Shirley Valentine

Surprisingly good production of a one-woman play.

Highly recommend.

The Spanish Tragedy (Thomas Kyd)

True Grit (Coen Brothers)

Everyone Else (Maren Ade)

Interesting German film about a couple at cross-purposes with one another and unable to communicate those cross-purposes.

Recommend.

A Streetcar Named Desire (T Williams)

Provocative production showing student director Charloote Brathwaite's willing to take risks with a classic. She set the play in a post-Katrina FEMA trailer and, without messing with the lines, re-imagined Stella as a sassy young wife taking no guff off her husband.

Highly recommend.

The Hard Nut (Mark Morris, choreographer)

To get a sense of the magic infusing this re-conception of that hoary old holiday chestnut, Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, see the photo on Macaulay's review: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/13/arts/dance/13nut.html?src=twrhp .

This production hasn't been in NYC for several years, with Berkeley, CA getting those honors. We saw The Hard Nut the last time it was at BAM, but I don't think I fully appreciated just how wonderful it is. Perhaps having seen a more traditional version the afternoon before helped place it in context. Whatever the reason, don't miss this if ever you get the chance to see it.

Highly, highly recommend.

The Nutcracker (Eastern Connecticut Ballet)

Rufus Wainwright

I became a Rufus Wainwright fan after hearing him on the Leonard Cohen tribute album and film, I'm Your Man. This was my first chance to see him in person.

The first half of the performance featured RW as Lulu singing new works. The music (and perhaps the lyrics) felt rather monochromatic. The second half reprised older works, which had more variety and, may I say, polish.

We exited to a lovely snowfall.

Recommend.

Tiny Furniture

For those of us intimately familiar with contemporary post-college despair and bewilderment, this film rings o so true.

recommend.

Metamorphosis (from Franz Kafka)

I bought tickets to this production with great trepidation. I am not a fan of Kafka's novella, and I couldn't imagine how a production could hold my attention for more than 18 minutes. I'm very glad to report that my fears were unfounded.

The Icelandic group, Vesturport Theatre, inventively reimagined the narrative so that the narrative tension moves from Gregor's Samsa's thoughts to his family's engagement with him. Visually and musically stunning, as well.

Highly recommend. Really.

Wall Street Chamber Players

This performance at the New Haven Historical Society featured a glorious Steinway A-2 piano, unlike any we normally hear.
The evening opened with four movements from Max Bruch's Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano, Op 83 (1910). Though an unusual combination, the sonorities were extremely satisfying.

After intermission, the ensemble performed Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time (1940), written while he was imprisoned and shaped by the instrumental capabilities of fellow prisoners. I was unfamiliar with the work. I found it captivating.

Highly recommended.

Selected Shorts

Denis O'Hare read John Biguenet's "I Am Not a Jew"
Isaiah Sheffer read Percival Everett's "The Fix"
B. D. Wong read Sherman Alexie's "Flight Patterns"

All three were strong stories read by excellent performers; however, Wong's rendition of Alexie's story was spot on. Absolutely mezmerizing.

Highly recommend.

Throne of Blood (Ping Chong)

Commissioned by BAM and Oregon Shakespeare Festival, this mixed media work provided no new insight on either Shakespeare's Macbeth or Kurosawa's film. Complete waste of time and effort.

Avoid.

Raoul

An interesting performance piece at odds with itself. It opens by confronting the audience with a set design that must be interpreted as a shipwreck, the slow funereal music of Shubert's Piano Trio in Eb (opus 100), and a man crashing himself against the fixtures on stage. I found it immensely moving and sad, enough so that I cried for the first 10 minutes of the performance. And then I realized everyone else around me was laughing.
Raoul claims sanguinary descent from Charlie Chaplin. And in this performance, with the uncomfortable mix of comic and tragic, he can claim heritage in Chaplin's aesthetic.

The best part of the evening turned out to the be the part I was least looking forward to: the gala dinner following the performance. We sat at a table of strangers, all of whom were fascinating conversationalists.

Recommend.

Eurydice (Jean Anouilh)

This production's director, Devin Brain, provides a sound, lively interpretation of Anouilh's dream-like recasting of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Though set primarily in a train station, the play wavers between the ugly realities of occupied France and the aesthetic pleasures of love and music.

Highly recommended.

A Delicate Balance (Edward Albee)

Because I attended a conversation with Edward Albee last Friday, I was more alert to Beckett's influence on his plays. The sets may look realistic, and the characters recognizable, but many of his techniques come straight from Beckett and theatre of the absurd.

This brutal, searing 3-hour play requires a production that mesmerizes the audience with perfect timing and powerful performances for every member of the ensemble. All were good--though in being good, Chalfant was disappointing--while Ellen McLaughlin was superb. What a great performance she gave.

Recommend. We saw it opening night; it might merit seeing in another week.

Boris Godunov (Mussorgsky)

Oh my, oh my, oh my. What a gorgeous hunk of music. Sublime choruses swell the first and third sections, while exquisite lyricism marks the middle section. Excellently performed and convincingly staged.

Highly recommend.

