twi-ny recommended events

HOT AND HUMID: SUMMER FILMS FROM THE ARCHIVES — A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

Warner Bros. production of Shakespeare play is a bizarre classic

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (Max Reinhardt & William Dieterle, 2004)
MoMA Film
Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Thursday, August 11, 4:30; Friday, August 19, 4:00
Series runs through September 7
Tickets: $10, in person only, may be applied to museum admission within thirty days, same-day screenings free with museum admission, available at Film and Media Desk
212-708-9400
www.moma.org

Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle’s 1935 adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one freakishly weird flick. In a misty forest, fairies go around sprinkling love potions on sleeping humans, creating mixed-up relationships that even venture out into the realm of bestiality. “The course of true love never did run smooth,” Lysander tells Hermia, and that sums up this star-studded screwball comedy of a sort. Warner Bros. put together quite a lineup for this big-time production, with plenty of strange casting choices that end up working rather splendidly. James Cagney prances about as Bottom, Dick Powell plays Lysander, Olivia de Havilland makes her film debut as Hermia, Joe E. Brown is Flute, Billy Barty plays Mustardseed, and a teenage Mickey Rooney offers a delirious take on Puck, howling at the moon with sheer glee. The wacky movie also features Ian Hunter, Arthur Treacher, Victor Jory, and Anita Louise as the fairy queen Titania. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture, and won for Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing, will be screening August 11 at 4:30 and August 19 at 4:00 as part of MoMA’s “Hot and Humid: Summer Films from the Archives” series, which continues through September 7 with such seasonal dramas as Hou Hsiao-hsien’s A Summer at Grandpa’s, Federico Fellini’s I vitelloni, Ingmar Bergman’s Summer with Monika, André Téchiné’s Wild Reeds, Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura, Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, and Steven Spielberg’s Jaws.

HILARIOUS HAIKU FOR BROOKLYN / SPIRITED AWAY

All sorts of folk will be heading into Brooklyn for humorous haiku and the Miyazaki classic SPIRITED AWAY

SPIRITED AWAY (SEN TO CHIHIRO NO KAMIKAKUSHI) (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)
Leon S. Kaiser Park
2401 Neptune Ave. at West 27th St.
Friday, August 12, free, 7:00
718-907-0709
www.nausicaa.net
www.nycgovparks.org

Prepare to have your spirits lifted up and away in this sensational animated feature from Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki, who made one of our all-time faves, 1992’s Porco Rosso (Kurenai No Buta). Ten-year-old Chihiro is unhappy about moving to a new home despite her parents’ best efforts to convince her otherwise. When her father takes a wrong turn on the road, the family ends up in an oddly deserted village that Chihiro soon finds out is a lot more than it seems. Chihiro’s adventures through this dreamlike, surreal, magical place filled with bizarre characters and evil beings are unforgettable, with nuances and references from such diverse works as The Wizard Of Oz and The Seventh Seal. The sheer visual beauty of the animation is staggering; many of the backgrounds are reminiscent of Impressionism. The film includes the voice talents of Daveigh Chase (Chihiro), Jason Marsden (Haku), Susan Egan (Lin), Michael Chiklis (Chihiro’s father), Lauren Holly (Chihiro’s mother), Suzanne Pleshette (Yubaba and Zeniba), John Ratzenberger (assistant manager), David Ogden Stiers (Kamaji), and Tara Strong (baby Boh). Joe Hisaishi’s maudlin music is way overpraised, as usual, but this Japanese box-office champ deservedly won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival and was named Best Asian Film at the Hong Kong Film Awards. Spirited Away is screening August 12 at Mark Twain Circle in Leon S. Kaiser Park on Gravesend Bay, where it will be preceded by “Hilarious Haiku for Brooklyn,” spoken-word poetry presented by Staten Island OutLOUD.

THE BOOK OF MORMON

Tony-winning THE BOOK OF MORMON skewers organized religion eight times a week on Broadway

Eugene O’Neill Theatre
230 West 49th St.
Tickets: $69-$477
www.bookofmormonbroadway.com

Over the course of fifteen seasons, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have skewered just about every religion imaginable, including a November 2003 episode in which they poked some very good natured fun at Mormonism. The duo behind Team America: World Police, BASEketball, and Orgazmo have now taken a huge step forward with their uproarious Broadway debut, The Book of Mormon. Teaming up with composer Robert Lopez and codirector and choreographer Casey Nicholaw, Parker and Stone have expanded their playful attack on the Mormons — and organized religion in general — in an inventive, riotous, no-holds-barred runaway hit musical that took home nine Tony awards. Hoping to get a prime location for his missionary assignment, Elder Price (Andrew Rannells) instead gets sent to deepest, darkest Africa, paired with the slovenly and not very well prepared Elder Cunningham (Josh Gad), who is so happy to be part of something that he’s up for just about anything. After meeting their fellow Mormon missionaries, they learn that they have not had much success knocking on doors, trying to spread the rather bizarre story of Joseph Smith and the secret golden plates. While the childlike Elder Cunningham develops a crush on the beautiful Nabulungi (Nikki M. James), Mafala Hatimbi (Michael Potts) continually declares, “I have maggots in my scrotum,” and Elder McKinley (Rory O’Malley) and the other Mormons share how to simply “turn off” any unpure thoughts and not get swallowed up in their endless “Spooky Mormon Hell Dream.” Using clever staging techniques, Nicholaw and Parker go back and forth between the worlds of the Mormons and the Africans as they slowly begin to merge. Although Mormonism takes the brunt of the attack, songs such as “Making Things Up Again” and “I Believe” make it clear that The Book of Mormon could have easily been about many other religions, all of which have questionable histories and involve unusual contemporary practices and traditions. But like they say in the show, “Tomorrow’s a latter day” and “To each his own.” In a meta-twist, worshiping The Book of Mormon has become somewhat of a religion itself, placing the musical on its own heavenly golden pedestal; while it’s not quite as rapturous as all that, it’s still one of the best musical comedies to hit Broadway in several years, a nonstop laugh fest that also proves to have plenty of heart.

