One of the most influential musicians and composers of the last fifty years, Baltimore-born Philip Glass turns seventy-five today. Never one to slow down, the composer of an endless array of operas, symphonies, dances, and films will be celebrating the event with a series of special concerts and performances over the next several weeks, beginning tonight with a 75th Birthday Concert at Carnegie Hall in which he will premiere his ninth symphony, performed by the American Composers Orchestra, with Maki Namekawa at the piano. Though not technically part of his birthday celebration, Glass will once again serve as artistic director for the Tibet House Concert on February 13 also at Carnegie Hall, where it wouldn’t be surprising to hear Laurie Anderson, Antony, James Blake, Das Racist, Stephin Merritt, Rahzel, Lou Reed, and Dechen Shak-Dagsay sing “Happy Birthday” to Glass at the twenty-second annual event. And Glass will be the centerpiece of the Park Avenue Armory’s second annual Tune-In Music Festival next month, when “Celebrating the American Icon” honors Glass’s late friend Allen Ginsberg and the classic poem “Kaddish” with Bill Frisell, Hal Willner, and Chloe Webb and visual design by the great Ralph Steadman on February 23, then continues with “Philip Glass and Patti Smith: The Poet Speaks” on February 24 (also paying tribute to Ginsberg), “Music in 12 Parts” with the Philip Glass Ensemble on February 25, and concluding on February 26 with an afternoon concert featuring Nico Muhly and Nadia Sirota, Tania León, Samuel Torres, Zack Glass, Ruben Gónzaléz, Ashley Marcus, and Tirtha with Vijay Iyer, Prasanna, and Nitin Mitta, the artist talk “Composers in Conversation” with Glass, Iyer, Muhly, León, and Zack Glass, moderated by Kristy Edmunds, and “Another Look at Harmony — Part IV” with the Collegiate Chorale, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and organist Michael Riesman.
twi-ny recommended events
CINÉMATUESDAYS — JACQUES PERRIN: RENAISSANCE MAN
WINGED MIGRATION takes viewers on a remarkable airborne adventure, part of Jacques Perrin tribute at FIAF
French Institute Alliance Française
Florence Gould Hall
55 East 59th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
Tuesday, January 31, $10
212-355-6160
www.fiaf.org
FIAF’s January CinémaTuesdays presentation, “Jacques Perrin: Renaissance Man,” comes to a close today with screenings of a pair of magnificent visual treats narrated by French actor, producer, and director Jacques Perrin. Microcosmos (le peuple de l’herbe) (Claude Nuridsany & Marie Pérennou, 1996) begins above the clouds before swooping down to the ground for spectacular close-ups of insects going about their business, interacting with nature and experiencing a rainstorm. The gorgeous film, being shown at 12:30 and 7:30 in Florence Gould Hall, captured five César Awards, with Perrin being named Best Producer. Even more remarkable is Winged Migration (Le peuple migrateur) (Jacques Perrin, Jacques Cluzaud & Michel Debats, 2001), screening at 4:00, which begins on the ground and in the trees before taking to the sky, following the migration of Canadian geese and other flocks of birds, flying alongside them, taking viewers on a remarkable adventure. You’ll find it impossible to believe that the Oscar-nominated documentary, narrated and codirected by Perrin, was made without any special effects involved in the filming of the birds. Produced by Perrin’s Galatée Films company, Winged Migration and Microcosmos are stunning cinematic experiences that need to be seen on the big screen. And while at FIAF, be sure to stop by the gallery, currently displaying Eric Fonteneau’s site-specific installation “La Bibliothèque.”
BRAINWAVE: IT COULD CHANGE YOUR MIND
Artist Sean Scully and neurology professor Anjan Chatterjee will examine “Abstract Cognition” as part of the Rubin’s fifth annual Brainwave festival
Rubin Museum of Art
150 West 17th St. at Seventh Ave.
February 4 – April 23, $14-$30
212-620-5000
www.rmanyc.org/brainwave
Don’t forget to pick up tickets for the Rubin Museum’s fifth annual Brainwave festival, in which artists and neuroscientists team up to discuss personal and professional aspects of this year’s central topic, memory. Each session includes a brief mnemonic art tour of the galleries and a karma “telephone” chain that will wind down the spiral staircase left over from when the space belonged to Barneys, if you can remember that far back. The series begins this Saturday afternoon, February 4, with painter Sean Scully and neurology professor Anjan Chatterjee delving into “Abstract Cognition” and is followed by such other pairings as broadcaster Jane Pauley and computational neuroscience professor Sebastian Seung discussing “Welcome to Connectome” on February 8, roboticist Heather Knight and brain researcher Dave Carmel screening and discussing Alex Gabbay’s documentary Just Trial and Error: Conversations on Consciousness on February 18, actor Scott Shepherd and hippocampus expert John Kubie getting into “Committing the Great American Novel to Memory” on March 4, comedian Lewis Black and Johns Hopkins neurologist Dr. Barry Gordon screening Gaylen Ross’s Caris’ Peace and asking “What’s My Line?” in regard to short-term memory on March 7, author Diane Ackerman and clinical neurologist and professor Dr. Todd C. Sacktor examining “Using and Losing Language” on April 14, and gourmand Ruth Reichl and psychology professor Paul Rozin exploring Proust and “The Madeleine Syndrome” on April 23. In conjunction with Brainwave, a new Cabaret Cinema series, “You Must Remember This,” begins Friday night with Casablanca, introduced by artist Samuel Cucher, and continues February 10 with Claudia Shear introducing Mae West in She Done Him Wrong, Fern Mallis introducing Gigi on February 17, and Wim Wenders’s Paris, Texas on February 24, with other films scheduled through April 27. “In this year’s [Brainwave] series we will look at the role memory has played in the past,” notes Rubin producer Tim McHenry, “and the debatable role it plays in our contemporary cut-and-paste culture.”
