tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100189242024-03-17T12:21:37.092-05:00The Vargas BlogThe official blog of Vincent's Casablanca HomePage and Wagner Operas. Click the links below to explore my sites.Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.comBlogger553125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-4900608714395234142024-03-17T12:21:00.000-05:002024-03-17T12:21:00.673-05:00Verdi's La Forza del Destino at the MET<p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjquUsRlOB1wjOwPPfTRI3DlNFu_DsaSYKJZM_L50ZgaR7IvrQLGLhP99tuaV8uVSuslPFTog86pENAfLV9wptWjZheH15r6g5Lb50K7-BEROJQnOWy4FSZtw5iSInSqAqY78JE4pXifzhtoeWdXutHq3rWpguLafRswAYVLXhv661PHkZBehH2IA/s3983/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-17%20at%2012.01.11%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2187" data-original-width="3983" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjquUsRlOB1wjOwPPfTRI3DlNFu_DsaSYKJZM_L50ZgaR7IvrQLGLhP99tuaV8uVSuslPFTog86pENAfLV9wptWjZheH15r6g5Lb50K7-BEROJQnOWy4FSZtw5iSInSqAqY78JE4pXifzhtoeWdXutHq3rWpguLafRswAYVLXhv661PHkZBehH2IA/w530-h292/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-17%20at%2012.01.11%20PM.png" width="530" /></a></div> <p></p><p>The last time the <b>Metropolitan Opera</b> presented <b>Giuseppe Verdi</b>'s titanic opera <b>La Forza del Destino</b> it was the 1970's: a decade that saw some of the reigning voices of the MET take their last bows (<b>Leontyne Price</b>, <b>Robert Merrill</b>, <b>Franco Corelli</b>) and give way to the new kids on the block (<b>Plácido Domingo</b>, <b>Luciano Pavarotti</b>, <b>Renata Scotto</b>). It was the decade when voices ruled, and productions were carefully overseen by the MET's general director <b>Joseph Volpe</b>, an administrator who believed in spending millions on a new staging because it was his belief that a production must last at least twenty years. In those days productions were lush, detailed and faithful to the libretto. The last time I saw Forza at the MET Leontyne Price and the young Domingo sang a memorable performance, dressed in the cloak-and-sword finery of eighteenth century Spain.</p><p><b>Peter Gelb</b> is no Joseph Volpe. Since he assumed the general management of the MET he has tried to bring the institution into the 21st century, meaning, replacing the old tried-and-true stagings with "Regietheatre" productions (which some call Eurotrash) where the voices become secondary and the director is the star of the show. 2024 was the year for Verdi's grim melodrama to get the Gelb treatment. There were rumors that he sought out <b>Calixto Bieito</b>, the iconoclastic Catalan director, but Mr. Bieito's plans for the opera, coupled with his track record of avant-garde productions around the world, proved to be too much for the MET's board of directors. Finally, Gelb settled on <b>Mariusz Treliński</b>, the artistic director of the Grand Theatre of Warsaw. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYfCILmu62GzMiy3yIiyOY6H4eif4gHFasTQ2EqvrGyado6K64DwN2oWbf6ZspAMQLCrgYTkwBGa0rQkUvcF-owciveupyrSK40Vd9wSLStCYyhhPli6PwyaokL2NvGLsYu2hZG89jYAFZDjW4351cvUtnfzzYahpX_VJji_FCa0oO_NnnCLgnYA/s2395/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-17%20at%2012.41.29%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2117" data-original-width="2395" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYfCILmu62GzMiy3yIiyOY6H4eif4gHFasTQ2EqvrGyado6K64DwN2oWbf6ZspAMQLCrgYTkwBGa0rQkUvcF-owciveupyrSK40Vd9wSLStCYyhhPli6PwyaokL2NvGLsYu2hZG89jYAFZDjW4351cvUtnfzzYahpX_VJji_FCa0oO_NnnCLgnYA/w387-h342/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-17%20at%2012.41.29%20PM.png" width="387" /></a></div> <p></p><p>Mr. Treliński gives us a modern staging devoid of any certain locale. It could be Eastern Europe or even a banana republic. Given the fact that the last act takes place in a decrepit New York subway station gives us the clue that we are in The United States of America after the killing of an important official has thrown the country into the chaos of a second Civil War. All references to Spain in the <b>Francesco Maria Piave</b> libretto have been eliminated. For instance, in the recitative to the poignant "Oh, tu che in seno agli angeli" Don Alvaro sings "Seviglia..." reminiscent of his homeland. The English translation of this reads "happier days." This translation change of the libretto's original words is not something new. During the MET run of the "Las Vegas <b>Rigoletto</b>," the libretto's words were updated into a "Rat-Pack" argot worthy of <b>Frank Sinatra</b> and <b>Joey Bishop</b>.</p><p>If the production is dark and grim, gray and steely, the singing was luminous from the superb cast headed by superstar <b>Lise Davidsen</b> who is on a roll these days. As the NY times wrote she has "become the rare singer you want to hear in everything." Perhaps her voice does not have the inherent sweetness of a Price or a <b>Renata</b> <b>Tebaldi</b> (and the jury is still out whether or not Ms. Davidsen is a true Verdi soprano), but with the MET absence of <b>Anna Netrebko</b>, Ms. Davidsen is the best we've got, and that is a great thing. I'm looking forward to the day when Ms. Davidsen gleefully faces her father Wotan and greets him with a fiery "Hojotoho." It's coming!</p><p>The rest of the cast was very strong, especially <b>Igor Golovatenko</b> as Don Carlo di Vargas. He has a wonderfully pleasant baritone with a clear attractive top. Tenor <b>Brian Jagde</b> as Leonora's beloved Don Alvaro, has a stentorian dark voice with ringing high notes. The roles of the Marquis of Calatrava and Padre Guardiano were played by bass <b>Soloman Howard</b>: a strange choice, but one that almost worked except when the ghost of the dead Marquis kept popping up at melodramatic instances (way too many times!). Fra Melitone was sung with dour perfection by <b>Patrick Carfizzi</b>. He was the rudest religious friar I've ever seen. Maestro <b>Yannick Nézet-Séguin</b> led an exciting reading of this memorable score, and the orchestra sounded strong and together.</p><p>I found the performance last night powerfully cathartic, like a Greek play that dares to show unbelievable tragedy and somehow purifies the audience. Perhaps a curious output from such a melodramatic piece, but it worked, strangely enough, in that respect. The production had something to do with it, but in the final analysis it is Verdi's music that has the power to elevate your soul into a different realm; and in that respect, having one of the world's greatest soprano stop the show with the incredible "Pace, Pace mio Dio" doesn't hurt either.<br /></p>Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-40279488359218221092023-10-22T16:14:00.005-05:002023-10-22T16:24:22.296-05:00Killers of the Flower Moon: a new Scorsese film<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4OtmIbLs9KBaHTpYMEQ5eOlZ6Nz71J6TlqBN6ex2vTs56Wq9WAvk5svhnPXpPBaruSvGPZhbvQU6jAHk4T2nmgNs1yq7tlhNRwzP46sYq1WGbyyOrYVnsW2WyfWTUF580nThuAlKGmT5iSru8YUUEy49t7BpLGqZfLtORPj4QT_kX5DitNJjXBg/s1170/B99658FD-1485-45EC-B86D-1E8FB6ABF6C6.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="1170" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4OtmIbLs9KBaHTpYMEQ5eOlZ6Nz71J6TlqBN6ex2vTs56Wq9WAvk5svhnPXpPBaruSvGPZhbvQU6jAHk4T2nmgNs1yq7tlhNRwzP46sYq1WGbyyOrYVnsW2WyfWTUF580nThuAlKGmT5iSru8YUUEy49t7BpLGqZfLtORPj4QT_kX5DitNJjXBg/w564-h253/B99658FD-1485-45EC-B86D-1E8FB6ABF6C6.jpeg" width="564" /></a></div>When the Osage people find oil in their newly acquired land, hungry, greedy wolves come prowling in the guise of white cattle barons: white men courting and marrying Osage woman only to kill them in order to get their new-found wealth. This is the bare bones plot of <b>Martin Scorsese</b>'s new film <b>Killers of the Flower Moon</b>, an epic film clocking in at just under four hours. The film is an examination of American greed and the relationship between the native nations of America, and the settlers that hungered for their land. Scorsese has made a film that is part western, part murder mystery, and court-room drama with shades of the conclusion of <b>Goodfellas</b>. The film premiered out of competition at the <b>76th Cannes Film Festival</b> earlier this year, and it was curiously absent from the film festival circuit. With a budget reported to be over $200 million, the film avoided the film festival circuit in order to make money, but with such a massive running time, which means fewer daily showings, the film is going to have a hard time making its money back in its initial theatrical run. As of today, the film has grossed
$23 million in the United States and Canada, and $11 million in other
territories, for a worldwide total of only $44 million.<p></p><p>I saw the film today, and it is the best work that <b>Robert de Niro</b> and <b>Leonardo DiCaprio</b> have done in quite a while. This is De Niro's tenth collaboration with Scorsese, and he gives a subtle performance as William King Hale, the mastermind of the Osage massacre. It is great to witness such inventive acting from De Niro, even mastering a Midwestern accent to perfection. Mr. DiCaprio is no stranger to Scorsese's films either. In this, his sixth collaboration with the director, he also gives a performance rooted in nuance; and although he seems to progress through the role with a permanent frown on his face, he brings to life the role of Ernest Burkhart, who becomes a pawn in Hale's greedy schemes.</p><p>But is is <b>Lily Gladstone</b>, an actress that portrays Mollie, Ernest's Native American wife, who casts the longest shadow in the film. Ms. Gladstone, who is part Native American (and who is related to British Prime Minister William Gladstone), grew up in the Blackfeet Nation reservation, and has only made a handful of films before this one. You will not forget her expressive face and her sorrowful eyes. Many of the members of the Osage Nation also took part in the film behind the scenes, as well as taking important roles in the film.<br /></p><p>Mr. Scorsese is in top form as a director, even making an <b>Alfred Hitchcock</b>-like cameo appearance in a denouement to the film that I can only describe as inspired. The final shot of the film, as memorable a shot as can be, brings to mind scenes from Scorsese's 1997 <b>Kundun</b>, and it populates the field of flowers of the title with a vibrant homage to the Osage people.<br /></p>Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-65125330360962015792022-11-12T23:35:00.004-05:002022-11-12T23:38:38.521-05:00A Mahler Fall<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9PubgUgX6Ti5eYrEgQ1KBe9t3CcwWIxtfylVhrwN30IHLxIL_hXggyaiXAnNFFJTVMLaKGyZ4qE9vbzojQ6xd1kiqV85rGqMSoPzMiA7-w1lbepXuAM9w9aYhYClzqNpU4TXW6VDlMbq5HtiJJo3W0m2PovCPKFHHc4_FdGpntLNygEHAqv8/s640/gustav-mahler-1233589937-editorial-long-form-0.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="640" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9PubgUgX6Ti5eYrEgQ1KBe9t3CcwWIxtfylVhrwN30IHLxIL_hXggyaiXAnNFFJTVMLaKGyZ4qE9vbzojQ6xd1kiqV85rGqMSoPzMiA7-w1lbepXuAM9w9aYhYClzqNpU4TXW6VDlMbq5HtiJJo3W0m2PovCPKFHHc4_FdGpntLNygEHAqv8/w458-h258/gustav-mahler-1233589937-editorial-long-form-0.jpg" width="458" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: AppleSystemUIFont; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;">My Mahler fall continues. Let me explain. No sooner did
autumn start turning leaves a myriad of seasonal colors, and the weather bid
goodbye to summer heat, that <b>Gustav Mahler</b> began to make itself present
in my life. In many ways this is not unusual. Mahler has always been one of my
favorite composers. Very few composers can reach the heights like he can: those
lush melodies, those exciting, ear-splitting crescendi, and best of all his
concentrated effort time and again for his music to reach the sublime. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: AppleSystemUIFont; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: AppleSystemUIFont; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;">In a completely roundabout way, but maybe not, it all
started with my introduction to <b>Alban Berg</b>’s Violin Concerto: that popular
but strict twelve-tone composition written to honor the death of <b>Manon
Gropius</b>, the teenage daughter of Bauhaus giant <b>Walter Gropius</b> and
Mahler’s wife, <b>Alma</b>. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: AppleSystemUIFont; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: AppleSystemUIFont; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;">What strange times those must have been for Viennese
society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The child of the great
architect, and the wife of Vienna’s greatest composer dead at a tender age, and
Vienna’s other great composer writing what many consider his masterpiece only
to die a short time after its completion. Berg never heard his elegy for Manon,
and the piece served to be Berg’s own requiem. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: AppleSystemUIFont; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: AppleSystemUIFont; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;">As autumn progressed, the <b>New York Film Festival</b> came
to town, and <b>Tár</b> made its debut. In what arguably is this year‘s most
interesting film, <b>Cate Blanchett </b>plays Lydia Tár, a virtuoso conductor
who is preparing Mahler’s Fifth Symphony with the <b>Berlin Philharmonic</b>
for a live recording. I saw the movie back in October. Today is November 12 and
