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Dallas Black Dance Theatre – Jacob’s Pillow Click here to RSVP Founded in 1976 by Ann M. Williams and led by Artistic Director Melissa M. Young, Dallas Black Dance Theatre has for more than 45 years performed cutting edge contemporary modern dance by the nation’s leading choreographers. In a highly-anticipated Jacob’s Pillow debut, Dallas Black Dance Theatre performs a Pillow-commissioned world premiere by choreographer Darrell Grand Moultrie, celebrated for his work with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, and Dance Theatre of Harlem, and two other signature works by important choreographers. It’s necessary to RSVP but then the show is free. Aug 19-Sept 2 Fly on the Wall music shorts. Click here to watch Here are some delicious short videos of great musicians making music. No big deal? Well, this simple, fly-on-the wall performance of pianist Marc Andre Hamelin playing a spectacular improvisation on Gershwin’s Liza stopped me in my tracks. More conventionally, Angela Hewitt playing Beethoven is no less arresting, (https://www.marquee.tv/videos/fotw-angelahewittbeethoven) as is Steven Isserlis with Holst (https://www.marquee.tv/videos/fotw-isserlisholst). All these are produced by Fly on The Wall. You’ll see why. They’re shot on one camera, which is not always in the right place, and often somewhat jerky. No matter. Watch anyway. These little 4-minute musical interruptions to your day can’t help but give you a lift. Bagdad Cafe – Old Vic livestream Click here for tickets. This is the always-surprising Emma Rice’s adaptation of Bagdad Cafe, Percy and Eleonore Adlon’s 1987 art-house movie. Smack bang in the middle of nowhere two women are thrown together by chance in a Mojave roadside joint. Stranded tourist Jasmin stumbles out of her unhappy marriage and finds herself at Brenda’s remote cafe and motel. Ordinarily, no one would choose to stay at the Bagdad Cafe but in the dust and isolation, unexpected and extraordinary friendships begin to blossom. The lost are found as individuals transform into an eclectic community bound by music, magic and some very strong coffee. The show is in person at the Old Vic and streaming for a limited time as part of the company’s In Camera series. Aug. 25-28 Lulu – Bayerische Staatsoper Click here for tickets The new Bayerische Staatsoper production of Lulu, Alban Berg’s opera, describes the sometimes bright and often bestial intensity of human relations. Intoxicatingly enigmatic and deadly for those close to her, Lulu’s secret goes with her unto death. Frank Wedekind’s work provided fertile ground for the composer to create this striking opera, considered as one of the major works of the 20th century. Kirill Petrenko conducts this new production, staged by Dmitri Tcherniakov, with Marlis Petersen and Bo Skovhus in the starring roles. Parmigianino - Madonna of the Long Neck Click here to watch Here's a wonderful personal look at a painting, a painter, an era, a history from Jason Farago, art critic of the New York Times. His choice, this time, is Parmigianino. Once again, enthralled by someone else’s knowledge, generously shared, makes me realise how little I know, how much experts can teach me. This is a great example. Watch and wonder. Walden- Hartford Stage Click here for tickets Amy Berryman’s Walden is set in the near future. NASA astronaut Cassie, recently returned from a year-long lunar mission, has arrived at a secluded cabin in an undisclosed location to visit her estranged twin sister, Stella, and Stella’s partner, Bryan. Stella had also trained as an astronaut, but she failed NASA’s physical fitness test. Bryan is an avowed Earth Advocate. He holds that the government should put money toward problems on Earth rather than investing elsewhere in the solar system. So the visit, though lubricated by bartered wine and home brew, isn’t an entirely cozy one. Old wounds resurface as the sisters attempt to pick up the pieces of the rivalry that broke them apart. This Hartford Stage production is not the one that recently played in London's West End. This stream stars Diana Oh, Jeena Yi and Gabriel Brown Streaming August 15—29 Being an Actor – 50 Years On – Simon Callow Click here for tickets Chief among the treats available on the Shedinburgh website (it’s the online Edinburgh Festival Fringe) is a new one-man show from the great Simon Callow who is still wondering, fifty years after wondering in writing for the first time: what is acting? In 1982, Simon Callow wrote his first book: it was called Being An Actor, and it was his reckless attempt, after not even ten years of acting, to describe the physical. psychological and emotional experience of creating and playing characters. Now, after nearly 50 years of immersion in it, he is still obsessed with trying to plumb its mysteries, and will try, before your very eyes, to catch at its essence. His professional life started in Edinburgh, in 1973, so of course it is in Edinburgh that he presents Being an Actor: Fifty Years On for the very first time. When you click on the link you will find that the show is being made available across several timezones and you can find the one that suits you best. Aug 28 7.30pm £6 Ballet Nice Méditerranée - Gene Kelly, Leo Staats Click here for tickets Two ballets from Ballet Nice Méditerranée, one a performance of Gene Kelly's Pas de Dieux , the other Leo Staats’ Soir de Fete. Neither is performed much these days and many of us have never seen either. Pas de Dieux tells the story of Aphrodite and Eros, who descend to earth. On the beach where they land, the ardent goddess and mischievous god seduce respectively a lifeguard and his fiancée. These newly-formed couples bask in the pleasures of love. Just when the beautiful Aphrodite is dancing with her suitor, Zeus arrives to win back his fickle wife and everything returns to normal. The reconciled immortals return to Olympus, leaving the humans to their earthly loves. Gene Kelly, never really a ballet choreographer, faithfully follows the three movements of Gershwin’s Concerto in F. with choreography that is snappy and fantastical, with lots of visual jokes. George Balanchine admired the other choreographer, Léo Staats, who, because his competition was Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, never got the fame he deserved in his time. In Soir de Fête, a work from 1925 with music by Delibes, he emphasised the virtuosity of the male dancer, leaping and moving freely alongside his female partners instead of being merely a bearer of ballerinas. The System – Original Theatre Company Click here for tickets. Paul's dead. And no one seems to care. Murdered at his own birthday party. In this incisive one woman play, written and performed by Emily Head, the audience is invited into the interrogation room with the murder suspects. As, one by one, the murder suspects give their accounts of that night, a dark truth begins to reveal itself. A truth so powerful it could change everything… and everyone. The System will push at the boundaries of what can be achieved in a theatre live broadcast as it will be filmed in one of the longest steadi-cam shots ever attempted. It promises an exciting feat of endurance, skill and synchronicity between the camera and performer. Directed by Guy Unsworth, live on stage from the New Wolsey Theatre in a single camera take. Performed and streamed live, not pre-recorded. Aug 27 at 7.30pm £10 New York State of Mind https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of9l9FJRK3c This new video, filmed all over the five boroughs of New York City, is the happiest tribute to my other home town I’ve seen. It includes many of the biggest NY-based stars, singing to reclaim their city, and mine, after the pandemic. Check out the remarkable shooting, editing, and sheer professionalism that has gone into this presentation of the city, and the spot-on singing of Billy Joel’s perfect song. I grinned all through its six-minute length and then found there were tears coursing down my cheeks. I miss New York. And I’ll be back.
1 Comment
Leonard Amborski
23/8/2021 10:00:12 am
..NY state of mind........what a find.........wonderful...
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AuthorRuth Leon is a writer and critic specialising in music and theatre. Archives
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