[note: many, if not most, of these links may no longer be working, but such is the nature of the digital. hopefully, the url and context are enough to help you find any further information you want. if not, feel free to contact me, and i’ll try to help.]
febrero 2015
¡hola, difus@s!
the january festival blitz brought so much great work and such devoted audiences to the city that, despite some frustrations (shows selling out, ridiculous will-call lines), it was really a great time to be out and about, weather notwithstanding. all of the festivals seemed well-received, especially prototype (which has managed, in just three years, to carve out a significant niche for itself). try as i might, i simply couldn’t see everything i wanted, so i focused on abrons arts center’s american realness festival and the public theater’s under the radar festival (in conjunction with new york live arts and la mama experimental theater club), picking up a few other performances outside the festival circuit.
this year’s american realness festival was much, much more satisfying than last year’s (which was generally good, sometimes annoying, but never great). both of tere o’connor’s dance pieces (sister and undersweet) were gorgeous; even if i’m not always sure what he’s getting at conceptually, i always love watching him get at it with such formally beautiful, intricately wrought movement. keith hennessey’s bear/skin and jack ferver’s night light bright light left me convinced of their merit as intellectually committed, deeply charismatic performers and eager to see them in work that realizes their full potential. both shows had a lot of great ideas and some brilliant moments but felt far too inchoate. works in progress, perhaps, but much more progress was needed.
ivo dimchev’s fest, the show i knew the least about—having booked it, frankly, because the american realness festival makes lining up multiple performances in an evening rather easy (a huge advantage over the others)—proved to the be highlight of that festival (as well as a highlight of the month). the show begins with a droll negotiation between a festival director and the artist (delivered in robotic monotone) and then quickly spirals into sexual absurdity, with each successive act (the tech rehearsal, the performance, the post-performance talk-back) pushing the envelope—the humor, the critique, the sex—ever further. the result was a darkly funny and brilliantly disconcerting reflection on art, power, and the (festival) market. (i highly recommend this review for further reading.)
taylor mac’s two acts (1900s – 1920s, 1930s – 1950s) from a 24-decade history of popular music, an on-going project to be realized as a 24-hour concert in late 2016, were (if i had to choose) the highlight of the month. part history (music, world, social) lesson, part cabaret, part participatory art project (audience involvement is integral), each show was full of terrific music (some familiar, some completely unknown), spectacular wit, biting political commentary, and mind-blowing costumes (by machine dazzle, who deserves an obie, tony, oscar, macarthur genius award, or something soon…). taylor is one of the most consummate performers i’ve ever seen on stage, able to read, manage, and provoke an audience like few others, which was evident in the way judy (taylor’s preferred pronoun) handled the two very different audiences of which we were part (the first being more downtown queer-friendly, the second being more mid-town assimilationist / middle-brow). building up to the 2016 blow-out, taylor should be performing more frequently, so keep an eye out. i’ll be catching every show i can.
among the other noteworthy performances of the month, agrupación señor serrano’s brickman brando bubble boom, the other piece i saw as part of under the radar, was a wildly inventive mash-up of financial history (the popularization of mortgages) and hollywood fantasy (as lived by marlon brandon), exploring the cultural origins of the recent housing crisis (which has devastated spain) and exploiting the flexibility of new media technology (the production was genius). dave gorman’s powerpoint presentation was similar in spirit, if more straightforward in production (though, frankly, powerpoint has never looked so good or been used so effectively, except maybe in the hands of david byrne). dave’s wry observations on contemporary culture (especially his obsession with social media) are probably too nuanced and his persona too humble to make him a stand-up star in this country, but his is the kind of humor i love. dv8 physical theater’s john (filmed and screened as part of the national theatre live) held up quite well to a second viewing; the two parts could be integrated more effectively, but i’m still a huge fan. hannes langolf’s performance is an absolute tour-de-force, one i sincerely hope we’ll get to see live here later this year. moriah evans is a choreographer i’ll be following more closely; her social dance 1 – 8: index at issue project room was full of rigor and thought, though less accomplished than trisha brown or anne therese de keersmaeker (who must certainly be influences).
though the january festivals have ended, february’s four short weeks are just as packed with options. below are the performances i’m most looking forward to, but i’ve got my eye on several others in the full list that follows:
music: an evening with diana ross opens the month and the newly renovated kings theater in brooklyn; i can’t wait to see her in / and that space. joey arias closes out the month with a one-night only “centennial tribute to billie holiday” as part of lincoln center’s (yes, you read that right, lincoln center!) american songbook series, for which meshell ndegeocello is paying tribute to nina simone mid-month. theater of voices presents stockhausen’s stimmung at carnegie hall (and i try to see as much his work as i can).
theater + performance: the big event this month (both in terms of length and starpower) has to be the iceman cometh at BAM, but a lot of smaller scale productions have my eye. i’m quite eager to see james lecesne’s the absolute brightness of leonard pelky at dixon place, gob squad’s western society at skirball (in conjunction with the public theater), the events at new york theater workshop, and soho rep’s an octoroon at theater for a new audience. every brilliant thing is coming up on the end of its run, so see it if you haven’t already. i caught the opening of the civilian’s pretty filthy (a verbatim musical about the porn industry!) at abrons art center at the very end of january (so more about it in next month’s issue), and i highly recommend it. (oh! my apologies for the public theater mix-up last month. hamilton—correct link now—is not an elevator repair service production…that would be the sound and the fury, coming later in the spring.)
dance: for a sampler of contemporary choreography, the “five x three” shows (four different programs over four nights, starting february 9) at roulette should be great. ickamsterdam brings their rocco (based on the visconti film rocco and his brothers) to montclair state university (close by car and easily accessible via shuttle bus), and i’ve been wanting to see it since it played london in 2012. nederlands dans theater 2 is at the joyce this week, and douglas dunn and dancers debut a new work at BAM mid-month. at the month’s end, pam tanowitz and david lang present work in progress at the guggenheim, and, while the early work of tanowitz’s i saw didn’t enthrall me, i’m excited to see any collaboration with david lang.
