Red – Digital Theatre Click here to subscribe Red, by John Logan, Is a multiple Tony Award-winning play stars Alfred Molina as the abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko. Under the watchful eyes of his young assistant, Rothko, one of the era-defining painters of the ‘50s and ‘60s, takes on the challenging task of creating a multi-painting work of art for an extraordinary setting, a group of murals for the exclusive Four Seasons restaurant in New York. The dynamic between Rothko and Ken, his fictional young assistant, played brilliantly by Alfred Enoch, is contentious, with discussions about the purpose of art, and the ideological clash between a commercial art project such as the restaurant commission, and the purity of an artist’s vision. It is fascinating and funny with a stunning central performance from Alfred Molina as Rothko. The play was filmed from the stage of Wyndhams Theatre in London’s West End, in 2018 and directed by its original director, Michael Grandage. Red was nominated for seven Tony Awards and won six, including Best Play and Best Direction. Digital Theatre is a website that specialised in online drama with a catalogue of 150 plays. In common with most other online websites and producers, it gives you the choice of subscribing for a year of unlimited viewing for £99.99 or a monthly subscription of £9.99. Alternatively, if you only want to watch Red, you can rent it for a single payment of £7.99 for 48 hours. A Place For Us: A Celebration of Jewish Broadway – Ari Axelrod Click here for tickets I’ve had my eye on Ari Axelrod for several years. I first saw him at the Cabaret Convention at Lincoln Center in New York where he sang only one song but made an indelible impression on me, even in the company of many fine cabaret performers. Tall, good-looking, with charm and a warm, clear voice, Ari Axelrod is poised to become a star in the overcrowded firmament of international cabaret. What singles him out from the competition is his way with a lyric. You feel that he has thought through every aspect of the songwriter’s intention, wrung every scrap of meaning out of each line and is thrilled to share those insights with his audience. Take a look at this live show from a new venue, Chelsea Table + Stage, and you’ll see what I see. More, you’ll understand why critics and audiences alike have fallen over themselves with superlatives. He has already won awards for this show, “A Place for Us: A Celebration of Jewish Broadway”, and will undoubtedly win more. The show streams live on two Mondays, Oct.23 and Oct 30 at 7 EST and will be available thereafter for only 24 hours. $19. Light Bending the World - Montage Music Society Click here for tickets On Thursday there is an unusual concert coming live from a church in Sag Harbour, New York. It is produced by the Montage Music Society, which is dedicated to music inspired by visual art. In this case, composer Niles Luther’s Light Bending the World was inspired by a painting by April Gornik, fusing Gornik’s reimagined observable reality with the idioms of contemporary music. No, I’m not quite sure what that means either, but I can personally attest to the quality of the musicians performing this concert and I’m going to take it on trust and watch with pleasure. The founder and leading light of the Montage Music Society is the estimable American pianist Debra Ayers, well known and respected for her tireless endeavours in playing and presenting contemporary music. She collaborates with musicians throughout the United States and can be heard on a number of critically-acclaimed recordings. She will be joined on this concert by Laurie Carney, one of the founders of the American String Quartet and its longtime Second Violinist. Apart from the Quartet, she has performed trios with cellist William Grubb, and pianist Anton Nel; duos with violist Michael Tree; and as an ensemble partner to such artists as Isaac Stern, Pinchas Zukerman, Cho-Liang Lin, Joshua Bell, Yefim Bronfman, and Misha Dichter, amongst others. Performing his own work on this concert is the composer/cellist Niles Luther, a New York based cellist and composer who endeavours to bridge the gap between art forms by borrowing from the classical tradition and lending its sustained excellence to the artistic and musical idioms of the contemporary era. This concert will be a treat. October 26 at 7pm EST and available for 72 hours thereafter. $15 One Painting, Many Voices - The Rokeby Venus – Natl Gallery Click here to watch The Rokeby Venus is one of the most puzzling and famous nudes in the National Gallery and, as this video demonstrates, everybody who sees it has a different view of what it is and what it shows. A variety of women comment on the painting from their own personal or professional perspective, introduced by curator Letitzia Treves, who sets the scene by explaining how little is known about when, why and for whom Diego Velasquez painted it. The Rokeby Venus isn’t even the painting’s original name. We don’t know who the model was but, although she has her back to us, the viewers, we see her face in a mirror held above the bed on which she reclines. But is that her? Is the woman in the mirror the same woman as the one who shows us only her back? It’s very mysterious but, the closer we look, the deeper its mystery becomes.
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AuthorRuth Leon is a writer and critic specialising in music and theatre. Archives
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