Antony and Cleopatra (Shakespeare)

What with its renovations and opening of a new season, Hartford Stage generated a great deal of hype around its new production of Antony and Cleopatra. I was expecting to be wowed. Instead, I was underwhelmed by production's failure (1) to provide a clear exposition of this sprawling play, (2) to create a visual coherence, and (3) to make me care about the fate of the title characters.

Recommend with caveats.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (T. Williams)

Lively production of this American classic.

Recommend.

Catfish (Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost)

Uninteresting exploration of gullibility and deception.

Avoid.

Angels in America (Tony Kushner)

Tony Kushner's Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes is my favorite American play of the past twenty-five years. So, when Signature Theatre announced it would produce both Part One: Millennium Approaches and Part Two: Peretroika as the first of its season-long celebration of Kushner's work, I set every alarm I had in order to log on the moment tickets went on sale. I was not disappointed. Fine performances and well-executed production of a stirring play.

Delusion (Laurie Anderson)

Disappointing. Recommend (because it's Laurie Anderson) with caveats

Howl (Epstein and Friedman)

Recommend.

Animal Kingdom

Set in Melbourne, Australia, this film explores the power dynamics of a petty-crime family headed up by one of the most frightening mothers ever to appear on film.

Highly recommended.

Inception (Christopher Nolan)

Highly recommend.

High (Matthew Lombardo)

Avatar (James Cameron)

Life During Wartime (Todd Solondz)

So, as we were leaving the parking garage after watching Life During Wartime, the cashier asked "What movie did you see?" Told her. "What did you think?" She's obviously polling her customers. "We really liked it. What have the others said?" "The last group said it was weird, crazy, and perverse." "It was. But it was so interesting."

Life During Wartime picks up the lives of the extended family Solondz depicted in Happiness (1998), boldly examining the aftereffects of incest, pedophilia, and suicide on the perpetrators, yes, but more significantly on those left behind to clean up the mess. As Solondz shows, the clean-up is consistently imperfect. Because is characters cannot, do not know how to talk truthfully about what they witnessed, they are doomed to repeat the same mistakes. Moreover, because the situations are realistically complicated, there's no way the characters can resolve the problems. They are doomed to plodding along as best they can.

The first scene, between Joy and her husband, Alan, is a good example of Solondz's expertise with dialogue and keeping his audience de-stabilized. They are dressed up, in a booth at a nice-ish restaurant; she is weepy, he is teary, and we don't know why. Come to find out, they don't seem to know either. Because he is so solicitous and she seems so dysfunctional, my sympathies were with him, especially when she cannot pull things together when he gives her a thoughtful anniversary gift. Then he begins to say how hard he's worked at cleaning up all areas of his life, but that one area continues to give him trouble. Oops, I'm beginning to understand why she's crying. And then the server comes to the table, recognizes his voice, calls him a pervert, and spits on him. Joy begins to apologize for him, saying that he's changed. Clearly, things are much more complicated that they initially appeared to be.

Solondz's films are not for the fainthearted or the squeamish. No gore, no on-screen violence, just lots of uneasy truths.

Highly Recommended. With the foregoing caveats--plus the recommendation that you see Happiness first.

Restrepo (Junger and Hetherington)

The War (Film) March continues, this time with a documentary of a company's deployment in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley. Combining digital footage shot by soldiers and the documentarians, as well as post-deployment interviews, the film provides witness neither to the tedium nor the excitement of war. Instead, it asks the audience to face the unrelenting terror (and frustration) (and grief) of establishing and holding an isolated outpost deep in Taliban territory.

This film certainly asks us to wonder why the Bush administration thought we could successfully fight two wars simultaneously when one was in this inhospitable and foreign land.

Highly recommend.

Dinner for Schmucks (Jay Roach)

On the surface, nothing about this movie appealed to me, from the title to the stars. However, we had a couple of under-25s around, an un-air-conditioned home in early August, and assurances from A. O. Scott (NYTimes) that it was a passable comedy in which "nearly every scene...draws laughter from an impressively eclectic array of sources, both obvious and new." Sounded good enough for our purposes.

We were led astray! Let me be clear: do not waste your money or your time. If you need an air-conditioned spot for a couple of hours, pile into your car, get stuck on I-95, and listen to commercial radio. It won't be any more excruciatingly boring--and it will be a lot cheaper.

Avoid.

The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko)

This fine film certainly marks the mainstreaming of the "two-mommies" phenomenon--not because it features a family with two mommies (as well as a daughter, a son, and a sperm donor), but because the adult characters are flawed enough to be mildly irritating. For example, Nic (Annette Bening) the alpha-female in this pair may be a feminist lesbian, yet she still repeatedly refers possessively, even patriarchally, to the family as "my family" and to her right to determine how its individual members behave. Jules (Julianne Moore) can be as annoyingly impractical as the worst stereotypical suburban housewife, and Paul (Mark Ruffalo) remains stupefyingly self-centered. Nevertheless, the film works because all the characters are earnest in their attempts to work out problems common to all families, as well as those limited to gay families.

Recommend.

