Slumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle

Cute movie, maybe a bit too slick.

Recommend.

The Robbers, Friedrich Schiller

Wall Street Chamber Players

Johannes Brahms, Trio in E-flat major for Piano, Violin, and Horn
Ernst von Dohnanyi, Sextet in C major, Op 37

Paula Poundstone

Rehearsed or pure ad lib?

Recommend.

Damnation of Faust, Berlioz

Stunning production of a fine opera.

Highly recommend.

Rachel Getting Married, Jonathan Demme

Fine performance by Anne Hathaway.  Worthy of an Oscar.  Deals with familiar territory for many families with brutal but tender honesty.

Highly recommend. Really.

I Loved You So Long

Highly recommended.

The Birds, Aristophanes

Cleverly imagined student production.

Recommend.

Passion Play, Sarah Ruhl

Salome, Strauss

Not a very convincing production.

Recommend with caveats.

Hughie, Eugene O'Neill

Don Giovanni, Mozart

We had the pleasure of seeing the Met's 501st performance of Mozart's fine opera. I was especially interested to see Susan Graham perform role of Donna Elvira; I was disappointed.

Happy-Go-Lucky, Mike Leigh

Lots of positive reviews of this film--plus the reputation of Mike Leigh--weren't enough to make me like this film.  The tagline, "The one movie this fall that will put a smile on your face," fell flat as far as I was concerned.  Sally Hawkins' character, Poppy, isn't an indefatigably happy person; she's in complete denial about her situation and the other person's need for boundaries.  Despite several good comic moments, her irritating character made the film much too long for me.

 

WALL-E, Andrew Stanton

For us, at least, a surprisingly good Pixar animated film that featured quiet narration rather than loud noise and visual spectacle to imagine a dysutopia located in the refuge of outer space while showing the tenderness inherent in human activity--even the earth had been degraded by human activity.

Highly recommended.

Breakdancing Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra

What more can I say that the title doesn't?

The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan

Great Batman flick! Suspense is compounded plot twists with dark--and thus unusual--resolutions.

Highly recommended.

A Slight Ache, Harold Pinter

This play was written for the radio fifty years ago, and this production is the first live staging since. Excellent performances by Clare Higgins and Simon Russell Beale.

Highly recommend.

Mon meilleur ami, Patrice Leconte

Entertaining film with few or no surprises.

Recommend with caveats.

Vinegar Tom, Caryl Churchill

Quirky production at Cobden Club, London.

Brandenburg Concertos, J.S. Bach

I'm a sucker for Bach crisply performed by candlelight in old churches, and that's exactly what the London Concertante provided a host of tourists at St Martin-in-the-Fields.

Recommend.

My Winnipeg, Guy Maddin

If you're in the mood for a quirky film, this one's for you.

Recommend with caveats.

Tommy, Pete Townsend

Lively production that appeals to a wide audience.

Recommend.

Doors, Apparatus Theatre Group

A mixture of text, dance, and visual drama.

The Pride of Parnell Street, Sebastian Barry

Produced by Fishamble, an Irish company, this play deftly draws the limits circumscribing the urban underclass.

Highly recommend.

Provenance, Maya Beiser

An intriguing (somewhat tedious) cello performance, backed up by percussion, oud, and live electronics.

Recommend with caveats.

Rosanne Cash and Mark O'Connor

A perfectly delightful evening of music. Excellent performances with little ego.

Highly recommend.

Glow, Chunky Move

A mesmerizing, horizontal solo dance performance.

The Burial at Thebes, Sophocles with Seamus Heaney translation

The Nottingham Playhouse Theatre's production is one of the finest I've seen of a Greek tragedy. It bears repeat viewings.

Highly recommend.

Sirens

Spinning speakers and blinking lights. Sounds ludicrous. No. Fascinating.

Highly recommend.

Orfeo, Monteverdi

Lovely, lovely production of the first opera. The performances were great, and the venue was absolutely charming.