I’m at the Redeye Grill having dinner before going to see The Berlin
Philharmonic led by their music director <b>Kirill Petrenko</b>. They will be
playing Mahler’s seventh. And, oh yes, how can I forget. In October I also went
to Carnegie to hear <b>Gustavo Dudamel</b> and the <b>LA Philharmonic</b>. I
didn’t know what they were going to play, but when I got there I saw the poster
outside of Carnegie Hall and to my great surprise they were going to perform Mahler’s
First. Perfect!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: AppleSystemUIFont; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: AppleSystemUIFont; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: AppleSystemUIFont;">Yesterday I was at the Longacre Theatre. I went to see <b>Leopoldstadt</b>,
the great new play by <b>Tom Stoppard</b>. Gustav Mahler’s name was on the lips
of those Jewish Viennese characters. <b>Sigmund Freud</b>’s name and his
radical theory of dreams was also bandied about, but Mahler was praised: he was
their composer, the recipient of rousing L’Chaim. A toast I’ll also take a part
in for making this autumn so musically memorable. </span></p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-5149924164784333542022-07-25T07:49:00.006-05:002022-07-25T08:06:06.913-05:00NOPE - Don't Look Up!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEQEfWS9Rx-z3ttbCV2b9zE9NlAHT5QncFzgxIXU0EOnRVbWpBkFzIKioAKXKGUHNm3YhwcjxSfIMDzGt6hK9YBaLfJzJgYbdnVeCxNG3NKSrDIqwkgcTYN1bhRse15vdrt1dCoVx2t1AcJoXxgkfo7FSPKQ5GKU8tvHx027kUWilOyvyahHQ/s1080/03-nope-dm-mobile-banner-1080x745-rr-f01-060622-629fb9c03b34e-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="745" data-original-width="1080" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEQEfWS9Rx-z3ttbCV2b9zE9NlAHT5QncFzgxIXU0EOnRVbWpBkFzIKioAKXKGUHNm3YhwcjxSfIMDzGt6hK9YBaLfJzJgYbdnVeCxNG3NKSrDIqwkgcTYN1bhRse15vdrt1dCoVx2t1AcJoXxgkfo7FSPKQ5GKU8tvHx027kUWilOyvyahHQ/w374-h259/03-nope-dm-mobile-banner-1080x745-rr-f01-060622-629fb9c03b34e-1.jpg" width="374" /></a></div> On the 19th of June, 1877 British pioneering photographer <b>Eadweard Muybridge</b> made a series of photographs of the race horse Sallie Gardner, owned by the former governor of California <b>Leland Stanford</b>. The result is well-known to every student of film. When the photographs are shown in sequential succession the horse is seen at full gallop, at one point all four legs off the ground.<br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUeYYPMjKK0wA4GtQTjUeHC9lwzCBE9vJopqKN_gatd6iJZ_466-xzSG_xjJIOy5p6vNuDJG499rB_YkGlPVvc6cv2ba4lcC0LCfwKBTA486DGgH3TTro90GG8vTHiKZ4G8NmHqDbWk7SnwtEUxadg2a5XecuLQ3frZzRCrcdMr-rM6-lCkRo/s300/Muybridge_race_horse_animated.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="300" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUeYYPMjKK0wA4GtQTjUeHC9lwzCBE9vJopqKN_gatd6iJZ_466-xzSG_xjJIOy5p6vNuDJG499rB_YkGlPVvc6cv2ba4lcC0LCfwKBTA486DGgH3TTro90GG8vTHiKZ4G8NmHqDbWk7SnwtEUxadg2a5XecuLQ3frZzRCrcdMr-rM6-lCkRo/w261-h174/Muybridge_race_horse_animated.gif" width="261" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Arguably the beginning of motion pictures, or at least an intermediate stage towards true cinematography. This, and the fact that the jockey riding the horse is an African-American man is the genesis of <b>Jordan Peele</b>'s latest film <b>NOPE</b>. But that's just the beginning. The writer/producer/director starts there and his imagination propels him towards not just a rumination of motion pictures, but also its link to the American West, or better yet: the myth of the American West as created by Hollywood, and how this myth continues to survive in our collective unconsciousness. And, oh yeah the film also explores the afterlife of child actors once the limelight has either faded away, or in this case, ripped apart. And, oh yeah, it's also about aliens. Not the ones that cross our American border everyday, but the ones that they say come from many light years away, from another galaxy, and who reach us via flying saucers.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In the last few months, the various trailers have revealed some of the cryptic images of the film: a veiled lady with no lips and a horrific smile (shades of <b>Conrad Veidt'</b>s character in the silent film <b>The Man Who Laughs</b>), a chimp with bloody hands and mouth, and most mysterious of all those colorful dancing man ballons that dot the western valley prairie, and rise up to the sky. Also we can't ignore the fanboy Internet chatter that the title of the film is an acronym for <b>N</b>ot <b>O</b>f <b>P</b>lanet <b>E</b>arth. Guess what? All of those images are tied together in what has to be Mr. Peele's most audacious and bewildering reflection on modern American culture. And the meaning of the title? Yeah, there's something to that as well. <br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And of course there are the stars of the film: OJ, played memorably by <b>Daniel Kaluuya</b>, and his sister Emerald, the incredible <b>Keke Palmer</b>. These siblings own a ranch where they breed and train horses for the Hollywood and TV industry, a business started by their father who early on in the film dies a rather mysterious death. To further make ends meet, OJ sells horses to Ricky “Jupe” Park (<b>Stephen Yeun</b>), a former child star who now runs a Western-themed amusement park called Jupiter’s Claim, and who is haunted by a terrible event that happened on the set of his TV show. When strange occurrences begin happening at the ranch they seek the help of an IT guy (<b>Brandon Perea</b>), and later on when things really start getting weird, they bring on an even weirder cinematographer (<b>Michael Wincott</b>) to photograph the event and get "the Oprah shot." Angel, the IT guy installs surveillance cameras at their house, but Antlers, the cinematographer, comes in with a hand-cranked IMAX camera. Even though this is a contemporary story, you'd think all of this this was happening forty years ago: the film is filled with turntables, VHS recorders and all kinds of obsolete technology.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">NOPE is an entertaining movie that will produce interesting conversations. It is certainly one of the most thought-provoking films this summer by a filmmaker that specializes in making sure you think. And at the risk of further spoiling the film, let me just say that you will be doing a lot of unpacking when you go to see this movie. </div>Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-57568360933724110982022-04-21T11:05:00.001-05:002022-04-23T05:30:08.784-05:00FUNNY GIRL back on Broadway<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQHLmpcKffchpK1nv5N-tDZOEgcMUXG9wyJkE10lJd-BTkC_18polZ6aWymi-3h7s1DCXT74nNIehzNMaEW-TvS2D7nUl1B7bKfklthi3j2-4GLk9gQWtt3Yl_SuvdzzNaQKpD7PmVt1tLh63DZ2DFjI8vJiLJPajhQ2cF9UrtIDkkt9Jyn-k/s1200/funny_girl_og.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQHLmpcKffchpK1nv5N-tDZOEgcMUXG9wyJkE10lJd-BTkC_18polZ6aWymi-3h7s1DCXT74nNIehzNMaEW-TvS2D7nUl1B7bKfklthi3j2-4GLk9gQWtt3Yl_SuvdzzNaQKpD7PmVt1tLh63DZ2DFjI8vJiLJPajhQ2cF9UrtIDkkt9Jyn-k/w491-h258/funny_girl_og.jpg" width="491" /></a></div>For <b>Sarah Bernhardt</b>, the great actress of the turn of the century, playwright <b>Victorien Sardou</b> wrote the melodrama <b>La Tosca</b> in 1887. From then on Bernhardt owned this role until <b>Giacomo Puccini</b> turned Sardou's work into one of the seminal operas of the Verismo period, and <b>Maria Callas</b> came along to usurp the role, albeit in its musical form. As time erased the collective memory of audiences who actually saw Bernhardt on stage, and as video of the second act of the opera surfaced, La Callas became the soprano against who all subsequent performers must measure themselves against. Is it the same with <b>Barbra Streisand</b> and her portrayal of comedienne <b>Fanny Brice</b> in the musical <b>Funny Girl</b>?<p></p><p>The musical is back on Broadway at the <b>August Wilson Theatre</b>, starring <b>Beanie Feldstein</b> as Ziegfeld's funny girl. Sarah Bernhardt not only created some of the great stage roles of the 19th and early 20th century, but she was also a film pioneer, and a number of her performances were filmed. Of course, when we watch these early films the first thing we notice is how artificial stage acting of the turn of the century feels to modern audiences. Since Bernhardt's time acting has passed through <b>Stanislavsky </b>and the Method, and Maria Callas on stage, although operatic acting of her time maintained more than an ounce of the histrionics of the past century, feels very modern when compared to Bernhardt's technique. And the camera does not lie. Most people today know Ms. Streisand's girl not through her 1964 breakthrough role in the original Broadway production of Funny Girl, but through the 1968 <b>William Wyler </b>film that earned Ms. Streisand her first Academy Award as Best Actress -- "Hello Gorgeous!" </p><p>So, this is what Ms. Feldstein is up against: the collective memory of a great performance forever preserved in celluloid. In 2016 The Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. It's an uphill battle that requires all the help she can get. And many come to the rescue with varying degrees of success. First, there's <b>Harvey Fierstein</b>, whose name alone (and his reworking of the original book) helps box office receipts. Ms. Feldstein is also aided by <b>Ramin Karimloo</b>, as her lover Nick Arnstein. He has the charms and good looks that<b> Sydney Chaplin</b> (the original Nick) and <b>Omar Shariff</b> (The film's Nick) both had. Add to this a pleasant singing voice, and you have a memorable performance. The idea of putting <b>Jane Lynch</b> in the role of Mama Brice might have looked great on paper, but
unfortunately she is horribly miscast, possessing little of the proper
"Yiddishkeit" needed to bring this character to life. Help or no help, when it comes to Ms. Feldstein, I can't help but think that a star is born with this role. She is a trooper: loads of charm, huge energy, good comic timing, and a beautiful, smooth soprano that makes those <b>Jules Stein/Bob Merrill </b>songs come to life. (and no, you won't find the song "My Man" in this revival, oddly enough.) For a musical that tries to please an audience weened on the film this was a brave directorial decision by <b>Michael Mayer</b>, who otherwise has overproduced most aspects of this musical. A true standout are the beautiful costumes by <b>Susan Hilferty</b>: truly inspired creations that bring to life the period in which this musical takes place.<br /></p><p>Is it a good revival? Should you go to see it? I say yes, go see Ms. Feldstein, it's always exciting to see a star in the making. But be aware that the show tries way too hard to please you. The orchestra at times is a tad sloppy, and it is really loud. I don't remember such a loud, miked show. Performers address the audience directly, throw money in the direction of the first few rows near the stage for no reason at all, and confetti falls upon the orchestra section. Great theater tricks to get the Big Black Giant on your side. Most of the time it works, when the strings don't show. This time they do. But what bothered me most were the lights around the proscenium of the stage. They light up time and time again to give those songs that extra oomph they really don't need. Some of the time in rhythm to the music. Tacky! Already the creative team of this production feels that every song in the score deserves a loud, crescendo fortissimo style. It brings them out of their seats during the curtain-calls, but then again what show these days does not end with a standing ovation? Broadway audiences pay a lot for those seats, and they want to be entertained or talked into the illusion that they are being entertained. If a show doesn't get a standing ovation, it's in trouble. <br /></p>Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-88466950636555140672022-04-10T05:49:00.008-05:002022-04-10T06:01:34.509-05:00ELEKTRA at the MET<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBgpm1HN3OsDOziMGOp6TExJ_M9pGkDwMSHvWDS6PJzXYlHWU2s-hwIyXbgQ7nefYEOnXZl9-AkIhRLhS5a5qk1vU3Vb6JSyQsl-ZaVl3384-5mlOW46uKNCQeOB-nsCKzdt6_Tdxr7qdOhmufcTjUQN-uLneP39XUkt3SkdDYQBpKMgkGO08/s3547/Elektra%20MET%202022.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2354" data-original-width="3547" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBgpm1HN3OsDOziMGOp6TExJ_M9pGkDwMSHvWDS6PJzXYlHWU2s-hwIyXbgQ7nefYEOnXZl9-AkIhRLhS5a5qk1vU3Vb6JSyQsl-ZaVl3384-5mlOW46uKNCQeOB-nsCKzdt6_Tdxr7qdOhmufcTjUQN-uLneP39XUkt3SkdDYQBpKMgkGO08/w431-h285/Elektra%20MET%202022.png" width="431" /></a></div><p></p><p>When the 2021-2022 MET season was announced, this revival of <b>Patrice Chéreau</b>'s production of <b>Richard Strauss</b>'s <b>Elektra</b> immediately became the one to see. And yet, last night there were two empty seats right next to me in the center of the Orchestra section, row K. Was it the persistent April showers that dominated Saturdays weather that caused some people to stay home, or did they have advanced word that<b> Nina Stemme, </b>in the title role,<b> </b>was suffering from seasonal allergies? This was announced to the audience last night, together with the news that she would go on and sing. The announcement was greeted by thunderous applause. I've been noticing this year that pre-curtain announcements have become the norm at the Metropolitan Opera. While the appearance of a MET staff member's appearance before a performance usually brings jitters to an audience, this season is being used more as a friendly reminder to keep those masks covering one's mouth and nose. </p><p>As expected, the pollen that's floating around everywhere did have an effect on Ms. Stemme. She is onstage from beginning to end, and most of the time trying to rise above one of Strauss's wildest, most savage music played by an ensemble of over one hundred musicians. It is one of the composer's largest orchestrations. It mostly affected her lower notes, although during her opening monologue some of the notes leading to the high notes suffered as well. It might not have been one of Ms. Stemme's greatest performances, but it was great that she attempted it and was able to achieve such high standards. I always marvel at how professional singers can sing over a cold or an allergy and still manage to sing such a poignant performance as Ms. Stemme was able to do last night.