Winter's Bone (Debra Granik)

A director any less bold that Granik would have made this movie to be about either hope or despair. Granik avoids both, instead making it about perseverance in an environment where everyone else has given up. Responsible for caring for two younger siblings and her withdrawn mother, Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) must find her father, dead or alive, before he misses his court hearing and their home is forfeited to the bail bondsman.

Visually, each shot of the Ozark back country is filled with copious amounts of bleak minutia that in less assured hand would merely depress the viewer. These details provide the unspoken back story that Ree negotiates. This is clearly the country of illegal meth cooking, a fact that forms the backdrop to the oscillations between violence and indifference that Ree must face down. That she accomplishes her mission is no cause for hope. No ray of sunshine breaks through the gray sky, no white knight prances in to deliver these foresaken children. And yet, and yet.

For a lyrical homage to the film, see David Denby's review in 5 July 2010 New Yorker.

Highly recommend.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (David Slade)

A last minute invitation lured us to the dark side. We managed to miss the first two films in the Twilight saga, but no problem. The plot is thin enough that we were able to catch up with little effort. Weak script, weak acting, but lots of fun anyway.

Recommend. Why not?Post Options

The Girl who Played with Fire (Flickan som lekte med elden), Daniel Alfredson

Less engaging than the first one (Girl with the Dragon Tatoo) because the audience is asked to accept too many unbelievable sequences. Wouldn't the bad guys notice they were being followed? Can the tires of a Prius really squeal?
In any case, it was good to spend a couple of hours with Lisbeth and Michael. A good summer flick.

Recommend

I Am Love (Io sono l'amore) (Luca Guadagnino)

Tilda Swinton is one of my favorite actresses, and I will see any film she appears in--even if this British actress is playing a Russian married to a Milanese tycoon (and thus unable to understand English). The visual and auditory sumptuousness of the film derives from its anatomization of Italy's stylish elite, while its narrative heart depends upon the melodrama of a passionate woman in an lukewarm marriage. And then there's the film's several meditations on cooking and food--no pasta or tomatoes served on these Italian tables--clearly associating provocative cuisine with intense sexuality.

Highly recommend.

Septimus and Clarissa (Ellen McLaughlin)

We are long-time fans of Red Bull Theatre, which partnered in the production of this play, and Carly Flint, who interned with Ripe Time as assistant director. Conceived as an "In the Raw" presentation, the play and its production were still very much in the development stage. As the title indicates, the play dramatizes Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. Because the novel is written as a stream-of-consciousness from the perspective of a third-person narrator, dramatization is more difficult than simply converting dialogue from the character's minds to their mouths. And yet this is the tactic chosen by McLaughlin. Thus characters relate (in third-person) information about themselves (and others), but seldom in terms of a dialogue. This makes it difficult for the audience to associate any actor with any character. Ultimately, this strategy drains the play of any drama, and the production becomes a reading of the novel with parts randomly (or what seems randomly) exchanged from one actor to another.

In all fairness to the playwright and to the director (Rachel Dickstein), these techniques do capture much of what it's like to read Mrs. Dalloway for the first time. But the production provided no insight into the novel, the only justification I know for translating from genre to the next.

Space Panorama (Andrew Dawson)

Chautauqua!

It helped that we had front row seats and that the queen of fun--Jean Breny--went with us.

Recommend.

Comme Toujours Here I Stand (Big Dance Theater)

Perhaps if I'd seen the film on which it was based, Cleo from 5 to 7, I would have been able to follow and thus appreciate this production. I haven't, I didn't, and I don't. Mike had, did, and does.

Recommend with caveats.

The Palestrina Choir

Interesting music performed by a men and boys choir affiliated with St Mary's Pro-Cathedra, Dublin. The boy choristers were fairly weak; they were very young, and I suspect the excitement of trans-Atlantic travel and the heat of Battell Chapel did not help. The men, however, were excellent, and their performances of Thomas Tallis, Tomas Luis de Victoria, and Giovannii Palestrian were very good.

Recommend.

Four Nations Ensemble

The Rouse Effect: The Next Generation

Back in 1980, when I had slender ties to the composition department at University of North Texas' music school, I attended a What-can-I-do-with-my-degree workshop. The takeaway answer was "Go West, young composers. Write for Hollywood's film industry." As distasteful as that was to some in the room, it was prescient advice. Not only has that industry provided many composers with a good income, but it has also been the primary conduit through which Americans have been exposed to innovative, contemporary music. For example, choose Philip Glass on Pandora.com, and you'll primarily hear excerpts from his score for The Hours. Producers must judge the music serves their purposes well; otherwise, they would eschew these innovative compositions. And yet, I'm certain that a poll of the American public would reveal that a significant majority does not like contemporary 'art' music.

The attendance at the non-popular music events at Arts and Ideas bears out these observatiosn out in several ways. These are the events most challenged to produce audiences, and yet I often think find myself thinking that I'm listening to a film score, music film audiences regularly listen to with nary a complaint. With this in mind, I shouldn't have been (though I was) surprised when discussion with the three composers at tonight's performance encouraged this association between their music and storytelling.

