for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf – Booth Theatre – New York – Now through May 22nd

Ntozake Shange’s “choreopoem” first opened on Broadway in 1976 and ran for 742 performances and also earned a Tony Award nomination as Best Play. 7 Black women, nameless but identified by the color of the clothes they wear, explore their lives and experiences through poetry that has been choreographed to music.

Camille A. Brown makes her directorial debut with this revival. She recently co-directed and choreographed Terence Blanchard’s opera Fire Shut Up In My Bones at the Met. The ensemble of women appearing in the show are Amara Granderson, Tendayi Kuumba, Kenita R. Miller, Okwui Okpokwasili, Stacey Sargean, Alexandria Wailes and D. Woods

For tickets and more information please go here.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – Geffen Playhouse – Los Angeles  – Now – May 29th

Edward Albee’s Tony Award and Pultizer Prize-winning 1962 play about marriage as seen through the eyes of a hard-drinking and embittered middle-aged couple  and a younger couple with mixed motivations for being their guests after a faculty party gets a new production in Los Angeles.

Zachary Quinto and Calista Flockhart play George and Martha – the older couple. Nick and Honey, the younger couple, are played by Graham Phillips and Aimee Carrero. Gordon Greenberg directs.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

A Strange Loop – Lyceum Theatre New York – Now playing

The 2020 Pulitzer Prize for drama went to Michael R. Jackson’s musical A Strange Loop. It’s an aptly named meta-musical about a gay Black man who’s writing a musical about a gay Black man.  Reviews were through the roof when it ran off-Broadway.

Last week’s reviews were even stronger for the Broadway production. This is going to be a very hot ticket this season and quite possibly the musical to beat for the Tony Awards.

Stephen Brackett directs A Strange Loop. The ensemble features Antwayn Hopper, L Morgan Lee, John-Mihael Lyles, James Jackson, Jr., John-Andrew Morrison, Jaquel Spivey and Jason Veasey.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

An Evening with Fran Lebowitz – Multiple Venues – April 28^th – May 6^th

It probably surprises no one more than Fran Lebowitz that after the Netflix series Pretend It’s A City debuted she would be a hot ticket around the world. But here she is participating in conversations – exactly what she did with Martin Scorsese in that series.

April 28^th – May 1^st will find her at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica. On  May 2^nd she’ll be at the Balboa Theatre in San Diego. On May 5^th she’ll be at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto and on May 6^th she’s at St. Jean Baptiste Church in Montreal. A European tour launches in late June.

For tickets and more information, click on each venue’s name.

MJ The Musical – Neil Simon Theatre NY – Now – September 4th

It was, of course, inevitable that there would be a jukebox musical showcasing the countless hit songs by Michael Jackson. What may set this musical apart from failed attempts to use songs by The Beach Boys, Cher John Lennon and more is that the book is by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage and the show is directed and choreographed by Christopher  Wheeldon.

Myles Frost makes his Broadway debut as MJ. Walter Russell III (so good in Fire Shut Up in My Bones at the  Metropolitan  Opera) and Christian Wilson alternate performances as Little Michael. Interestingly Tavon Olds-Sample is listed as playing “Michael” in the show. 

Will this musical be a Thriller or will audiences tell this show to Beat It? Either way it’s bound to be interesting.

For tickets and more details, please go here.

American Ballet Theatre on Tour – Now – May 15^th

ABT is on tour with two different programs. Opening this week at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa is ABT Forward. Leonard Bernstein is celebrated in Bernstein in a Bubble; Alonzo King premiere’s Single Eye with music by Jason Moran and Tony Bennett is front and center in Zig Zag. This same program will be performed at the Kennedy Center March 29^th and March 30^th.

Don Quixote is on the program for performances at Chrysler Hall in Norfolk, VA; the Kennedy Center and the Mahalia Jackson Theatre in New Orleans.

For tickets and more information click on each venue’s names.

Take Me Out – Hayes Theater New York – Now – October 2^nd

Richard Greenberg’s 2003 play Take Me Out won the Tony Award for Best Play. It tells the story of a professional baseball player (Jesse Williams) who comes out as gay. His doing so reveals a lot about his teammates and their prejudices about his sexuality and his race.

