Vicky Cristina Barcelona: latest Woody Allen film

There was a time when Woody Allen mattered. When one of his new movie came out, you had to see it on the first day (for fear that everyone would spoil the jokes for you), and preferably you had to see it on the Upper East Side (like at the Beekman Theater) where it didn't matter that you had to wait on line for hours. His movies spoke to audiences with a high-brow comic clarity that was unique in cinema. We understood his language and he defenitely spoke ours. His likes and dislikes were pretty much ours as well, and the relationship between artist and audience which began in the late 1970s, survived almost intact until Shadows and Fog (1992), to my mind, the film that detached him from his audience. His greatness is that he keeps on making films, although his audience of disciples seems to be shrinking.

In his latest film Vicky Cristina Barcelona, he essentially explores the impossibility of living "a trois," as he traces the triangles and quadrangles of the geometry of love. He travels to the lovely city of Barcelona, which his cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe has lit with lovely golden sunset colors, in order to narrate the story of how two American tourists (Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall) meet Juan Antonio, a Spaniard artist and bon-vivant (Javier Bardem), and how their lives are forever changed when Juan Antonio's former wife (Penélope Cruz) arrives on the scene. Surrounded by all the modernista Antoní Gaudí architecture Allen seems to be an ageless tourist with a passion for life and an uncanny eye for beauty, whether that be the neo-barroque curves of Catalan arquitecture or the heavenly bodies of the three main female stars.

For all its charming qualities, the film feels at times like a beta version of François Truffaut's Jules and Jim -- arguably the director's greatest, and most romantic film. Allen is no stranger to postmodernism, and has always been ready to pay homage to the giants on whose shoulders he likes to stand: Federico Fellini, once in a while, and more often, Ingmar Bergman. In Vicky Cristina Barcelona, he yearns to channel the spirit of the French New Wave complete with scenes of couples bike riding in a pastoral countryside, and a narrator who tells us more often than not what we already know or what we could have figured out for ourselves. But the spirit of Truffaut's film is ellusive and hard to capture. Truffaut's work is essentially grand and tragic, and in this film Allen is unable or unwilling to escape his comic background. This makes Allen's film feel inferior and light by comparison, and the end result is a bittersweet movie which aims high but falls short of the mark it might have intended.

The cast is just right, though, and whatever enjoyment you can get out of this film is attributed to their performances. Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz are perfectly cast as the Barcelonian artist couple. It is great to see Bardem playing a likeable character once again after his Academy Award performance in No Country for Old Men. Likewise, Penélope Cruz is perfect in the part of the "other woman." The Spanish banter between them when they fight (which sounded improvised) was delicious, although it would have been more believable had they been able to do it in Catalan.

Scarlet Johannson is now enthroned as Woody Allen's muse (rivalring Leonardo Di Caprio for Martin Scorsese) with a total of three films for the director. As the outright winner of the judgement of Woody, the golden apple that this goddess received is her ticket to join the list of Lasser, Keaton, and Farrow. As of yet, of course, there are no believable romantic rumors between director and star, and I hope that it continues this way. Better a Svengali-Trilby relationship for this Hollywood couple than to see Woody Allen displayed on the pages of the New York Post all over again.

I enjoyed Vicky Cristina Barcelona, but because of its imperefections I did not love it. One thing's for sure: the film's images continue to linger in my mind, and something tells me that they might be deepening with time.

HAIR in Central Park

The Public Theater is ending its summer Shakespare in the Park season at the Delacorte Theater with an awesome production of one of their own creations: 1967's Hair. Billed as the "American Tribal Love Rock Musical," Hair was the first show mounted by producer Joseph Papp after he bought the old Astor Library on Lafayette Street and converted it into The Public Theater. In 1968, the musical moved to Broadway (featuring such unknowns at the time as Ben Vereen, Melba Moore, and Diane Keaton), where it played a smash run of 1, 750 performances, was a critical and popular hit, and forever changed the landscape of the American musical.

Hair is a landmark work. When you consider some of the other offerings of the Great White Way at that time: Fiddler on the Roof, George M, and Zorba, the tribe of hippies that landed at the Biltmore Theatre must have looked to the average theater-goer of that time like an invasion from another planet. But make no mistake about it, Hair accomplished many things that no other musical had even attempted. It was one of the first to use rock as the musical idiom of choice, it featured a racially integrated cast, it called for young people to use drugs, rebel against society and adopt as a lifestyle all aspects of the sexual and drug revolution that characterize the 1960's.

This musical is the spiritual granddaddy of many successful shows that could not have been created had Hair not paved the way for them. A Chorus Line (a show that also began its life at the Public), Rent, and Spring Awakening are three works that come to mind immediately.

This production at the Delacorte is Hair's first major New York production since its initial run. This revival shares a powerful link with the original production. Not only is it a Public Theater production, but the work's inherent anti-war message speaks very clearly to us in our post 9/11 world.

Removed from its time, but with a clear voice for a new generation, the show might look a bit too manicured and polished for my taste. I remember the 1960's as a bit more gritty. Still, the young cast is a joy to see, and the energy level is so high that their enthusiasm becomes infectious. All the old songs are there: the great classics like "Aquarius" and "Good Morning, Starshine," as well as the sillier ones like "Frank Mills," which I have always argued is the most curious song ever written for a Broadway musical.

Hair saves its most powerful moments for the end. The closing moments of this work are some of the most powerful I have seen in quite a while, and this production manages a memorable coup de théâtre with the song "Let the Sunshine In." I dare anyone not to be moved, enthralled, and even angered during the closing bars of this score.