Tonight's wonderful, wonderful evening of chamber music featured works by three of Christopher Rouse's former students: Michael Torke, Marc Mellits, and Kevin Puts. All four composers were in the audience (which was seated cabaret-style in Longwharf's Stage II), and between pieces, they provided some background and one or two elements to listen for. Though Torke did mention that "Yellow Pages" goes through the harmonic circle of 5ths using the same notes, the predominant guidance was much more programmatic: "optimistic sound of my youth," "cycle of life and death doesn't depend on humans," and "the power to transcend during times of tragedy and personal crises." I mention this not to complain about the music or the composer's elucidations, but to wonder aloud why this music, which suits the American populace so well in the background to a film, is so quickly dismissed and ignored when the moving images and popcorn are absent.

To my mind, these works did not require either visuals or narratives to be enjoyed. Highly complex (within the limits imposed by small chamber works), they exuded a vibrant energy. In part, this energy was the result of the performers, Real Quiet--Felix Fan (cello), Andrew Russo (piano), and Danny Tunick (percussion)--plus Benjamin Jacobson (violin), Andrew Bulbrook (violin), Tara O'Connor (flute), Michael Byerly (clarinet), and Ji Hye Jung (percussion). The performances by the ensemble Real Quiet were extraordinary because the musicians obviously love and enjoy these pieces. And particularly notable was the performance of Ji Hye Jung on the marimbas. Being privy to her grace and athleticism is worth the price of the ticket.

Even the musicians alternatively tossing and dropping the music sheets to the floor added to the drama of the performance.

What an evening!

Highly recommended.

06/25/2010: This was the highlight of 2010 Arts and Ideas New Haven.

Christopher Rouse: Transfiguration (Calder Quartet)

This concert featured five works by Christopher Rouse: two percussion pieces performed by The Yale Percussion Group, as well as a septet and two quartets performed by the Calder Quartet (and supplemented by three other players for the septet.
1. Ku-Ka-Ilimoku (for four percussionists)
2. String Quartet #2
3. Compline (for flute, clarinet, harp and string quartet)
4. String Quartet #3
5. Ogoun Badagris (for five percussionists)

The two percussion works were energetic and surprisingly varied and subtle, to the point of being spine tingling. The performers obviously were having a great deal of fun.

The Quartet #2 and "Compline" had a satisfying arc. Beginning with electronic sonorities (though produced on string and wind instruments), the quartet 'modulated' into an organ-like chorale that was heartbreakingly lovely and fragile. Similarly, "Compline" opened with reversed sonorities but moved toward more traditional timbres and sonorities; its final section was beautiful and poignant.

Quartet #3, a world premier of a Calder Quartet commission, was built on rhythmic rather than tonal complexity. Though it seemed to start with disintegration and reverse to integration, it didn't get to the beautiful part of the arc.

Recommend

Moby Dick (Gare St. Lazare Players Ireland)

Conor Lovett returned to the A&I Festival with another superb dramatization. This time, he retold the core narrative of Melville's Moby Dick (adapted by Lovett and Judy Hegearty Lovet) through the persona of Ishmael. Accompanied only by Caoimhin O'Raghallaigh (solo fiddle), Lovett brings to life Melville's dense narrative of madness and whales. With his initial "Call me Ishmael" and continuing to the first interlude once the Pequod sets sail, Lovett's narration brings out the comic aspect of Ishmael's melancholic, hesitant tale.

The audience remained entranced throughout, and it found especially moving the horrifying scene when Ahab refused to help search for the young son of the Rachel's captain.

Of course, choices had to be made, and many choice moments--such as Ahab's Sermon to the Sharks--were omitted. Nevertheless, Lovett's rendition allowed us to hear Melville's words in ways easy to miss when read silently.

Highly recommend.

Khmeropedies I & II

Interesting and often evocative union of classical Cambodian dance, music, and sensibilities, with contemporary western ones. It ended up telling and showing us more about Cambodian perceptions of the West (and desires about how it wants to be seen by the West) than about its traditional culture.

Recommend.

Susurrus (David Leddy)

A few years ago, Arts & Ideas featured, "Cell," a participatory performance piece that Mike and I thought was a fantastic experience. When this year's A&I included another work "for an audience of one," we were eager to try it. Though very different from "Cell," Susurrus" (by David Leddy and produced by Fire Exit) did not disappoint.
We went to the Conservatory at Edgerton Park, where we each given an ipod, headphones, a map and instructions for listening to a four-voice play in eight parts as we moved from one station to the next. The afternoon was warm, sunny, and clear: perfect for strolling through the park.
The drama wove together remembrances of a the premier production of Benjamin Britten's "Midsummer Night's Dream," recollections of adult children of opera singers, discourses on bird anatomy, and revelations of pedophilia and incest. As we walked from one station to the next, we heard music, ranging from some swinging Frank Sinatra to a luscious rendition of Dido's "Remember Me" (Janet Baker singing Purcell's Dido and Aeneas).

Highly recommend.

Philip Glass, Works for Solo Piano

You might call this Philip Glass by Philip Glass unplugged. In the past, when we've heard Glass perform, it's involved one of his ensembles and a long bank of electronic equipment. Tonight's performance featured Glass on solo piano in the fairly intimate quarters of Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Hall.

