Edna Guy: her race kept her from dancing with Denishawn
Mar
24
2018
Three years after Tamiris premiered her first Negro Spirituals, Edna Guy and Hemsley Winfield collaborated to stage the First Negro Dance Recital in America on 29 April 1931. With tickets priced from one to four dollars, spectators at the Theatre in the Clouds, an intimate space located on the top floor of the Chanin Building ...
Peter Sellars ‘Lagrime di San Pietro’ goes on the road
Mar
23
2018
It’s mournfully sad, very beautiful, music. But, for many, these are sad times. And we all need more beauty. That was my takeaway after a 75-minute submersion of ears and soul in the exquisite rapture of Lagrime di San Pietro (Tears of St. Peter), a stunning swathe of a capella choral music by Orlando di ...
Hitting the mark with Robin Mitchell
To see the world in a grain of sand is a goal shared by many creative people. In the case of Robin Mitchell, she sees the world in a mark. She’s a non-representational painter and, unlike others who work in that genre, her paint doesn’t sprawl, drip, stain or consist of hard-edge color blocks. Mitchell ...
Filmforum to screen radical-60s-cinema take on black power
Mar
19
2018
Over the course of the year, L.A. Filmforum will present screenings that reflect the the turbulent global events of 1968 from the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr and Robert Kennedy to the Democratic Convention and 1968 presidential election in the US, to the strikes in France in May and the Prague Spring and Soviet ...
REVIEW: ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ @ A Noise Within
When A Raisin in the Sun was first performed on Broadway in 1959, it became a landmark. Playwright Lorraine Hansberry was the first African-American woman to author a Broadway play, and at 29, she became the youngest playwright to receive New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play. While the setting of the piece ...
Distinguished Israeli pianist to perform in Palos Verdes
Mar
15
2018
A free Sunday concert — donations welcomed — in a beautiful location comes from music producer Jim Eninger, who presents the Berlin-based Israeli pianist Einav Yarden April 8. Yarden has appeared as a soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin and Rundfunk Chor, Minnesota Symphony, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Bucharest Philharmonic, Calgary Philharmonic, Philharmonic of ...
Marilyn to have succeeded Bette in ‘Of Human Bondage’?
Mar
12
2018
“She said she’d settled the suit with Fox. They had fired her from Something’s Got to Give. She’d be restarting production in about a month. And she had signed with MGM to remake “Of Human Bondage” to be directed by Henry Hathaway.” The words above were spoken by Jane Russell, apropos a conversation with her ...
Politics? Paul Draper says it with his feet. 1
Would that certain people would zip their lip — and tell it like the great tap dancer Paul Draper does in this footage from 1948. Draper, in that year, was on the cusp of being blacklisted in the reign of terror foisted on thinkers, artists and other creatives by the House Unamerican Activities Committee. In ...
An old-fashioned road show for New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players
As the years tick by, I realize I am simply not seeing enough Gilbert and Sullivan. So I was delighted to note The Pirates of Penzance on the season of the Karen and Richard Carpenter Center, where the vast stadium seating makes it one of my favorite places to watch performances. Checking the schedule, I ...
Modern dance revivified by Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble
Mar
6
2018
Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble Odes, choreography by Anna Sokolow Photo: Melissa Sobel\Meems Images Adjacent to the tree growing in Brooklyn this weekend is a wonderful program of classical modern dance choreography presented by the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble. The 14-member ensemble will be joined by guests David Glista of the Limon Dance Company; Jennifer Conley, former soloist ...