</p><p><b>Lise Davidsen</b> as Elektra's sister Chrysothemis continues her New York love fest tour with these performances. What a season it has been for her! Also how well calculated it has been, starting slowly with the role of Eva in <b>Die Meistersinger</b>, then increasing the odds with <b>Ariadne aux Naxos</b>. Her Chrysothemis is the culmination of an incredible season of singing. I have been critical of her that she overpowers all the other singers with her enormous voice. Last night was different. She seems to have been holding back (perhaps because she knew that her co-star was not in good voice), and this was good for the entire production. What a contrast in voices we have in these two women. Ms. Stemme's lush but powerful soprano against Ms. Davidsen's loud, strident, bottom heavy voice (she started her career as a mezzo!). This is what we come to see in opera: two amazing singers approaching those notes from different camps and offering a delicious contrast that also speaks volumes about the characters they are playing.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9lralp19l4A" width="320" youtube-src-id="9lralp19l4A"></iframe></div> <p></p><p>Mr. Chéreau's production updates the action to the present, and thus makes a firm statement of the universality of this story. His staging, however, comes close to robbing the work of the purpose of some of the music. For example, Klytemnestra's entrance is some of the most evocative music Strauss ever wrote. It is a wild depiction of an old lady whose guilt over the murder of her husband, Agamemnon, is plaguing her. I always pictured this character, weighed down by amulets, stomping in to this music. Perhaps this approach is way too stereotypical for today's audience. Perhaps it is too much like a silent movie villain entering to the tune of brutal, dissonant chords. Here she just walks in. It can be argued that now Strauss's music, meant to accompany a more melodramatic entrance, now sounds over the top. In the pit, <b>Donald Runnicles</b> offered an intelligent reading of this work in tune with this production. The orchestra sounded incredible under his baton.</p><p>If you want to see two of the great singers of our time together on the same stage, then do not miss this revival of Elektra.<br /></p>Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-8595342919192164972022-03-05T18:50:00.000-05:002022-03-05T18:50:00.282-05:00THE BATMAN - Robert Pattinson in the suit<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjfNmhk5QOwAQ2K-bm0pFmD8lIYToOG4pgmnrhfJqjcTqLiQoO7dAfEPTEr8R-PiAp5eHdmYjV6vaMB3gQn2UazYhK3DLtw1ndsfJA_uCL0oQUh3ncF2hmE04jl6E0MLh3DNVdDA0DtC5diGgMqG39kjsCVJGrhFICK9G2g51dT4wvpl-E96EE=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjfNmhk5QOwAQ2K-bm0pFmD8lIYToOG4pgmnrhfJqjcTqLiQoO7dAfEPTEr8R-PiAp5eHdmYjV6vaMB3gQn2UazYhK3DLtw1ndsfJA_uCL0oQUh3ncF2hmE04jl6E0MLh3DNVdDA0DtC5diGgMqG39kjsCVJGrhFICK9G2g51dT4wvpl-E96EE=w413-h217" width="413" /></a></div>In the new film <b>The Batman</b>, Gotham City is an amalgamation of 1970's urban blight New York City with surreal touches of London and Chicago. Add to that geographical stew that unnamed city where <b>David Fincher</b>'s <b>SE7EN</b> takes place (where it never stops raining), and you got the makings of a brooding chapter in the Batman saga. In addition to the downbeat atmosphere already described, director <b>Matt Reeves</b> and his cinematographer, Australian <b>Greig Fraser</b>, turn down the lights to gloom level just to make things really "noir." It is three hours of a cinematic universe where lights rarely shine, and where most of the denizens seem to live only in the nighttime hours. <p></p><p>The story begins on the night of October 31st, and half of Gotham City is masked and reveling in a Halloween night where the other half is engaged in various criminal activities. The Bat Signal is up, its weak light shining against the ominous clouds, and the Batman has heeded its call. This is a caped crusader full of doubts and misgivings about his choice to be a vigilante. He calls himself "vengeance," and he ably saves a subway passenger from the wrath of a gang in skull makeup. This is a world-weary crime fighter, worlds away from being a super hero.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh2MEbGXjzv19t0diY-gwFxmcbikiH20sft_76OCX5oHoEYS0Q99TxJe2L5i2cYrUxxwaOtDT7-sXzozv7pUcEJWZAOOpxdTEsu4GIeTXQgE39mfslz4UwO0lSskS9v9xFVGaO4nA5daGlWMfnMGsBh_XmzDkNopVOCDGRluHFLObwdmc-WPUw=s1000" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="561" data-original-width="1000" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh2MEbGXjzv19t0diY-gwFxmcbikiH20sft_76OCX5oHoEYS0Q99TxJe2L5i2cYrUxxwaOtDT7-sXzozv7pUcEJWZAOOpxdTEsu4GIeTXQgE39mfslz4UwO0lSskS9v9xFVGaO4nA5daGlWMfnMGsBh_XmzDkNopVOCDGRluHFLObwdmc-WPUw=w369-h208" width="369" /></a></div><p> And when Batman's alter-ego, Bruce Wayne, shows up, Mr. Pattinson, lighted in the film's muted colors, looks more spectral than ever. Surrounding him are a cast of characters all played memorably by a great cast. <b>Jeffrey Wright</b> as Lieutenant James Gordon seems to be the only good cop in the whole city. <b>Colin Farrell</b> is a round, scarred mobster they call The Penguin, <b>John Turturro</b> is memorable as a mafia boss that likes to wear shades despite the gloom that surrounds him, and <b>Andy Serkis</b> is given very little screen time as Alfred, Bruce Wayne's butler and confidant. A sick-in-the-head masked serial killer, who likes to leave riddles inside greeting cards for the Batman after he murders important civic leaders, ends up being <b>Paul Dano</b>, who regretfully performs the worse rendition of <b>Franz Shubert'</b>s "Ave Maria" I've ever heard. This well-known song is used as a leitmotif throughout the film, but I fail to see its connection with anything happening on the screen. Alongside the Batman we also have another costumed vigilante played by <b>Zoë Kravitz</b>. She likes to wear slin-tight leather outfits and loves cats.</p><p>To be honest, I usually don't run out the first weekend to see a film like this. But the other night I was at Lincoln Center for the premiere of <b>Ariadne aux Naxos</b>, the <b>Richard Strauss</b> opera starring superstar soprano <b>Lise Davidsen</b>. Little did I know it was also the New York premiere of this film. So, the entire Lincoln Center Plaza was mobbed: barriers everywhere and autograph seekers running around. Serkis and Pattinson passed by surrounded by a horde of bodyguards. Jeffrey Wright stopped by to sign a few autographs, and so did Paul Dano. He stopped next to me to sign a fan's poster, fast enough for me to snap a picture of him.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgJorQBR4NXH6c7MLgUDZX4cYSxCsoGI8EjqnYPjM3tZu0iGUw-PQGmKqLkSBNfQkTq9ts9qaopSp7N8voAYb-UbRm7w6oAplyr0c7hnAGmtz1GJN5fWbGhFEONa4KnawPlUbl5ftOe2I0Yym2OwCMHDw7hJ9cSnDxaa1k5X-7lmxS1pGJqc0k=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgJorQBR4NXH6c7MLgUDZX4cYSxCsoGI8EjqnYPjM3tZu0iGUw-PQGmKqLkSBNfQkTq9ts9qaopSp7N8voAYb-UbRm7w6oAplyr0c7hnAGmtz1GJN5fWbGhFEONa4KnawPlUbl5ftOe2I0Yym2OwCMHDw7hJ9cSnDxaa1k5X-7lmxS1pGJqc0k=w351-h263" width="351" /></a></div><p>So, I said to myself, "maybe I should go see this movie." And I did, this afternoon, and I had a great time, even though we had to get moved to another screening room because they were having technical problems with the projector. In any case, it was an enjoyable afternoon at the movies, and I recommend this film. It's a very entertaining way to spend 176 minutes of your life.<br /></p>Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-65533648097235352552022-02-24T11:46:00.005-05:002022-02-24T12:46:37.820-05:00Broadway is Back: THE MUSIC MAN<p> Yes, Broadway has been back for a while, stumbling out of the COVID-19 nightmare in spurts. But this afternoon was MY first time back inside a Broadway theater since 2020. And if it wasn't for the masked crowds and a new job for ushers (see the picture below) the magic is back, and the audiences are more excited than ever.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEisUGkvgLioHmhhm6zdolIn3apS1cIB-IPsWH2jXU8rIcE8BMwLjuJl9lhKX4Qc4TjVb4jOookR_0zpRbSX6evSaeQsxzoTFnhJEHXu4IpGSXNzKJokHCReZXPQi-15BT-ySFX_QT9GAuopLPmXmOkA1ri5j7KaEQQzVJMyl3imezuGFwfr4Co=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="329" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEisUGkvgLioHmhhm6zdolIn3apS1cIB-IPsWH2jXU8rIcE8BMwLjuJl9lhKX4Qc4TjVb4jOookR_0zpRbSX6evSaeQsxzoTFnhJEHXu4IpGSXNzKJokHCReZXPQi-15BT-ySFX_QT9GAuopLPmXmOkA1ri5j7KaEQQzVJMyl3imezuGFwfr4Co=w438-h329" width="438" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So, it really does not matter that <b>New York Times</b> critic <b>Jesse Green</b> panned the new production of <b>Meredith Willson</b>'s <b>The Music Man</b>. Audiences are hungry for live theater, especially when it features superstars like <b>Hugh Jackman</b> and <b>Sutton Foster</b> whose names appeared on the marquee of the <b>Winter Garden Theatre</b> months before the virus hit, only to be silenced until the end of 2021. And just as the production got going, Mr. Jackman tested positive and had to quarantine, shutting down the show once again. It's been tough going for this production, and just about any other production currently on the boards. All Mr. Jackman and Ms. Sutton had to do this afternoon was show up on stage. Before they uttered one word or sang one note the audience roared. Live theater is indeed back!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Mr. Green feels that this Music Man lacks the necessary fire to ignite this piece into relevancy. He cites a <b>Stratford Festival</b> production that comments on race and social relations by casting an African American actor as Professor Harold Hill. No doubt Mr. Green would have been pleased with a Broadway production that places concept over star power. But, is that the job of a musical comedy? If it is, then the genre is in danger of falling into the same conundrum we face in the opera house, where director's ideas trump casting. These days the need for true opera superstars has been eliminated -- after all it's the concept that matters. At Broadway prices, it's hard to experiment. Not even <b>Bartlett Sher</b> at <b>Lincoln Center</b>, responsible for some of the most memorable revivals in recent years, has avoided any real experimentation with the works he has chosen to stage: (<b>South Pacific, The King and I</b>, <b>My Fair Lady</b>) I'm happy that <b>Jerry Zaks</b>, the director of this revival, still believes in old fashioned theater, and this time he has assembled a talented cast that raises the roof off the Winter Garden with a traditional staging of this classic. It doesn't go flat as the Times headlines stated, not with the chemistry that ignites in the pairing of Jackman and Foster and in the spark that is present in the work itself.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEho9a3McAYln8qp9U48oJrAQjQDvNJoH8qA7MHWnKpVOfTcNq6T41vyE1gKoT4KFKS8SU9AHpE9oeRfKakZVVZnrohJymdzTgVf-HJLNj6PO2egeTjFJwTEmso_BWi347Zw6W1nHkBRYGHF3rBiuQww8b8pUQpochOUwr0bqX3dlLqVlNJIQx4=s3958" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2227" data-original-width="3958" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEho9a3McAYln8qp9U48oJrAQjQDvNJoH8qA7MHWnKpVOfTcNq6T41vyE1gKoT4KFKS8SU9AHpE9oeRfKakZVVZnrohJymdzTgVf-HJLNj6PO2egeTjFJwTEmso_BWi347Zw6W1nHkBRYGHF3rBiuQww8b8pUQpochOUwr0bqX3dlLqVlNJIQx4=w423-h238" width="423" /></a></div> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Hugh Jackman is having a lot of fun playing Professor Harold Hill. You can tell. There is a twinkle in his eye and a spring in his step that humanizes this traveling flim-flam man. But in his swindle talk he oozes charm and warmth, especially effective is his relationship to Winthrop, Marian the librarian's little brother who has a lisp and prefers not to talk. Mr. Jackman is no <b>Robert Preston</b>, who originated this role on Broadway in 1957, and who starred in the 1962 film that shows the perfection of his characterization. As a matter of fact, I was disappointed with Mr. Jackman's version of "Trouble." He had the verbal patter down flat, but his musical intonation in his <span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc"><i>Sprechstimme</i> left me cold. Is it that Robert Preston just owns this role perpetually as <b>Maria Callas</b> made <b>Tosca</b> her own? In 2000, in <b>Susan Stroman</b>'s production of this musical, actor <b>Craig Bierko</b> fared better with this song. The timbre of his voice was closer to that of Preston, and the song worked. It was clear that Ms. Stroman's goal was to provide a Robert Preston sound-alike, although the relatively unknown Mr. Bierko made a true splash earning a Tony Award nomination for his fine performance next to Broadway superstar <b>Rebecca Luker.