I would guess that he isn't the best performer of his work. Before he embarked on the first piece, Etudes, he mentioned that he's learned only about 1/2 of them. And throughout the pieces, I thought I heard not only stumbles and hesitation but also wrong notes.

I don't know the titles of all the works he performed because it was difficult to hear him. But of the works, I enjoyed "Four Metamorphoses" best, especially #3. And "Wichita Vortex Sutra" was a lively work featuring a voiceover of Alan Ginsburg reading his antiwar poem.

• Etudes
• Four Metamorphoses (#4, #3, & #2)
• (Unknown)
  
• Wichita Vortex Sutra
• Encore, short piece that sounded like an improvisation on Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"

Recommend.

Dance (Lucinda Childs)

New Haven's 15th Annual International Festival of Arts and Ideas opened with this sublime performance of Dance, a 1979 multi-media collaboration between choreographer Lucinda Childs, Composer Philip Glass, and artist/filmmaker Sol LeWitt. I was not surprised at all by the delicate interplay between Glass' music and Childs' choreography; however, I was profoundly moved by how much LeWitt's film added to the performance. Projected on a scrim at the front of the stage where dancers performed live, the film featured performances of Dance shot over 30 years ago. It seemed to me that LeWitt must have shot the dancers at a slow film speed, for their movements did not have the illusion of fluidity, rather they seemed to be broken into their constituent parts, thereby mimicking/commenting on both Glass's compositional style and Child's choreography. Oftentimes, the film placed the two-dimensional dancers at the top of the scrim, making them appear to be floating over the live dancers.
Simply labeled Dance I, Dance II, and Dance III, the three dances provided a wonderful visual introduction, even instruction for understanding, minimalism.

Highly recommend.

All in the Timing (David Ives)

Until I saw Ives' Venus in Fur this past March, I was unaware of this comic genius. All in the Timing is an early collection of six one-acts. Each examines how events depend upon fragile links to other events. To work, the plays require sharp direction and precision. And, by and large, the Connecticut Repertory Theatre, delivered.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch (John Cameron Mitchell)

Back in 1998, Mike got a call from a former student then working at an off-Broadway theatre, the Jane Street Theatre, raving about its current production, a new rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Not knowing much about it but eager to follow up on the student's recommendation, we bought 4 tickets and took the kids (12 and 10). I think the box office manager was a bit startled when we showed up with two pre-teens, but what the hey. They were precocious, this was New York, why not?

It was a great evening. The subject matter was a mature, needless to say, but the kids loved the music and the spectacle. Such vamp was not a regular part of their cultural diet. The theatre itself was classic off-Broadway: small, grimy, and full of youthful energy. John Cameron Mitchell played/sang Hedwig. Mike had introduced us to the 'real thing.' (And for that reason, I never felt the urge to the see the 2001 movie version.)

Thus, I was delighted to revisit that experience at the Yale Cabaret's production. Presented in a similarly small, underground venue, the Cabaret's Hedwig captured much of the same vibration of the original a dozen years ago. It didn't pack the same energy, and I thought the pacing was a bit off. But hey, it was opening night, and things should pick up.

Recommend.

The Secret in Their Eyes (Juan José Campanella)

I like a good thriller, and The Secret in Their Eyes is definitely an excellent one. It explores the lifelong, life-alerting repercussions of a young wife's brutal murder, the investigation, and the subsequent perversion of justice. Campanella's complex plot unfolds gradually, in ever opening circles of new information (none of which feels as though it were withheld gratuitously).

The camera work and editing can be breath-taking. In particular, be ready to have your socks knocked off during the chase at the soccer stadium.

Highly recommend.

Creditors (August Strindberg)

After seeing Donmar Warehouse's excellent production of Red, I keenly anticipated seeing Donmar's production of Strindberg's seldom performed play, Creditors. By using a new translation stripped of the archaisms of older translations, Alan Rickman directed a play that felt timeless without being contemporary. Motives and emotions are stripped bare, and the audience--in its role as voyeur--becomes as complicit in the betrayals and destructions as the characters.

Highly Recommend.

Battle of Black and Dogs (Bernard-Marie Koltes)

Overwhelming production of a powerful, overwhelming play.

Recommend with caveats.

Wall Street Chamber Players

Gallo's Trio Sonata in G major
Vivaldi's Concerto for Flute, Violin and Cello in g minor
Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio in a minor, Op 50

Art (Yasmina Reza)

Generally associated with their Shakespeare in the Park productions, Elm Shakespeare has added this fine production of Yasmina Reza's Art to its repertoire. The production gans particular resonance with its performance in a small art gallery in New Haven's Westville neighborhood. We saw its final performance, played before a sold-out crowd.

The acting was very good, not at all forced or stiff, probably because the space was so easy to fill.

Recommend.

New Haven Symphony Orchestra

Beethoven's 6th and 5th Symphonies, as well as Jin Hi Kim's Monk Dance (2007).

Recommend.

