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Unforgivable
André Téchiné‘s new film is a subtle and sophisticated work that has the feel of a complex and intricate thriller but without the expected sensational climaxes and revelations. The solutions to the mysteries that arise are more like answers to the questions of life, and sometimes, of course, there are no answers, or at least…
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The Marriage of Maria Braun
I saw the last performance of THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN on Sunday afternoon at BAM, with the memory of the Fassbinder film from many years ago still vivid in my mind. Rainer Werner Fassbinder was one of the great naturalists of the cinema, and Braun was perhaps his most romantic work, lush and polished…
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Gezeiten
GEZEITEN is directed and choreographed by Sasha Waltz, performed in two parts, and much of it in silence. The style of this dance theater piece is at first abstract, then a sort of deconstructed Naturalism that devolves into a post-apocalyptic Absurdism born of the truth that, having survived, it is the nature of human beings…
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A Quiet Place
The Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Wadsworth opera A QUIET PLACE was not well received when it premiered in 1985, but after seeing its first New York performance on Wednesday night, by the New York City Opera, I suspect that historical distance was the missing ingredient a quarter of a century ago. Alternating between the 1950s and the…
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East Village Brunches
In these times, Saturday and Sunday afternoons in the East Village are about the consumption of offbeat re-considerations of traditional brunches. I call your attention to the music paper thin breakfast lasagna at Belcourt, the breakfast pizzas at Grape and Grain, the European twists and turns at The E.U. , the urbanized regional dishes at…
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Creditors • Uncle Vanya
It comes as no surprise that Alan Rickman, a mordantly arresting screen actor, would have an affinity for Strindberg, and he has directed CREDITORS with terrifying deftness. Less performed than Miss Julie, The Stronger or Dance of Death, less studied than The Father, CREDITORS, like some overlooked stepchild, has always begged the recognition that it…
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Mortal Engine
I saw GLOW, the short original on which Chunky Move’s one-hour MORTAL ENGINE , now playing at BAM, is based, two or three years ago. It was startling in its merger of technology and honed, conditioned, athletic movement. For one who experienced the progenitor, MORTAL ENGINE is less impactful in its technological wizardry – at…
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Everyday Rapture
EVERYDAY RAPTURE, now playing at 2econd Stage Theatre, is a reminder that some theatrical genres, and some specific works, arise from the urgent need for certain personalities possessed of particular talents to express themselves. Sherie Renee Scott has one of those personalities and a wealth of such talents (from singing to legerdemain), as well as…