Also appearing in the play are Patrick J. Adams and Jesse Tyler Ferguson. This is a very adult show that features a nude shower scene with most of the cast. So few professional athletes on major teams have come out in the 19 years since this play was first performed on Broadway. That means Take Me Out is just as topical today as it was then.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

Plaza Suite – Hudson Theatre (NYC) – March 28^th – June 26th

Neil Simon’s comedy about relationships and marriage opened on Broadway on February 14, 1968. The show ran for 1,097 performances and featured George C. Scott and Maureen Stapleton as three separate couples who all visit the Plaza Hotel in New York at different times. 

This first-ever revival of the play stars Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker. John Benjamin Hickey (Tony Award-winner for his performance in The Normal Heart) directs. Danny Bolero, Molly Ranson and Eric Wiegand round out the ensemble.

This limited engagement is scheduled to close on June 26^th.

For more information, please go here.

(Photo by Joan Marcus)

Cyrano – Brooklyn Academy of Musc – April 5^th – May 22^nd

The recent Joe Wright film of Edmond Rostand’s play presented a variation from tradition in telling the story of the man with a large nose who falls in love with Roxanne. Get ready for an even more radical approach.

James McAvoy stars in this new version by Martin Crimp. Gone after the period costumes and pleasantries. This Cyrano is more interested in the love of language than in unrequited love.  Modern clothes, hand mics and stand mics are the tools at the cast’s disposal.

Directed by Jamie Lloyd, this production earned the Olivier Award for Best Revival.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater –multiple venues –  April 6^th – May 8^th

For over 60 years the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has celebrated what it is to be an African American through innovative dances that utilize a wide array of musical styles. 

They are on tour to celebrate the 10^th Anniversary of Artistic Director Robert Battle. Amongst the pieces on the program are 2004’s Mass; Ella from 2008 and For Four from 2021. Also on the program is Revelations created by Ailey in 1960.

This tour takes them to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles (April 6-10); The Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara (April 13^th and 14^th); Marcus Performing Arts Center in Milwaukee on April 20^th; KeyBank State Theatre in Cleveland (April 22^nd – 24^th); The University of Massachusetts on April 26^th; Boston’s Boch Center Wang Theatre (April 28^th– May 1^st); University of North Carolina (May 3^rd and 4^th) and concludes at Prudential Hall in Newark (May 6^th – 8^th). Click on each venue’s name for more information and tickets.

Sheku & Isata Kanneh-Mason Tour – April 19^th – May 8^th

Pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason and her brother, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, launch a recital tour on April 19^th at Campbell Hall in Santa Barbara. The core repertoire finds the duo performing works by Frank Bridge, Benjamin Britten, Karem Khachaturian and Dmitri Shostakovich. The Khachaturian is replaced by a work by Beethoven at a few concerts.

The tour takes them to Los Angeles; Costa Mesa; La Jolla; San Francisco; Ann Arbor; Princeton; Kansas City, MO; Baltimore; New York; Toronto; Boston and Atlanta.

For tickets and more information, click on the name of the city above.

Funny Girl – August Wilson Theatre – Now playing

It’s been 58 years since the musical Funny Girl opened on Broadway and turned Barbra Streisand into one of the world’s greatest stars. Since then producers have long considered a revival, but let’s face it, those are big shoes to fill.

Enter Beanie Feldstein who is tackling the role of Fanny Brice. Like Streisand, Feldstein has only played a supporting role in one musical before this one (Hello, Dolly!). Joining her are Ramin Karimloo as love-interest Nick Arnstein and Jane Lynch as Mrs. Brice. Michael Mayer directs the show which has a revised script by Harvey Fierstein.

People, people who need tickets and more information should go here.

Top Album Choices

Jeremy Pelt: Soundtrack

Jazz composer and trumpeter Jeremy Pelt releases his new album this week. It features 10-tracks with Vicente Archer on acoustic & electric bass; Victor Gould on piano; Chien Chien Lu on vibraophone; and Fender Rhodes and Allan Mednard on drums. Anne Drummond plays flute on two tracks and Brittany Anjouy plays Mellotron on two track.

Pelt is a terrific musician and his previous two albums, The Art of Intimacy Vol. 1 and Griot: This Is Important!revealed an incredible range and are essential listening.

