Yearly Archives: 2011

THE HUGO BOSS PRIZE 2010: HANS-PETER FELDMANN

Hans-Peter Feldmann has decorated the Guggenheim’s Tower Gallery with one hundred thousand one-dollar bills, the exact value of the Hugo Boss Prize (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Ave. at 89th St.
Friday – Wednesday through November 2, $18 includes audioguide (pay what you wish Saturdays 5:45-7:45)
212-423-3500
www.guggenheim.org

What would you do if someone came up to you and gave you a cool hundred grand? German visual artist Hans-Peter Feldmann was faced with just that troubling dilemma when he was awarded a $100,000 honorarium as the latest winner of the Guggenheim’s biennial Hugo Boss Prize. The seventy-year-old conceptualist, known for works that involve collecting found objects and photographs and sequencing them in unique and unusual installations, converted the six-figure check into one hundred thousand one-dollar bills that had been in circulation, then had his assistants pin them in overlapping rows across every inch of wall space as well as the two poles in the Guggenheim’s Tower Gallery. The exhibition, on view through November 2, can be taken on many levels, from a commentary on the intrinsic commercial value of art to the Warholian conceit of the physical act of creation, which in this case is the U.S. Treasury and Feldmann’s assistants. To complicate things even further, museumgoers are generally not allowed to touch art, and that is the case here; however, since each of the bills has been in circulation, it is quite possible that some visitors have at one time or another actually “owned” one or more of the bills and contributed to their evolution from crisp and firm to raggedy and well worn. In addition, the financial display is a playful tease to a public suffering from one of the nation’s worst economic crises since its founding, with the visage of the Father of Our Country, George Washington, repeated around the gallery, reminding visitors of the responsibility of its political leaders. But no matter what Feldmann’s specific intentions are, his Hugo Boss Prize installation is a breathtaking wonderland of excess — as well as a splendid complement to the Guggenheim’s main current exhibition, Lee Ufan’s deeply philosophical and very personal “Marking Infinity.”

RIVERFLICKS FOR GROWN-UPS: THE TOWN

Claire (Rebecca Hall) and Doug (Ben Affleck) have a complicated relationship in THE TOWN

THE TOWN (Ben Affleck, 2010)
Pier 63 Lawn, Hudson River Park
Cross at West 22nd or 24th St.
Wednesday, August 17, free, 8:30
www.hudsonriverpark.org
www.thetownmovie.warnerbros.com

Ben Affleck, who displayed great skill as a director in his debut feature, 2007’s Gone, Baby, Gone, has done it again with his follow-up, the romantic thriller The Town. Affleck, who also cowrote the script, stars as Doug MacRay, the leader of a small group of bank robbers in tough Charlestown, Massachusetts, the bank robbery capital of America. As the film opens, the thieves are just hitting a bank and are forced to take a hostage, manager Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall). After later letting her go unharmed, they soon realize that she lives in their neighborhood and might be able to recognize one of them, so Doug starts hanging around her, pretending to be interested in her so he can tap her for information. Meanwhile, Boston cop Dino (Titus Welliver) and FBI Special Agent Frawley (Jon Hamm) are getting closer to the gang, who continue to pull off daring heists regardless of the heat on them. Although there are a handful of plot holes you could drive an armored truck through, The Town ends up being a compelling action film and love story, with car chases, massive shootouts, and a tender relationship as Doug begins to fall for Claire, and vice versa, even though the truth threatens to blow everything apart. Also threatening to blow everything apart is Doug’s right-hand man, Jem (Jeremy Renner, channeling James Cagney in White Heat), who likes hurting and killing way too much. Affleck, who as a director allows his actors a large amount of freedom, has gotten fine performances across the board; the cast also includes Pete Postlethwaite as an underworld florist, Chris Cooper as Doug’s long-incarcerated father, Blake Lively as a drug-dealing tramp, and Boston rapper Slaine, who contributed songs to the soundtrack as well. The film, based on the Chuck Hogan novel Prince of Thieves, also benefits from Affleck’s genuine affection for the place where he grew up, shooting on location and setting the finale in a world-famous landmark. The Town is screening August 17 in Hudson River Park as the last entry in the free Wednesday night RiverFlicks for Grown-ups series, with free popcorn. For a complete list of free outdoor summer films throughout the city, click here.