art: as much as i hate walking around in the slush, now is a good time to stroll around chelsea and the lower east side. among the shows i’m hoping to see are villa design group at mathew, frank magnotta at junior projects, paul thek at alexander and bonin, yael bartana at petzel, diana thater at david zwirner, and carl andre, dan flavin, and sol lewitt at paula cooper. i’m also curious about amy sedaris’ inclusion at invisible-exports’ group show and helmut lang’s solo show at sperone westwater. ann hamilton and lynne cooke will be speaking at the 92y, and i’m a huge fan of both.
film: hard to be a god is getting a lot of good buzz, so it’s my top priority, followed closely by timbuktu. film comment selects offers a splendid array of new film (much more curatorially adventurous than the film society’s staid new york film festival), with some rare classics (including a preview cut of gremlins!). new christian petzold and larry clark have me excited, but they’re the most likely to find distribution later…so take advantage of the others! valentine’s day massacre 2015 sounds like the perfect way to enjoy february 14th, frankly. david cronenberg’s maps to the stars arrives at IFC at the end of the month.
as always, a fuller listing follows, and feel free to share this with whomever you think might be interested. the month will certainly pass quickly…and let’s hope the winter does, too.
abrazos,
p
febrero / february
1-22: cronenberg (film)
1-: every brilliant thing (theater)
1-10: films by aleksei guerman (film)
1-7: gertrude stein: the tmt lab (theater)
1-: hamilton (theater)
1-8: hard to be a god (film)
1-15: let the right one in (theater)
1-8: mama rose (theater)
1-3: orson welles (film)
1-: the civilians: pretty filthy (theater)
1-7: the golden toad (theater)
1-10: timbuktu (film)
1-8: titus andronicus (theater)
2-4: curator’s choice (film)
3: an evening with diana ross (music)
3-8: nederlands dans theater 2 (dance)
4-27: new york city ballet: new combinations (dance)
4: nostalghia: music of valentin silvestrov with jenny lin, piano (music)
4-: the events (theater)
4-: the nether (theater)
5: brentano string quartet, joyce didonato (music)
5: composer portraits: missy mazzoli (music)
5-8: musicophilia (theater)
5: rosa das rosas: cantigas de santa maria (music)
5-14: the harper's play (theater)
5-: the iceman cometh (theater)
5-8: the village of vale (performance)
7: american contemporary music ensemble: roomful of teeth (music)
7-: james lecesne: the absolute brightness of leonard pelkey (theater)
9: five x three, curated by jennifer lafferty: kathy wasik, natalie green, courtney krantz (dance)
9: origin theater company presents focus on the balkans: arts and identity (theater)
9: robert mcduffie & mcduffie center for strings ensemble (music)
10-14: balletnext: baroque’d (dance)
10: five x three, curated by jennifer lafferty: tatyana tenenbaum, jen rosenbilt, rebecca davis (dance)
11: danish national symphony orchestra (music)
11-15: douglas dunn and dancers: aidos (dance)
11: five x three, curated by jennifer lafferty: ursula eagly, rebecca brooks, niall jones (dance)
11: meshell ndegeocello: pour une âme souveraine—a dedication to nina simone (music)
11: synth nights: eli keszler (music)
12: five x three, curated by jennifer lafferty: anna azrieli, raja feather kelly, abigail levine (dance)
12-15: ickamsterdam: rocco (dance)
12: late night rose (music)
12: new amsterdam symphony orchestra: dark moods (music)
13-19: costa da morte (film)
13: five x three, curated by jennifer lafferty: jane gotch, kayvon pourazar, andrew schneider (dance)
13-: horseplay: or, the fickle mistress, a protean picaresque (theater)
13-22: loveplay / playmoney (theater)
13-15: summation: shift (dance)
13: talib kweli (music)
13-16: valentine's day massacre 2015 (film)
13-28: you on the moors (theater)
14-: an octoroon (theater)
14: jessye norman, mark markham: hooray for love! (music)
15-: ryan rafferty is the most powerful woman in fashion (performance)
15: the meeting* hosted by justin sayre (performance)
17: ariel quartet's beethoven cycle (music)
17-19: cinderella (dance)
18-29: blancanieves, live film score and screening (music, film)
18-21: gob squad: western society (theater)
18-22: mark shapiro conducts britten's 'the rape of lucretia’ (music)
19: ann hamilton with lynne cooke (art)
19-25: carmen de lavallade: as i remember it (dance)
19: daedalus quartet (music)
19-28: sheila heti: all our happy days are stupid (theater)
19-: the nomad (theater)
20-22: adam barruch: belladonna (dance)
20-21: emily cilmbs (machine mechant) (theater)
20-: film comment selects (film)
20-: placebo (theater)
21: marc-andré hamelin, piano (music)
21: theatre of voices: stockhausen's stimmung (music)
22-23: pam tanowitz and david lang (dance, music)
24: chinese new year celebration featuring yo-yo ma (music)
24-25: chopin: dances for piano (dance)
24: jack quartet (music)
24-: ronald k. brown / evidence (dance)
25: jeffrey milarsky conducts axiom (music)
25: joey arias: a centennial tribute to billie holiday (music)
25-: social security (theater)
26-: beat box festival (music)
26: voigt lessons (new york city premiere) (opera)
27-: josephine and i (theater)
27-: maps to the stars (film)
27: vienna philharmonic orchestra (music)
27-: young bodies heal quickly (film)
28-: stile antico: from the imperial court (music)