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WHAT’S WATCHABLE ON THE INTERNET THIS WEEK I was talking with a friend this week who is a conductor for West End musicals. Until two months ago he was Music Director on one of the most popular shows in the West End, sold out months in advance. I asked him whether he’s using this time to study scores and rehearse with his cast for when the show recommences. No, he said, I’m stacking shelves at Sainsbury’s. I thought of him again this morning when I heard about Ali Wright, a well respected theatre photographer who, having lost all her work overnight, has turned to photographing theatre people in their (hopefully temporary) new roles. Among them are: Actor Sarah O’Connor who was a swing on Waitress at the Adelphi Theatre and became a care home worker. Paris Rivers who is a Special Effects Makeup and Cabaret Artist who became a funeral service operator. Dev Danzig who is a Designer, Stage Manager and Prop Maker who began assembling and testing ventilators. Nadia Nadif who is an Actor and Director who began volunteering with the food poverty charity Feast! providing meals for the vulnerable. Andrew Ellis who is a Lighting Designer and was managing the spring tour of BalletBoyz’ ‘Deluxe’ who became a Tesco delivery driver. Kara Chamberlain who is a Writer, Producer at Crossline Theatre and Actor began working in an independent health shop. Parvinder Shergill who is an Actor, who has worked as a Doctor in a hospital before and during the pandemic. Karl Best who was performing in The Visit at the National and began working as a porter at King’s College Hospital. You can find Ali’s new photographs at www.mylatestrole.com This week, much great musical stuff. Just remember while you enjoy it that those who made it are currently unable to work at what they have trained all their lives to do. Curlew River- Benjamin Britten – Barbican https://www.barbican.org.uk/read-watch-listen/watch-curlew-river-with-ian-bostridge Inspired by Japanese Noh play Sumida River and set in medieval East Anglia, East meets West in a fascinating fusion of Buddhist world views and Christian redemption beliefs. This archive recording of Benjamin Britten’s musical drama was made in St Giles’ Cripplegate, London in November 2013. The Britten Sinfonia accompany a cast led by tenor Ian Bostridge, who gives a career-defining performance as the Madwoman searching for her missing child. And director Netia Jones builds a world contrasting darkness and light, black and white, and grief and enlightenment through her abstract staging and haunting projections. Audra Macdonald – Live with Carnegie Hall https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2020/07/23/Live-with-Carnegie-Hall-Audra-McDonald-0200PM As I have said, probably far too often in this newsletter, six-time Tony Award winner Audra Macdonald is one of the glories of the American musical theatre. And right now she’s working really hard to support other artists and singing for their supper in all kinds of places. From her stage and concert performances to her television and film roles, Audra McDonald is recognized for both her artistry and her activism, lending her voice to champion a variety of causes and organizations. Now she’s returning to Carnegie Hall where she has been an audience favourite, appearing at many of the Hall’s most celebrated events. This concert on Thursday afternoon (July 23rd) at 2pmEDT/7pmBST, part of the Live with Carnegie Hall series, will be a mixture of songs and conversation about the role of artistic expression in times of social change. She’s one of the few artists I care to hear on the subject. Shakespeare in Vegas https://www.theatreworks.org/tworksfromhome/ Shakespeare in Vegas? Other than a very funny and clever 3-minute trailer I’m not sure what this is but it sounds like fun and it comes from my favourite California company, Theatreworks. Some good West Coast Actors led by Tony winner Karen Ziemba seem to be gearing up for a show that shines a spotlight on an unlikely pairing—Shakespeare and The Las Vegas Strip—as a wise guy producer with a dream and a despondent New York actress attempt to bring them together. Will showgirls outshine the Bard? Will an old Italian curse threaten to ruin the entire enterprise? July 23-27 live at 6pm Pacific Time (that’s 2am in London) and if you don’t want to stay up that late it will be available on Theatreworks.org for four more days. I think. Nothing in this life is certain. Broadbend, Arkansas http://transportgroup.org/broadbend-streaming/ In this world premiere musical, spanning half a century and three generations, an