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La Scala's "Walkure' on the high-def big screen
La Scala and Die Walkure: Not quite ready for our close-up, Mr. DeMille
The good news: The miracle of high-definition TV saved me the hassle of a plane trip to La Scala's opening night. The bad news: This new production of Wagner's Die Walkure was the dullest in my memory, and La Scala made no concessions to the demands of large-screen cinema.
Articles
5 minute read
Kneehigh's "Brief Encounter' and "Red Shoes' in N.Y. (2nd revie
The play's the thing? No, it's the story
From its studio barn in remote Cornwall, Kneehigh Theatre is finding unique new ways to remind us how the primitive power of storytelling can enchant and transport us.
Articles
6 minute read
"For Colored Girls' goes Hollywood
When a few good words are worth a thousand pictures
Listening to the poems of Ntozake Shange 35 years ago was a revelation. Seeing her words visualized on screen was a letdown.
John Smitherman's "All Aboard"¦ And Then Some!' (2nd review)
Like Jimmy Stewart in a Hitchcock film
New theater companies are most welcome when they bring an individual approach. Keep your eye on Laugh Out Loud's unique approach to comedy.
Articles
1 minute read
The plump dancer and the 'New York Times' critic
Art and sensitivity: If a dancer's too heavy, should a critic say so?
The New York Times dance critic has been vilified for commenting on a dancer's weight. Was he insensitive? Maybe. But that sort of sensitivity is the enemy of art— especially the art of dance.
Articles
4 minute read
Monteverdi Vespers by Choral Arts and Piffaro (2nd review)
The Blessed Virgin and her friends
Choral Arts Philadelphia and the Piffaro Renaissance band combined forces to produce a richly satisfying performance of Monteverdi's great Vespers for the Blessed Virgin to mark the quadricentennial anniversary of one of the seminal works of the Western art music tradition.
Articles
3 minute read
Monteverdi Vespers by Choral Arts and Piffaro (1st review)
What did Monteverdi want?
There's no right way to perform the Monteverdi Vespers, because the composer didn't specify which instruments played which passages. But Choral Arts and Piffaro collaborated on a performance that offered all the emotional pleasures we think of when we hear Monteverdi's name.
Articles
3 minute read
Whatever happened to symphonies? (A reply)
Symphonies are dying? Maybe. But what exactly is a symphony?
My BSR colleague Robert Zaller laments that the symphony as a musical form is vanishing after more than two centuries. Perhaps. But there really never was such a thing as “the Romantic version” of the Classical symphony, and certainly not in the sense that Zaller implies.
Spanish drawings at the Frick in New York (1st review)
All this and Ribera too
Color and shadows allow fakery, but a drawing is unforgiving. This perception was confirmed for me anew by the Frick's current exhibition of drawings by the Spanish masters, especially Goya.
Articles
4 minute read
Verdi's "Don Carlo' at the Met (live)
Is there an Italian in the house?
The main flaw in the Met's outstanding new production of Don Carlo lies in the international nature of its cast. The use of a French-Canadian conductor, a half-French tenor and various Russian, British and American soloists may seem like welcome egalitarianism, but non-Italians have a rough time capturing the flavor of Verdi, that quintessential Italian nationalist.
Articles
6 minute read