Spencer Day: Broadway by Day 

These two albums couldn’t be more different, but both are immensely satisfying works. Vocalist/songwriter Spencer Day offers his interpretations of songs from some of Broadway’s greatest musicals including A Chorus Line, Follies, My Fair Lady and South Pacific on Broadway By Day. His unique stylings provided a new way of hearing these classic songs.

Gerald Clayton: Bells on Sand

Composer/pianist Gerald Clayton’s new album is one we’ve been listening to for over a month. It’s a quiet and gentle album that is filled with inventive music that requires your concentration. That commitment will be deeply rewarded with an inner-peace that Bells on Sand brings to your ears.

Main Photo: Stacey Sergeant, Amara Grandson, Okwui Okpokwasilli, Tendayi Kuumba, Kenita R. Miller, D. Woods and Alexandria Walles in for colored girls who considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (Photo by Marc. J. Franklin)

The post Best Bets Still Available – May 2nd appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Indirectly celebrating this natal day are multiple options that fall under the category of a line from Hamlet, “The play’s the thing.” Beyond the Shakespeare options are five other plays.

If you want funky jazz, contemporary classical music, operas from Europe or modern dance, I’ve got that for you as well. They’re all so good, I can’t make one of them the top pick.

In As You Like It, these famous words are said, “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players.” So in this spirit of this weekend’s Academy Awards, the nominees for great players in Best Bets: April 23rd – April 26th are:

THEATER: Neat – Manhattan Theatre Club – Now – April 25th

Charlayne Woodard’s one-person show Neat opened at New York City Center in a Manhattan Theatre Club production in 1997.

Lawrence Van Gelder, writing for the New York Times, said of Woodard’s play, “Ms. Woodard sings, she dances, but most of all she tells good stories, bringing them to life in ways that are poignant.”

Woodard revisits the work in this prevention as part of MTC’s Curtain Call series. The great thing is you can see this wonderful play and performance for free. All you have to do is register. But act quickly, the run ends on Sunday, April 25th.

DANCE: Digital Program 5 – San Francisco Ballet – Now – May 12th

Three archival performances make up this program from San Francisco Ballet. They include 7 for Eight from 2016 and Anima Animus and Snowblind from 2018.

Helgi Tomasson is the creator of 7 for Eight which is set to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. David Dawson is the choreographer of Anima Animus which is set to music by Ezio Bosso. Cathy Marston is the choreographer of Snowblind which uses music by Amy Beach, Philip Feeney, Arthur Foote, and Arvo Pärt.

Tickets are $29 and allow for 72 hours of access to the program.

PLAY READING: Two Sisters and a Piano – New Normal Rep – Now – May 23rd ART IN AN EMAIL

Playwright Nilo Cruz is best-known for his Pulitzer Prize winning play Anna in the Tropics from 2002. Three years prior to that success he premiered Two Sisters and a Piano.

The play tells the story of two sisters under house arrest in Cuba in 1991. One sister is an author and the lieutenant keeping track of their case has fallen in love with her. The other is a pianist who finds her piano tuner falling head over heels for his client.

Cruz has directed a new reading of Two Sisters and a Piano with Jimmy Smits (Anna in the Tropics); Florencia Lozano (Rinse, Repeat), Gary Perez and Daphne Rubin-Vega (both of whom appeared in Two Sisters and a Piano at The Public Theater.)

In A.D. Amorosi‘s review of this reading for Variety, he says, “Cruz’s playful poetic language, even at its most harshly politicized, and his easy direction allow his actors a delicious freedom. Even when its characters are not free, enclosed in one cramped apartment with nothing but mangoes, rice and the occasional rum shot (and despite the virtual limitations of a laptop’s viewing screen), Two Sisters and a Piano is as open as a Havana landscape, with all of its flavors, scents and sensory overloads at full tilt.”

Tickets are $25 with $10 tickets available for students.

PLAY: The Royale – Private Reels: From the LCT Archives on Broadway on Demand – Now – May 16th

Real life boxer Jack Jackson (the first African-American world heavyweight champion) serves as the inspiration for the story of Jay “The Sport” Jackson in Marco Ramirez’s 2016 play The Royale. (He was also the inspiration for The Great White Hope).

The story is told in six rounds.

