Category Archives: Reviews

Go With The Flow: S T R E A M I N G

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Up until very recently, I never had a taste of media streaming. Cold, fresh water was what streaming meant to me. Nature. Certainly not media. It seems that many folks are looking into cutting the cord and ditching cable companies. I get it: it took me years to cede to PAY for TV, and the “triple play,” and then you turn around and you are the puppet of the cable company. At least they threw in HBO (works for me) and Showtime (rarely watch it). The fact is there is less and less well-made stuff to watch. There are several “standards” … Continue reading →

Review: Constellations: Pole Dancing in the Parallel Universe

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  Last Sunday emanated from a parallel Universe. Show tickets, the decision to drive to a specific train which had a stop near the theater. The transit website said, “no delays.” Arriving at the train proved otherwise, in fact it seems always to prove otherwise when the site indicates no problems. The platform was mobbed and a train was going out of service. As the clock ticks toward the curtain going up I have to calm myself down. It is either traffic or trains, in New York City you picks your poison. Finally an E train is rerouted around the … Continue reading →

Be Happy, Or At Least Pretend To Be

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Years ago when I was on a teaching sabbatical I was walking through Manhattan to a class. I remember crossing a street near The New School. It was around noon. I was wearing a gorgeous sweater I made under a red coat. It was early Winter, somewhat cloudy and I remember the chill. It was about twenty-eight years ago. I was pregnant with my son. A young man approached me and said something like, “you look happy, would you like to get a cup of coffee?” He likely approached me because I was smiling. I often smile to myself when … Continue reading →

An Angel Played the Violin–On Seinfeld?

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I attended a wonderful concert last night at a local college. I even ran into friends there. The Moscow State Symphony Orchestra was to play and the scheduled violin soloist was the highly esteemed Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg.   She played in the second piece, Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No 1. The women in the orchestra were garbed in elegant black fabrics: lace, silks. They wore high heels. I mean, these young women were Muscovites and they take pride. But who was the woman who came out to play the solo? She was holding a violin! Where was Nadja? What happened to … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: From Lost Lake to Vietnam

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Lost Lake,  a play by David Auburn (Proof, The Columnist) is currently playing at Manhattan Theater Club, and a splendid production it is. It is perfectly cast: two lost souls meet unexpectedly, both trying to get by, both struggling, and it is not until the end that the single black mother who has lost her husband to a terrible accident leaving her with two small children, recognizes her own failings in the man who rented his cabin to her. She saw him as a loser, she had failings, herself, but perhaps there was more to him than was initially obvious. … Continue reading →

Scenes From A Marriage, in Triplicate

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In 1974, Roger Ebert called  Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes from A Marriage  “one of the truest, most luminous love stories ever made.” It makes us re-examine the nomenclature of love. “His married couple are Swedish upper-middle-class. He is a professor, she is a lawyer specializing in family problems (for which, read divorce). They have two daughters, who remain off screen. They are intelligent, independent. She truly believes their marriage is a happy one (although she doesn’t much enjoy sex). One evening, he comes to their summer cottage and confesses that he has gone and fallen in love with someone else. There is … Continue reading →

New York City Photo Journal: From Madeline to Sunset

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  In an old house in Paris, that was covered in vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines…the smallest one was Madeline. In addition to the Madeline books, Bemelmans was a prolific writer and wrote for adults. He was involved with working in, decorating and writing about restaurants and bars. Ludwig Bemelmans’ grandson has taken over the Madeline legacy: John Bemelmans Marciano. There is nothing like the original. One of my favorite museums: The New-York Historical Society New-York Historical Society 170 Central Park West at Richard Gilder Way (77th Street) New York, NY 10024 Phone (212) 873-3400   … Continue reading →

On Stage: Heaven and Hell: The Passenger

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  The Passenger An opera by the late Mieczyslaw Weinberg based on a radio play by Zofia Posmysz, libretto by Alexander Medvedev. As part of New York City’s Lincoln Center festival, the opera was performed by the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra, conducted by Patrick Summers, staged at the Park Avenue Armory, a grand venue. The Passenger is about heaven and hell. In heaven, one is aboard a ship bound for Brazil. Passengers walk the deck, drink, dance. All is white: the people, their clothes, the band, their instruments. All is pure until it is divulged … Walter is a German … Continue reading →

Soup For You and a Good Play

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It’s all about soup: The Soup Man (aka, the Seinfeld “Soup Nazi”) vs. a branch of Hale & Hearty Soups, across the street. (I am in search of the perfect mulligatawny soup.) I had lunch at Hale & Hearty where there is a vast variety including sandwiches and salads and one can sit. I took home a serving from the Soup Man. Will the addition of the included banana, bread, and a Lindt chocolate justify the $8.00 for their mulligatawny soup?       On the the theater: The Commons of Pensacola With Sarah Jessica Parker and Blythe Danner   … Continue reading →