This production is so wonderfully polished, though, that I hope there is a future for it on Broadway. Come award time, I can even see it winning best revival, even though the original production was not even nominated for any Tony award. Will it come to Broadway? Well, let's just say that if there is a Republican win in November, then we really need this production of Hair, with its message of love and peace, to come to Broadway immediately to rescue us.

Katharina's Meistersinger: Year Two

This year the Bayreuth Festival took the show on the road to city plazas and home computers near you. During the spring months leading up to the festival, the Bayreuth website was updated to include information in German and English, and in the weeks prior to opening night virtual tickets were sold (at the price of 49 euros) to view a telecast straight from the stage of the Festspielhaus. The result was that thousands were able to experience Katharina Wagner's controversial staging of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg through their computer in a live video webcast. In addition, a large screen set up outdoors in one of Bayreuth's squares presented the performance to an estimated 35,000 spectators.

This is the second year for this Meistersinger, and those of you who read this column regularly will remember that I blogged extensively about this new production last year, basing my reports on whatever information I could get my hands on: mostly still pictures and various reviews from many periodicals. This year, however, I was able to actually see the work itself (via the webcast) and my conclusion is that this production has to be seen to be believed.

I wish that they would have done a webcast like this for Christoph Schlingensief's infamous production of Parsifal, which lived its short lifespan on the Green Hill amid jeers and loud boos. That certainly was a stage work that demanded to be seen as well as heard, although its enemies will argue that it never should have seen the light of day. Wagner's famous idea of "total art work" demands that the visual element be as important as the music. In this respect, this year's computerized marriage of audio and visuals brings Bayreuth to a larger public in a way that Wagner himself might have approved.

While on the subject of approval: I am not sure that Wagner would approve or even understand what is currently passing as his Meistersinger at Bayreuth these days. If you know the work and have grown up with a traditional staging of it, such as the Otto Schenk staging at the MET, this production contains so many "what the f**k" moments that save for the music it is really impossible to recognize Katharina's production as a Richard Wagner opera.

This staging is so different and shocking that the feeling you get is that you are watching a whole new work. Turn down the sound and you won't recognize what opera you are watching from the staging. There is very little of Die Meistersinger in this Meistersinger. Transposed to modern times, the old singers are now academic gown-wearing teachers in an art school where the pupils wear drab uniforms. Hans Sachs is a chain-smoking, nonconformist writer who likes to walk around in his bare feet, while Walther is a paint-splashing SoHo "Aktionkunstler" who bears more than a slight resemblance to Schlingensief himself.

Given these inherent changes, there is very little in the opera that can be presented in any way resembling the traditional way, and Katharina makes sure that tradition is thrown to the four winds at every turn. In Act II, for instance, sneakers rain down on the performers while Sixtus Beckmesser practices his song with Hans Sachs, and the act ends with an uproarious melee featuring, among many things, half-naked men wearing giant Campbell soup cans on their heads. As if this was not enough, Ms. Wagner leaves the best for last. In Act III, during the introduction of the various guilds, Ms. Wagner stages a sort of dream sequence where big-head caricatures of famous Germans suggestively play with each other while topless show girls attempt to give Hans Sachs a lap dance. During the song contest, Beckmesser sings his half-learned nonsensical tune wearing a Dr. Frankenstein apron while bringing to life a naked man who rises out of a bed of dirt like a newly awakened golem. By the end of the opera Hans Sachs and Walther have both turned into suit-wearing conservative while Beckmesser, wearing a black t-shirt with the English words "Beck in Town," has transformed himself into a radical.

Although everything is pretty imaginative in an absurd kind of way, there is really nothing here that remotely has anything to do with Wagner's original story. The production ends up suffering because it tries to incorporate too much of everything, and nothing of what it puts in was intended to be there in the first place. Katharina's theater is one of provocation making her the absolute center of attention. "Look, everybody," she seems to be saying, "I'm here, I've arrived, daddy is stepping down, and I'm running the show now!" The boos that greeted her curtain call appearance were as loud as those heard when Schlingensief stepped before the curtain after the first performance of his 2004 Parsifal; and like Schlingensief, Katharina Wagner seemed to relish the audience's disapproval of her work. The more they boo the greater the provocation, and therefore the greater the success. The icing on the cake is that everybody got to see it live around the world; and for those who missed it, the DVD comes out just in time for Christmas 2008.

To be totally fair about it, the production is never dull, and when it does come out on home video you might want to pick it up to see what the hullabaloo is all about. It is a wacky look at Wagner's human comedy, and Katharina makes it even more human than we thought possible. It certainly is not one for the ages, but it does introduce the next generation of the Wagner family that will run the festival, and that alone makes it an important piece of history.

Parsifal at Bayreuth: Calling All Angels

As I listen to Robert Dean Smith and Iréne Theorin (singing beautifully with a cold!) ignite the Bayreuth Festival in Tristan und Isolde, I would like to post some information about yesterday's new production of Parsifal.

A big reason why WagnerOperas exists is due to a large part to my interest towards the Christoph Schlingensief production of Parsifal that has been replaced this year. That production was perhaps the most controversial that Bayreuth ever witnessed, and year after year it was booed so riotously that the performers must have felt some kind of indignation towards the audience. Of course, as Alex Ross music critic of The New Yorker noted in his initial review of this production back in 2004 that's exactly the kind of thing that the director was aiming for in the first place: "the provocateur will always have the upper hand against the provoked. 'If my enemies shout ‘boo’ at the première, then all is in order,' Schlingensief (said). Indeed, when the curtain fell, the audience responded with the loudest, lustiest boos I’ve heard outside of Yankee Stadium. Less than a third of the audience applauded when Schlingensief took his bow. In other words, a triumph."