CONEY ISLAND BREWING COMPANY OPENING DAY

Coney Island Brewing Company
3008 West 12th St. at Surf Ave.
Wednesday, August 10, free with RSVP, 5:30 – 8:30
www.coneyisland.com

While some are trying to turn Coney Island into a kind of hipster Disneyland, there are still those out there fighting to preserve its low-budget charm and uniqueness as one of the last bastions of good old-fashioned fun, albeit with many a strange twist. So on Wednesday, August 10, Coney Island Sideshow founder Dick Zigun, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce president Carl Hum, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! head Michael Hirsch, and ubiquitous Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz will be on hand for what is being billed as “the World’s Smallest Ribbon Cutting Ceremony” for “the World’s Smallest Brewery,” the brand-new Coney Island Brewing Company. The opening celebration, which is free and open to the public with advance RSVP, will include live performance by Justin Mullins and the Neptunes, appearances by various sideshow freaks, samplings of food and drink courtesy of the brewery (cheesecake ale!), specially priced commemorative T-shirts, a small gift bag, and more.

BOY & BEAR

Boy & Bear will celebrate release of debut album with two area shows

Tuesday, August 9, Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston St., $12, 6:30
Wednesday, August 10, Knitting Factory Brooklyn, 361 Metropolitan Ave., $10-$12, 8:30
www.myspace.com/boyandbearmusic

Let’s face it: A lot of the indie folk roots rock movement is overrated and boring. There, we said it. Both on record and onstage, many of these acts are about as thrilling as watching paint dry, only less colorful. So hyping Sydney five-piece Boy & Bear by linking them with the Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, Laura Marling, and even CSNY didn’t exactly sell us on them, nor did their overpraised cover of Crowded House’s “Fall at Your Feet.” (However, the Mumford & Sons comparison helped.) What sold us on them was listening to their stellar debut album, Moonfire. Produced with Joe Chiccarelli (My Morning Jacket, the Strokes) at Blackbird Studios in Nashville, the eleven-track disc has a big, epic feel and a sharp, pristine sound. From the opening drums of “Lord May” through the propulsive “Feeding Line,” the rollicking “Golden Jubilee,” and the downright Springsteen-esque “Big Man” (no, it’s not a tribute to the late Clarence Clemons), Moonfire blasts out of the speakers, occasionally getting caught up in twee harmonies but primarily thriving on high-quality songwriting by lead vocalist Dave Hosking and inventive instrumentation courtesy of Jon Hart on keyboards and mandolin. (The band also features Tim Hart on drums, Jake Tarasenko on bass, and Killian Gavin on guitar.) Formed in 2009, Boy & Bear quickly gained a following in Australia based on their exciting live shows, which brought them to SXSW earlier this year and now to New York City, where they’ll be celebrating the release of Moonfire on August 9 with Country Mice at Mercury Lounge and on August 10 with Yellowbirds and Dear Lions at Knitting Factory Brooklyn.

EPIX MOVIE FREE FOR ALL: ANNIE HALL

Woody Allen impersonation contest will precede free screening of ANNIE HALL in Coney Island

ANNIE HALL (Woody Allen, 1977)
Coney Island Beach
Boardwalk at West 12th St.
Monday, August 8, free, 7:00
www.epixhd.com

One of the funniest, most-quoted romantic comedies in film history, Woody Allen’s Annie Hall is a pure delight from start to finish. It’s ostensibly a luuuuuurve story about a nebbishy Jew (Allen as Alvy Singer) and the ultimate WASPy goy (Diane Keaton as the title character), but it’s really about so much more: large vibrating eggs, right turns on red lights, television, Existential Motifs in Russian Literature, California, slippery crustaceans, driving through Plutonium, dead sharks, Freud, Hitler, Leopold and Loeb, religion, cocaine, Shakespeare in the Park, Buick-size spiders, planet Earth, and, well, la-di-da, la-di-da, la la. One of the all-time great New York City movies, it’s partly set in Coney Island, where Alvy grew up under the old Thunderbolt roller coaster. Tonight, Epix, in conjunction with Rooftop Films, will be screening the multiple Oscar winner — for Best Original Screenplay (Allen and Marshall Brickman), Best Director (Allen), Best Actress (Keaton), and Best Film — not far from that site, on the boardwalk by West 12th St. It will be preceded by a live DJ at 7:00, followed by Kirsten Lepore’s charming beach-set short, Bottle, and, yes, a Woody Allen impersonation contest. You know you so want to participate. Which section would you quote from? We’re still deciding which scene is our favorite….

THE COOKERY PRESENTS PICNICS IN THE PARK

Chef Camille Becerra and cultural salon host Lelaine Lau are taking it outside for Picnics in the Park (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Wednesday, August 10, Central Park, $50 (includes tax and tip), 5:30 – 8:30
Wednesday, August 17, Chelsea, $50 (includes tax and tip), 5:30 – 8:30
www.thecookerynyc.com

In July, Top Chef contestant Camille Becerra and 403 cultural salon founder Lelaine Lau teamed up for the Cookery’s Summer Feasts, a series of gourmet pop-up dinners held in secret inside spots around the city. Now they’re taking advantage of the weather and moving outdoors for a pair of sunset Picnics in the Park on August 10 and 17. The first feast will take place in Central Park, the second in a Chelsea park, with the exact locations given when you make your reservations. The cost is $50 per person, which should be well worth it, judging from our experience with the extremely talented duo, which you can read about here.