Rachel Chavkin, Tony Award-winner for Hadestown, directed this production. Starring are McKinley Belcher III (the 2020 revival of A Soldier’s Play), Khris Davis (Sweat), Montego Glover (Tony nominee for Memphis), John Lavelle (Catch-22) and Clarke Peters (Five Guys Named Moe).

As Ben Brantley said in his rave New York Times review, “…the great subject of The Royale, which has been given such original and graceful theatrical form, is the selfish single-mindedness required of champions, and the repercussions such a focus has when it’s exercised by a black man in a white man’s world.” 

There is no charge to watch The Royale, but you will have to register with Broadway on Demand.

THEATER: An Iliad – A Noise Within – Now – May 16th

Easily one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I’ve had seeing a play was when I attended Denis O’Hare and Lisa Peterson’s An Iliad at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica. It’s a powerful work that is inspired by Homer’s Iliad.

This play, specifically called An Iliad because it isn’t the Iliad, calls for just one actor and a cellist and that actor has to be completely on top of his/her game.

A Noise Within is offering streaming performances of An Iliad with co-founder Geoff Elliott and actress Deborah Strang alternating performances. Joining them as both composer and cellist is Karen Hall. Julia Rodriguez-Elliott directs.

The link in the title will take you to the website so you can see which actor is performing in each performance. Tickets, which are $25 for an individual and $40 for a family, must be reserved a minimum of two hours before each performance.

To see what Denis O’Hare had to say about the show, check out my 2014 interview with him here.

OPERA: Jules Massenet’s Manon – Wiener Staatsoper – April 22nd – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM

Conducted by Frédéric Chaslin; starring Nina Machaidze, Juan Diego Flórez and Adrian Eröd. This Andrei Serban production is from 2019.

Massenet’s opera was composed in 1883 and had its world premiere in January of 1884 in Paris. The libretto is by  Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille.

They based the opera on the 1731 Abbé Prévost novel, L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut.

A young woman from a small town has an intense desire to lavish herself with all the riches and pleasures life has to offer her. But life doesn’t always work out the way we want. Sounds like a story that could be written today.

This is the first of Vienna State Opera’s productions I’ve included in our listings. Very much like the Metropolitan Opera, they offer a different production each day. There is no charge to watch the productions, but you do need to register on their website. Each production will be available for 24 hours.

MUSICAL: A Letter to Harvey Milk – Now – April 25th

The creators of this musical, Jerry James, Laura I. Kramer, Ellen M. Schwartz and Cheryl Stern were inspired by a short story of the same name by Lesléa Newman. A Letter to Harvey Milk opened off-Broadway in 2018 at the Acorn Theatre in New York.

The setting is San Francisco in the mid 1980s. Harry, a kosher butcher who has retired and is also a widower, is given an assignment to write a letter to someone who is dead. He chooses California politician Harvey Milk – the first openly gay politician elected in California who was later assassinated by Dan White in 1978. But why?

Members of the original cast has reunited for this streaming production. They include Adam Heller, Julia Knitel, Cheryl Stern who are joined by Michael Bartoli, Jeremy Greenbaum, Aury Krebs and Ravi Roth. Evan Pappas directs.

Tickets range from $10 – $50 with proceeds going to The Actors Fund and HIAS. All tickets purchased will allow viewing of the musical through Sunday, April 25th at 11:59 PM EDT/8:59 PDT.

SHAKESPEARE: Shakespeare Sonnet Slam – Gingold Theatrical Group – April 23rd – 6:00 PM EDT/3:00 PM PDT

Happy Birthday William Shakespeare. You don’t look a day over 450. The Gingold Theatrical Group is celebrating by holding a virtual open mic where Shakespeare’s sonnets or other material based on or inspired by the Sonnets will be performed. Everyone is invited to participate and you have three minutes to give it your all.

Joining in this celebration are Stephen Brown-Fried, Robert Cuccioli, Tyne Daly, George Dvorsky, Melissa Errico, Alison Fraser, Tom Hewitt, Daniel Jenkins, John-Andrew Morrison, Patrick Page, Maryann Plunkett, Tonya Pinkins, Laila Robins, Jay O. Sanders, Renee Taylor, Jon Patrick Walker and more.

You’ll have to come up with your own take on the Sonnets, but this is a free party! You can find the Shakespeare Sonnet Slam on Gingold Theatrical Group’s Facebook page.