BASIC CABLE CLASSICS: JUST ONE OF THE GUYS

Basic cable classic JUST ONE OF THE GUYS will reveal itself as part of 92YTribeca series

JUST ONE OF THE GUYS (Lisa Gottlieb, 1985)
92YTribeca
200 Hudson St. at Canal St.
Tuesday, August 16, $12, 7:00
212-415-5500
www.92y.org

We all have those basic cable movies that we can’t turn off when we find them while channel surfing. For some of us it’s Point Break, others The Beastmaster. Some can’t help but watch Highlander yet again, while others are compelled to follow Night of the Comet through to its always thrilling conclusion. For some reason, we’ve been obsessed with Just One of the Guys since we first saw it many moons ago. It’s the standard, overused story of a person so desperate to get something that they pretend they’re the opposite gender; think Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot, Julie Andrews in Victor Victoria, but on a rather different plane of existence. All of those films and more are at least partially responsible for the birth of Lisa Gottlieb’s Just One of the Guys, in which onetime Bruce Springsteen flame Joyce Hyser plays Terry Griffith, a well-endowed high school lassie who thinks she has a better chance of winning a journalism contest if she’s a boy, so she tapes down her breasts and temporarily switches genders, with only her wacky brother, Buddy (Billy Jayne), and best friend, Denise (Toni Hudson), privy to the old switcheroo. The soundtrack is a hoot, populated by the likes of Shalamar, Berlin, Billy Burnette, Lindsey Buckingham, and Midnight Star. The big reveal is a genre classic — and one you actually can’t see in full on basic cable, but you will be able to see it in all its glory on August 16 at 7:00 as part of 92YTribeca’s “Basic Cable Classics” series, followed by a Q&A with director Gottlieb and Irin Carmon, better known as blogger and journalist Jezebel.

HotelMotel

Sarah Lemp is cold and calculating as a dark sex therapist in Derek Ahonen’s PINK KNEES ON PALE SKIN (photo by Monica Simoes)

The Gershwin Hotel
7 East 27th St. between Madison & Fifth Aves.
Wednesday – Monday through September 19, $60 (extended through October 10, $35)
www.theamoralists.com

Over the last several years, hotels have become more than just a place for tourists to rest their weary bones in New York City. During Armory Week, the Dylan Hotel hosts the Verge Art Fair, while the PooL Art Fair fills rooms in the Gershwin Hotel with site-specific installations. Last fall, Swiss theater architect Dominic Huber set his adaptation of Joseph Roth’s Hotel Savoy in the Goethe-Institut, transforming the 1014 Fifth Ave. building into a ghostly hotel. And Punchdrunk’s dazzling Sleep No More, in the old McKittrick Hotel in Chelsea, has been extended yet again, this time through September 24. Joining the trend is the daring Brooklyn-based Amoralists theater company, which is currently putting on a double feature in a specially designed room in the back of the lobby of the Gershwin Hotel. Standing by its decree to be “fearless, courageous, dangerous, uncomfortable, and rattled . . . to get dirty . . . and to bleed, sweat, and cry,” the company is presenting HotelMotel, two full-length productions that provide lots of thrills and chills for adventurous theatergoers — twenty people at a time.

HotelMotel begins with the world premiere of Pink Knees on Pale Skin, written and directed by Derek Ahonen. After checking in and being given a key card, “guests” are escorted to their room, actually one of approximately twenty folding chairs lined up in one row around three sides of a bed draped in luscious red. A pianist plays in one corner of the room, which features a rose-wallpapered ceiling and four Gershwin Hotel bathrobes hanging on hooks. Soon Dr. Sarah Bauer (Sarah Lemp) and her boyfriend, Leroy (Jordan Tisdale) enter, preparing for the arrival of two married couples who have come to them because of sexual problems in their relationships. Heart surgeon Robert Wyatt (James Kautz) has cheated on his wife, lawyer Caroline (Vanessa Vache), while comedian Allison Williams (Anna Stromberg) is unable to achieve orgasm with her spouse, playwright Ted (Byron Anthony). The cold, manipulating, very direct Bauer has promised to cure them all — via a group-sex orgy (which could potentially involve Leroy as well). Bauer masterfully handles the two couples even as it slowly becomes apparent that she has some of her own deep-seated demons haunting her. The well-developed characters and believable story line build to a hot and heavy climax as spectators are turned into voyeurs who will be hard-pressed not to be titillated by the events unfolding right in front of them. Ahonen flawlessly navigates the emotional spectrum, resulting in a penetrating, insightful, and wickedly funny sex comedy that is not afraid to pull at the heartstrings.