Now the Schlingensief production is history, and it has been replaced with a new staging from Norwegian director Stefan Herheim. I know little about him, except that his background is both musical and theatrical: he studied the cello in his youth, and later toured Norway and Germany with his own puppet theater. His concept for this production (as best as I can tell from the pictures and from the reviews and interviews) is a kind of time travel through the history of Germany, starting at Wahnfried and ending in the rubble of the Reichstag after World War II.

As you examine the photographs of this production you will also find many winged characters. Most notably, Kundry, sung by Mihoko Fujimura, is dressed like Marlene Dietrich, straight from the film Morocco, complete with top hat and tails. The addition of a huge pair of wings on her back however is more reminiscent of Bruno Ganz in Wim Wenders's great film Wings of Desire.

In a recent interview, Herheim promised that his vision of Parsifal would be controversial. Perhaps, but you couldn't tell from the opening night audience reaction. After the first act there was only one person booing, and he was rapidly out-shouted by roars of applause, cheers, and bravos. As the evening continued, the loud approvals became even more evident. Whatever the critics think of this Parsifal, the audience seemed to love it. Of course, after three years of Schlingensief's images of rotting bunnies and African tribes the mainly conservative audience at Bayreuth is prepared for anything. This production even has a grail: of course they're going to like it!

And for such an expansive cavalcade through German history and culture, who better to conduct the Bayreuth orchestra than Daniele Gatti, whose lush reading of the score almost forced time to stand still, bending tempi every which way possible, and offering perhaps the most Italianate reading since Arturo Toscanini was invited to conduct the festival back in the early 1930's.

I hope you have a chance to listen to a rebroadcast of the performance, or better yet, if you are lucky, I hope you get a chance to see it at Bayreuth. Do let me know what you think of this new production.

The Last Laugh

As he proved in Brokeback Mountain, Heath Ledger could carry a picture. But in the last stages of his short-lived career, he also proved time and again that his name did not always need to be the first one on the list in order to be memorable and steal a scene or two. He did it last year in I'm Not There, where he was one of the many performers who channeled the living spirit of Bob Dylan. Now, after his tragic passing earlier this year, he is doing it again: making The Dark Knight his very own with his demonic, impish portrayal of the Joker.

The Joker is the most popular villain in the Batman series. Going against the grain of Bob Kane, the creator of "The Bat-Man" for DC comics, Cesar Romero made the Joker a campy, nasty clown in the 1960s television series, and Jack Nicholson was highly praised when he played the villain as a buffoon with a decidedly deadly streak in Tim Burton's resurrection of the Batman story. Both Romero and Nicholson offered ideal characterizations of this character for their time and their particular venue. The campy TV series needed Romero's outlandishness, and although Nicholson was far deadlier and nastier than Romero could ever be, their styles were not too different and both sprang from the same clown college. They could have both ended up as washed-up performers at some third-rate big top in the sticks.

Heath Ledger's Joker inhabits another world. Although he has stepped inside the high-tech noir universe that Christopher Nolan has fashioned in this latest take of the Batman story, his low-tech crime wave contrasts brilliantly with the polished world of billionaire Bruce Wayne, and the space-age, computer driven, gadget-replete caped crusader alter ego thus making him the perfect villain outsider.

Visually, this incarnation of the Joker is truly a sight to either behold or, better yet, to turn your eyes away from. A Medusa-like sprout of dirty matted green locks hang limply on a ravaged face where slovenly-applied makeup barely hides more than just scarred tissue. This Joker's soul seems to have been hacked into deeper than his skin. Ledger finds the key to the character by delving into his tortured soul, and he comes up with truly brilliant acting results. What must have been the character's old habit of licking the wounds on the side of his face have now turned into an even nastier habit of darting his tongue in and out of his dirty, yellowed-teeth mouth. It's a great way of reminding the audience of his serpent-like qualities. If William F. Buckley, Jr. had mated with a reptile while on a Republican junket to Gotham City, probably the Joker would have been the result.

Heath Ledger's look for the Joker references the world of film that inspired the character. The Man Who Laughs, the 1928 silent classic based on a novel by Victor Hugo, is the genesis of this character. In that story a small boy's face is disfigured into a perpetual smile, pretty much mirroring the tale that the Joker relates of his disfigurement in this film. Further referencing other movies, my friend Skydin noted that Heath Ledger's visual conception of the Joker bears more than a passing resemblance to Brandon Lee in the film The Crow -- another movie where an actor met an untimely death (that time on the set of the film itself) and left behind the work for which he will arguably be best remembered.

In Tim Burton's movie, we witness how Jack Nicholson's Jack Napier becomes the Joker. In Nolan's film the Joker already is. In fact, it is the character of Harvey Dent, marvelously brought to life in a breakout performance by Aaron Eckhart, who undergoes a disturbing transformation from high profile District Attorney to disfigured-beyond-belief Two-Face: a deranged character whose penchant for throwing up a coin and leaving fate to chance might just make him get along really well with Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh in last year's No Country for Old Men.

Nonetheless, this does not make The Dark Knight a lopsided movie when it comes to its selection of villains. The story is well crafted and the late transformation of Harvey Dent does not feel like a late inclusion just for the sake of having yet another twist of plot. Unlike last summer's unfortunate Spider-Man 3, where the appearance of villain upon villain, late in the film, kept nullifying whatever had happened before, Two-Face and the Joker in this movie come together and share an unbelievable scene in a hospital. As a matter of fact, it is thanks to the tutelage of the Joker that Harvey Dent finally goes overboard and achieves true comic book villainy and fully transforms into a fiend.

