It has been awhile since I have written anything of any substance. I can’t promise you this one will be any great shakes either, but at least it won’t be a meme or some cut and paste photo or video. Not that you care but it really is hard coming up with regular blog content when you’re brain dead at the end of a work day and the weather is starting to get nice outside again. Maybe that’s grist for a future blog.
In any event, living in New York has certain advantages not the least of which is the abundance of cultural offerings constantly available. I know I need to get out more and see something interesting, so I thought I’d pass along some of the arts events that have caught my eye.
Regrettably, I missed this one and if you are just hearing about it now, you will have as well. But the distinguished South African actors John Kani and Winston Ntshona recreated roles they first performed more than 30 years ago in a revival of Athol Fugard’s Sizwi Banzi is Dead which was in limited engagement at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. A tale of South Africa’s apartheid system and the hardships Black residents faced, Kani and Ntshona were once jailed for performing the play in their homeland but later won Tony Awards when it was first presented in New York. With their closing performance on April 19, it will be the last time they do the play together.
Television actor Boris Kodjoe (Soul Food) stepped into the role of Brick this past week in the Broadway revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, taking over for Terrence Howard through May 4. Howard left to fulfill a contractual obligation on a movie role. He’ll return May 6 and finish the show’s expected run through June 22. The play is receiving quite favorable notices and Kodjoe is delighted to have the opportunity.
On April 30, Laurence Fishburne stars in a one-man-show about the life of the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, in a limited engagement at the Booth Theatre. Fishburne, who has a Tony for his work in August Wilson’s “Two Trains Running” sees the part as a great challenge, in this interview he did with Theatermania.com.
The Broadway musical Passing Strange (which I have yet to see) recorded its cast album last week. Normally that’s an all day affair in a recording studio, but a show that tells “the coming-of-age story of a middle-class youth seeking to find ‘the real’ by embarking on a journey of escape and exploration,” couldn’t do things in the conventional manner. Instead they performed the songs from the show live in front of an audience at the Belasco Theatre. Playbill.com has pictures.
Warmer weather means festivals and there are several on the horizon.
The Tribeca Film Festival gets underway next Wednesday, April 23 and runs until May 4. Fifty-three world premieres will be screened at seven different venues. It’s usually a tough ticket to snag but they are on sale online.
The Joyce Theater—a wonderful place to watch a dance performance—holds its 123 Festival April 29-May 11. It will showcase some of the finest new dancers and most exciting dance companies in the country. Among the companies is Ailey II, the “junior” unit of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Finally, here’s an early heads up for two June festivals. The Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Becket, Massachusetts (for those of us who like leaving NYC in the summer) opens June 18 for a ten week run. One of my favorite companies, Garth Fagan Dance, performs during the opening week. The JVC Jazz Festival takes over New York during the last two weeks of June, with performances by some of jazz’s biggest names in the city’s concert halls, nightclubs and outdoor performance spaces.
Not that I’ve ever been a big Tyler Perry fan or was in any way inclined to go see his latest film Meet the Browns, but some reading I’ve done in the last two days has pretty much solidified it for me. Some of these reviews are funnier than the movie apparently.
Call me a snob but I’ve never been a fan of overly-simplistic storylines, one dimensional characters and heavy-handed sermonizing. Plus I’ve never liked shelling out $10-12 (what we pay here in NYC) for movies that will be on cable by the summer.
Striking members of the Writers Guild of America East and West are reviewing terms of a contract proposal from motion picture and television producers that could end the three month walkout and get writers back to work possibly as early as Monday. More noteworthy is the early report that writers may have gotten most of what they wanted in the agreement.
Writers staged a strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers largely over residual rights to produced work that airs on the internet or that is sold via DVD. Producers have kept all of the revenue for themselves despite the fact that the entertainment industry is moving more and more product into these new technologies. Writers have been asking for as little as 2 cents on the dollar, but the tight-fisted producers have continued to play Scrooge.
But with the industry’s premiere event, the Academy Awards, just weeks away and the threat of a repeat of this year’s Golden Globe Awards, where there was no ability to use writers and nominees who were members of the Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild stayed away in a show of support, producers had incentive to come to their senses and return to the bargaining table.
UPDATE: This editorial in today’s Los Angeles Times suggests the strike was worth it.
Washington DC’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will celebrate the entire ten-play cycle of work by the late Pulitzer Prize-winner August Wilson. August Wilson’s 20th Century is an epic undertaking, rallying together some of the theater community’s most talented artists.
Wilson’s critically acclaimed dramas chronicle the African-American experience in the 20th century and will be offered in the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theatre March 4-April 6. Kenny Leon is the artistic director for the project.
The creative team also includes David Gallo (sets), Reggie Ray (costumes), Allen Lee Hughes (lighting) and Dwight Andrews (music supervision). Todd Kreidler is associate artistic director.
Casting and directors for each of the ten plays follow:
Directed by Kenny Leon, Gem of the Ocean (set in the 1900s) will feature James A. Williams as Eli, John Erl Jelks as Citizen Barlow, Michele Shay as Aunt Ester, Raynor Scheine as Rutherford Selig, Anthony Chisholm as Solly Two Kings and Ruben Santiago-Hudson as Caesar. The role of Black Mary has yet to be cast.