</b> The present production is a vehicle for Mr. Jackman, and one which is generally suited to his many talents. His co-star Sutton Foster is wonderful as Marian. Her comedy gifts and beautiful soprano are great assets to this production, and her entrance received a great ovation. I also want to mention the participation of <b>Jefferson Mays</b> who is quite funny as Mayor George Shinn. Mr. Mays is having a good year: he is also featured in the film <b>The Tragedy of Macbeth</b> where he plays the Doctor.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="ILfuVd"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiH9sRrqJYRPePBvx7My9Hj1tvH5gjryxR7TGzGbuqsKixzbBm7IghFASUyHTTrRS5qR9w30t_rUuoD3ajeNjolt3fGewHjxDSxRfrsk8AqA033bueFYcGLDy6GPox2T4ZbA6YKSBlKhqVlmSnoJH9lSCBpmma7XnXQ1dZNTp5xx-8Y9Owxb9g=s2036" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1499" data-original-width="2036" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiH9sRrqJYRPePBvx7My9Hj1tvH5gjryxR7TGzGbuqsKixzbBm7IghFASUyHTTrRS5qR9w30t_rUuoD3ajeNjolt3fGewHjxDSxRfrsk8AqA033bueFYcGLDy6GPox2T4ZbA6YKSBlKhqVlmSnoJH9lSCBpmma7XnXQ1dZNTp5xx-8Y9Owxb9g=w400-h295" width="400" /></a></div><span class="hgKElc"> </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">The set by <b>Santo Loquasto</b> is inspired by the art of <b>Grant Wood</b> (born in Anamosa, Iowa), a town which may not be too different from River City. There is even a backdrop inspired by Wood's "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere." Interestingly enough, from my seat in the house (Orchestra, Row J seat 2) I couldn't see Paul Revere. Why was he eliminated? </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">In general, this show was a very entertaining; a very fun afternoon at the Winter Garden Theatre. It is a production that you will thoroughly enjoy whether you are a Jackman or a Foster fan -- or both. I only have one little caveat with this production, and it comes from my knowledge of the aforementioned Stroman production. The post curtain call in that 2000 staging involved the entire cast, dressed in bright red band costumes actually playing their instruments. It was so unexpected to suddenly hear that sound from the stage from actors who had memorized and learned to play these band instruments just for that closing moment. Imperfections and all, it was a remarkable moment, a true <i>coup de théâtre</i>. In the current production the entire cast is once again dressed in Professor Hill's imaginary, colorful band costumes, but their instruments remain conspicuously silent.<br /></span></span></div>Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-33449090050553485602022-01-16T07:51:00.007-05:002022-01-17T08:08:52.405-05:00A new RIGOLETTO at the MET<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiIs0Gi8xFIZurvvX83EgFjYc0Lts87BdotGOswsF8HQ7HB85m_Jt3Zq5Wttj3FXBrHSmpb1orYowABRdCdHckeVP2aUKEXHOTBMH4LXYY7-zNPbeivcMkMLsOK1LuJ8PsIRfZF1O4O9ron62k4ziQUUGiTsJ-KR3aUtIn5cQVvJlwGa9VblHU=s3597" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2398" data-original-width="3597" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiIs0Gi8xFIZurvvX83EgFjYc0Lts87BdotGOswsF8HQ7HB85m_Jt3Zq5Wttj3FXBrHSmpb1orYowABRdCdHckeVP2aUKEXHOTBMH4LXYY7-zNPbeivcMkMLsOK1LuJ8PsIRfZF1O4O9ron62k4ziQUUGiTsJ-KR3aUtIn5cQVvJlwGa9VblHU=w400-h266" width="400" /></a></div>The problem with <b>Bartlett Sher</b> is that he is a gifted theater director, but those same creative gifts don't materialize when he dons his opera hat. Those memorable musical productions at Lincoln Center, both originals and revivals (<b>The Light in the Piazza</b>, <b>South Pacific</b>, <b>The King and I</b>, and <b>My Fair Lady</b>) have made him a household name for Broadway fans. I wish we could say the same for his operatic output at the <b>Metropolitan Opera</b>, which at best can be classified as uneven.<p></p><p>Mr. Sher began his association with the MET at the start of <b>Peter Gelb</b>'s tenure. His production of <b>The Barber of Seville </b>featured an extension of the stage in front of the orchestra pit -- the infamous passerelle that many critics pointed out was not made for the MET's acoustics. There were also cartloads of pumpkins, and a giant anvil that threatened to fall on the characters <b>Wile E. Coyote</b> style. Perhaps his most successful production at the MET is his staging of <b>The Tales of Hoffman</b>, with its <b>René Magritte</b> bowler hats and homages to different films from <b>Federico Fellini</b> to <b>Ingmar Bergman</b>.</p><p>This season Mr. Sher has staged a new production of <b>Rigoletto</b>, <b>Giuseppe Verdi</b>'s masterpiece of 1851. As is the current trend in opera staging, God forbid the director set the scene according to the wishes of the original creators. So, instead of traveling to Mantua we get Germany during the period of the Weimar Republic. Now, I have to be careful here criticizing the change of locale. After all, this opera is based on a <b>Victor Hugo</b> play (<u>Le Roi s'Amuse</u>) which takes place in the depraved French court of François I. Verdi's lyricist <b>Francesco Maria Piave</b> thought it best to transfer the scene to Italy. So, the original setting of this work is the depraved court of the Duke of Mantua, a made-up person who was based on <b>Vincenzo Gonzaga</b>, a 1500's royal scoundrel whose family motto, according to the program notes on the playbill, was "Forse che si, forse che no" (Maybe yes, maybe no).</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEji-XH7KlVcExoItXLRp0MrsEaQNCani3N_dtcD8wF5Zo-sZSDmA9fhKQirVIdF4wgqiWsyqKfWQU8kp_P1f8yMKuRQutyW5rDLUCoCephCRmSCJSaYpaJYwHVtgHUfoFVnCML4favOPFYqUkYkM45DkftE2jyWdxwwYr_UfUEmauguaPD16go=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEji-XH7KlVcExoItXLRp0MrsEaQNCani3N_dtcD8wF5Zo-sZSDmA9fhKQirVIdF4wgqiWsyqKfWQU8kp_P1f8yMKuRQutyW5rDLUCoCephCRmSCJSaYpaJYwHVtgHUfoFVnCML4favOPFYqUkYkM45DkftE2jyWdxwwYr_UfUEmauguaPD16go=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div> As we come in the auditorium we are faced with a show curtain filled with nightmarish characters right out of the canvases of <span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc"><b>Max Beckmann</b>, <b>Otto Dix</b> and <b>George Grosz</b>. </span></span>But again: why Germany's Weimar Republic? Certainly the unit set built on the MET's turntable (which spins around too much for my taste) by <b>Michael Yeargan</b> recreate a period of grandiose Fascist architecture that was already entrenched in<b> Mussolini</b>'s Italy years before <b>Hitler</b> brought Fascism to Germany.<p></p><p>Why not set it in Fascist Italy, then? All the ingredients are there. There's the work of poet <b>Gabriele D'Annunzio</b>, whose writings serve as the precursor of the ideals of Italian Fascism. And of course, there's <b>Pier Paolo Pasolini</b>'s film <u>Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom</u>, a work very much entrenched in the work of D'Annunzio. If you want depravity don't look any further. Salò is the GOAT.</p><p><b>Piotr Beczała</b> has returned to play the Duke, as he did in the last MET production of this work which took place in Las Vegas. He returns with a more mature voice. It is now deeper and his memorable ringing timbre of years past seems to be disappearing. Could it be that he has sung too many performances of <b>Lohengrin</b> at the <b>Bayreuth Festival</b>, a role that many tenors stay away from because it tends to cloud the voice? I would recommend Mr. Beczała to stay away from the swan boat and concentrate more on the Italian and French repertory.</p><p><b>Quinn Kelsey</b> is a huge, bruiser from Honolulu Hawaii with a voice to match. His instrument fills the house, and then some. It is not a particularly beautiful sound, but then again if you are playing a hunchback jester you want a growl in your voice, and Mr. Kelsey can provide that in spades.</p><p>For me, if the Sparafucile stinks, then the opera doesn't work. What I mean is that he has to have a strong sustained low F that ends the Act II duet with Rigoletto. Thank goodness the MET has re-hired Italian basso <b>Andrea Mastroni</b> (he made his MET debut in this role in the previous production). Once again he made a vocally chilling assassin, and that outstanding low F is his bread and butter. He has sung this role everywhere from Covent Garden to Madrid.<br /></p><p>Unfortunately, I did not get to hear <b>Rosa Feola</b> as Gilda. She could not sing because she had just gotten boosted and was suffering through the effects of the injection. The understudy was announced from the stage. It was a late cancellation for Ms. Feola so there was no paper insert in the programs. So, I have no idea who I heard. She did have a pretty soprano voice, and her "Caro Nome" was greeted with a healthy ovation. MET audiences always treat understudies well, especially if they are able to deliver.</p><p><b>Daniele Rustioni</b>, the new principal guest conductor of the Bavarian State Opera led an enthusiastic reading of the score. Under his direction, the orchestra brought out the transparent and sonorous beauty of Verdi's orchestration which many times is just taken for granted. Particularly fine was the backstage storm chorus, one of the great innovations of this score.</p><p>So, there's a new Rigoletto in town. Maybe not the most memorable of productions, but the New York crowd will continue to support this staging as long as the MET management fills it with fine international singers.<br /></p>Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-70129407465981964692021-11-28T08:39:00.005-05:002021-11-28T08:42:50.172-05:00Licorice Pizza by Paul Thomas Anderson<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmfrwj3PfZmdODjur-TP17Ninsf3s6g5aAptQGrfreR3jGArROmcN4-Edu4GO1-YVzUc3ZRPnsEQO5Ht8l8jyVv6vwtxVN47e6d4My2RyfzbrOhsMnm6RXj8QZBHN01WbRX5ImTg/s1800/licorice-pizza-sb_marketing_stills_12.00270346_CC_CROPV1c.jpg"><img border="0" data-original-height="1201" data-original-width="1800" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmfrwj3PfZmdODjur-TP17Ninsf3s6g5aAptQGrfreR3jGArROmcN4-Edu4GO1-YVzUc3ZRPnsEQO5Ht8l8jyVv6vwtxVN47e6d4My2RyfzbrOhsMnm6RXj8QZBHN01WbRX5ImTg/w400-h268/licorice-pizza-sb_marketing_stills_12.00270346_CC_CROPV1c.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>I was there. Well, not exactly there, because <b>Licorice Pizza</b>, <b>Paul Thomas Anderson</b>'s latest film is so SoCal that even its title, the name of a record store chain during the director's youth, has to be explained to someone like me whose memory of the 1970's means remembering (or forgetting) the gritty urban decay of New York, complete with graffiti-filled subways and dangerous city sectors.<p></p><p>I saw this film in 70mm at the Village East theater, a landmark building that presented Yiddish entertainment at the beginning of the century. Very few people will be able to tell you who played this house. I noticed the young crowd around me that gathered to see this movie, and I realized that even fewer had any clear memory of the 1970's. And yet, PT Anderson's film, filled with such loving nostalgia for days gone by, his days gone by, resonated with this young audience. The director presented a very personal story, but he also knows that if you grew up at the turn of the century in New York's Jewish ghetto, or in the <b>Taxi Driver</b> New York blight, or in any other decade, or any place on Earth, one thing is certain: everyone goes through adolescence and everyone falls in love. That is the simple reality and universal theme of this film. <br /></p><p>So, the director's approach is to mine his memory banks. Episodes of his life are beautifully recreated, focusing on a young 15 year-old high school student and child actor Gary Valentine (<b>Cooper Hoffman</b>) and his pursuit of Alana Kane (<b>Alana Haim</b>), a twenty-something who eventually becomes his business partner and main squeeze. Together, they travel the landscape of Southern California at a time when prices were so low that a high school kid could open a water bed store and sell one to Jon Peters (a hilarious <b>Bradley Cooper</b>) during the time the ex-hairdresser turned producer was dating <b>Barbra Streisand</b>.</p><p>In PT Anderson's coming-of-age enchantment, Old Hollywood is still hanging on as the new lions are storming the gates. We don't get a glimpse of <b>Stephen Spielberg</b> or <b>George Lucas</b> in this film, but figures like Jack Holden (<b>Sean Penn</b> as <b>William Holden</b>), and Rex Blau (<b>Tom Waits</b> as an aging film director -- a <b>John Huston / John Ford</b> composite), play memorable parts in this film. The movie is also filled with cameos. Blink and you'll miss <b>John C. Reilly</b>, a PT Anderson stalwart, as Herman Munster. But you won't forget <b>Christine Ebersole</b> as a Lucille Ball-like character who beats up Gary after he commits a faux-pas on live TV.