The greatest aspect of Batman has always been that he is one of the best anti-heroes that has appeared in popular culture. As much a rebel and a criminal as he is righteous, this mysterious character, born out of the mire of Pulp novels and predating Hollywood "Film Noir" (his first appearance in DC Comics was in 1939!) by a few years, casts his longest shadow when America feels confused about itself and begins questioning its own values. Our very own War on Terror is the perfect landscape for Batman. At the end of this film there is a great scene between Batman and the Joker in which they dissect their roles of hero and villain. A similar scene, albeit less serious, occurs in Tim Burton's version, where both characters engage in a discussion of their doppelgänger existence.

But at the end of Burton's film, the Joker is disposed of, and Batman stands as a beacon for Gotham City to stand behind -- the perfect Ronald Reagan American hero to an America that was so full of itself (the film came out in Reagan's last year as president). In the last frames of Christopher Nolan's movie, Batman is a criminal on the run, the people of the city bewailing that they got the kind of hero that their society deserves. That's who we are! That's present day America.

Every hero-less American teenage kid (of whom there are millions) should adopt Batman as their hero. Why not! He is the hero we deserve.

Live Stream Webcast of Bayreuth Opera

Historic events have occurred at the Green Hill since the 2007 Bayreuth Festival ended. The old generation is giving way to the new as Wolfgang Wagner prepares to give up the reign of the family business to the younger members of his quarrelsome family. When it comes to the festival's online presence, there is also good news to report. Bayreuth's clunky old website has been replaced by a modern portal which, although still totally in German, promises to have a mirror in English soon.

The real exciting news for those of us unable to be at Bayreuth this year is that for the first time in its history an opera will be telecast live over the Internet. Katarina Wagner's controversial staging of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, will be playing in a computer near you on July 27 at 4pm. The time of the Live Stream is CEST (GMT +2), so that would be 11:00am Eastern Daylight Savings Time.

The Bayreuth Festival has always had a fine tradition of broadcasting on the radio the opening days of the festival. Further, in the last few years these broadcasts could also be heard on the Internet via various online radio stations. This year for the first time you will be able not only to hear the opera, but see the controversial staging that everybody was talking about (and booing!) last summer.

But here's the best part: when you purchase a ticket to the webcast you are also buying access to see and hear the work on demand whenever it is convenient for you between July 27 and August 2.

I've already bought my ticket. Let's hope that the technology works, and that the broadcast is as historic as it promises to be. Here is the Bayreuth Festival's website if you would like more information about the webcast or the repertory for this year's festival.

http://www.bayreuther-festspiele.de/

Die Soldaten at the Park Avenue Armory

Two amazing things happened at the Park Avenue Armory this evening. The first was that nobody around me walked out of the incredible staging of Die Soldaten, a complex, 12-tone serial opera by composer Bernd Alois Zimmermann: the kind of work that would usually have them walking up the aisles even before the intermission. The second amazing thing was that there was not a single cough heard in the house during the entire length of the work. If this opera would have been staged at a venue like the MET, let's say, a good number of the audience would not have returned for Act II, and the chorus of coughs would have been deafening.

The improved audience behavior I experienced tonight is the result of taking a knowledgeable opera audience, removing them from the warm confines of a proscenium theater, and throwing them into an alternative barn-like space for the ride of their lives -- literally. Sitting on motorized platforms, the audience travels up and down the length of a t-bar stage. This is an incredibly brilliant staging that eliminates the distance between performers and audience. The 110-piece orchestra sits on the left, while across from them a smaller satellite percussion "banda" contributed to the stereophonic effect. The singers were miked, of course, due to the size of the space. But given the fortissimos that composer Zimmermann achieved in his score, those microphones really came in handy for the cast. Thankfully, the enhanced sound felt quite natural and unobtrusive.

I am a newcomer to this work and to its composer, but I am no stranger to Schoenberg's Moses und Aron, and Alban Berg's Wozzeck and Lulu, the other seminal works of the 12-tone musical period. Die Soldaten might have been new to me, but I was familiar with its musical terrain. Let's just say that the dissonances did not disappoint. It was one of the most exciting and dense writing I have heard, rivaling the best moment of the better known serial composers. Schoenberg's musical invention was supposed to revolutionize German and world music. However, like Hitler's one thousand year Reich, Schoenberg's musical empire crumbled as a result of its inherent monolithic approach. As a matter of fact, by the time that Bernd Alois Zimmermann started working on the first version of this work in 1957, serialism was no longer avant-garde, and the Cologne Opera rejected the work as unplayable. The same accusations that were hurled at the score of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde a century earlier.

Die Soldaten might not have the classical structure of Wozzeck, or the mathematical precision of Moses und Aron, but it is brilliantly orchestrated, and Zimmermann never runs out of musical inventions. The prelude and the last scene, in particular the very last chord, are instances of sheer virtuoso writing.

This is one of those productions that New Yorkers will talk about for years. I am happy that Die Soldaten has led the way for the Park Avenue Armory to become a venue for challenging 20th century opera. The next operatic work to be staged at this space will be Oliver Messiaen's Saint François D'Assise, which will be presented in mid December. This is a truly wonderful way to celebrate the anniversary of Messiaen's 100th birthday.

You have one more chance to see this production of Die Soldaten (July 12): don't miss it!