Wall Street Chamber Players

Piano Trio No. 39 in G Major (1795), Joseph Haydn
Divertimento in E for Flute and String Quartet (2002), Andrey Rubtsov
Quintet for Piano and Strings in F minor (1878), Cesar Franck

Orchestra New England

Featured premier of Mark Cuss's Concertino for Viola (2010), as well as performances of Stravinsky's Histoire du soldat (1917) and Joseph Russo's Changes (2010).

Recommend.

Mother

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Pillowman

Red and Brown Water

Hamlet (Ambroise Thomas)

A fine production of a 19th-century French opera not produced at the Met since the 1890s. I was disappointed that Natalie Dessay was replaced when she fell ill; however, Marlis Petersen provided a wonderful performance equal to Simon Keenlyside's fine one.

Recommend.

The Faerie Queen (Henry Purcell)

Exquisite productions of The Faerie Queen are no easy feat. Les Arts Florissants demonstrates just how rewarding the task can be in tonight's complex tapestry of drama, music, dance, costumes and sets. The whole production--all four hours (with intermission long enough to tune two harpsichords)--was enchanting and breathtaking. At the end, I could have easily set myself back down and watched it all over again.

And if the performance itself were not enough, Christie and company closed the curtain call by singing love lyrics to the audience and cascading red paper petals onto the audience. What a wonderful experience!

I don't know if I'll ever have an experience to match this one.

Highly recommend.

New Haven Symphony Orchestra

Crisp, fine performances of two bookends of the Romantic period: Schoenberg's Verlarte Nacht, Op. 4 (Transfigured Night) and Beethoven's Symphony #3 in Eb Major, Op. 55, "Eroica."

Highly Recommended.

Red (John Logan)

I first encountered Mark Rothko and his art when a freshman in Houston, Texas. In 1975, The Rothko Chapel (http://www.rothkochapel.org/) had been opened only 4 years, and it introduced me to a spirituality--as well as a genre of art, Abstract Expressionism--I'd never before encountered. Thereafter, I regularly visited the chapel, finding peace and consolation when religion failed me. And in a reversal of an earlier generation's experience with Rothko, I was startled when I eventually encountered his vivid and colorful canvases dating from earlier in his career.

Logan's play imagines Rothko's artistic and spiritual struggles during that color-saturated phase in the middle of his career. Alfred Molina (as Rothko) and Eddie Redmayne (as his assistant, Ken) provide pitch perfect performances, while the red and black canvases reverberate and pulse on stage.

Without doubt, this is theatre at its finest.

Highly, highly recommend. Do NOT miss.

Venus in Fur (David Ives)

David Ives' latest comedy is very, very funny. And under the direction of Walter Bobbie, actors Nina Arianda and West Bentley transform it into a side-splitting 90 minutes that never stoops to easy laughs. Arianda and Bentley's perfectly pitched performances make this a memorable theatrical event.

Highly recommend.

The Ghost Writer (Roman Polanski)

Artful suspense flick, lovely to look at and engaging enough to keep me interested.

Recommend enthusiastically.

Baroque Cabaret

A selection of baroque love songs performed by a soprano, tenor, and bass in a cabaret setting. A wonderful way to drink a good bottle of wine with friends.

Highly recommended.

Actéon (Charpentier)

This Les Arts Florrisants production opens gloriously: the opening chorus is sung as the singers enter the sage from the auditorium's aisles. During those few minutes, we were surrounded by rich sound of baroque voices.

Highly recommended.

Dido and Aeneas (Purcell)

This was part of a marvelous Baroque triple-header performed by William Christie's Les Arts Florrissants at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Easily, Dido and Aeneas is my favorite Baroque opera, and most likely of any period. And LAF did ample justice to the work with superb vocal and instrumental performance, as well as an engaging staging. (I don't think, however, that anything will ever match LAF's stunning production of Rameau's Les Boreades.) Performances by Sonya Yoncheva (Dido), Andreas Wolf (Aeneas), and Emmanuelle de Negri (Belinda) were particularly sumptuous.

Highly recommend.

Shutter Island

Interesting suspense film that doesn't completely hold.

recommend with caveats

The Lady with All the Answers (David Rambo)

Cute. And it certainly drew an audience that wouldn't normally come to TheatreWorks for a Sunday matinee.

Recommend.

As You Like It (Shakespeare)

What a disappointing performance. We are avid devotees of the Aquila Theatre Group, and some of our best theatrical experiences have occured when they are on stage. But not this time.

Doubling, tripling, and even quadrupling parts, they presented As You Like It with seven actors. Until the intermission, I spent too much time trying to determine who the characters were. And I know the play fairly well. I noticed that those around me, who probably were less familiar with the play, repeatedly turned to their program trying to make sense of what they saw on stage.

In short, rather than illuminating the written text, this production obfuscated it.

Caveats. Sadly.

The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke)

We went to a 9:45 pm showing of this 144-minute film, because we were afraid it would leave the theatre before we'd have another chance to see it. Seeing this visually compelling film was worth the effort--and we had no trouble staying awake, though we'd both had had long, long days.