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL MUSIC: Sonic Shift – Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra – Premieres April 23rd at 9:30 PM EDT/6:30 PM PDT

Composer Jessie Montgomery has curated this new episode of LA Chamber Orchestra’s Close Quarters series. On the program are works by composers Marcos Balter, Anna Meredith and Alyssa Weinberg. Each work explores the progression from acoustic music to electronic and electro-acoustic music with an emphasis on the wind section.

Will Kim provides the visuals that accompany the performance which is lead by Christopher Rountree of Wild Up! Nadia Sirota is the music producer.

This is the first of two Close Quarters episodes curated by Montgomery. I recently interviewed her about working with LACO. You can read that interview here.

There’s no charge to watch this performance. Donations are encouraged.

CHAMBER MUSIC: Neave Trio – Asheville Chamber Music Series – April 23rd – April 25th – Art in an EMAIL

Pianist Eri Nakamura, cellist Mikhail Veselov and violinist Anna Williams are the members in Neave Trio. Following on the heels of their 2019 album Her Voice, which featured female composers, their concert this weekend as part of the Asheville Chamber Music Series will also showcase female composers.

On the program is the Trio No. 1, Op. 33 by Louise Farrench; Rebecca Clarke’s Piano Trio and Cécile Chaminade’s Piano Trio No. 1, Op. 11.

Perhaps none of these composers is familiar to you. They aren’t to me. But Neave Trio’s passion for this lesser-known music makes this concert utterly compelling.

There are three performances: Friday, April 23rd at 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT; Saturday at 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT and Sunday at 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT.

You can watch this concert for free, but donations are encouraged.

JAZZ: Sun Ra Arkestra – SFJAZZ – April 23rd – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

The name Herman Poole Blount probably doesn’t mean anything to you. But if told that was the birth name of Le Sony’r Ra who would later become known as Sun Ra, you might have a better idea who he was.

Experimental, free and avant-garde jazz was his specialty. It was always performed best by the Sun Ra Arkestra.

After Sun Ra’s death in 1993, alto saxophonist Marshall Allen starting leading the ensemble. As he does in this concert at SFJAZZ from 2017.

To get a sense of what might be in store for you in this Fridays at Five concert, here are some of the songs being performed: Space Loneliness, Saturn, Angels and Demons at Play and Space is the Place. It’s going to be trippy.

And you can take that trip for $5 (which offers one full month of digital membership or $60 (which includes a one year digital membership.)

There is an encore showing on April 24th at 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT.

PLAY: Romeo and Juliet – Great Performances on PBS – April 23rd – Check Local Listings

You don’t expect just some stand-up sonnets for Shakespeare’s birthday, do you? Of course not. Let’s throw in some tragedy. As in the tragic love story of them all – Romeo and Juliet.

The National Theatre created this film which maneuvers its way from rehearsal into and around the Lyttleton Theatre. The cast are stuck in a theater that has shut down and act out the story of the Capulets and the Montagues.

Starring as the title characters are Josh O’Connor and Jessie Buckley. The cast also includes Fisayo Akinade, Ella Dacres, Deborah Findlay, Tamsin Greig, Ellis Howard, Lloyd Hutchinson, David Judge, Adrian Lester, Lucian Msamati, Alex Mugnaioni, Shubham Saraf and Colin Tierney. Simon Godwin is the director.

As with any show on PBS, I’d advise checking your local listings for exact airdate and time in your part of the country.

OPERA: Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte – Wiener Staatsoper – April 24th – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT

Conducted by Adam Fischer; starring Benjamin Bruns, Olga Bezsmertna, Íride Martínez, Markus Werba and Annika Gerhards. This Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier production is from 2015.

Mozart’s opera premiered in September 1791 in Vienna a mere two months before the composer died. It features a libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder.

Prince Tamino is asked by the Queen of the Night to free her daughter Pamina from Sarastro. Tamino, however, is impressed with Sarastro and the way his community lives in the world and wants to be a part of it. Both alone and together Tamino and Pamina endure multiple tests. If they succeed, what will happen to them? To the Queen of the Night?

MONOLOGUES: Whispers International – April 24th – 2:00 PM EDT/11:00 AM PDT

As you know, there was a massive blast in Lebanon on August 4th of last year. Almost 200 people were killed and over 6,000 people were injured.