Mad Men: Season Two

Last week, I attended, as a guest of AMC, the sneak preview of the first episode of the second season of Mad Men, the show that has been hailed by The New York Times as: the smartest show on television." Written, created and executive produced by Matthew Weiner, Mad Men has become the darling of critics and critical viewers alike. And with good reason: the show creates a world of hard drinking, Madison Avenue ad-men in the 1960's Camelot that was lost never to be regained again. These Mad Men shaped the way America thought, and they accomplished it all with a martini in one hand, a cigarette in the other, and prodigious juggling acts that balanced wifes and mistresses in ways that corporate American males of today could not compete. Don't look at it as nostalgia, but more like a carefully crafted, beautifully researched slice of life of a time gone by.

The Museum of Modern Art, where the screening took place, could not have been a better venue to show off the first installment of the second season. In the same building where the principal works of Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock hang, Matt Wiener's series feels right at home. New York was the center of the art scene at the time that Mad Men takes place. And even though it might be a stretch for these corporate characters to share excitement about the artistic experimentations of the Abstract Expressionists, the precise writing, sleek design, and cool look of the show is definitely influenced by this downtown movement. In future episodes, I can most definitely see Sterling Cooper acquiring a nice Clifford Still: it would complement reception's decor rather nicely.

Talking with Matt Weiner after the screening, I shared with him my thoughts that it was very satisfying and rare to get a chance to watch the show with a large audience, a treat that most television viewers never get. On the small screen the details are more vivid and the viewer easily focuses on subtleties. Watching it on TV is like looking at an artist's sketch. At MoMA's theater, HD projection is like standing in front of those Abstract Expressionist canvases that hang at the museum upstairs. I am convinced that home viewing is the ideal home for Mad Men because it best serves the show's stylistic landscape. At the same time, it was a wonderful experience to share those great dramatic and comic moments in such a unique communal fashion.

I'm excited about the second season of Mad Men. After watching the first show, I'm certain that the second season of the series will be extremely successful. Lightning can definitely strike twice; I'm just curious about how it will streak across America's screens this summer.

In the Heights heading for Tony Glory

You don't have to be Latino to enjoy In the Heights, but it definitely helps. The salsa driven, hip hop-infused musical by Broadway newcomers Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes about Washington Heights is selling out every night at the Richard Rodgers Theater thanks to its infectious score, feel-good story and lovable characters. Further, in a weak year for new shows this work is well on its way to winning the Tony Award for best musical of the season.

Washington Heights has always been a neighborhood in transition. The area has been home to Jewish and Irish communities over the years, but it is the current Latino residents of the neighborhood, in particular the Dominican enclave, that sets the tone as well as the beat for Mr. Miranda's very likable musical.

Any art work which is based on a particular geographical place mythologizes its terrain. Benjamin Britten transformed Aldeburgh, on the coast of Suffolk, England into his opera Peter Grimes, and Spike Lee forever changed our perception of "da hood" in his film Do the Right Thing. As portrayed in this musical (which at times feels very close in spirit to Spike Lee's film) this is a Washington Heights of the mind and of the heart. A neighborhood filled with patience and hope where there is never any mention of drugs, crime, urban blight or HIV. The NYPD doesn't even show up in this story! You might argue that it is, after all, a musical and that matters ought not to get that serious. I would argue back that in West Side Story, that landmark musical about the tough gritty New York streets, there is a sardonic song dedicated to a police officer, and that when bloody violence erupts it is to the tune of some of the greatest music ever written for the American stage. But is is unfair to compare these two musicals -- absurd, really.

In the Heights borrows from many urban artistic elements and manages to lay down a very convincing geography populated with some stereotypical, yet lovable characters, and it accomplishes this very well. Among the recognizable barrio types are the matriarch grandmother, the gossipy hairdresser, and the lovable bodega owner. The only stock characters missing are the domino-playing Greek chorus. But, who knows, they might be waiting around in the wings in case the show develops a sequel at some future point in time.

Despite all its faults, In the Heights is not a dreary experience whatsoever, quite the opposite: its Latin beat suffused with more than a dash of hip hop makes it a toe-tapping, head-bobbing evening. Even actor Billy Crystal, who was sitting in the row in front of me, stood up at the end to give the show a standing ovation.

Giving excellent performances are Olga Merediz as Abuela Claudia, Robin de Jesús as Sonny, and Priscilla Lopez (Diana in the original production of A Chorus Line) as Camila. It is a true ensemble musical, and the entire cast is quite energetic and they work well together.

At the center of it all, Lin-Manuel Miranda is the glue that keeps it all together. It is his show, his conception, and he stands out above the rest of the performers. The rest of the cast sings and dances boleros, sons, and merengues, but Mr. Miranda raps, and although his rhymes, lyrics and music lack the subtlety and flair that once made Broadway unique, his whole-hearted belief in his little show and his incredible energy wins us over to his side.

In the Heights might not reach the stratosphere that it aims for, but it does offer an entertaining night at the theater.

Indiana Jones is Back!

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull brings back to the summer screens one of the biggest franchises in the history of the movies. Indiana Jones has returned, and this time he is battling Soviets, South American Indians, the FBI, and 1950's post-war complacency. Dr. Henry Jones has finally achieved tenure in his manicured academic world, but he is as restless as ever. He is also a bit older, a bit grayer, and his politics appear to be a little more confusing. His hatred for the Nazis in the first installments of the series was well documented, and now this same hatred has switched to the Soviets. For such a free spirit adventurer, however, the words "I like Ike," which he utters early on in the film in order to prove his patriotism, don't really register as the kind of political allegiance that Dr. Jones would have. Indiana Jones a Republican -- who knew!

For anyone who watches Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (now, that's a mouthful! That's the longest name for a sequel since Benedict the Sixteenth replaced John Paul Two) one question definitely comes to mind: why didn't they do this fifteen years ago when it would have all been more believable? It's not just that Harrison Ford is looking considerably older, it's that this kind of filmmaking has already exhausted itself in the previous three films. The franchise is starting to feel its own age.