Directed by Todd Kreidler, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (1910s) will feature Eugene Lee as Seth Holly, LaTanya Richardson Jackson as Bertha Holly, Keith David as Bynum Walker, Raynor Scheine as Rutherford Selig, Montae Russell as Jeremy Furlow, Russell Hornsby as Herald Loomis, Dominique Ross as Zonia Loomis, Cherise Boothe as Mattie Campbell, Terrance Thomas as Reuben Mercer, Michole Briana White as Molly Cunningham and Rosalyn Coleman as Martha Pentecost.
Lou Bellamy will direct Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1920s), which will feature Raynor Scheine as Sturdyvant, Jerry Whiddon as Irvin, Harry Lennix as Cutler, Roger Robinson as Toledo, James A. Williams as Slow Drag, Anthony Mackie as Levee, Ebony Jo-Ann as Ma Rainey, Jeff Allin as Policeman, Rosalyn Coleman as Dussie Mae and Eric Berryman as Sylvester.
The Piano Lesson (1930s), with direction by Kenny Leon, will feature Bill Nunn as Doaker, Ruben Santiago-Hudson as Boy Willie, Jason Dirden as Lymon, Heather Alicia Simms as Berniece, Alexandra Brooke Perrin as Maretha, Afemo Omilami as Avery, Stephen McKinley Henderson as Wining Boy and Cherise Boothe as Grace.
The cast of Seven Guitars (1940s), under the direction of Derrick Sanders, will include LaTanya Richardson Jackson as Louise, Russell Hornsby as Canewell, Harry Lennix as Red Carter, Vanessa Bell Calloway as Vera, Afemo Omilami as Hedley, Keith David as Floyd Barton and Crystal Fox as Ruby.
Fences (1950s) will star Bill Nunn as Jim Bono, Tamara Tunie as Rose, Montae Russell as Lyons, Hassan El-Amin as Gabriel, Anthony Mackie as Cory and Autumn Malhotra as Raynell; the role of Troy Maxon has yet to be cast. Kenny Leon directs.
The Israel Hicks-directed Two Trains Running (1960s) will feature Glynn Turman as Memphis, Russell Hornsby as Wolf, Michole Briana White as Risa, Stephen McKinley Henderson as Holloway, John Earl Jelks as Sterling, Hassan El-Amin as Hambone and Eugene Lee as West.
Jitney (1970s), directed by Gordon Davidson, will include Anthony Mackie as Youngblood, John Beasley as Turnbo, Anthony Chisolm as Fielding, Eugene Lee as Doub, Afemo Omilami as Shealy, Montae Russell as Philmore, Paul Butler as Becker, Roslyn Ruff as Rena and Hassan El-Amin as Booster.
The King Hedley II (1980s) company, directed by Derrick Sanders, will feature Russell Hornsby as King Hedley II, Lynda Gravátt as Ruby, John Earl Jelks as Mister, Stephen McKinley Henderson as Elmore, Heather Alicia Simms as Tonya and James A. Williams as Stool Pigeon.
Directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, the Radio Golf (1990s) company will comprise Harry Lennix as Harmond Wilks, Michole Briana White as Mame Wilks, James A. Williams as Roosevelt Hicks, John Earl Jelks as Sterling Johnson and Anthony Chisholm as Elder Joseph Barlow.
August Wilson (April 27, 1945-Oct. 2, 2005) authored Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Fences, Two Trains Running, Jitney, King Hedley II and Radio Golf. These works explore the heritage and experience of African Americans, decade-by-decade, over the course of the 20th century. Wilson’s plays have been produced at regional theatres across the country and all over the world, as well as on Broadway. In 2003, Wilson made his professional stage debut in his one-man show, How I Learned What I Learned. Wilson’s works garnered many awards, including Pulitzer Prizes for Fences (1987); and for The Piano Lesson (1990); a Tony Award for Fences; Great Britain’s Olivier Award for Jitney; as well as seven New York Drama Critics Circle Awards for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, Two Trains Running, Seven Guitars and Jitney.
The critically acclaimed HBO drama The Wire returns in two weeks for its fifth and final season and already tongues are wagging in anticipation. The ground-breaking series that tells stories more like a first rate novel than a television show, will cap off its run by focusing in on how the media covers—or doesn’t cover—the issues faced by most major cities.
The Wire uses Baltimore as its backdrop and in season one, it explored the drug trade and the cat and mouse game between dealers and city police. Season two continued the tale using the city’s waterfront to illustrate the disappearance of good paying jobs for dock workers and working class people in general and the struggle just to survive. City Hall, government indifference and the need for political reform was tackled in season three, while the educational system and how neglect of our young people breeds the next generation of desperate survivors was the focus last season, in what some consider the best one of all.
Feeling he has told all the stories he has to tell, producer David Simon has rejected offers to prolong the series just for the sake of keeping it on the air, and in so doing, has kept standards high. Familiar faces from the first four seasons will return along with several new characters in the role of newspaper reporters. Season five begins January 6.