Shot in black and white, and set in pre-WWI rural Germany, the film relates a series of disturbing events plaguing a village. Though it might be comforting to think the events were anamolies, by the movie's end the audience is led to believe the events were merely symptoms of a moral failing endemic to not only the village but German society. As such, the film provides imaginative support for the Goldhagen's thesis (found in his book, Hitler's Willing Executioners) that ordinary Germans not only were aware of Hitler's atrocities but approved of them. What makes the film particularly powerful is the absence of any Jews. All the cruelty is internecine--parents on children, children on weaker children, husbands on wives (and lovers), landholder to peasants--frequently in the name of maintaining the status quo, but equally in an attempt to strike back against the stiffling moral order.

Of course, my quick analysis does not do justice to this deeply, richly complex film.

Highly recommend.

The Tempest (Shakespeare)

As You Like It (Shakespeare)

Bridges Project under Sam Mendes direction

The Duchess of Malfi (Webster)

2010 Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts

One Flea Spare (Naomi Wallace)

Sylvia (A. R. Gurney)

Eric Ting is quickly becoming one of my favorite directors. Though I cannot imagine the tedium of reading this script, Ting has brought life and energy to it. Built upon the conceit that we over-anthropomorphize our canine pets, the plays features a dog played by a female actor. Erica Sullivan brings believability and humor to the role.

Recommend.

Mark Morris Dance Group (BAM)

We almost let fatigue, tight schedules, and bad weather keep us home. I'm so glad we braved the chilly rain. The performance was enchanting and well worth grading exams down and back to Brooklyn.

The evening opened with "Behemoth," a dance without music, without sound, except the sound of the dancers' feet on the stage. By stripping dance bare of aural elements, the performance foregrounds how much we depend upon music to help us understand and interpret dance. Without the musical component, each moment felt independent of all those before and after. Ultimately, I found myself in awe of the dancers' ability to remain hold the performance together without any musical cues.

The next piece, "Looky," was much less somber, more playful. Though much later than "Hard Nut," I was repeatedly reminded of that parody. (I am very intrigued by Kyle Gann's "Studies for Disklavier.")

Finally, the world premier of "Socrates," set of Erik Satie's cantata, "Socrate," was spellbinding in its elegance and profundity.

Highly Recommended.

Leo Kottke (Seattle, WA)

I was able to attend this fine Leo Kottke concert after I snagged the final available ticket. Mr. Penultimate Ticket sat next to me, and we gloated in our good fortune. Through pure luck, my seat was center of the fifth row. And in a small auditorium, that meant I could see that his hands were arthritic and not moving as gracefully as they once did. Nevertheless, the sound was as fine and distinctive as ever.

The Last Station (Michael Hoffman)

Presents the final years of Leo Tolstoys life as a standoff between his titled wife and Tolstoy's egalitarian hanger-ons. Excellent performances by Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer.

Recommend.

Avatar (James Cameron)

I found Avatar to be an immensely fascinating movie for its imaginative creation of another humanoid civilization on an earth-like planet. I found it thuddish and clunking in how it imagined future humans and the earth. By and large, it held my attention through most of the three hours, and I took off my 3-D glasses to check my watch only twice.

Recommend.

The Messenger (Oren Moverman)

I have found myself drawn to cinematic accounts of our current wars and the ways they are shaping an entire generation of young men and women. Though not a perfect film, The Messenger is a powerful examination of damage and resilience.

Highly recommended.

Simon Boccanegro (Verdi)

Fine production of Verdi's achingly beautiful opera, featuring Placido Domingo's Met debut as a baritone.

Highly recommend.

Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold)

We went to this movie on a whim, without seeing any previews or reading an reviews. And that's just the perfect way to see the movie. So anything I say here can be gleamed from the first five minutes.

The film follows a few days in the life of 15-year-old Mia (astonishingly played by Katie Jarvis). Disaffected and looking for anyway to escape her disengaged mother and their tight living quarters in public housing, she initially looks to hip-hop dancing as her way out.

As sympathetic as the film is of Mia's plight, the film's nearly claustophobic focus on the deadening (and drunken) world of the underclass living in subsidized housing provides an unflinching indictment of the world wrought by nineteenth-century industrialization and twentieth-century social policy.

Highly recommend.

Crazy Heart (Scott Cooper)

Ocassionally, we see a film in a crowded theatre, and the unusual circumstance always thrills us. Crowds are good for the theatres, and they made the film-watching experience better. Tonight was one of those nights. The small theatre was filled with viewers from a very narrow demographic, one into which we fit very nicely: 50+ couples. Interesting to think what appeal this film's promotions presented that so many braved wind-chill factors falling below 10 degrees in order to see it.

All I can say is that the film made the effort worthwhile.

Jeff Bridges plays a washed up, alcoholic c&w performer who, after some moments of undeserved grace, hits bottom, sobers up and begins to make his way back. Bridges provides an excellent performance, as do Maggie Gyllenhaal, Robert Duvall, and Colin Farrell.

Great soundtrack.

Highly recommended.

Lil's 90th (Darci Picoult)

A fine production of a play that takes a gentle, but uncompromising, view of families, aging, and marital love.

Recommend.

Orlando (Sarah Ruhl from Virginia Woolf)

A visually interesting production of a play that could use some tightening up.