</p><p>The San Fernando Valley has never been portrayed so charming before. Especially during the gas shortage sequence, when Gary runs past lines of cars to the tune of <b>David Bowie</b>'s "Life on Mars?" In this film we find a softer PT Anderson. <b>Boogie Nights</b>, <b>Magnolia</b>, and <b>The Master</b> were tough subjects, and his scalpel had to be sharper and cut deeper. Here, the director's main prop is his camera (he takes the DP credit for the first time), and it seems that his main concerns are to present a rosy recreation of his coming-of-age years, and to make sure Cooper Hoffman and Alana Kane come out of this as bright new Hollywood stars. Not a bad reason to create this film. Cooper's dad, the late <b>Philip Seymour Hoffman</b> had a long association with PT Anderson, the actor giving some of his best, defining performances under this director's lens. Now is the time for a new generation to spring forward, as the director turns his gaze back to the past.<br /></p>Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-20067689329412056862021-11-26T20:20:00.004-05:002021-11-27T11:27:42.684-05:00Stephen Sondheim is Dead<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijrwcx4_G-9IPLmbRxB2Cgk-cLDoe8EKQPf5PquzvmsnpThdslob-PxQghuYwhoRpE2yyHj9TfEgbkLhIEOV8sRluRzKIysSsWSv7i4myM6en4bBd65u9m-fDFgUzocevUWVvz2Q/s1362/Screen+Shot+2021-11-26+at+6.31.04+PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="914" data-original-width="1362" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijrwcx4_G-9IPLmbRxB2Cgk-cLDoe8EKQPf5PquzvmsnpThdslob-PxQghuYwhoRpE2yyHj9TfEgbkLhIEOV8sRluRzKIysSsWSv7i4myM6en4bBd65u9m-fDFgUzocevUWVvz2Q/w400-h269/Screen+Shot+2021-11-26+at+6.31.04+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>I knew one day we would all have to go through this. The once young, vibrant enfant terrible of the Broadway stage, the one who dazzled us with the youthful lyrics of <b>West Side Story</b> and who matured into the greatest American lyricist/composer since <b>Cole Porter</b> is dead. <b>Stephen Sondheim </b>seemed to be an eternal presence. Although his name had not graced any Broadway marquee in quite a while, revivals of his classic work often adorned the Great White Way. And in the back of every theater-goers mind there was always the hope that there was one more in him. One more masterpiece before the long sleep; like <b>Giuseppe Verdi</b> who produced two of his greatest operas, <b>Otello</b> and <b>Falstaff</b> after he had called it quits.<p></p><p>His shows almost never made money. Sure, when he started out at first as the young lyricist to <b>Leonard Bernstein'</b>s music in <b>West Side Story</b> that show was a hit. And so was <b>Gypsy</b>, for which he almost wrote the music, however <b>Ethel Merman</b> did not want to star in a show written by an unknown composer. So Stephen reprised his role as lyricist, this time to <b>Jules Stein</b>'s great score. He was soon to come into his own as a composer and lyricist with his farce <b>A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum</b>.</p><p>And then, magic happened. His collaboration with director <b>Harold Prince</b> produced some of the greatest American musicals. Lightning kept striking every time. <b>Follies</b>, <b>Company</b>, <b>A Little Night Music</b>, <b>Pacific Overtures,</b> <b>Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street</b>,<b> Sunday in the Park with George</b>, <b>Merrily We Roll Along</b>, <b>Into the Woods</b>, <b>Assasins</b>, and <b>Passion</b>. There were Tony Awards galore, as well as the Pulitzer Prize. If you have followed his career you have your favorites. I know I fell in love with Sweeney Todd the moment I heard the downbeat chord on the organ that begins the score. For Sondheim it was a revenge story, for director Hal Prince it was about the dehumanization of man during the Industrial Revolution. </p><p>Definitely the Stephen Sondheim musical was not the feel good, warm and fuzzy product that Broadway audiences expected. The shows made very little money, but he was expanding the horizons of musical theater. He couldn't compete with the likes of an <b>Annie</b>, <b>Les Misérables</b> or with<b> Andrew Lloyd Weber</b>'s British invasion. And, of course, he just could not bring in the crowds that were starting to flock to the corporate Disney shows that were filling the theaters.</p><p>I remember a radio interview Sondheim gave at the time of the premiere of Sweeney Todd, a show I got to see three times. He was talking about the struggle to find a musical language to fit a particular show. He reminisced about Pacific Overtures, a daring show about the opening of Japan in the 1800's and the eventual westernization and commercialization of the country. Like <b>Richard Rodgers</b> in the 1950's who struggled with how Eastern to make the music of <b>The King and I,</b> Sondheim could not get the feeling for this show right. Until, as so often happens, one day it hit him. In the staccato rhythms of Spanish flamenco music somehow he found the necessary voice for his show about Japan's floating kingdom. I never forgot this incredible journey of discovery that this artist went through, and was able to tell us about it. At that moment I realized that Sondheim was not just the cerebral creator of Broadway entertainment. He had become a musical advocate for the globalization of music. The show was the customary Sondheim flop. Imagine a show where the Americans are the bad guys for destroying the beautiful traditions of Japan, playing during 1976: the year where jingoism was at its highest as America celebrated its Bicentennial.</p><p>As a composer Sondheim was unique among his peers. Everybody always said one did not leave the theater humming a Sondheim score. That might have been true, but what was always certain was that his choice of a musical idiom fitted the show like a glove. His music could be brassy as in Company, operatic with a touch of the gothic as in Sweeney Todd, and even minimalist and filled with a dash of pointillism in Sunday in the Park with George. And sometimes it could just simply sway in perfect <b>Johann Strauss</b> three quarter time in A Little Night Music, one of my favorite Sondheim shows, adapted from <b>Smiles of a Summer Night</b>, one of the great <b>Ingmar Bergman</b> films.</p><p>We have lost one of the great ones. I do not think we will see another one like him in our lifetime.<br /></p>Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-20328534259036349662021-11-15T21:03:00.004-05:002021-11-17T06:22:20.165-05:0030 year-old "Meistersinger" returns to the MET<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG3k5L4_uWryQab-lS_f3j9k0qx9Y5VZ7jw2IBk2kYZzoBNkJwPlF7ofzP9fXVXVfU_dKK3Eit0o02RmCN90_7lVCx8oNHjSRAdb_FiW1epFGHoZN2uRIsVURUvX6hqBceYug2ng/s2048/Screen+Shot+2021-11-15+at+8.38.40+AM+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1114" data-original-width="2048" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG3k5L4_uWryQab-lS_f3j9k0qx9Y5VZ7jw2IBk2kYZzoBNkJwPlF7ofzP9fXVXVfU_dKK3Eit0o02RmCN90_7lVCx8oNHjSRAdb_FiW1epFGHoZN2uRIsVURUvX6hqBceYug2ng/w400-h217/Screen+Shot+2021-11-15+at+8.38.40+AM+copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>The month of November saw the <b>Metropolitan Opera</b> stage a revival of their 30 year-old production of <b>Richard Wagner</b>'s <b>Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg</b>. This decision created a unique event in the world of opera. Here in the year 2021, when "Regietheatre" has become the norm, even on these shores, the MET dared to mount a production completely devoid of any agenda or director-driven point of view: the norm on the great operatic stages around the world these days. Nowhere to be found on the MET stage was the Lilliputian world that director <b>Stefan Herheim</b> created for his 2013 staging of this work at the Salzburg Festival. And certainly, the MET was staying clear of the World War II political treatise of <b>Barrie Kosky</b>'s Bayreuth staging, with its exploration of the inherent antisemitism prevalent in the work. </p><p>The MET staging, which played its last performance this season on Sunday (and which might be the last time this production is staged), is an epic imagining of this work created at a time when this opera company envisioned each staging in its repertory to last the minimum of twenty years. It was the way the MET operated under <b>Joseph Volpe</b>, who ran the institution from 1990 to 2006. Thus, <b>Günther Schneider-Siemssen</b>'s beautiful sets might have cost a lot of money, but the institution would get it all back in those twenty years. Little did the creators of this production envision that thirty years down the road the MET would still be presenting their work. The only creators who remain alive are director <b>Otto Schenk</b> and choreographer <b>Carmen De Lavallade</b>, both in their 90's.<br /></p><p>But why is this production still being mounted in a world-class opera company when similar institutions are experimenting with newer styles that break traditional stagings? The answer lies in the very fact that the New York opera audience is essentially a conservative one, resistant to watching their favorite operas in newer, more daring stagings. The Stefan Herheim production almost made it to the MET, but at the last moment that idea was scrapped, and the old production remained.</p><p>What audiences saw this November was a return to a simpler world of opera, where the composer still ruled, and where the director's job involved nothing more than the recreation of the vision of the composer. What the MET did do is populate these old sets with some of the great Wagnerian artists available today. All of them European, most of them German, and the large majority veterans of many summers at the Bayreuth Festival. Here was <b>Klaus Florian Vogt</b>, that amazing tenor with the sweet, youthful voice -- offering a clear antidote to <b>Jonas Kaufmann'</b>s baritonal fach. There was also <b>Michael Volle</b>, who clearly owns the role of Hans Sachs at the moment, with his intelligent, humanistic approach to this wise character. There was also <b>Johannes Martin Kränzle</b> who, in my opeinion, can't be beat in the role of Sixtus Beckmesser, whether he is wearing a Jew's head in Mr. Kosky's current production at the Green Hill, or in this production which showcases his great comedic skills. And let's not forget <b>Georg Zeppenfeld</b> who belongs in the same league as <b>René Pape</b> when it comes to interpreting the great Wagner bass roles.</p><p>But the drawing card to this revival was soprano <b>Lise Davidsen</b> who continues her meteoric rise in the opera world. What a voice, and what a season she will have at the MET! Upcoming performances include two soprano roles in <b>Richard Strauss</b>'s operas: the title role in <b>Ariadne auf Naxos</b> and Chrysothemis in <b>Elektra</b>. <b>Antonio Pappano</b> conducted this mighty work with a sure hand, letting the orchestra show off its brilliant playing. His reading was transparent rather than pompous. His reading of the third act prelude was one of the most beautiful I have ever heard in any opera house.</p><p>It was a great pleasure to see this staging once more, but, as gorgeous and intelligent as this production might be, let's face it: I think we are all ready to see a new MET Meistersinger soon.<br /></p>Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-61294678899104553672021-10-09T09:49:00.003-05:002021-10-09T10:01:56.230-05:00PARALLEL MOTHERS at the NY Film Festival<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifxHlUOWZHdHi4NNtt7P03pxeyDkNgsvLXPTKXVZXHLEhRD2j1jiOdWqvTD7MqMvu8A4IGQbJ9lARAHovWHBJhY1eeh6LQeBhNvQOIWM5n6hB94JSO1wWyWE_1qSgTFCptZrIjLg/s1600/img2.rtve.es.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifxHlUOWZHdHi4NNtt7P03pxeyDkNgsvLXPTKXVZXHLEhRD2j1jiOdWqvTD7MqMvu8A4IGQbJ9lARAHovWHBJhY1eeh6LQeBhNvQOIWM5n6hB94JSO1wWyWE_1qSgTFCptZrIjLg/w425-h239/img2.rtve.es.jpg" width="425" /></a></div>With his latest film, <b>Parallel Mothers</b> (<b>Madres Paralelas</b>) <b>Pedro Almodóvar</b> comes back to the world of feminine relations, a landscape he's been exploring throughout his career, which encompasses fifteen films at the <b>New York Film Festival</b>. Last night<b> </b>he presented his latest creation as the closing selection of the annual film gathering at <b>Alice Tully Hall</b>. <p></p><p>Before it has even opened to the public, the movie has already gathered a controversial pre-release vibe in the United States when a kind of furor arose a few weeks ago over the film's advertising poster which shows a nipple dripping mother's milk. America's puritanical ways play right into Almodóvar's penchant for shocking the public; this time around with a maternal image. But then again, he's been stirring the pot since the early days of the "Movida" movement in Spain, the post-<b>Francisco Franco</b> years when moral restrictions were lessened and liberty came back to Spain. This is the period when he came to prominence with such early amateurish "shockers" as <b>Pepi, Lucy, Bom</b> until he hit his stride with 1988's <b>Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown</b>, one of the many great films in his oeuvre.</p><p>At last night's screening, <b>Dennis Lim</b>, director of Programming at <b>Film at Lincoln Center</b>, introduced the film by saying that there is a new political urgency in this film not seen before. Although this film does focus on the unresolved murders that occurred during the Spanish Civil War which led to a Fascist government in Spain that lasted into the 1970s, nearly all of Almodóvar's films shed a light on Spain's troubled past. Their sense of liberation, sexually and sociological, are a reaction to the forty-some-odd years that Spain endured under Franco's regime. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXrPc2B9LiGv2QWodPug_kCt7f_DfhS_dfkyL5_F-NKkj-QSPMaf5vAtGvaIzV0TNyDS1eW11Ce2alMKeKBTym95T9GG1KtdE81cd2zgb3tWnNcolarFXpjq-LHp_K0uufV1WcFg/s1170/263501.