Highly recommend.

The Singing Revolution, James and Maureen Tusty

Very engaging documentary on the Estonian Revolution.

Recommend.

King Lear, Shakespeare

Nothing beats seeing Shakespeare at the Globe!

Highly recommend.

Cardenio, Stephen Greenblatt

Engaging reconception of a "lost" Shakespearean play.

Recommend.

Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare

Set in a contemporary British prison. Lacked cohesion.

Recommend with caveats.

Boleros for the Disenchanted, Jose Rivera

Endgame, Samuel Beckett

Featuring John Turturro, this production failed to bring any clarity to the play.

Caveats.

South Pacific, Rodgers and Hammerstein

Fantastic production. Loved Kelli O'Hara's performance.

Recommend.

Carousel, Rodgers and Hammerstein

Bleak.

Wall Street Chamber Players

Richard Strauss, Piano Quartet in C minor, Op 13
Johannes Brahms, Two Songs, Op 91
Philippe Gaubert, On a Clear Morning
Maurice Ravel, Chanson's Madecasses

Recommend.

Satyagraha: Gandhi in S. Africa, Philip Glass

Recommend.

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare

A fine performance by the students at SCSU.

Recommend.

La fille du Regiment, Donizetti

Absolutely fabulous performance by Nathalie Dessay!!

Highly recommend.

Vespers of the Blessed Virgin (1610), Claudio Monteverdi

Oh my. Absolutely sublime.

Highly Recommended.

The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison

Visually compelling production of a narrative painful to watch.

Highly recommend.

Blackbird, David Harrower

Engrossing production of Harrower's daring play that questions the Lolita paradigm: is it rape or seduction?

Highly recommend.

La Boheme, Puccini

Same Zeferelli production that the Met's been trotting out for 30 plus years.

Recommend with caveats.

Manon Lescaut, Massenet

Better than I'd expected.

Recommend.

Macbeth, Shakespeare

Fantastic production. The three witches were particularly well conceived and performed! Chichester Theatre production with Patrick Stewart in lead role.

Highly recommended.

4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days

Highly recommend.

Grove Street Cemetery: City of the Dead, City of the Living, Karyl Evans

A documentary on the oldest planned cemetary in the United States, it includes a couple of cameo performances by a perky Southern blonde.

Recommend for history buffs.

The Orphanage, Juan Antonio Bayona

Neither horror nor psychological thriller, this film seems unsure of its purpose.

Caveats.

Macbeth, Verdi

The libretto may strip down Shakespeare's play, the music rounds it out. The performances were excellent, and the visual elements draws the audience right into this world of insane, murderous ambition.

Highly recommend.

Happy Days, Samuel Beckett

Starring Fiona Shaw under the direction of Deborah Warner, this production sets the gold standard by which all other productions of not only Happy Days but all Beckett plays are measured. I could watch this production over and over again. WONDERFUL.

When the audience arrives, it is met with a stage filled with 10 or so feet of construction rubble stage front with a bright white curtain immediately behind. Crickety, ominous electronic voices fill up the auditorium. Suddenly, bells dong, the curtain raises then drops, and the houselights don't seem to dim because of the bright lights on stage.
Winnie is in waist-high hole in the trash mound at front-center stage, just in front of proscenium. As portrayed by Shaw, she maintains her dignity while not acknowledging her peculiar predicament.

After intermission, the mound is higher, up to Winnie's neck. Though most in the audience laugh in the appropriate moments, I don't. I find her an extraordinarily sympathetic character. What a revelation of these lines Shaw's acting is. All pauses are filled with her acting.

In ways I've never experienced before, the production liberates the play.

Highly recommend.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Julian Schnabel

Defies all expectations about suitable matter for a film.

Highly recommend.

The Golden Compass

The Great Debaters

Hansel & Gretel, Humperdinck

Fun, family fare in a dazzling production.

Recommend.

Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck)