FT film in collaboration with Sonia Friedman Productions and supported by Luminate. Cocktails with a Curator – Chinese Porcelain Ladies Click here to watch I was delighted to learn this week that my favourite art history series, the Frick’s Cocktails with a Curator, has won a coveted Webby Award from the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences. This is the highest honour for excellence on the Internet. They won, in my view deservedly, for 'Best Virtual & Remote Experiences: Arts & Culture'. Bravo to the Frick as a whole but also to the two curators we have come to know and admire during the pandemic – Xavier Salomon (who has a long and complicated title which is unnecessarily repeated at every opportunity) and Aimee Ng – who have refused to let their museum go unnoticed during the long break when they were unable to open. Instead, they have guided us, painting by painting, artwork by artwork, through the past year, explaining, illustrating, highlighting the finer points which we might otherwise have missed, and, surprisingly, drinking, (that’s the ‘cocktails’ part) until those of us who thought we knew this wonderful museum realised we didn’t know anything. Which is a very satisfying place to be. I hope that even though the Frick is now open again this series will continue long into the future. This week Aimee is displaying some Chinese Porcelain Ladies from the Frick’s Porcelain Room. Fascinating, as always. Myths and Hymns – Part Four – Faith Click here to watch I’ve written extensively about this song cycle by Adam Guettel so could well pass over the release of the final part, Faith, without comment but I’ve admired the first three parts and must at least mention the great cast gathered for this apotheosis. They include Kelli O’Hara, Jennifer Holliday, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Miles Mykkanen and many others, all equally committed. Inspired by Greek myths and a 19th-Century Presbyterian hymnal, the 1998 cycle is a kaleidoscopic collection of musical genres as it explores the nature of faith and longing in a secular world. New short musical films illustrate the need for answers in four ways – through Flight, Work, Love, and Faith. The four chapters have been released in free digital instalments throughout the winter and spring. Watch anytime starting Wednesday, May 26 at 6:30 PM EST on https://www.youtube.com/c/mastervoicesny Met Opera Streams – Rare Gems Click here to watch This week the Met is treating us to rarely unearthed works although, since they were produced by the Metropolitan Opera, they can hardly claim to be unknown. Some were more successful than others, and there’s a reason why we haven’t seen some of them for years. Sometimes it’s better to let productions go un-rediscovered rather than allowing them the daylight to expose their flaws in the full glare of the spotlight. I’ll leave it to you to judge which of this week’s collection of Rare Gems are the diamonds and which the dust. Touching the Void - Bristol Old Vic Click here for tickets A global live broadcast of the West End hit Touching the Void, based on a true story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates’ perilous descent of Siula Grande in the freezing peaks of the Peruvian Andes. This terrifying struggle for survival will be streamed by the Bristol Old Vic this week for four performances only. Perched on an unstable snow-cliff and battered by freezing winds, Simon is desperate to rescue his injured climbing partner who hangs from a rope below him. Meanwhile, Joe teeters on the brink of death and despair in a crevasse from which he can’t possibly climb to safety. Directed by Tony Award-winning Tom Morris and based on Joe Simpson’s bestselling memoir turned BAFTA-winning film. May 26-29 £15 A Centennial Celebration of Miss Peggy Lee – Mabel Mercer Foundation Click here to watch A terrific line-up of American cabaret artists line up, sorry, to pay tribute to the great Peggy Lee in song, on her hundredth birthday. Hosted by Natalie Douglas, they include Danny Backer, Celia Berk, Eric Comstock, Mary Foster Conklin, Barbara Fasano, Aisha de Haas, Nicolas King, Sidney Myer, Julia Parasram, Catherine Russell, Gabriele Straveli, Billy Stritch, Stacy Sullivan and Amra-Faye Wright. Some of these names may not be familiar to you if you’re not a New York cabaret fan but they’re all stars in Manhattan and beyond. Peggy Lee or Miss Peggy Lee, as she’s universally known to other singers, was a revered singer, songwriter, composer, and actress, with a career spanning seven decades. Primarily a jazz vocalist, she also made more than 1100 recordings and composed over 270 songs as well as the music she wrote for movies and conceptual record albums combining poetry and music. Singers and songwriters of all stripes cite her as an influence on their own music. She died in 2002 but her memory lingers on. May 25 7ET then available online for two weeks.
2 Comments
|
AuthorRuth Leon is a writer and critic specialising in music and theatre. Archives
March 2024
Categories
All
|