Jazz @ Lincoln Ctr the Genius of John Coltrane

Jazz, John Coltrane & genius are all synonymous with one another.  An exceptional, original  & distinctive character or artistry help to define genius.  I don't often use the term, because true genius is rare.  Last night the term would describe not only the music Coltrane composed, but the arrangements of his music by another genius, Wynton Marsalis.  For the trifecta of exceptional talent, performing guest artist with the Jazz @ Lincoln Center Orchestra, Joshua Redman, was featured on tenor saxophone.  Redman has two grammy nominations and has played with some of the greatest jazz musicians:  Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, & Thelonious Monk, to name a few.  Coltrane pioneered the use of modes in jazz & was at the forefront of free jazz.  In addition to having won grammy awards, Coltrane was honored with the Pulitizer Prize Special Citation for his many contributions to the world of jazz.  Some of my favorite selections from last night's program were Pursuance, Naima and Grand Central.  You don't have to be an Einstein to appreciate great jazz, you just have to take advantage of Jazz @Lincoln Center.  The only composition performed last night that was not written by Coltrane was My Favorite Things.  If Big Bird were there last night, he would have asked, "what song is not like the others?" and I say, it was my least favorite thing on an otherwise brilliant program.

Chasing Mavericks - not a total wipeout

The movie, Chasing Mavericks, is based on the true story of Jay Moriarty who gained notoriety by surfing Mavericks in Half Moon Bay at the age of 16.  Moriarty garnered numerous surfing awards before drowning in a diving accident a day shy of his 23rd birthday.  Maverick Waves are formed in the N. Pacific Ocean following a powerful storm and reach peaks over 25'.  Very few accomplished surfers will risk their lives attempting to ride a Maverick.  The film follows a young, adorable, indefatigable Jay, whose goal is to go where very few surfers have gone before.  He is mentored in his mission by his curmudgeon older neighbor, Frosty, (Gerard Butler) who is a veteran surfer & father of two.  Frosty begrudgingly and demandingly takes Jay under his wing.  Frosty's wife tells him, "some sons are born to you and some come to you."  The movie has some of the most magnificient surfing scenes on film but outside the water, the story runs dry.  While all the best moments in the film are in the water, those are so long my fingers began to prune.  Alas, I may be too long in the tooth and fall outside the targeted audience who will not only marvel at the surfing, they'll fall for the sappy love story and "father/son" relationships.

If There is I Haven't Found it Yet @ Roundabout

The staging for the play, If There is I Haven't Found it, is very intriguing. As you enter the theatre, water is cascading down the front of the stage into a glass tank, like you see in Central Park for the polar bears.  The middle of the stage is strewn with furniture piled high and a young girl walks ghostlike in the background.  The play begins with George, an environmental activist, speaking of his love for polar bears.  George reminisces about taking his wife & young daughter to the zoo to visit the polar bears but is distressed to learn one of the bears died choking on a toy dropped into the tank.
George's wife, Fiona, is a teacher @ the school where her overweight, teenager daughter, Anna, is a student.  Anna is subjected to bullying @ school & is basically disregarded @ home.  Enter Uncle Terry, Jake Gyllenhaal, the drugged, derelict who comes to his brother's home to stay after many years, unexpectedly.  Terry is the only person who interacts with Anna and dispenses (not necessarily sage) advice.  The actors all pull items from the totem of objects on stage for various scenes and then discard them into the tank of water.  The father is consumed with saving the planet from global warming, the mother is disengaged from her family, Uncle Terry has left and Anna in utter  despair, attempts suicide in a bathtub flooding the stage.  The play is drowning in metaphors and proselytizing for environmental reform.  Fiona tries to connect with Anna and when Anna suggests a movie, Fiona recalls the Titantic as the last movie she's seen.  While this play doesn't tank, it doesn't manage to stay afloat.  There are things to recommend in the play, Jake Gyllenhaal for one, but the flotsam and jetsam is better than the whole.