314. Opera: Dr. Atomic: John Adams: The Metropolitan Opera, NYC

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Dr. Atomic premiered in San Francisco in 2005. From the Met Playbill: “This monumental contemporary opera is a riveting examination of one of the most significant episodes in world history: the events leading up to the testing of the first atomic bomb in New Mexico in 1945. Like composer John Adams’s previous operas Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer, doctor Atomic not a reenactment of a historical moment but rather an exploration of the people, personalities, and issues involved in an epic incident. The focus of the piece is the title character, J. Robert Oppenheimer, the cultivated American … Continue reading →

465 TheaterThursday: Collected Stories: Donald Margulies

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Linda Lavin is known for her roles on television (remember “Alice”?) and theater. She is a wonderful comedienne but a superb dramatic actress. She is a four-time Tony nominee for her roles in “The Last of the Red Hot Lovers,” “The Diary of Anne Frank,” and “The Tales of the Allergist’s Wife.” Sarah Paulson has starred in “The Glass Menagerie” (opposite Jessica Lange), “The Sisters Rosenweig.” She has appeared in many off-Broadway plays and television: “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Cupid,” “Studio 60 on Sunset Strip,” “Deadwood,” “The D.A. Leap of Faith,” “Path to War,” “Jack & Jill,” “American Gothic.” “Collected Stories” is … Continue reading →

Theater: The Whipping Man: at what point does slavery end?

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Theater: The Whipping Man: at what point does slavery end? Recently my cold, snow-filled Winter was melted by the Manhattan Theater Club’s production of The Whipping Man, a new play by a new playwright, Matthew Lopez. Mr. Lopez, a New Yorker is the son of a Puerto Rican father and a Polish-Russian mother. His unusual theme about a Jewish Confederate soldier and the slaves who were raised as Jews is a gripping historic profile of possibilities. He raised the parallel between the Jewish and African slavery experience and shone a light on the Jewish presence in this country during the … Continue reading →

Theater: Good People: David Lindsay-Abaire/Manhattan Theater Club

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 Theater:  Good People: David Lindsay-Abaire/Manhattan Theater Club A fabulous play with a fabulous cast: Becky Ann Baker (stage, screen, TV) Patrick Carroll (stage, screen, TV) Tate Donovan (stage, screen, TV) Renée Elise Goldsberry (stage, screen,TV) Frances McDormand (stage, screen. TV: Academy Award for Fargo; Misssissippi Burning, Almost Famous, North Country) Estelle Parsons: (stage, screen: August, Osage County, Academy Award: Bonnie & Clyde, nominée for Rachel, Rachel. Inducted into the Theater hall of Fame in 2004) >>Link to Cast photos and bios<< >>New York Times article on the playwright, Pulitzer Prize winner, David Lindsay-Abaire<< What makes a person good? Are the … Continue reading →

Theater: Wit by Margaret Edson at Manhattan Theater Club

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Wit by Margaret Edson at Manhattan Theater Club [W;t] by Margaret Edson with Cynthia Nixon Pun Bandu Suzanne Bertish Michael Countryman Jessica Dickey Chické Johnson Greg Keller Carra Paterson Zachary Spicer   Directed by Lynne Meadow Scenic Design: Santo Loquasto Wit is one of the most difficult plays I have ever watched. It had some of the finest acting I have ever witnessed. It is one of the best plays I have ever seen. This was the third play of my five play subscription for the season. I had a vague idea of what it was about, but I wasn’t … Continue reading →

Time Stands Still, a play by Donald Margulies

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Time Stands Still, a play by Donald Margulies January 10, 2010 Manhattan Theater Club/preview The Samuel J. Friedman Theater, (formerly The Biltmore)       Time Stands Still Donald Margulies Cast: Laura Linney-Sarah Goodwin Brian D’Arcy James-James Dodd Eric Borgosian-Richard Erlich Alicia Silverstone-Mandy Bloom photos by the author I have been a member of The Manhattan Theater Club for about 15 years. The subscription gets me into the theater five times a year and new playwrights are featured; many go on to win awards; I joined initially because my cousin Donald Margulies’ work is often featured. He won the Pulitzer … Continue reading →

Theater: Other Desert Cities: Jon Robin Baitz

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 Other Desert Cities “The Best New Play on Broadway!” Brantley, The New York Times <— autographed by Rachel Griffiths   a play by Jon Robert Baitz directed by Joe Mantello with… Stockard Channing Rachel Griffiths Stacy Keach   Judith LightJustin Kirk Signing autographs: photos, Sans Souci Rachel Griffiths Justin Kirk Link to the New York Times> Review Other Desert Cities is a drama currently playing on Broadway with a highly noted cast. Each member slips into his or her role and owns it; the acting was flawless. If you don’t know the cast members by sight you have certainly seen them … Continue reading →