But make no mistake, despite its occasional creakiness, the movie is a very enjoyable ride. Steven Spielberg has returned to the kind of populist filmmaking that only he can pull off. The special effects are awesome to look at, the performances strike the right chords, and there are enough references to the past three films to make any fan of the series happily nostalgic. In addition, the brisk pacing the film makes for an enjoyable summer popcorn movie.

One very good reason not to miss it is Cate Blanchett. As Irina Spalko she is one of the greatest villains this series has ever had. Cold as ice, Ms. Blanchett has never look prettier on screen, while at the same time creating an unforgettable menacing figure. With her Louise Brooks hairdo, her sword, and her immaculate gray communist uniform she looks as out of time and place as the crystal skull that the principals chase down.

Less successful is Shiah LeBeouf as Indy's young sidekick and fellow adventurer. Playing the role as a junior Marlon Brando in The Wild One, this character aims to be a wannabe Indiana, and ends up, time after time, rejecting the old fashion values, such as education, that makes the old man a credible character.

Karen Allen is also back as Marion, but the movie is almost half way over before we see her. As Mr. Ford, Ms. Allen has aged more or less gracefully into an older version of her original role, but one gets that same feeling when we watch her that this Indy return would have made more sense a decade or two ago. Newcomers to the cast are John Hurt and Jim Broadbent. I am sure that both picked up hefty paychecks for playing two-dimensional characters who occupy very little screen time.

If you read Erich von Däniken's 1970's bestseller Chariots of the Gods? or know the theories behind that book, then you will figure out the inspiration for this movie. It's odd that this Indiana Jones film is so careful not to portray third world caricatures (Soviet caricatures are all right, it seems!) and yet, von Däniken's theories about the achievements of the ancient people of South America are some of the most racist views ever expressed. His bestseller argues that the Mesoamerican people could not have achieved such high levels of learning, mathematics and architecture without the aid of extraterrestrial beings. The days of such lines as "Ah, fried monkey brains..." coming from third-world, dark-skinned characters might be gone from Indiana Jones, but that good ol' racism (which comes right from the 1930's serials that Indiana Jones is based on) is still very much present in the series.

This film is a mixed bag, but it is a well-made, fast-paced summer entertainment. Thankfully it does not destroy the legacy of the franchise (are you reading this George Lucas!) Go see it, it might just become your favorite Indiana Jones film -- or maybe not.

The Very Best Wagner Music on CD's

If you follow this link, you will come to a page loaded with recommendations for complete Richard Wagner operas, as well as highlight discs of these works. This is a list of the best recordings available. You can buy them at my Wagneroperas.com megastore website through Amazon.com.

Among the recordings you will find are the fabled live Bayreuth recording of Tristan und Isolde with Birgit Nillson and Wolfgang Windgassen, as well as the complete Ring Cycle conducted by Sir Georg Solti. Check it out!

The Hardball Tango

Brian Carson, the announcer on my WagnerOperas Podcast was the videographer on this new video that was just put up on YouTube. Enjoy!

Satyagraha comes to The Metropolitan Opera

Last April, I went to London to see the English National Opera's production of Satyagraha, the opera about MK Gandhi, by American composer Philip Glass. A year later, that very same ENO production has reached The Metropolitan Opera where I got a chance to see it on Friday.

Visually, very little has changed from London, although the dimensions of the Metropolitan stage are much bigger than those of the London Colosseum. Last month when I attended one of the MET's performances of Peter Grimes I happened to sit next to the puppeteers who had come from the UK in order to work on Satyagraha. Basically, they informed me that indeed very little had changed with the production, although they had had a longer rehearsal period at the MET. Also, the bigger dimensions of the MET's stage allowed them to fly the puppets much higher than in London

Overall, the New York performance was tighter musically than London's. In the second act, the MET chorus was as precise as a metronome as they sang an unbelievably difficult four-square section repeating the syllable "ha" over and over again. Regretfully, last year in London, the ENO chorus crumbled during this section.

The focus of the evening in any performance of Satyagraha is the tenor singing the role of Gandhi. Richard Croft sang a beautiful performance on Friday. From my seat in the second row there was no doubt that he was wholly immersed in his character. Twice, however, he was forced to step out of character and cover his mouth when he sneezed twice. I had never seen this happen to a singer on stage, but he dealt with it as silently and discreetly as possible. So good, in fact, that I don't think anybody noticed beyond the first few rows.

They say that nobody comes out of a modern opera humming the tunes -- not true! I dare anyone to come out of a performance of Satyagraha and not intone in your head, or outright hum or sing the ascending phrygian scale that Gandhi repeatedly intones over and over again in the last scene of Act III. That incredible restful line is one of the most serene moments in opera -- old or new.

It was wonderful to revisit Satyagraha on this side of the ocean. Although there was something special about experiencing an opera about Gandhi in England, the MET production this year was the culmination of the journey that started last year at the ENO.