Whispers International was created to raise money for the victims and to help in the rebuilding of the area around the blast site.

British playwrights Geraldine Breenna, Mike Elliston, Kim Hardy, Angela Harvey, John Jesper and Kate Webster have made their writing available to a company of Lebanese actors to perform.

Those actors are Nadine Labaki, Georges Khabbaz, Nada Abou Farhat, Talal El Jurdi, Bernadette Houdeib, Rita Hayek, Badih Abou Chacra, Dory Al-Samarany, Bshara Atallah, Sany Abdul Baki, Josyane Boulos, Agatha Ezzedine and Hagop Der Ghougassian 

Tickets are £13.52 which at press time equals approximately $18.75.

OPERA: Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel – Weiner Staatsoper – April 25th – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT

Conducted by Christian Thielemann; starring Ileana Tosca, Daniela Sindram, Adrian Eröd, Janina Baechle, Michaela Schuster, Annika Gerhards

The Grimm brother’s fairly tale about a brother and sister who are lured to a house with sweets and candies only to find a witch who wants to eat the duo is the basis for this opera that had its debut in 1893 in Weimar. Richard Strauss conducted the premiere. A second production the next year in Hamburg was conducted by Gustav Mahler. Adelheid Wette, Humpderdink’s sister, wrote the libretto.

Hansel and Gretel has the distinction of finding much of its popularity not just through opera houses, but on the radio. It was the first opera broadcast on the radio in Europe when a 1923 Covent Garden production was heard over the airwaves. Eight years later in 1931, it became the first ever opera broadcast in its entirety by the Metropolitan Opera.

The opera is commonly seen and heard during the Christmas season. An odd choice, but librettist Adelheid Wette did soften some of the harsher elements found in the original Grimm tales for her brother’s opera.

CABARET: Mandy Gonzalez – Seth Concert Series – April 25th – 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT

With the upcoming film version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights, it’s a great time to check in on one of the musical’s original cast members: Mandy Gonzalez, who originated the role of Nina.

Gonazalez is an insanely talented singer and actress.

I saw her in In the Heights. She’s also appeared in Wicked, Lennon, Dance of the Vampires and as Angelica Schuyler in Hamilton.

I’ve also seen her perform her cabaret act and it is impossible to express the amount of pure joy that comes out of her when she’s singing. (And she does a killer version of Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen.)

She is Seth Rudetsky’s guest in his concert series this weekend.

Tickets are $25 and you can watch the live performance at 3:00 PM EDT or the replay of the concert at 8:00 PM EDT. Whichever you choose, you will certainly have a good time.

IN PERSON: DANCE: Uniting in Movement – American Ballet Theatre – Segerstrom Center for the Arts – April 25th – 1:30 PM PDT

You could be ambivalent about the Academy Awards and go see a rare live performance of ballet in Costa Mesa. ABT has been creating a program of three different works that were filmed this week. On Sunday, they are opening up Segerstrom Center for the Arts for a limited number of people to see the performance live.

The works are Let Me Sing Forever More by choreographer Jessica Lang and set to the recordings of Tony Bennett (clearly the title comes from Fly Me to the Moon); La Follia Variations by Lauren Lovette set to music of the same name by composer Francesco Geminiani and Indestructible Light by Darrell Grand Moultrie which is set to music by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Neal Hefti and Billy Strayhorn.

Hefti, by the way, composed the theme for the television series Batman.

At press time the only available tickets were $80 each. There are Covid-protocols in place for this performance.

For those willing to wait, Uniting in Movement will be available for streaming through Segerstrom Center for the Arts from May 12th – May 26th for $25.

CHAMBER MUSIC: Argus Quartet: noise/Silence – Five Boroughs Music Festival and The Noguchi Museum – April 25th – 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT (Art in an email)

Cellist Audrey Chen, violinists Clara Kim and Gioncarlo Latta and violist Maren Rothfritz make up the Argus Quartet. Though they perform music from across all eras of classical music, they seem to excel in contemporary works.