African-American family grapples with decades of inequality, violence, and suppression in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. Thirty years later, the same family struggles to cope with police brutality against one of their children. Broadbend, Arkansas is strong stuff but it has a fine score and something important to say and the reviews for its two stars, Justin Cunningham and Danyel Fulton, have been spectacular. Available free July 20-Aug 16. Songs for a New World –– The Other Palace theotherpalace.co.uk The Other Palace, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s theatre next door to Buckingham Palace (geddit?) is producing a virtual lockdown production of Songs for a New World. Written by Tony Award-winning composer Jason Robert Brown and sitting between musical and song cycle, this is a collection of powerful songs that examine life, love, and the choices we make. Filmed entirely in isolation, Séimí Campbell directs Rachel John (Hamilton), Ramin Karimloo (Phantom of The Opera), Cedric Neal (Motown) and Rachel Tucker (Come From Away. The tickets are £12.50 but with this cast it should be worth it. The production will be streamed at 7.30pm UK time on July 23/24/25. Picture of the Month – National Gallery https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/picture-of-the-month/picture-of-the-month-july-2020?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NG_2020July_Newsletter_M&utm_content=version_A Sometimes, simple is best. I just spent a few minutes in Venice with Canaletto and I feel better already. You can too. Every month there’s a different painting to examine and enjoy. All right, I’m not actually there in the gallery but, if I were, I’d have missed many of the details that this careful photography has shown me. July’s picture is A Regatta on the Grand Canal. Here is the picture and a carefully written description which tells me more about the painting and the painter than I’ve ever learned from just looking at it before. While you’re at it, take a look at the Painting of the Month for April, May and June as well. Jim Caruso’s Pajama Cast Party https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we7d0M_jsrA For many years Jim Caruso has instigated controlled mayhem at Birdland on Monday evenings with Cast Party, his drop in open mic shows, and I never miss them when I’m in New York. Now he’s conducting them with just as much energy online. If you miss the 8pm US start time, (1am in the UK) you can watch on YouTube Jim Caruso & Birdland Jazz Facebook Page. Tonight’s Pyjama Cast Party will feature performances by Tony nominated Broadway star Sally Mayes, jazz pianist Jim Clayton, Soul Train Award winner Nicole Henry, Actor/Singer and Emmy Winner for the original “Queer Eye…” Jai Rodriguez, Grammy nominated jazz superstar Monty Alexander, and musical theatre fanatic Colin O’Leary, who has become a YouTube sensation with costumed Broadway medleys performed in his mother’s car! No, really. Nakotah LaRance at the World Hoop Dance Championships
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/19/arts/nakotah-larance-dead.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20200720&instance_id=20454&nl=the-morning®i_id=6331304&segment_id=33842&te=1&user_id=83027c41d3f05329fc02574088fc83e7 I was thinking that I’m a bit light on dance this week and then, reading the obituaries – when you get to my age you read the obituaries to make sure you’re still alive – I found that the phenomenal Native American hoop dancer, Nakotah LaRance, has died at the age of 30. Hoop dancing is not for everyone and unless this is your culture it is difficult to appreciate the spiritual elements of the dance which paints pictures of individual and tribal stories but everyone can watch this and appreciate the extreme difficulty and artistry of the form. This is his championship-winning routine at the 2016 world championships, after which he went on to star in Cirque de Soleil as a principal dancer. Nakotah LaRance loved all forms of dance and you can see in this clip the influences of Michael Jackson and martial arts as well as the traditional Hopi-Tewa movement which is passed down from generation to generation. He has taught and performed his traditional hoop dances all over the world and taken roles in movies and television series. He even performed in the Brooklyn Ballet’s “Brooklyn Nutcracker,” for three Christmases. He is a loss to his culture and to ours.
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AuthorRuth Leon is a writer and critic specialising in music and theatre. Archives
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