Disney may have hit the motherlode when it bought the film rights to Hamilton for $75 million, but both theater lovers and film buffs are reaping big entertainment rewards from the move. Originally intending to release the film version of the worldwide Broadway smash in movie houses next year, the Covid pandemic caused Disney’s strategists …
In theater, there aren’t many things as enthralling as the unmistakable sound of reality. It startles to you to alertness and makes your ears perk up as if you’ve just heard an air raid siren. It’s the writing of course that ignites this response, which then leaves it to actors to blow life into words …
Finding something small and quiet and intelligent that outshines just about everything else in its orbit is no small triumph. Which may be why some people call The Midnight Diner, Tokyo Stories a hidden treasure in the Netflix galaxy of video amusements. Premiering in 2016, the series is enjoying a fifth season of telling simple …
Midnight Diner Tokyo Stories, Classic Storytelling at its Best Read More »
On the surface, few things could seem as removed from one another as what we understand classical dance to be and the tumultuous demands for justice and equality now roaring through city streets in America. The Met doesn’t agree and has raised the profile of one of its past dance events to prove its point. …
Say the word “ballet” and you’re likely get a blank stare. The kind of look that indicates complete non-interest and perhaps even mild irritation. Considered a thing of the past, an institutional relic; few of us give the dance form a chance to show what it is today. One thing it’s not is on stages …
Even in a pandemic, dancers can’t and don’t stop dancing. Respected and inventive Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre graciously tacked up a Youtube video in late March showing what can happen when creativity just won’t be constrained. Using a series of movements developed by choreographer Alice Klock, a dozen dancers interpret and perform them as they’re …
Dance excellence is something you can always expect with the Ailey company, or, to use its formal name, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. But opening night of its four day stay at the Auditorium this month zoomed past even the highest of expectations as soon as the curtain rose. As an arts medium that …
We don’t choose our passions. In many ways, they choose us. The call to dance may be considered enigmatic; but it’s certainly powerful. As one writer noted, once a person’s been introduced to dance, the likelihood that they’ll go all in is virtually guaranteed. Some are brought to dance early and quickly become infatuated. Some …
Sometimes dance is better understood when you try to see it through the eyes of someone who designs it. In an interview several years ago, Christopher Wheeldon Obe, the choreographer for Commedia, the first dance opening The Joffrey Ballet’s winter season at the Auditorium this past Wednesday, talked about the beauty of having you own …
Joffrey Enters its Winter Season Fresh and Strong Read More »
Freedom is one of non-representational art’s most captivating attributes. Free of geographical borders, free of national divides and often not dependent on the specifics of an individual’s origins, it doesn’t depict a place, a person or a thing. As expressions generated purely of the mind, it can represent an idea or a memory. It can …