News from Bayreuth

This week two news items came out of Bayreuth. The first was that after 57 years, Wolfgang Wagner would be leaving the leadership of the Bayreuth Festival. Since the historic re-opening of the Festival in 1951, Wolfgang Wagner has been at the helm of the Festival. The second bit of news involved the replacement of a singer for this summer's festival. Soprano Linda Watson will be replaced by Adrienne Dugger in the role of Brünnhilde. Here is how The New York Times reported the change of leadership at the Festspielhaus:

After 57 years as chief of the Wagner festival in Bayreuth, Germany, Wolfgang Wagner, 88, plans to step down, The Associated Press reported. Mr. Wagner, right, grandson of the composer Richard Wagner, wrote to donors on April 8 to express his support for his daughters Katharina Wagner, from his second marriage, and Eva Wagner-Pasquier, from his first, as part of a group to succeed him. He had previously rejected the appointment of Ms. Wagner-Pasquier, who is supported by the Richard Wagner Foundation, which supervises the annual Bayreuth Festival. And he had insisted that he would step aside only if Katharina were allowed to succeed him. The German-language television network 3sat reported that Mr. Wagner had suggested that the half-sisters could be part of a team that included the German conductor Christian Thielemann and Peter Ruzicka, the former director of the Salzburg Festival. Mr. Wagner has led the festival since 1951, first with his brother, Wieland, and then by himself after Wieland’s death in 1966.

Peter Shaffer's EQUUS comes to Broadway

This morning The New York Times ran an American Express full page ad officially announcing that last year's West End smash hit Equus, the controversial play by Peter Shaffer, will arrive in America for a limited Broadway run at the Broadhurst Theater. Heading the cast will be the original co-stars of the London run: Richard Griffiths and Daniel Radcliffe.

When I saw the play on April 10 of last year at the Gielgud Theatre, I immediately knew that the production was destined, when it ended its limited run on Shaftesbury Avenue, to come to the States. And although Richard Griffiths is not my ideal Martin Dysart, he will return to Broadway where he won the Tony Award for his unforgettable performance in The History Boys.

Americans will get a chance to see Daniel Radcliffe's incredible performance as Alan Strang, the boy who blinds a stable of horses in rural England. His performance in London was incredible. Here was a movie superstar, making his West End debut in a difficult role where he had to shed his clothing, and perform one of the key scenes of the play totally naked. The British are generally blasé about nudity on stage. Certainly, the audience at the performance I attended were adult about it. Although there were plenty of curious teenage girls and boys in the audience that had come to see their Harry Potter in the all-together, they were quiet and serious. Interestingly, many had come to the performance with their moms, and these ladies all had that look that told you that they knew exactly why their children had suddenly acquired a taste for the theater.

Americans, on the other hand, are entrenched in deeply-rooted puritanical attitudes when it comes to nudity, and even New York papers such as The New York Post had something negative to say about a West End run that was distant. Now, the play will be here in New York City, and the rush for tickets, the hype, and the controversy will soon engulf the Great White Way.

On September 5, New York is in for a nice treat. But pay close attention: if you intend to see it, I suggest that you begin making arrangements to buy your tickets fast. This limited 22 week run has all the makings of a fast sell-out, and people will be trampling over each other to get in to see it. See you at the Broadhurst!

Important Debut at the MET: Janice Baird

When Janice Baird made her triumphant debut last night as Isolde, stepping in for the ailing Deborah Voigt in this year's troubled revival of Richard Wagner's work, she brought with her over a decade of international operatic singing. Ms. Baird's roster of major Wagner, Richard Strauss, and Italian roles have been the staple of opera houses from Tokyo to Berlin, Buenos Aires to Vienna. She is an accomplished artist, who began her career as a mezzo and developed into a dramatic soprano under the guidance of such notable Wagnerians of the past as Birgit Nilsson and Astrid Varnay, whom she credits as two of her most important vocal coaches.

But everything changed last night: she made her official Metropolitan Opera debut! I stress official because last week Ms. Baird was pushed onstage to continue the role of Isolde when Ms. Voigt was suddenly stricken with some kind of stomach malady which forced her to run from the stage. As Ms Voigt's stand-in, Ms Baird finished the performance to great applause and cheers.

Last night she got to do it all from the start. If you were lucky enough to be there, save your little paper insert that appeared inside your playbill. Since Ms. Voigt's cancellation came in after the programs had already been printed, this is your only record of her debut.

Ms. Baird's Isolde was filled with energy and passion. Sure of herself vocally, and surprisingly comfortable with the production's staging and blocking, her Isolde was a fiery creation whose dark soprano had no problems soaring over the intricate orchestration. Only in the few fortissimo moments of the role did her voice tighten a bit at the top, allowing a smattering of a tremolo to creep through. Isolde's Curse in the first Act was chilling, and the Liebestod at the end was powerful and moving at the same time.

It was a great debut which earned roars of applause and bravos from the audience, making us all keenly aware of the kind of talent available out there which, unfortunately, does not always seem to be tapped at the right time by MET management. Over the years the MET has had singers step in at the last moment to save the day. Leonie Rysanek covered the role of Lady Macbeth in 1959 when Maria Callas was removed from that production, and years later Plácido Domingo filled in for Franco Corelli when the great Italian tenor had to bow out of a performance of Adriana Lecouvreur. For both, Domingo and Rysanek this last minute coverage was the beginning of their stardom.

I hope that it proves to be the same for Ms. Baird, and that Peter Gelb and James Levine consider her for the upcoming Ring Cycle. She will be singing the role of Brünnhilde in Seattle's upcoming new staging of the Ring.

Last night also marked the return of Ben Heppner, looking fit and strong, and delivering one of the best performances I have heard him give. More than in other occasions, Mr. Heppner was vocally secure throughout the entire vocal range, and his third act was truly heartbreaking.

The orchestra under James Levine was the well-oiled machine it has become, with incredible playing in all the sections, and all throughout the evening. Last night, the off-stage banda interplay of horns in the beginning of the Act II was executed with razor sharpness precision and exquisite beauty of tone.