BILL MORRISON — A MODERN MASTER OF SILENT FILM: THE MINERS’ HYMNS
Bill Morrison’s THE MINERS’ HYMNS will be screened at the World Financial Center on January 31 with a live score performed by the Wordless Music Orchestra
THE MINERS’ HYMNS (Bill Morrison, 2011)
World Financial Center Winter Garden
200 Vesey St.
Tuesday, January 31, free, 7:30
Series runs January 31 – February 3
212-945-0505
www.artsworldfinancialcenter.com
www.billmorrisonfilm.com
Avant-garde filmmaker Bill Morrison (Decasia), who uses found footage and often delves into the cinematic process itself in his fascinating work, collaborates with Icelandic musician and composer Jóhann Jóhannsson in the elegiac The Miners’ Hymns, a tribute to the now-gone collieries, or coal mines, of Northeast England. The fifty-two-minute documentary opens with new aerial shots of the locations where the Durham coal mines were, since replaced by luxury housing and megastores. The film shows the birth and death dates of several collieries going back to the nineteenth century, then seamlessly blends into archival black-and-white footage of the miners at work underground, the community coming together for a local fair, and a union rally during a strike that includes a confrontation with the police. There is no text and no narration in The Miners’ Hymn; instead, Morrison’s savvy editing of the found footage, consisting of both moving pictures and still photographs primarily acquired through the British Film Institute and the BBC, brings the old-fashioned town and its old-fashioned ways to vibrant life even though they roll across the screen in slow motion. Jóhannsson’s score punctuates the proceedings with an occasional brassy flare when not sounding more funereal. Despite the lack of text and narration, Morrison’s point of view is clear and all too obvious, paying homage to something that has been lost, and he is never quite able to make an emotional or personal connection with the viewer. However, The Miners’ Hymns contains remarkable footage that still manages to tell an important story, even if it is one-sided and lacking at least a little more historical context. Prior to its theatrical release on February 8 at Film Forum, The Miners’ Hymns is being shown on the big screen in the World Financial Center on January 31 as part of WNYC host John Schaefer’s annual free New Sounds Live Silent Film Series, featuring a live score performed by the Wordless Music Orchestra. The series continues February 1 with Morrison’s latest work, The Great Flood, followed on February 2 with Spark of Being and February 3 with the amazing Decasia, with Michael Gordon’s memorable score performed live by the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble.
CITI POND WINTER FILM FESTIVAL: GROUNDHOG DAY
Bill Murray stars as a cynical weatherman reliving day over and over until he gets it right in GROUNDHOG DAY
GROUNDHOG DAY (Harold Ramis, 1993)
Bryant Park
West 40th to 42nd Sts. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Monday, January 30, free, 7:30
Series continues through February 13
www.bryantpark.org/things-to-do/pond.html
“Well, what if there is no tomorrow?” asks weatherman Phil Connors in Groundhog Day. “There wasn’t one today.” Bill Murray gives one of his most nuanced performances in the 1993 comedy, ably directed by his Stripes cohort, SCTV alum Harold Ramis. Murray stars as cynical, smarmy, mean-spirited meteorologist Phil Connors, who has been sent by his local TV station to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities and report on whether Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow. He is joined by segment producer Rita (a radiant Andie MacDowell) and cameraman Larry (the always funny Chris Elliott), who find him to be a pompous ass. But just like Punxsutawney Phil comes out of his hole every February 2, Phil Connors is soon getting out of bed reexperiencing the same exact day, given the chance over and over to change, for better or worse. Besides being downright hysterical, Groundhog Day has a lot of heart, making it the kind of movie you can watch, well, over and over again, still pulling each time for Connors to do the right thing and become a worthwhile human being. It seems that Murray does some of his best work when paired with a small, furry creature, like when he desperately tried to catch and kill a too-smart gopher in Caddyshack. Groundhog Day is screening for free on January 30 at the second annual Citi Pond Winter Film Festival in Bryant Park, which continues February 6 with Edward Scissorhands and February 13 with the animated favorite Lady and the Tramp.