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="614" data-original-width="1170" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXrPc2B9LiGv2QWodPug_kCt7f_DfhS_dfkyL5_F-NKkj-QSPMaf5vAtGvaIzV0TNyDS1eW11Ce2alMKeKBTym95T9GG1KtdE81cd2zgb3tWnNcolarFXpjq-LHp_K0uufV1WcFg/w403-h212/263501.jpg" width="403" /></a></div><p> In 1997, Almodóvar released <b>Live Flesh</b> (<b>Carne trémula</b>) in which a young, pregnant prostitute during Franco's Spain (<b>Penélope Cruz'</b>s first performance under his direction) gives birth to an illegitimate child in a Madrid bus. The film then goes forward in time to the present post-Franco Spain as we follow the child now an adult. Parallel Mothers once again casts Ms. Cruz as a pregnant photographer this time sharing her modern Madrid hospital room with a pregnant teen, newcomer <b>Milena Smit</b>, who is the director's latest muse, and who gives an amazing performance. It is only her second film.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvajIIqEaiekO5jpYMvUGLI6TF3NMxThBKYFN1qWA6vlYFRvrEEfhjQ39XA-b4dj9QZwIUWW59J5QMxcAFCEcsGi33UkhQvvFsTbggO4yCDlSAhDF2G8T1S2DNbF-4edYgDiJbsw/s1600/img2.rtve.es.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvajIIqEaiekO5jpYMvUGLI6TF3NMxThBKYFN1qWA6vlYFRvrEEfhjQ39XA-b4dj9QZwIUWW59J5QMxcAFCEcsGi33UkhQvvFsTbggO4yCDlSAhDF2G8T1S2DNbF-4edYgDiJbsw/w380-h214/img2.rtve.es.jpg" width="380" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><p>The film also features some familiar faces from Almodóvar's past. <b>Rossy De Palma</b>, a stalwart in the director's list of films, received applause when she first appeared. Likewise, the audience also recognized the likes of <b>Julieta Serrano</b>, who is also an Almodóvar favorite going back to the days of Women/Breakdown.</p><p>The film was shot in the expected vivid, colorful palette of <b>José Luis Alcaine</b>, the director's longtime working cinematographer.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUfHtuRSHMbiwWBvXa73FO6PL-Tn-0BU8VEkxz3y2VFVyB6JUQaX6ZURBgF23UyXdGYXIUbfhFx7Ax3PmXjY5qYkzAUsErEmHqkCPStA0K5roUqe4ezZfCz50VxKcnThdN5ZusDA/s2016/245143369_10160123498352668_5799724534791196765_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUfHtuRSHMbiwWBvXa73FO6PL-Tn-0BU8VEkxz3y2VFVyB6JUQaX6ZURBgF23UyXdGYXIUbfhFx7Ax3PmXjY5qYkzAUsErEmHqkCPStA0K5roUqe4ezZfCz50VxKcnThdN5ZusDA/w367-h275/245143369_10160123498352668_5799724534791196765_n.jpg" width="367" /></a></div> The film will be released by <b>Sony Pictures Classics</b>, who have been by Almodóvar's side since the beginning. In his post talk, the director urged any Academy member in the audience to vote for this film, and if nominated, to vote for Milena Smit, who has clearly become Trilby to his Svengali. Something tells me that Ms. Smit is already a permanent member of the roster of Almodóvar's women, and that we are going to see a lot of her in the future. A star is born!<br /><p></p>Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-31451969747069819462021-10-03T07:11:00.006-05:002021-10-03T07:35:47.527-05:00"The French Dispatch" at the NY Film Festival<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQW257zCu9jkl225NV_7AuQZjkgLEeGpHURNkIACCXW8CZN-TTu-P0uu7406QUd7sQ6kjg2Gug_BygDoI7BG6b4ddqG2MWPsFXRUjRakkUTppZemGs89-b72E0-TZZfXstY9qQaQ/s2048/The+French+Dispatch.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1498" data-original-width="2048" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQW257zCu9jkl225NV_7AuQZjkgLEeGpHURNkIACCXW8CZN-TTu-P0uu7406QUd7sQ6kjg2Gug_BygDoI7BG6b4ddqG2MWPsFXRUjRakkUTppZemGs89-b72E0-TZZfXstY9qQaQ/w384-h281/The+French+Dispatch.jpg" width="384" /></a></div>With his familiar tongue-in-cheek deadpan that makes <b>Buster Keaton</b> appear like a loquacious lady at a garden party, <b>Wes Anderson</b> brings us his latest film, <b>The French Dispatch</b>, an anthology picture about an American expatriate magazine in the fictional French town of Ennui-sur-Blasé. <p></p><p>The movie is a loving Valentine to <b>The New Yorker</b> magazine as well as being filled with all kinds of homages to French cinema. The movie presents stories that go back to some famous articles that originally appeared in the pages of The New Yorker. For example, <b>Mavis Gallant</b>'s article "The Events in May: A Paris Notebook" about the student riots in 1968 serves as a vehicle for <b>Timothée Chalamet</b>, <b>Frances McDormand</b> and <b>Lyna Khoudri</b> to engage in a love triangle in the protest-filled streets of Paris, while Anderson channels the look and gritty black-and-white of <b>Jean-Luc Godard</b> and other members of the <b>Nouvelle Vague</b>.<br /></p><p>In another tangential vignette, <b>Jeffrey Wright</b> gives us an impersonation of a fictitious writer that mixes <b>James Baldwin</b> with a dash of food critic <b>AJ Liebling</b> as he recounts a story to TV host <b>Liev Schreiver</b> of a bizarre kidnapping that ends up turning into an animated sequence during the concluding minutes.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ZkyonclX10arMV0qwZxrYJ-fXYe5GpY5nut5rfxXMi7wp_jCAB6I7fwBaps2I_TGOyYkbsOkzIh7NrFUjpOeyxpgwupwJHyTwK0lrQqu2UTs3GwOFTXyBhJUh54QCMcb6JSnig/s1192/10-wes-anderson-inspired-fan-art-to-celebrate-the-french-dis_w1f1.h720.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="719" data-original-width="1192" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ZkyonclX10arMV0qwZxrYJ-fXYe5GpY5nut5rfxXMi7wp_jCAB6I7fwBaps2I_TGOyYkbsOkzIh7NrFUjpOeyxpgwupwJHyTwK0lrQqu2UTs3GwOFTXyBhJUh54QCMcb6JSnig/w361-h218/10-wes-anderson-inspired-fan-art-to-celebrate-the-french-dis_w1f1.h720.webp" width="361" /></a></div><p>In perhaps the most enjoyable section of the film<b>, Benicio Del Toro</b> is an incarcerated artist in love with a female prison guard, beautifully played by <b>Léa Seydoux</b>, while art dealer <b>Adrien Brody</b> lays some schemes to make money off the prisoner's art work. As he tells Del Toro's character “All artists sell their work. That’s what makes them artists.” The segment, also shot in black-and-white, brings to mind <b>Jean Renoir'</b>s film <b>Boudou Saved from Drowning</b>, and it is based on a 1951 New Yorker article by <b>SN Behrman</b> about shady art dealer <b>Lord Duveen</b>.</p><p>All the different segments always come back to the offices of the French Dispatch, whose editor-in-chief, played by <b>Bill Murray</b>, bears a more than slight resemblance to <b>Harold Ross</b>, The New Yorker's co-founder and fabled first editor. <br /></p><p>What binds all of this together is Anderson's love of the magazine and his love of France. From the point of view of cinema, the glue in this film is his, by now, familiar geometric mise-en-scène, which in this film he exploits to the nth degree. Arguably, this is the most Andersonian of all his films. Everything is neatly arranged within a frame whose aspect ratio, for reasons that remain unclear to me, keeps changing from academy ratio to widescreen. He used the same technique in his earlier film <b>The Grand Budapest Hotel</b>. If you dig his symmetrical, structural compositions you are in for a treat. However, after a while, the constant reliance on tableaux and strict visual order cries out for some good old fashion visual chaos. And although at times Anderson allows his brilliant cinematographer <b>Robert D. Yeoman</b> to hand-hold the camera, the Andersonian world must adhere to unity and order all the time.<br /></p>Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-41366505492495952582021-09-25T07:15:00.006-05:002021-09-25T07:21:23.478-05:00The Tragedy of Macbeth at the NY Film Festival<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkudXdrdR_Pduvd_ajPSUsKt7mKz559Ir1lFVdCULOuktXmaY1u5lJwDshypGVHNUiwa4avx3cQMCO_xZ_OEq-Km_jnIBqzhtX5YzGEy9GFzuUrXH4NUBuii_OO3EUmlv4gBxAgA/s2048/AP21266453178442.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1852" data-original-width="2048" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkudXdrdR_Pduvd_ajPSUsKt7mKz559Ir1lFVdCULOuktXmaY1u5lJwDshypGVHNUiwa4avx3cQMCO_xZ_OEq-Km_jnIBqzhtX5YzGEy9GFzuUrXH4NUBuii_OO3EUmlv4gBxAgA/s320/AP21266453178442.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> After a long time not posting on this blog, I am glad to say that I am back. Many things happened during that time. There were deaths in the family as well as COVID, which changed all our lives, and whose specter still has us in its grip. But last night, I saw a film that was so riveting that I feel compelled to come back to these old pages and share some of my ideas about it with all of you.<p></p><p>William Shakespeare's <b>Macbeth</b>, by my count, is the fourth time a major filmmaker attempts to adapt Shakespeare's arguably bloodiest, and also shortest of all his tragedies. This time around <b>Joel Cohen</b>, going solo after his brother <b>Ethan Coen</b> announced recently that he may be through with show business, has given us his interpretation of the Scottish play, and what an amazing visual feast it is.</p><p>The Coen brothers have always been very particular about the powerful images that grace their canvases. This time, Joel Cohen has decided to shoot the film in black and white and present it in Academy Ratio. This choice gives the film a timeless look. It makes us think of <b>Orson Welles</b>'s moody, shadow-filled film interpretation of this play. Or perhaps, <b>Akira Kurosawa</b>'s brilliant <b>Throne of Blood</b>, where the setting shifted to feudal Japan. Thanks to the brilliant cinematographer <b>Bruno Delbonnel</b> the images transport us to another time. The whole production was shot in sound stages making even exterior
shots seem oppressive and lacking any true daylight. The sun never
shines in this production (does it ever really shine in Scotland?), and
this is another aspect of this production that works well.<br /></p><p>Comparing it to other genres, this film brings to mind the brooding atmosphere of <b>Laurence Olivier</b>'s <b>Hamlet</b> as well as the look of a <b>Val Lewton</b> horror film. Actually, to be more precise, and fitting, this movie looks like a medieval <b>Film Noir</b>. And given the Bard's plot involving a woman urging her husband to commit murder, as Joel Cohen noted in the Q&A that followed yesterday's showing of the film at the <b>New York Film Festival</b>, this comparison is quite apt. The <b>Double Indemnity</b>, black widow, pulp vibe of Shakespeare's play was one of the things that drew Mr. Coen to this project.<br /></p><p>Our childhood reading of this play constantly brings us back to the Bard. Macbeth is my favorite Shakespeare play. It is also a favorite of <b>Frances McDormand </b>who plays Lady Macbeth in this film. I read this work in junior year of high school, Ms. McDormand revealed last night that she was asked to recite the sleepwalking scene during her early school days. For <b>Denzel Washington</b>, who plays the title role, his introduction to Shakespeare happened while he was a pre-med major at <b>Fordham University</b> at Lincoln Center. At the urging of his teacher and mentor <b>Robert Stone</b> (who was also my teacher) he played the title role in <b>Othello</b> on the Fordham stage. The rest is history.<br /></p><p>Personally, I always love to see what directors do with the roles of the witches. In the groundbreaking stage production of the 1930's, which moved the setting to Haiti, director Orson Welles and producer <b>John Houseman</b> hired Haitian Voodoo witch doctors to play these parts. In this film, <b>Kathryn Hunter</b> assumes all three roles, and all I can tell you is that you will not soon forget her. She is a subtle, weird presence on the screen, and thus really terrifying: the stuff of nightmares.</p><p>The leading roles are masterfully handled. Mr. Washington is a capable Shakespearean as he has proven many times in the past, and Ms. McDormand, who has played her role on stage, is really a wonder to behold in this film. I was a severe critic of her performance in <b>Nomadland</b>, which was filled with way too many of her own personal mannerisms and thus never allowed me to fully enter into the story. Here, by contrast, she assumes the role of Lady Macbeth and magic happens: Frances McDormand, the producer and Oscar-winning actress disappears. </p><p>But ultimately, it is the directorial work of Joel Cohen, going solo for the first time, which is the big winner here. The entire movie is filled with images you will not soon forget. There is one shot in particular during Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking scene that is as brilliant as anything that cinematographer <b>Gregg Toland</b> achieved for Welles in <b>Citizen Kane</b>.</p><p>Last night, while Mr. Coen was presenting his work, he<i> </i>noted a longstanding
superstition connected to the play. “You probably know it. You’re not
supposed to speak the name lest some horrible catastrophe befall you or
the production. This is a superstition that all of us making the movie
blithely ignored until Friday the 13<sup>th</sup> of March, 2020. Then
we all got religion and after months passed and the show finally got
back on its feet we started referring to it simply as ‘the tragedy,’” he