This concert was filmed at one of my favorite museums in New York, The Noguchi Museum. It is being presented by the Five Boroughs Music Festival. The Argus Quartet will perform works by composers John Cage (String Quartet in Four Parts); Dorothy Rudd More (Modes for String Quartet), Rolf Wallin (several selections from Curiosity Cabinet) and Paul Wiancko (Vox Petra).

The concert will be available for free streaming on the Five Boroughs Music Festival YouTube channel through December 31st.

OPERA: Bizet’s Carmen – Weiner Staatsoper – April 26th – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT

Conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada; starring Anita Rachvelishvili, Piotr Beczala, Erwin Schrott and Vera-Lotte Boecker. This Calixto Bieito production is from 2021.

Georges Bizet collaborated with librettists Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy on this immensely popular opera. It was based on Propser Mérimée’s novella of the same name. 

When Carmen was first performed in Paris in 1875 it was considered both shocking and scandalous. 

Set in Seville, Spain, Carmen is a gypsy who has caught everyone’s eye. A soldier, Don José, plays coy and gives her no attention. Her flirtation causes troubles for both when Don José’s girlfriend, Micaëla arrives. Tensions escalate between the two women and after a knight fight, José must arrest Carmen. When she seduces him it sets off a series of events that will not end well for the gypsy woman.

PLAY: Measure for Measure – Goodman Theatre – April 26th – May 9th

Here’s another opportunity to celebrate the bard. But this isn’t going to be your standard production of a Shakespearean play.

Director Robert Falls has transported this play from Vienna to New YOrk City circa the late 1970s (or as I like to describe it, before Disney moved into Broadway).

The story is still the same. Claudio is sentenced to death under an arcane law invoked by Angelo who has taken over for the Duke who has left rather than have to deal with morality issues in (originally Vienna). Claudio’s crime? Getting his girlfriend, Juliet, pregnant.

The Duke returns in disguise and becomes aware of the decisions Angelo has been making. Deception, bargains, bartering, love and death are all on the table in this fairly convoluted play.

Justin Hayford, in his review for the Chicago Reader, had mixed feelings about the production:

“It’s rare for one of Shakespeare’s plays to be ripped from its original setting, transplanted across centuries and continents—and still end up feeling vital, urgent, and utterly contemporary. At least for a while. If Falls and his stellar cast could maintain that vitality past intermission, they’d have a masterpiece on their hands.”

Nonetheless, I think the concept sounds interesting and worth checking out. What else are you going to do on a Monday night? (Of course, I have another option for you…)

Tickets are free, but require registration.

AUDIO PLAY: Brother, Brother – New York Theatre Workshop – Live Premiere April 26th – 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT Art in an email

New York Theater Workshop is offering up a twist on audio plays. This will feature visuals, but not of the performers. Rather, artists Ibrahim Rayintakath​ and Liang-Hsin Huang have created imagery that will accompany Aleshea Harris’ play.

Brother, Brother tells the story of two brothers sharing a bicycle while making their way through Appalachia. They are actors headed to Tennessee. They start getting followed by a mysterious man in a maroon suit. At this moment the dreams they have for their future are confronted by the acts from their past.

Starring in this audio play are Amari Cheathom (terrific in August Wilson’s Jitney), André De Shields (Tony Award-winner for Hadestown), Gbenga Akinnagbe (To Kill a Mockingbird) and Owen Tabaka (Ratatouille: The Tik Tok Musical). Shayok Misha Chowdhury directs.

Tickets are $10. Brother, Brother will remain available for streaming through July 25th.

Those are my Best Bets: April 23rd – April 26th. But a few reminders (and a preview):

MasterVoices has debuted the 3rd part of Myths and Hymns, a series of short films set to Adam Guettel’s song cycle. For details about the series, go here. For my interview with MasterVoices Artistic Director Ted Sperling, go here.

Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Gala 2021 is available for streaming through Sunday. For details about the program and how to get tickets, go here.

Carnegie Hall’s Voices of Hope series continues with multiple new shows available for free viewing. For details go here.

The Metropolitan Opera streams Philip Glass’ Satyagraha on Friday (highly recommended); Beethoven’s Fidelio on Saturday and Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites on Sunday (also highly recommended). For details and previews go here.

Here’s a preview of next week at the Met where the theme is City of Light (all the operas take place in Paris). Monday’s opera is, what else, La Bohème by Puccini.