THE GERSHWINS’ PORGY AND BESS: THE BROADWAY MUSICAL
Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis deliver terrific performances in memorable new version of PORGY AND BESS (photo by Michael J. Lutch)
Richard Rodgers Theatre
226 West 46th St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
Tickets: $40-$145
877-250-2929
www.porgyandbessonbroadway.com
Forget the controversy; the new Broadway production of the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess — the full title of which is actually now The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess — is one for the ages. Based on the DuBose Heyward 1925 novel Porgy, the show has been undergoing constant change since its debut in 1935, facing cries of racism, plot and music tinkering, and other criticisms as it went from opera to musical theater to film and television. But pay no attention to all the naysayers who are furious that alterations have been made yet again; the current production of Porgy and Bess, which opened January 12 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, is a wonderful evening of outstanding theater that hopefully enjoys a much-deserved long run. Adapted by award-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks and composer Diedre L. Murray at the behest of the Gershwin estate, the A.R.T. production stars Norm Lewis and Audra McDonald as the ill-fated titular characters, he a poor cripple, she married to the strong-armed town bully, Crown (Philip Boykin). They live on South Carolina’s dilapidated Catfish Row, a poverty-stricken wharf area where the close-knit residents can’t even afford to bury their dead. After Crown kills Robbins (Nathaniel Stampley), the brute takes off, leaving Bess behind. With her husband gone, Bess moves in with Porgy, an older, wise man who needs to walk with a cane, dragging his feet horribly as he moves around. The townspeople might have no money, but temptation is always in their midst, in the form of slick city gambler and drug dealer Sporting Life (David Alan Grier). As Porgy and Bess grow closer and closer, situations both within and beyond their control threaten to tear them apart forever.
NaTasha Yvette Williams and David Alan Grier offer solid support in stellar PORGY AND BESS (photo by Michael J. Lutch)
With music by George Gershwin and lyrics by DuBose and Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin, Porgy and Bess is chock-full of memorable songs, from “Summertime,” “I Got Plenty of Nothing,” and “Bess, You Is My Woman Now” to “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” “I Loves You, Porgy,” and “I’m on My Way,” delivered by a stellar cast headed by beautiful performances by the two leads, four-time Tony winner McDonald, whose operatic voice soars, and Lewis, whose dulcet tones rumble through the soul. The pair makes the iconic roles — previously played by such duos as Todd Duncan and Anne Brown on Broadway in 1935, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald on a 1948 record, William Warfield and Leontyne Price in a 1952 touring company, Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne on a 1959 album, Dorothy Dandridge and Sidney Poitier in Otto Preminger’s 1959 movie, Simon Estes and Grace Bumbry at the Met in 1985, and Clarke Peters and Nicola Hughes in Trevor Nunn’s 2006 adaptation — their own, energizing the theater for a mesmerizing two and a half hours. Diane Paulus directs the show with just the right mix of humor and heartbreak, enhanced by Ronald K. Brown’s exciting, fast-paced choreography. Controversy? What controversy? This is a don’t-miss Porgy and Bess, making a very memorable and welcome return to Broadway.
THALIA FILM SUNDAYS: THE INTERRUPTERS
Former gang members try to stop the violence on the streets of Chicago in THE INTERRUPTERS
THE INTERRUPTERS (Steve James, 2011)
Symphony Space, Leonard Nimoy Thalia
2537 Broadway at 95th St.
Sunday, January 29, $13, 4:45
212-864-5400
www.symphonyspace.org
www.interrupters.kartemquin.com
For The Interrupters, director, producer, and editor Steve James (Hoop Dreams, At the Death House Door) teamed up with journalist Alex Kotlowitz (There Are No Children Here) to hit the dangerous inner-city streets of Chicago with the men and women of CeaseFire, a grass-roots organization of former gang members who are now trying to stop the violence. Inspired by Kotlowitz’s New York Times Magazine article, the two men concentrate on three primary stories. Ameena Matthews, the Muslim daughter of notorious gang leader Jeff Fort, is working with a deeply troubled young woman who’d rather fight than flee, even if it means being sent back to prison. Cobe Williams has his hands full with the angry, recently released Flamo, who thinks the whole world is against him. And Eddie Bocanegra is attempting to come to grips with a cold-blooded revenge murder he committed when he was a teenager by visiting schools and talking about turning his life around. One of the most poignant moments of the film occurs when Williams brings Lil Mikey back to the barbershop he and several of his cohorts robbed at gunpoint as he again faces some of his victims. Matthews, Williams, and Bocanegra are paid employees of CeaseFire, which was founded by Dr. Gary Slutkin, an epidemiologist who believes that violence is a disease that can be treated in similar ways, and is run by Tio Hardman, who handles his extremely tough task with intelligence and dignity as he deals with what he calls “the madness.” But in a society in which “words’ll get you killed,” as Matthews says early on, these tireless violence interrupters put their own lives on the line every day, battling a sickness that seems to have no end in sight. The award-winning film, a hit at numerous film festivals, felt a bit long at its original 144 minutes, but James edited it down to a more streamlined 124 minutes for its recent theatrical release. The Interrupters is screening January 29 at 4:45 as part of Symphony Space’s “Thalia Film Sundays” series, which continues in February with Patrick Takaya Solomon’s Finding Joe and Philipp Stölzl’s Young Goethe in Love.