said,</p><p>He ended his remarks by saying “I’d like to point out that just because it’s a tragedy doesn’t mean you can’t have a good time. So enjoy the tragedy.”</p><p>You too will be able to enjoy this <b>Apple Original Films</b> and <b>A24</b> terrific production when the film officially opens at the end of the year.<br /></p>Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-55593363446314757252020-07-25T16:27:00.000-05:002020-07-25T16:27:04.571-05:00Bayreuth 2020<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Bayreuth</b> 2020 has been canceled due to COVID-19, but music will continue over the Internet. Below is the complete schedule of the alternate Bayreuth Festival 2020. <br />
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There will be a live event featuring conductor Christian Thielemann with members of the Festival Orchestral alongside <strong>Camilla Nylund</strong> and <strong>Klaus Florian Vogt</strong>.<br />
<strong>Performance Date: </strong><em>July 25, 2020</em><br />
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Simon Steen-Andersen will present “<strong>The Loop of the Nibelung,</strong>”
an audiovisual exploration of the Bayreuth Festival Hall featuring
music by Wagner with singers and members of the Festival Orchestra. The
concert will be streamed on the official website and BR-Klassik Concert
page.<br />
<strong>Performance / Streaming Date: </strong><em>July 28, 2020</em><br />
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The company will present three different productions of the Ring from 2013, 1988, and 1976. Audiences will get to check out the<strong> Castorf version </strong>from 2013 on BR-Klassik.<br />
<strong>Streaming Date: </strong><em>July 25-28, 2020</em><br />
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<strong>Patrice Chéreau and Pierre Boulez’s iconic 1976 “Ring</strong>” will be shown on ARD-alpha and BR-Klassikon.<br />
<strong>Streaming Date:</strong> <em>August 7, 2020</em><br />
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<strong>Finally, Kupfer’s 1988 version </strong>of the “Cycle” will be presented via <a href="https://www.3sat.de/" target="_blank">3sat media library</a>, <a href="https://www.br-klassik.de/themen/bayreuther-festspiele/index.html" target="_blank">br-klassik.de</a>, and the official <a href="https://www.bayreuther-festspiele.de/" target="_blank">Bayreuth Festival website</a>.<br />
<strong>Streaming Date: </strong><em>July 25, 2020</em><br />
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In addition to presenting the three Rings, the company will also present a 1958 production of “<strong>Lohengrin</strong>” by André Cluytens on BR-Klassik.<br />
<strong>Streaming Date: </strong><em>July 29, 2020</em><br />
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Herbert von Karajan’s 1952 “<strong>Tristan und Isolde</strong>” will be broadcast on BR-Klassik.<br />
<strong>Streaming Date: </strong><em>July 30, 2020</em><br />
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Additionally, BR-Klassik and the Bayreuth Festival will
present videos such as “Opera crash course Wagner, “Classic Shorts,”
“The Ring Profiles,” and “Wagner ABCs.”Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-42202166499900375102020-07-13T10:10:00.002-05:002020-07-13T11:30:40.358-05:00The Washington Red Tails?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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With the COVID-19 pandemic raging around the country, and all sorts of sports having to take a back seat to health and safe hygiene requirements, the 2020-2021 <b>NFL</b> season is now faced with a new chapter in this unusual summer. The current civil rights movement has forced the owners of the the <b>Washington Redskins</b> team to reconsider their name, and the possible offense it causes Native Americans. Today it was announced that the team will change their name; a name that the team has had for the past 87 years. The early twentieth century saw a host of professional and non-professional teams adopt names that played on the popular image of the Native American. Now, the early years of the twenty-first century is catching up with this racist practice, and teams are beginning to see the wisdom of getting rid of the offending names. These decisions have often not been very popular ones, especially among conservatives. And let's face it, the game of football is arguably, more than any other sport, connected to age-old conservative politics, and many times it veers into jingoistic shows of patriotism and militarism. Just listen to <b>George Carlin</b>'s classic monologue about the differences between football and baseball and you'll get the idea.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIRVR0GDWYm3AxG7NdFPPcfuVv3evEIHMvPyK-BtxtBXEOQRXd5KHSOAABK2didjkPribEurYa-Rq_Ufy7jPtgMhZ5Ldv6IysuqH1EDKlmD7CwZ4BizZHIe3tqHKA2SZFiOWY2fA/s1600/91XBX7yRvOL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1086" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIRVR0GDWYm3AxG7NdFPPcfuVv3evEIHMvPyK-BtxtBXEOQRXd5KHSOAABK2didjkPribEurYa-Rq_Ufy7jPtgMhZ5Ldv6IysuqH1EDKlmD7CwZ4BizZHIe3tqHKA2SZFiOWY2fA/s320/91XBX7yRvOL._SL1500_.jpg" width="230" /></a> A few years ago, <b>John's University</b> decided to change the name of their team, the Redmen, despite the fact that the university claimed that the name originated, not in Native American culture, but in the fact that the athletes wore red. This explanation did not really hold water, for the mascot of the team was a cigar store statue of a Native American whom the students nicknamed "Chief BlackJack." Since 1994 the team has been known as "The Red Storm."<br />
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If you are a <b>Cleveland Indians</b> fan you know about Chief Wahoo. The mascot, a blood-red face of a Native American with the widest grin you ever saw, was eliminated in 2018. The question is, during these revolutionary times, will the team continue to be called the "Indians?"<br />
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So, now that the name "storm" has already been taken, what will the new Washington football team be called? Many are hinting at the name "The Washington Red Tails," as a homage to the <b>Tuskegee Airmen</b>, a group of African American U.S. Air Force servicemen who served honorably in World War II. You might remember that there was a film made with <b>Cuba Gooding, Jr</b>. about these American heroes. The film presented the story of a group of men who were largely forgotten during the Jim Crow period of American history. The name "Red Tails" would appease those who believe that the name Redskins is offensive, it would be in keeping with the #BlackLivesMatter movement, and it would satisfy those who see the relationship between the sport and the military.<br />
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The only thing I see that might be a drawback to their name change is the actual name itself. For instance, take the <b>New York Jets</b>. Their name implies speed and modernity. Whether or not their "flight plan' has been that successful in the recent past seasons is another story. However, what images do you get when you consider that the Red Tails were P-51 Mustangs propeller planes? Can these relics of aviation offer any hope of speed and power in today's NFL, or is merely the romanticizing of their World War II endeavors enough to drive the new team forward?<br />
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With the NFL season only a few weeks away, the team better decide, and quick. Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-27952145345730806752020-07-08T20:27:00.000-05:002020-07-08T20:27:35.172-05:00Ciao, Ennio<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Ennio Morricone</b>, the composer of 400 film scores among them <b>The Good, The Bad and the Ugly</b>, <b>Once Upon a Time in America</b>, <b>Once Upon a Time in the West</b>, <b>The Mission</b> and the remake of <b>The Thing</b> died on July 6. One of the great composers for the movies, what would the Spaghetti Westerns of director <b>Sergio Leone</b> be without the iconoclastic musical scores that Mr. Morricone created. He turned the American West into a landscape where duels turned into operatic arias. It was never about the gunshots, but instead about the long moments leading to the gunshots that both Leone and Morricone relished.<br />
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So close was their partnership (only equaled perhaps by <b>Eisenstein</b> and <b>Prokofiev</b> in <b>Alexander Nevsky</b>) that Leone created sequences just to feature the inventive music of Mr. Morricone. Just think of that marvelous sequence in Once Upon a Time in the West when mail-order bride <b>Claudia Cardinale</b> arrives by train to meet her future husband and his family, who have all been already gunned down by bad guy <b>Henry Fonda</b>. The sequence is pure Morricone: wordless, lyrical. It makes time stand still.<br />
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But he could turn from the baroque excesses of some of his western scores to the minimalism of John Carpenter's The Thing, where two beating chords, like an alien heartbeat is the driving music motif in the film:</div>
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But perhaps, arguably the most memorable Morricone composition is his score for The Mission, <b>Roland Joffé'</b>s 1986 film about the Jesuits and their efforts to convert the Guarani people of South America. I remember quite well Oscar night when Morricone was nominated for this brilliant score. He did not win. <b>Clint Eastwood</b>'s <b>Charlie Parker</b> biopic, <b>Bird</b>, with music by Lennie Niehaus beat him. I was disappointed, I'm sure Mr Morricone was, even more so.</div>
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The last time that American audiences were treated to a Morricone score was in <b>Quentin Tarantino</b>'s western <b>The Hateful Eight</b>. This award winning score was the first time that Mr. Morricone had composed music for a western since 1981. </div>
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Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-54312437032668268952020-07-07T09:30:00.000-05:002020-07-07T09:30:15.933-05:00No San Fermín<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today would have been the first day of Spain's annual celebration of men (and women) with balls big enough to run in front of a pack of wild animals with razor sharp horns. The running of the bulls, as most people know it in America, or the feast of <b>San Fermín</b>, is a celebration that runs from July 7-14 in the town of <b>Pamplona</b>, in the Basque country. The "encierro," which is the actual running through the streets of the old town, happens every morning of the feast. In the evening, those same bulls will be the featured stars of the bull fights that will take place every day of the feast. There is a raucous atmosphere at these "corridas" with much singing, eating and drinking throughout the event. At the end of the seven days the people of Pamplona sing the "Pobre de mi," the "Woe is Me" song that signals the end of the feast.<br />
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This year they have the right to sing this song from the start of the feast because the whole thing is cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. <br />
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Nonetheless, a handful of people of Pamplona gathered yesterday in front City Hall to put on their red bandannas around their necks, just as if the feast had been starting. There was, however, no "chupinazo," the yearly launching of a rocket from the balcony of the mayor's office that signals the start of the feast. Below is a report about these events:<br />
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Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-39702716435382623882020-07-03T17:58:00.001-05:002020-07-03T18:01:03.810-05:00Hamilton on Disney+<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Is this the right time to show <b>Hamilton</b> on the new streaming service, <b>Disney+</b>? Months ago, maybe even weeks ago it would have been the perfect addition to a Fourth of July weekend. But after the <b>George Floyd</b> murder and the countless demonstrations that the country has endured, is a<b> </b>musical about a founding father whose views on slavery were, at best, troublesome the politically correct entertainment that Disney was hoping for?<br />
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On the one hand, it is glorious that the show was captured live on the stage of the Richard Rodgers Theatre before the original cast disbanded. Generations to come will have a chance to debate this hip-hop recreation of <b>Alexander Hamilton</b>'s life as they watch a pristine 4K capture, showing up close the performances of the show's composer lyricist <b>Lin-Manuel Miranda</b>, but of the many actors who started out as virtual unknown and became stars during the initial run of the play: <b>Leslie Odom, Jr.</b> as Aaron Burr, <b>Anthony Ramos</b> as John Laurens, <b>Daveed Diggs</b> as the Marquis de Lafayette, and <b>Phillipa Soo </b>who plays Eliza Schuyler.<br />
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After a statue of <b>George Washington</b> was pulled down in Portland, Oregon by angry protesters, having the first president of the United States dramatized and fictionalized in the musical will not please everybody. Of course, the role is played by <b>Christopher Jackson</b>, an actor who considers himself African-American. Although I'm sure he is proud of his work, and his association with Miranda (they go way back to Miranda's first show <b>In the Heights</b>), I wonder what his feelings are about playing a slave owner in this new normal society?<br />