That truly is the full and complete list of Best Bets: April 23rd – April 26th. Enjoy your weekend!

Photo: William Shakespeare (By BatyrAshirbayev98/Courtesy Wikipedia Commons)

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The novel tells the story of the beautiful Callirhoe with whom Chaereas has fallen deeply in love. This doesn’t go over too well with others who had their eyes on her so they conspire to fill Chaereas with doubt about her fidelity to him. An abusive encounter with Chaereas leads to what many presume to be her death, but in reality was just a coma. Other suitors pursue her even though her death did not end her marriage. Like many women of that time, she was granted no particular power over her own destiny. But she had one thing that still holds power over people today, beauty combined with brains.

Of Love and Rage was choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky. He’s a Russian born dancer-turned-choreographer who has worked with the Bolshoi Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, New York City Ballet and multiple other companies.

With Of Love and Rage he has choreographed his 17th ballet for American Ballet Theatre. He says in the press release for this world premiere that, “I am fascinated by the topic of forgiveness. This is a story about how anger and jealousy tear two people apart – two people who are madly in love. Forgiveness is the only way they can reunite, and forgiveness requires strength.”

Ratmansky has selected the music of Aram Khachaturian, as arranged by Philip Feeney, for the ballet. That music will be played live at these performances by the Pacific Symphony.

The announced casting for Of Love and Rage is as follows:

Thursday, March 5th and the matinee on Saturday, March 7th:

Callirhoe – Catherine Hurlin
Chaereas – Aran Bell
Dionysius – James Whiteside
Mithridates – Cory Stearns
King of Babylon – Roman Zhurbin
Queen of Babylon – Devon Teuscher

Friday, March 6th and Sunday, March 8th

Callirhoe – Christine Shevchenko
Chaereas – Thomas Forster
Dionysius – Blaine Hoven
Mithridates – Alexandre Hammoudi
King of Babylon – Keith Roberts
Queen of Babylon – Katherine Williams

Saturday, March 7th evening performance:

Callirhoe – Hee Seo
Chaereas – Calvin Royal III
Dionysius – Joo Won Ahn
Mithridates – Cory Stearns
King of Babylon – Roman Zhurbin
Queen of Babylon – Devon Teuscher

Of Love and Rage will have its New York Premiere June 2nd – June 6th during the company’s 2020 Metropolitan Opera House season.

The ballet runs approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes.

For tickets go here.

Photo: Catherine Hurlin and Aran Bell in Of Love and Rage (Photo by Erin Baiano/Courtesy of American Ballet Theatre)

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Rachael Worby curated the program and leads MUSE/IQUE in this performance. Special guests include dancer Stella Abrera, Cory Stearns, Skylar Brandt and Arron Scott from American Ballet Theatre; piano duo Anderson & Roe and tenor Ashley Faatoalia.

At press time the program was announced as follows:

SAINT-SAËNS: Danse Macabre: Bacchanal for Two Pianos and Orchestra

LEONARD BERNSTEIN: “America” from West Side Story

BUDDY JOHNSON: “Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball”

EASTWOOD/STEVENS: selection from Invictus

ADOLPHE ADAM: Giselle, Act II, Pas de Deux, (choreographer Kevin McKenzie)

ANTONIN DVOŘÁK: “Dumky” Piano Trio No.4 in E minor (choreographer, Jessica Lang)

JOHANNES BRAHMS: Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Variation VI

JOHANNES BRAHMS: Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn, Variation VII (choreographer, Twyla Tharp)

BILL CONTI: selection from The Right Stuff

DON GIBSON: “I Can’t Stop Loving You”

JUSTIN HURWITZ: selection from First Man

BART HOWARD: “Fly Me to the Moon”

JAMES HORNER: selection from Apollo 13

GUSTAV HOLST: “Jupiter” from The Planets

PAUL MCCARTNEY: “Let It Be”

If you’ve never been to one of their concerts, the musicians of MUSE/IQUE stand during the performance. The one I attended most recently was performed without an intermission.

The grounds of The Huntington open two hours prior for mingling and picnicking. You are welcome to bring your own food, but you absolutely cannot bring your own wine or alcohol. That is a rule imposed by The Huntington. There is beer and wine sold on the premises.

For tickets go here.

Photo: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins/Courtesy of NASA

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