Recommend.

Nine (Rob Marshall)

So, you'd think the fantasies of a 1960's Italian type-A male would be highly entertaining. Think again. Daniel Day-Lewis' fine acting cannot overcome the clumsy editing of this final product.

Caveats.

Brothers (Jim Sheridan)

From the first scene, as we watch Sam (one of the two brothers, played by Tobey Maguire; the other brother is played by Jake Gyllenhaal) prepare to be deployed to Afghanistan, until the last, when he begins to reveal to his wife what he saw and did there, this movie is emotionally wrenching. And yet it makes few easy moves. Interestingly, much of the emotional core of the movie is conveyed not by the two brothers but by two sisters, Sam's two daughters (astonishingly played by Bailee Madison and Taylor Geare).

Highly recommend. But be prepared.

A Single Man (Tom Ford)

An exquisite meditation on loss, memory, and desire, this film plumbs the depths of despair without indulging in the maudlin. Maintained at an adagio throughout, the film's tempo left me breathless. Colin Firth and Julianne Moore provide fine realizations of their characters; Tom Ford's eye never blinks.

Highly recommend.

Carmen (Bizet)

The Met has a new production of Bizet's Carmen, and it is worth seeing--even if you think you've seen Carmen one time too many. Elina Garanca is sexy, provocative Carmen, and under Richard Eyre's stage direction, the sexual intensity never falters.

Recommend.

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus (Terry Gilliam)

For good or ill, I'm always ready to be surprised by Terry Gilliam. Tonight I was surprised in a good way. With it's torrent of imaginative elements, this film could easily dissolve into boring nonsense. Instead, it cohered! it sustained my attention! Hallelujah!

Highly recommend.

Fantastic Mr Fox (Wes Anderson)

We loved this terrific animated version of Roald Dahl's children's book. The laughs targets multiple age groups, and the production values are outstanding.

Highly recommend.

Where the Wild Things Are (Spike Jonze)

Twenty years ago, Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are was an essential component to my sanity--and to my son's. A youngster with a great curiosity and very high energy levels, he turned to the picturebook as a way for me to understand him; moreover the book provided me a way to channel his energy. Were there any more important words for us than "Let the wild rumpus start!!" or "I want to eat you up I love you so"?

Jonze's film captures the exuberant energy of childhood. Just as I know we read the book over and over, I can imagine parent and child watching this film together. In my heart, though, it can never replace the magnificent book.

Highly recommend.

Der Rosenkavalier (R. Strauss)

Although the eponymous character of today's opera is a young man, this opera is really about women. Not only is the role of Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier, played by Susan Graham) a trouser role, but the young courtier's love is split between two women, Therese (the older, more experienced Marchionesse played by Renee Fleming) and Sophie (a young woman about to be betrothed to an older count, played by Christine Schafer). Before the end of the first act, the Marchionesse realizes that her young lover will soon abandon her for a young wife. Dumping him him before he can abandon her, she sends Octavian away. A comic, not very interesting second act and the comic, not very interesting first half of the third act, follow. The final half of the third act--nearly four hours into the production--is worth the long wait, as Fleming, Graham, and Schafer trade solos, duets, and a glorious trio.

By pairing Graham and Fleming, this production further emphasizes the opera's interest in women.

Highly recommend.

The Young Victoria (Jean-Marc Vallee)

Though a very predictable costume drama, this film held my interest because I knew nothing about either the political intrigue surrounding Victoria's ascension to the British throne or the turbulent first years of her reign. The basic outlines of those years seem to be fairly accurate.

Recommend--if you like costume dramas.

The Road (John Hillcoat)

I read Cormac McCarthy's novel, The Road, when a friend was a day late arriving for a visit because he couldn't leave his house until he finished the novel. It was so engaging he couldn't put it down. He passed his copy to me, and I, too, read it straight through. Once I emerged from the book, the world looked different and I was off-balance. I ate differently and could not waste a drop of water. When I taught the novel a few semesters later, it had the same effect on me again. (In so many ways, it was an effective novel to teach.) But that's not why The Road is one of my favorite novels of the decade. I like how it explores the moral symbiosis of the parent-child relationship without ever casting a sentimental eye on the subject. I especially like that it examines the relationship through the lens of loss and hardship, with the parent (and the reader) always wondering if the child has been failed by the parent’s efforts.

Not surprisingly, I came to the film with low expectations.

As many reviewers have noted, the film is not as bleak as the novel. That's not to say it is upbeat. No, much of the novel's desolation and terror comes from McCarthy's slow, patient narration. In the film, as the man and boy progress along the road, each of their encounters is truncated, less suspenseful, less desperate than in the novel. Nevertheless, the film captures the bond uniting the father and son, allowing the moral issues to dominate the film.

Highly recommend. But read the novel first.

Police, adjective (Corneliu Porumboiu)

In this Romanian film, the police stake out meets the post-modern obsession with the pliability of language. Without a doubt the slowest film I've seen, and yet the pace was essential to creating the bloodless tedium associated with a bureaucratic police state.

Recommend. Just don't expect any chase scenes.