William Apps has a thing for putting odd things down his pants in Adam Rapp’s ANIMALS AND PLANTS (photo by Monica Simoes)

After a twenty-minute break, the audience is ushered back inside for the New York premiere of writer-director Adam Rapp’s Animals and Plants. Set designer Alfred Schatz has turned the space into a messy low-budget motel room in Boone, North Carolina, with pizza boxes, beer cans, and men’s toiletries strewn all over the place. This time people can sit wherever they want, either in the two rows on one side of the white-covered bed or in one of several chairs within the set; we strongly recommend the seat by the windowed door if you don’t mind being more in the middle of things. As the audience enters, the curly haired Dantly (William Apps) is sitting on the bed, staring at the television, which is showing nothing but static, while the pianist tinkles away right behind him (and remains there silently once the play kicks in). The room is filled with a multitude of stuffed birds and animals, evoking a Norman Bates–like atmosphere. Dantly’s partner in crime, Burris (Matthew Pilieci), soon emerges, a fast-talking muscle man who can’t stop exercising or using three-dollar words that both impress and confound the not-too-bright Dantly (who spends most of the first half of the play with one hand down his pants, where he likes to put such odd objects as an ice scraper, which turned out to be not such a great idea). The two men are in Boone to pull off a deal for an unseen boss in the midst of a blizzard, but mysterious phone calls and a singing man (Brian Mendes) in a grizzly bear outfit lighting matches lead to surreal situations that might or might not actually be happening, all coming together for a powerful, action-packed finale. Animals and Plants is more experimental than its predecessor, challenging the audience by subverting convention and delving into fantastical narrative. Near the beginning, Burris sits down on the toilet and goes to the bathroom (rather convincingly) in full view of many of the spectators, announcing that this will be something different, and indeed it is. And when Cassandra (Katie Broad) later shows up, the play takes off in yet another unanticipated direction. Animals and Plants is more theatrical in general than the more intimate Pink Knees on Pale Skin, but both create riveting situations that make inventive use of the limited space, which never feels claustrophobic. Both shows also include full-frontal male nudity, which can be both funny and disconcerting in such close quarters. Whereas Ahonen tempts the audience to consider their own personal relationships, Rapp invites them to consider the relationship between audience and performer; taken as a whole, HotelMotel is an exciting, well-rounded, unique theatrical experience that is well worth checking in to. [Ed. note: The production has been extended once more, through October 10, with all tickets now just $35; in addition, Michael Cerveris and Loose Cattle will perform on September 30 in the hotel lounge from 6:00 to 7:00.]

BRYANT PARK SUMMER FILM FESTIVAL: HIGH SIERRA

Humphrey Bogart actually got second billing to Ida Lupino in HIGH SIERRA

HIGH SIERRA (Raoul Walsh, 1941)
Bryant Park Summer Film Festival
41st St. at Sixth Ave.
Monday, August 15, free, dusk
212-512-5700
www.bryantpark.org

Warner Bros. and First National brought out the big guns for their 1941 gangster picture High Sierra, with Raoul Walsh directing a script by W. R. Burnett (Little Caesar) and John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino. Bogart (the part had been previously been offered to George Raft and Paul Muni) plays hardcore criminal Roy “Mad Dog” Earle, called in the trailer “the strangest of men in the strangest of stories,” recently released from prison and already caught up in a casino heist. He is joined by Louis (Cornel Wilde), Red (Arthur Kennedy) and Babe (Alan Curtis), with Babe having brought along femme fatale Marie (Lupino), who Roy knows is going to be trouble — with a capital T. Meanwhile, Roy has fallen for Velma (Joan Leslie), a pure and innocent young woman with a medical problem Roy is generously trying to help cure. He’s also taken a liking to a mutt, revealing that he might actually have a softer side in there somewhere. But when things don’t quite go as planned, Roy finds himself on the run, heading toward the Sierra Nevadas, willing to do whatever it takes to get away from the police, who are hot on his trail. Bogart gives one of his finest performances as the Dillinger-esque Earle, continually offering just the slightest twist on his character, adding depth not always found in murderous gangsters. Barring inclement weather, High Sierra is screening Monday night as part of the Bryant Park Summer Film Festival; the series concludes August 22 with the Clint Eastwood cop classic Dirty Harry.