The movie Sessions is Sensational

Sessions is a unique movie of an indefatigable and incredible man who is tethered to an iron lung in order to breath as a result of polio as a young boy.  Sessions is a very poignant movie which offers up so many riches to appreciate.  There is not a rotten apple in the whole bunch, except for the 1st aide who is dismissed at the start of the film with the advice from the most heavenly sent priest, since Gran Torino.  The 3 lead actors, John Hawkes, William H. Macy & Helen Hunt are all Acad. Award nominees and multiple recipients of Emmy & Golden Globe Awards.  Needless to say, all the actors here should garner more awards for their performances.  However, Hawkes lead performance as Mark, whose lifeless body but poetic, kind soul is a tour de force.  Hawkes is only able to emote through his eyes and words, alone.  Macy plays Father Brendan, the sagacious, beer drinking, cigarette smoking priest who becomes Mark's friend, confidant, and spiritual adviser.  Mark speaks candidly to Father Brendan of his desire to find love & to know a woman in the biblical sense. Despite the cardinal sin of premarital sex, Father Bredan gives Mark not only absolution but encouragement.  Helen Hunt is the sexual therapist who professionally and sensitively has sexual relations with him.  Session is a highly unusual but totally gratifying movie.  If you are unmoved by this remarkable film, you're in dire need of a session with a therapist.

The Julliard Drama Production, McReele

McReele is a political play written by Julliard alum, Stephen Belber.  The play first premiered Off Broadway in 2005.  This being an election year (duhh) the play is a prescient  & satirical look at our political & legal system.  The main character, Darius McReele is an African-American male who maintains his innocence in a fatal shooting in a drug deal gone wrong.  McReele is played by Jeremy Tardy (think of a young Denzel Washington) from my hometown.  McReele convinces a reporter to reopen his case and is exonerated after sitting in jail 16 on death row.  The time served in prison has   morphed him as a human being, leading him to epiphanies of altruistic, public service, or has it?  The play is part, "Doubt," part brilliant social reform and part political rhetoric.  There is much to recommend in the writing although it could benefit from some editing.  The cast was forgettable except for the incredible acting by Jeremy Tardy, he is the McReal thing!

The Heiress @ the Walter Kerr Theatre

The Heiress, based on the Henry James novel, Washington Square maybe the only James' novel that could be made into a play without putting the audience to sleep.  The novel written in 1880 is set before the turn of the 20th Century but is deliciously compelling as a drama, in the 21st Century.  Marriage for women (back in the dark ages) was their only viable option.  The way for a woman to ensure a "good" marriage was to be beautiful & clever or wealthy as a result of an inheritance.  Rebecca Chastain who plays Catherine Sloper is neither socially adroit or attractive (a stretch for the lovely Chastain.) Catherine has a healthy inheritance from her mother and her father, Dr. Sloper, played by David Strathairn, will leave his only child, Catherine, his immense fortune.  Scoundrels and Gold Diggers are not new to any period in time.  More often than not, it's the female, in this case NOT.  Morris Townsend, who has neither money or vocation is courting Catherine presumably, especially by her father, solely for her fortune.  Morris is played with devilish charm by Dan Stevens who was so beguiling in Downton Abbey.  The entire cast, including Tony winner, Judity Ivey are perfectness.  The set design takes you back to the days before electricity with wonder.  How is the play pertinent today you may wonder? "Hell has no fury like a woman scorned," remains timeless and is so cunningly portrayed in The Heiress.

Sherie Rene Scott @ Below 54

Last night, one of Broadway's brightest musical stars, Sherie Rene Scott (SRS) shined @ the Below 54.  Scott  known for her comic auto-biographical,  "Everyday Rapture," wrote & sang last night's show, "Piece of Meat."  While waiting for her 1st set, the backup band for SRS played jazz.  The fabulous band had a female bass player, fabulous jazz pianist & a drummer who also played the xylophone.   SRS came out swinging, I mean singing - (damn Yankees.)   Like Ben Vereen whom I heard @ Below 54, Broadway wants you back my friend.  SRS sings about her life and develops a warm relationship with the audience.  "Piece of Meat," is themed around her carnivorous life after being a vegetarian for 26 years.  There's more meat to her life story although I thought the material was too lean.   She has a  beautiful, clear voice and great comic timing.   SRS was funny & endearing and the hour gig was over before I knew it.  Below 54 is an enjoyable place to enjoy a cabaret show. Unfortunately,  the rest of her performances are sold out.  SRS laments that now she isn't a vegan, she doesn't have a prayer to becoming the next Mrs. Paul McCartney.  With her humor & talent, I'd like to be her new BFF.

The doc. Brooklyn Castle - A Royal Winner

This doc. film is incredibly inspiring due to the students, teachers, parents & the life lessons learned.  It is a MUST SEE.  New Yorkers, were you aware of middle school 318 in Brooklyn? They have a national chess team that has won 26 national titles, "the Yankees of chess."  This film won my heart for these students/adults and my ire @ the budget cuts being made to the arts in the public schools.  The student body is varied but there is a common link of financial struggles for the families & the school and a bond of camaraderie that is extraordinary.  This current doc. shines on the chess team students, their selfless, amazingingly dedicated teachers/faculty & their loving, supportive families. History is being made by the hard work & dedication of students & teachers alike.  Several of the members of the chess team are featured, but suffice it to say they are all self-motivated & form an indomitable team.  The teachers are all to be lauded for what they bring to these young people's lives.  "Chess allows the students to deeply learn a subject and how to navigate for themselves.  There are no right or wrong answers, they're are only different answers."  This movie will leave you inspired and hopefully angry enough to insure public schools have the funding they need for their programs.  "How can we develop the whole child without the arts, chess, music & dance."  This doc, film shows Camelot has risen in Brooklyn.

Julliard Jazz Orch with special guests

The Julliard Jazz (JJ) Orchestra is comprised of talented, young jazz artists.  Last night,  JJ performed @ the Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Memphis Jazz.  The special guests artists that played with the Orchestra were George Coleman, tenor saxophone & Harold Mabern on piano.  George Coleman was slow in walking on stage & he is passed his prime on the sax but he is a living legend of jazz.  Coleman is a famous composer & band leader who has worked with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock.  Harold Mabern still dazzles the ivories with amazing syncopation.  Mabern has played with many of the great jazz legends including Lionel Hampton, Miles Davis & Sara Vaugn.  He is currently an instructor @ Stanford Jazz Workshop.  Compositions by both Mabern & Coleman were performed with arrangements by Bill Mobley.  It was a pleasure to see the camaraderie and the passing of the baton from these great jazz musicians to the students @ Julliard.  I only regret that the program was on the night of the Pres. Debate & the Yankee game, so I left at intermission. (Pres. Debate, Yankee Game, Yankee Game, Pres. Debate)  I am working on my own composition and I'm naming it the Clicker Bully Blues.  

Thomas Hirschhorn's Tilting World-Gladstone Gallery

The entire gallery @ Gladstone is besieged by a topsy-turvy installation of a cruise ship turned over placing you into the havoc & aftermath of such a disaster.  Unless you've been living under a rock for the past year, you will recall the Costa Concordia Cruise Ship that ran aground.  The ship capsized, leaving the passengers to fend for themselves as the Captain abandoned ship. The disaster resulted in 32 casualties and the infamous (Italian) tapes of a coast guard officer yelling @ the Captain to return immediately to his ship and fulfil his obligations to his passengers & crew.  I experienced a sense of vertigo inside the gallery.  The exhibition simulates the inside of a ship turned unnaturally on its side and the horrific aftermath.  There are numerous, vivid orange life vests and an accummulation of flotsam and jetsam.  Nothing is as it should be, the piano, the garish furnishings, the staircase are nonsensical.  The Concordia disaster is an abusrd & heinous calamity; the result of so many incidents that just should not have occured.  As in the sinking of the Titantic , if only….  Hirshhorn compels you to feel burdened with the consequences of our behavior and confronts us with our own mortality.  This exhibit took my breath away.

Doug Varone & Dancers @ the Joyce Theatre

I'll admit a biased proclivity for ballet & baseball.  I am not a modern dance aficionado.  My preconception of modern dance is similar to a Marcel Marceau mime.  In other words, a dark setting, stark angular movements and basically the same each performance.  The first piece, "Aperture," 1994, corroborated this notion.  Three dancers all in black, on a dark stage with a singular spotlight on the dancers.  They all stood in place and moved their arms mainly in sync with one another.  However, the NYC Premier of "Carrugi," 2012, I liked it; I really liked it.  Varone choreographed 8 dancers all in varying costumes & shades of gray.  Libretos from a Mozart's opera were used. (None of the music was live.)  The dancers moved with a fluidity & musicality I attribute to ballet.  There was a lot of rolling or lying on the floor & lots of sudden & surprising movements.  But, the dancing crafted into a powerful & stunning work.  "Ballet Mecanique," 2001, was a complex & frentic work.  The dancer's faces were lit in green neon & all wore identical, androgynous blue uniforms.  Transparent scenic projections were used but were constantly shifting; distracting from the dancing.  One projection showed chemical configuations with ADEAIEDA in bold letters.  Was Varone trying to get an IDEA across?  Yes, it hit me with ringing bells, tin drums, sirens, drilling noises, etc.  The dance was a harbinger for a mechanical, futuristic society.  I got the message loud & clear.  I just didn't get any artistry from this piece.  One out of three is still a good batting average and with tickets starting @ $10, I will step back up to the place: Joyce Theatre.  GO YANKEES!

Marry Me a Little - did little for me

Marry me a Little, the musical by Stephen Sondheim @ the Clurman Theatre did little to convert me to a Sondheim fan.  Either you're a fan of Sondheim's (although there are always a few winning songs) or you're not.  I fall into the NOT category but NOT without an open mind.  I was seated in the 2nd row behind a young man who cried unabashedly during the "emotionally" charged numbers while the young woman seated next to him fell asleep despite practically being on the stage.  I did NOT fall asleep but i did NOT feel the pathos of loneliness or the exuberance of being in love intended by this 2 person cast.  The clever staging places both leads, "Him," Jason Tam & "Her," Lauren Molina, simultaneously in the same NYC apartment but living separately in their own place; alone.  This musical is performed as an operetta with no dialogue.  Both Molina & Tam are Broadway musical veterans but the pianist visible on stage (presumably Sondheim) nearly drowns out their voices.  Furthermore, each score sounded similar and all but forgettable.  The sincerity of the cast and a few of the songs moved me a little but too little too late for me to recommend, unless you're a Sondheim fan, which I am NOT.

YANKEES say YEAH!!!!! bring on the puddy cats

I write this blog hoping not to make my readers envious that I was @ the GAME last night sending the Orioles back to the nest for the rest of the season.  Since everyone else  was watching I won't be redundant. But I have to prasie C.C.'s unbelievable performance, 9K's & he went the distance.  I would have pulled him out in the 8th with bases loaded & 1 out.  But Joe seems to know.  (Joe, this may sound crazy, but call me maybe for advice.)  We Yankee fans are jubilant and can't wait to send the Tigers on an early vacation.  I got to say Granderson's bat is warming up & he is still the best center fielder in the league.  Somebody has some splaining to do…. Why did it take so long to sit Arod down?  Who thought up the crazy rule that on the 3rd strike if the catcher drops the ball the batter can run to 1st?  (The league must have said, "Let's throw in a crazy rule just to be crazy.)  Here's a new rule - the batter who stops to admire his hit before he starts running gets fined.  And, explain the stats board to me, please.  I don't get what the playoff stats stand for: SLG? (is the player single?) OPS? ( single, only post season?)  Just put up R's, RBI 's & battting % in the playoffs.  How can pitchers throw the fast ball with accuracy over the plate but can't throw an in-field ball for an out?  Why do MEN at the game film the game the whole time.  DUDES you're there, either put the phones down or stay home.  YANKEES send the Tigers home.

NY Philharmonic performing Nielsen

I attended the NY Philharmonic Open Rehearsal this Wednesday morning ($18) which featured Nielsen's Concerto for Flute (Robert Langevin) & Orchestra & Concerto for Violin (Nikolaj Znaider) & Orchestra.  This season the Philharmonic is paying tribute to the Danish composer Carl Nielsen (1856-1931) by performing 6 of his symphonies.  Recognized throughout Scandinavia, conductor Gilbert believes Nielsen is one of the great contemporary composers whose compositions should garner more attention in the United States.  The concertos have a Brahmsian harmony.  I especially enjoyed the romantic sounds of the violin concerto.  Nielsen's works are being performed for the first time by the Philharmonic and it is exciting to listen to such rich music and gain an appreciation for a composer whose works are highly regarded in Scandinavia & Europe.  I urge you to attend a performance by our orchestra of Nielsen's works this season.  He was a composer I was not famliar with myself.  Tchaikovsky's Symphony #2 was also performed with an instrumentation of cymbals, tuba, bassoons, oboes, horns and bass drum.

Picasso Black & White @ the Guggenheim

The lines for the Picasso show @ the Guggenheim were wrapped around the block despite the rain.  Once inside on the ground floor, you encounter two large female sculptures, with outstretched arms.  The bronze sculpture, "Woman with Vase," was 1st shown @ the Paris World's Fair alongside his painting, Guernica.  Picasso had 2 copies of this statue made.  One was donated to the People of the Spanish Republic & the other sits atop his tomb.  "The Woman with Outstretched Arms" is painted iron on sheet metal I found warmly beckoning.  To my amazement, I was not familiar with either piece or a great many of the works in the exhibit.  The majority of these works came  from private owners and pieces held by the Picasso family.  Incredibly, 38 works have never been exhibited in the U.S., 5 have never been on view to the public, including "Bust of a Woman With a Hat." A remarkable accomplishment by the museum's curators.  At the start of the show we read, "Picasso was THE MOST INFLUENTIAL artist of the 20th C. " That  is quite a formidable statement.  Known for various periods & styles (Cubism stemmed from his simplification of form & color.)  Picasso's paintings & sculptures in black, white & gray spained throughout his career, ('04-'71.)  The use of such a stark & limited palette gave intense focus on lines and forms.  The black/white tones accentuated the horrors & brutality of war; the "Charnel House" (44-45) & the "Guernica" paintings.  The starkness and contrast of light also gives intensity to his other works as in "The Kiss."  The museum was packed and I was elated to be among the crowd.  Kudos to the curators for compiling so many unseen works.  The curators will get no arguements from me on their claim.

Alina Szapocznikow: Sculpture Undone @ MOMA

The sculpture exhibit @ the MOMA of Szapocznikow's work is fearless & fun.  A difficult name to pronounce but a name to make note of (I was not familiar with her work.)  Perhaps, because of her death @ a young age (47) or because she was so provacative at the time, her work has not received the notoriety it deserves.  Despite her untimely death, her work is prolific and transformed numerous styles from Surrealism, Nouveau Realisme and Pop Art.  Szcapocnikow shunned publicity and chose to let her work do her talking.  Lips are a dominant feature in her sculptures as are female breasts and and phallic symbols.  Her Goldfinger sculpture impressed Marcel Duchamp to nominate her for the Copley Art Prize which she was awarded.  The exhibit has sculptures formed in a cornucopia of materials: plaster, bronze, styrofoam, iron pipes, marble, polyester resin & chewing gum.  She chewed gum and then photographed her wads of gum in their various forms.  I say phooey to the chewy, but applaud her work that is both horrifying & hilarious.  People were laughing as they went by many of the sculptures.  Don't let this incredible exhibit pass you by.  Alina Szapocznikow - a name and an exhibit to remember.