Thankfully, everything went well with the staging. I guess from now on, when Act III begins and the curtains part to reveal Tristan upstage in crucified form, slowly descending towards the apron of the stage, we will all remember the night when Gary Lehman almost became a contender for the luge competition. Let's hope that never happens again.

There's one more performance of Tristan und Isolde left; it is this Friday. Could it possibly be that finally Heppner and Voigt get a chance to sing together? We shall soon know. Please, post your impression of that show if you will be in attendance on Friday.

Janice Baird as Isolde debuts tonight!

There has not been a performance of this Metropolitan Opera run of Tristan und Isolde that has played with a complete scheduled cast. Tonight is no exception. Tonight we have another debut. This time Deborah Voigt is out and taking her place is American soprano Janice Baird.

Ms. Baird comes with great credentials from Europe, where she sang a stunning Isolde in Rome as well as an unforgettable Salome in Paris. She is also scheduled to sing the role of Brünnhilde in the new Ring scheduled to open in Seattle, a role that she has sung extensively in Seville's Teatro de la Maestranza, La Fenice, Venice and the Deutsche Oper, Berlin She is a former mezzo, and most reviewers make a point of mentioning that, since it is a distinctive trademark of her dark voice. However, her high notes are supposed to be right on the money, so we will see.

Ben Heppner (remember him?) is due to appear tonight. Again, let us see what kind of shape he is in. I am sure that Gary Lehman will be in the wings, in costume, just in case.

I think that it is going to be an interesting evening. If anything, an Isolde debut is always exciting. I will report about how the evening went soon.

Waltraud Meier in Walküre at La Scala

Now that the news officially appears on her agent's website, perhaps the persistent rumors were really true. Waltraud Meier will sing the role of Brünnhilde in Wagner's Die Walküre at La Scala, Milan during the 2010-2011 season.

The production, which is to be conducted by Daniel Barenboim, will also feature the Wotan of René Pape, a role that many of us have been salivating at the mouth, waiting for him to finally tackle it. This dream cast will surely make the La Scala Walküre the hottest ticket in the Western world.

No confirmed news yet as to who has been cast in the roles of Siegmund and Sieglinde, or Hunding, for that matter. If you've heard something definite, please don't hesitate to post it here.

J.S. Bach: The Gospel According to St. Matthew

Johann Sebastian Bach completed and performed The Passion According to St. Matthew, BWV 244 sometime between 1727 and 1729, in the middle of his life, during his long tenure at Leipzig's Thomaskirche.

The New York Philharmonic, under its Music Director Emeritus Kurt Masur performed this massive work four times this Holy Week, and I attended the last performance on Saturday evening. It was my first Matthäus-Passion, and I was overwhelmed by the power and serenity of this musical setting of Christ's passion and death. Without a doubt, it is the musical pinnacle of one of the great composers, and one of the most monumental outpourings of religious faith. It is difficult not to be in awe of it even after an initial hearing.

I was impressed by Mr. Masur's spirit of discovery as he led selected members of the New York Philharmonic and the Westminster Choir and the American Boychoir. At 80, Mr. Masur has seen it all musically, and yet, this performance showed how he is still striving to find the inner meaning of Bach's intricate writing. It was a voyage that included the sweet-voiced American tenor James Taylor in complete command of the high tessitura of the role of the Evangelist, and the incredibly involved Matthias Goerne who employed his deep baritone in an unforgettable performance as Jesus. Mr. Goerne is an impassioned artist who looks nervous and fidgety when he is sitting down and not singing, but who totally gets into character when the time calls for him to perform. While the rest of the men sported white tie and tails, Mr. Goerne dressed in a black suit with an open-necked shirt. Now, that's what I call a Jesus! He did it his way!

The New York Times reported that in one of the earlier performances the baritone aria “Komm, süsses Kreuz" was the low point of the evening, with substandard playing by the viola da gamba soloist. In the performance that I attended, this aria was cut. Somebody is reading the reviews!

For many years, I have been listening to Bach's St John Passion, and have come to know and admire that shorter work. It served as a good introduction to the intricacies found in the St. Matthew Passion. Now all I need is a few years to study, and hopefully perform one day this great work.

Robert Dean Smith triumphs as Tristan

Peter Gelb and James Levine can breathe a sigh of relief. After a roller coaster week at The Metropolitan Opera that saw one Tristan get booed, and another one get injured with almost a near concussion, the Saturday matinée finally got a Tristan that could sing the role: Robert Dean Smith.

Many thought that Gary Lehman deserved the HD telecast and radio broadcast, especially after replacing John Mac Master and at the same time getting clunked on the head when he slid down the stage right into the prompter's box. Although Lehman physically looks the part of Tristan, the MET went with as much a sure thing vocally as you can these days: they got a tenor that's done the part at Bayreuth. The MET likes impressive credentials like that, especially when the house finds itself in a bind; never mind that his Green Hill reviews in 2005 were only so-so.

Robert Dean Smith made his MET debut today, two years earlier than scheduled, and it was a great success. He really did very well! Impressively well! He was magnificent in Act I (most Tristans are), he soared in Act II (most Tristans remain earthbound), and he was heartbreaking in Act III (he lived though it, and that's an accomplishment these days!) He soared above the orchestra -- which played gorgeously -- in the concluding act, and managed to get through that most difficult of music unscathed, definitely finishing much better than in the 2005 Bayreuth production.

I'm finally going to see this opera on Tuesday. I wish that Robert Dean Smith could stay for another performance, but his was a one shot deal, and I hear that Gary Lehman will be back in the role on Tuesday. Oh, well, it will be fun to see what this young American artist has to offer. Hopefully the MET's stagecraft will behave this time around.