HENRY V

Princess Katherine (Fedna Jacquet) and King Henry V (Ty Jones) are brought together in the shadow of war (photo by Ruth Sovronsky)

Classical Theatre of Harlem
Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial Center
3940 Broadway at 165th St.
Wednesday – Sunday through September 4, $20-$48
SummerStage: August 29, East River Park, free, 8:00 (August 27-28 canceled because of weather)
www.classicaltheatreofharlem.org
www.summerstage.org

Henry V is just the right play for the Classical Theatre of Harlem to take on as its first full-scale production since the November 2009 departure of the company’s founders, artistic director Alfred Preisser and executive director Christopher McElroen. Under new producing director Ty Jones, CTH, which was founded in 1999 with a mission to bring high-quality, professional theater to the Harlem community, faces an uphill (primarily financial) battle that in some ways is echoed by Shakespeare’s history play, in which the far-outnumbered English army prepares to fight French forces in the 1415 Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years’ War. Jones, who won an OBIE for his performance in CTH’s The Blacks: A Clown Show, stars as King Henry, who has grown up since his days as Prince Hal. Now a firm, stalwart leader, the king is developing a confidence that rallies those around him, particularly after he deals with a trio of traitors and later gives one of the greatest locker-room talks ever, the St. Crispin’s Day Speech.

Directed by Jenny Bennett, this ninety-minute Henry V makes the audience, which is seated on three sides around the center of the action, feel like it’s part of the play. The actors, who are on floor level, regularly make solid eye contact with the audience, and they continually enter and exit up and down the aisles. There is actually a preshow choreographed number in which the performers sing and dance the rules of the house, building an intimate community right from the start. Rachel Dozier-Ezell’s costumes are a stylish mix of Mad Max and the Warriors, with lots of torn leather and chains, while Anka Lupes’s set design features an assembly of girders on which the characters often congregate. The acting ranges from solid to amateurish to scenery chewing; the highlights include the aforementioned St. Crispin’s speech (which could double as a dramatic pep talk to the theater company itself from its new producing director) and Carine Montbertrand’s expository tour de force as the Archbishop of Canterbury, but the comic relief offered by Nym and Pistol falls flat, and it is sometimes difficult to hear the dialogue when an actor is standing with their back directly to you. The battle scene is wonderfully choreographed as an exciting dance piece with the actors throwing forth red ribbons that represent bloody swords. All in all, Henry V signals a terrific start to the next generation of the Classical Theatre of Harlem. The play runs through September 4 at the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial Center, located within the historic Audubon Ballroom; there will also be a free outdoor 8:00 performance August 29 in East River Park on the Lower East Side as part of the annual SummerStage program. (The August 27-28 shows have been canceled because of Hurricane Irene.)

XAVIER CHA: BODY DRAMA

Jennie Epland performs Xavier Cha’s “Body Drama” at the Whitney (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Ave. at 75th St.
Wednesday – Sunday through October 9
Admission: $12-$18 (pay-what-you-wish Fridays from 6:00 to 9:00)
212-570-3600
www.whitney.org
www.xaviercha.com

Xavier Cha blurs the line between performer and audience, live and recorded action, and public and private space, calling into question what is being witnessed in her multimedia installation “Body Drama.” Every hour on the hour beginning at 12 noon on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday and 3:00 on Friday, one of eleven actors straps on a specially made body-mounted camera that extends in front of them, focused on their face. For twenty minutes, the performer wanders around the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Gallery, acting as if they are seeing something terrible. The all-white space is empty save for a diagonal wall cutting across one side, dividing the location in an uneven, off-balance way. The actor can writhe on the floor, twist slowly along the walls, get trapped in the corners, all the while looking terrified. During the performance, visitors are allowed to move within the gallery, watching but not actually interacting. It’s a disconcerting experience, looking at a person frightened by something that you can’t see even though you are in the same general area. It also breaks down the usual barrier between the performer onstage and the audience in their seats, making the viewer’s emotional and physical involvement that much more palpable. After the actor leaves the gallery, a carefully edited video of a previous performance is screened on the diagonal wall, but in this case only the face is visible, offering a completely different perspective on the fear that overtakes the performers and confounds the viewer, becoming even more visceral. In some ways, it even makes the viewer feel responsible, as if maybe they could have saved the terrified performer, but after having done nothing is forced to watch the results of their inaction. Born in Los Angeles in 1980 and based in New York City, Cha has challenged the expectations of the viewer amid unusual spaces in such previous works as “Topiary Tags,” “Looking Glass,” “Two-Way Mirror,” and “Portal”; in “Body Drama,” she once again confronts the audience, forcing them to question both what they are seeing and what they are feeling, resulting in a complex, captivating experience. (Also at the Whitney right now is the splendid “Lyonel Feininger: At the Edge of the World,” the innovative “Cory Arcangel: Pro Tools,” and the fascinating “More Than That: Films by Kevin Jerome Everson.”)