Pitch Perfect - Hit it out of the Park

Pitch Perfect is a hysterical, hybrid of Glee & Bridesmaids.  The movie was laugh out loud funny.  It worked as a comedy, musical & love story.  I loved it as much as I would love to see C.C. pitch a no hitter in the playoffs.  Yeah, that great!  Anna Kendrik, (acad. award nominee for Up in the Air) plays the lead as a rebel, college freshman & joins an all girl's a capella group in a bargain with her father.  Kendrik deserves another acad. nomination for her role which keeps this movie from becoming cliche to hilarious and entertaining.  Kendrik is joined in her group by Rebel Wilson (Bridesmaids) who is so funny, I can't wait to see her next movie.  Elizabeth Banks (Hunger Games) in a minor role does what she always does - she steals every scene she's in; no part is too small.  Will someone please cast her in a leading role already.  The plot revolves around a college a cappella competition (held @ Lincoln Center.)  This is not just a chick flick or a blown-up Glee episode.  This is a practically perfect movie for everyone.  For an a cappella competition, the movie accompanied the singers with music & the actors all look too old to be college students, but those are my only picayune complaints in a perfectly winning film.  Pitch Perfect hits every note right & right out of the park!  Go see this movie & GO YANKEES!

Grace @ the Cort Theatre

The play Grace starts with a bang & keeps you riveted to the stage throughout.  Grace is a play that calls into question, unquestioning faith.  The elderly lady behind me groaned loudly, "Oh no, not another anti-Christian play!"  HEY LADY, you misguided senior!  The play was an intelligent look at the folly and destruction of the belief that one's beliefs are sovereign over all others.  This 4 character play is a dark tragedy stemming from the myopic contention that faith in God alone will steer one's life down the path of righteousness and rewards.  The clever cast of 4 actors is led by comedic actor Paul Rudd who is excellent in a dramatic role as the fervent, holier than thou husband who believes he hears God through the stars.  His wife, Sara, whom he met through a church group, befriends their next door neighbor, Sam.  Sam, works for NASA to clear lines of communications in the solar system.  Sam walks with a cane & wears a Phantom mask to hide his scars caused in a car accident that took the life of his fiancee.  The only comic relief in the play comes from Ed Asner, who plays Karl, a German immigrant that does extermination work for the building.  Karl also delivers some of the most moving moments in the play.  The staging is clever, the writing is cogent and the acting is stellar.  This is a play for Thespians who worship an intelligent and powerful theatrical experience.  HEY LADY, the exits are clearly marked.

Mary Broome @ the Mint Theatre

This play written in 1911 by Allan Monkhouse is about an aristocratic English family; the Timbrells.  The prodigal son & his society fiancee are about to be wed when it is discovered that the younger nor-do-well son, Leonard, has gotten the household maid, Mary, pregnant.  The play lacks any  appeal as an upstairs/downstairs, servant drama.  It was written as a comedy.  If it was humorous at the time, it is merely droll today.  Leonard Timbrell is a rogue who has never worked a day & totally dependent on an allowance as deemed from his father & older brother, Edgar.  I imagine Leonard was supposed to exude charm as a loquacious intellectual.  He came across as an annoying buffoon.  Alas, poor Mary, the family's longtime housemaid is seduced by Leonard and finds herself, as they would, with child.  The father decrees that Leonard marry MARY or be cast out penniless for the  shame wrought onto the family name.  Neither Leonard or Mary are quite sure they love each other enough to become betrothed.  Leonard realizes he would fare better to wed than to manage without his family's wealth.  Once their son is born, Mary finds true happiness with her child but Leonard feels encumbered tied down by a wife and child.  The ephiphanies Leonard & Mary's in-laws discover are too late and anti-climatic.  This dated play, Mary Broome, needs to be swept away with the dust.  Leonard was a wank & the show stank.