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The racial terrain of the United States is more troubled than ever. <b>Trump</b> will be at the Mount Rushmore monument for a Fourth of July fireworks show this weekend. Will the monument be the cause of controversy as the president of the United States stands under the visage of those former presidents whose statues have come down recently?Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-36602429018750590762020-06-30T06:10:00.001-05:002020-06-30T06:10:28.669-05:00New Woody Allen movie at San Sebastian Film Fest<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqETUJrewl1nkCq2znRvDX9LYHub6EUdu6ScjVKJdsqe31x9XQqZDwBVQZfi1kWOFNq2anFQtNRmskzVMQUUMZ-h2LBZ2iOyJqZjbCoaG6apyUN72G9oq8t8vFClRCEjZk19wA2w/s1600/a337daf1a2b78efb533252f14ec8b62aa9234fda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="511" data-original-width="768" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqETUJrewl1nkCq2znRvDX9LYHub6EUdu6ScjVKJdsqe31x9XQqZDwBVQZfi1kWOFNq2anFQtNRmskzVMQUUMZ-h2LBZ2iOyJqZjbCoaG6apyUN72G9oq8t8vFClRCEjZk19wA2w/s320/a337daf1a2b78efb533252f14ec8b62aa9234fda.jpg" width="320" /></a><b>Rifkin's Festival</b> is <b>Woody Allen</b>'s new film, and it will premiere at the <b>San Sebastian Film Festival</b>. Since Spain has been able to flatten the COVID-19 curve and lower it, the festival is set to go in September. According to <b>Yahoo News</b>, the film was "shot last summer in and around the northern seaside resort itself, the
story centers on an American couple who come to its international film
festival and are swept up by the fantasy of cinema and the charm and
beauty of Spain." The movie stars Austrian actor <b>Christoph Waltz</b>, and American <b>Gina Gershon</b>.<br />
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Woody Allen was greeted with protests last year when he was shooting the film. As Yahoo News reports "The screening will be a significant moment for Allen who's seen his
career stalled as a result of the #MeToo movement against sexual
harassment, which revived decades-old allegations he sexually abused his
adopted seven-year-old daughter in the early 1990s."<br />
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He has denied all claims which were first leveled by his
then-partner <b>Mia Farrow</b>. Mr. Allen was cleared of the charges following a series of <br />
investigations.<br />
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Yahoo News goes on to report that "the sexual harassment firestorm has fueled a growing backlash against him and last year his most recent
romantic comedy <b>A Rainy Day in New York</b> ended up being released in
various European and Latin American countries rather than in the US."Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-39272724034442571482020-06-20T10:51:00.002-05:002020-06-20T10:51:37.506-05:00Ian Holm: Dead at 88<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sir <b>Ian Holm</b>, one of the great British actors of stage and screen, died yesterday at the age of 88. That memorable, even disgusting picture above is from one of Sir Ian's greatest successes: <b>Ridley Scott</b>'s magnificent sci-fi shocker <b>Alien</b>, in which he plays the mischievous, scheming android Ash, who ends up in pieces towards the end of the film. But he also had the ability to play less showy roles and still leave a memorable mark on the screen. I'm thinking about his incredible performance as Sam Mussabini, the track coach who trains <b>Ben Cross</b>, in 1981's<b> Chariots of Fire</b>. It was a subtle, beautiful performance that won him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting actor.<br />
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In 1985 he graced the screen with what is perhaps his most complex character in <b>Mike Newell</b>'s neo-noir <b>Dance With a Stranger</b>. Sir Ian nearly stole the picture as a humiliated gentleman caller, emasculated by <b>Miranda Richardson'</b>s Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in England. <br />
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Sir Ian's recent performances included Bilbo Baggins in <b>Peter Jackson</b>'s <b>Lord of the Rings</b> and <b>Hobbit</b> films, as well as <b>David Cronenberg</b>'s <b>Naked Lunch</b>, and <b>Martha Fiennes</b>'s <b>Chromophobia</b>, in which he had a comic sex scene with <b>Penélope Cruz</b>.<br />
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In today's obituary <b>Peter Bradshaw</b> wrote in <b>The Guardian</b> that "there was always a cool, rational, weighted intelligence in Ian Holm. On screen, he was never exactly a heart-on-sleeve performer; he did not
need or even appear to want the audience’s sympathies. Holm could be a
mandarin and almost priestly presence, but always with a pressure cooker
of emotion inside. He brought a commanding strength and a stillness to
his work, a less-is-more economy that gave him what few theatrical
knights have had since Olivier: equal success on stage and screen. He
was a character actor with star quality."Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-71588067899276345302020-06-18T06:30:00.002-05:002020-06-18T06:30:30.796-05:00No Wagner at the Green Hill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The year 2020 will be remembered not only because the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the <b>Bayreuth Festival</b> to close its doors for the first time since World War II, but, as of this writing, this is the first time that a Wagner has not been at the helm of the<b> </b>yearly<b> Richard Wagner </b>celebration. In early April, the management of the festival announced that <b>Katharina Wagner,</b> great-granddaughter of the composer, was suffering from a "long-term illness" which has forced her to leave her position as artistic director of the festival.<br />
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Since 2008, Ms. Wagner has been at the helm of the festival her great-grandfather founded – initially with
her half-sister <b>Eva Wagner-Pasquier</b> as co-director, and since 2015 she has bared that responsibility alone.<br />
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Over the years, It has also become very noticeable that Ms. Wagner has gained a considerable amount of weight -- never a good thing. The pressures of the job, no doubt, as well as the natural aging process have surely been responsible for this. It could be, perhaps, that her illness, whatever that is, has something to do with it. Reports from Bayreuth assure the public that Ms. Wagner's illness is not related to the Coronavirus outbreak.Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-30873492692709480012020-06-14T19:26:00.000-05:002020-06-14T19:35:19.753-05:00The Castorf Ring is on YouTube<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJWpVtAJEGOy5bos0L1EUh9oUnb-SAwd5zycR6uT_Ay2Zf9iVKYUmqXro9ZJVaS8yKR-eHLMzypJRobJffbOJTO5pBVIR75A0zU4oJ7LeWvZri0rgqX2tjspFAnd1XSq09pPxJbw/s1600/42013Giants+take+Freia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="940" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJWpVtAJEGOy5bos0L1EUh9oUnb-SAwd5zycR6uT_Ay2Zf9iVKYUmqXro9ZJVaS8yKR-eHLMzypJRobJffbOJTO5pBVIR75A0zU4oJ7LeWvZri0rgqX2tjspFAnd1XSq09pPxJbw/s400/42013Giants+take+Freia.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Perhaps no production of <b>The Ring of the Nibelung</b> at <b>Bayreuth</b> has caused so much controversy in the last two decades as <b>Frank Castorf</b>'s staging of <b>Richard Wagner</b>'s tetralogy. Before he came to the Green Hill to stage Wagner's epic work, Castorf was well-known in Germany for his avant-garde productions at Berlin's second largest state-owned theater, the <b><i>Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz</i></b><i>. </i><b>Katharina Wagner</b> knew exactly what she was getting when she hired him.<i> </i>His production of <b>Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg</b> at the Volksbühne,
for example, used only one opera singer (the rest were vocally
untrained actors) and the opera narrative was often interrupted by
readings of texts by <b>Ernst Toller</b>, a Jewish writer who
managed to escape Nazi Germany, and who later committed suicide by
hanging himself in a New York City hotel room in 1939. As a result of this production, Castorf's contract at Bayreuth included a clause forbidding him to tamper with Wagner's original words or music.<br />
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But that did not stop Mr. Castorf to change just about everything else in the four part music drama. <b>Das Rheingold</b> took place in the USA along Route 66 at a cheap motel. <b>Die Walküre</b>'s drama was moved to the oil fields of Azerbaijan, while <b>Siegfried</b> took place under a fictitious Mount Rushmore that replaced the American presidents with famous communist leaders, and <b>Götterdämmerung </b>featured Berlin's Alexanderplatz with its famous World Clock filled, not with tourists, but hungry crocodiles.<br />
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What did it all mean? I saw the production in 2017 on my second trip to Bayreuth. By this time the knowledgeable Bayreuth audience knew what to expect. Gone were the boos of opening night that erupted most violently during the premiere of Siegfried. Audiences were not ready for the title character to kill Fafner with a very loud machine gun, and they were not ready to see a nest of reptiles invade Berlin trying desperately to eat the Forest Bird (who is not even supposed to be in the third act!). In 2017 the boos were gone, and so was Castorf who did not take a vow during any of the four evening that I attended.</div>
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What Castorf did was to take Wagner's music and adapted it to his own strange story. He even added a mute character throughout the four nights who resembled <b>Squiggy</b>, the funny character played by <b>David Lander</b> in the ABC sitcom <b>Laverne and Shirley</b>.</div>
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Just to prove that I'm not making any of this up, you can see the whole bloody thing for yourself. The production has appeared on <b>YouTube</b>, and if you are interested in Wagner (which is why you are here!), and especially if modern opera stagings are your cup of tea, take a look at the embedded Youtube links I have provided.<br />
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I suggest you go to it right away. These videos tend to disappear overnight rather fast because, perhaps, they should have never been uploaded in the first place. But such is the nature of the Internet. Enjoy this production, if such a thing is possible. Oh, and by the way, if you close your eyes you will hear some marvelous singing in all the operas. And maybe this is the best way to "enjoy" Castorf's Ring.<br />
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Does anybody know if there are plans to release this Ring on DVD/BluRay? <br />
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Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10018924.post-28709244491047749052020-06-11T14:02:00.001-05:002020-06-11T14:07:10.834-05:00Not Diverse Enough<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm not a very avid or faithful TV watcher. I never saw <b>Friends</b>, but I hear today that its creator, <b>Marta Kauffman</b> is apologizing for her show because it was not diverse enough. This is what she said at the virtual <b>ATX TV Festival</b>: <br />
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"I wish I knew then what I know today." Sorry, I just wish I knew then what I know now. I
would've made very different decisions. I mean
we've always encouraged people of diversity in our company, but I
didn't do enough and now all I can think about is what can I do?"</div>
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Can't do much about her old show, I'm afraid. She created a show that was part of her reality at that time, for the then reality of the country. Diversity, for better or worse, might not have been a driving force towards the success of the series given her target audience. Like I stated earlier, I never saw the show, but the cast picture above surely tells me that it was a show created by and for a certain young, white audience. So, I'm not really sure why Ms. Kauffman is apologizing now, other than to be topical, and to show that she really cares about the current cause.</div>
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Given the new normal, in the near future we might just hear "mea culpas" from <b>Jerry Seinfeld</b> and <b>Larry David</b>. Although, somehow, I just can't see Larry apologizing.</div>
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And surely don't expect an apology from <b>David Chase</b>, creator of <b>The Sopranos</b>... you don't want to get whacked do you? I'm currently discovering this <b>HBO</b> series (like I stated before I am not an avid or faithful friend of TV) and in one of the episodes of the second season two armed African-American criminals steal a car, and force a mafioso and his family (and their pet dog) out of the vehicle. The wiseguy reacts by exploding with the line "Fucking N*****s!"</div>
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Would that line have made it past the writer's room these days?</div>
Vincent Vargashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743915066238858029noreply@blogger.com0