twi-ny recommended events

FREE SUMMER EVENTS JUNE 24 – JULY 1

Roger Guenveur Smith will perform Frederick Douglass Now at BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival on June 28

The free summer arts & culture season is under way, with dance, theater, music, art, film, and other special outdoor programs all across the city. Every week we will be recommending a handful of events. Keep watching twi-ny for more detailed highlights as well.

Sunday, June 24
Porch Stomp, with more than seventy bands on sixteen stages, Nolan Park, Governors Island, 12 noon – 5:00 pm

Monday, June 25
Movie Nights in Bryant Park: The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940), Bryant Park, lawn opens at 5:00, film begins at sunset

Tuesday, June 26
Washington Square Music Festival, with Kuumba Frank Lacy Sextet and vocalist, Washington Square Park, 8:00

The Metropolitan Summer Recital Series comes to Jackie Robinson Park on June 28

The Metropolitan Summer Recital Series comes to Jackie Robinson Park on June 27

Wednesday, June 27
SummerStage: The Metropolitan Summer Recital Series, with Gerard Schneider, Gabriella Reyes de Ramírez, and Adrian Timpau performing arias and duets, Jackie Robinson Park, 7:00

Thursday, June 28
Live at the Archway: Grupo Rebolu, with DJ Dan Edinberg and live art experience by Catherine Haggarty, Water St. between Anchorage Pl. & Adams St., DUMBO, 6:00

Friday, June 29
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival: Branford Marsalis / Roger Guenveur Smith: Frederick Douglass Now, Prospect Park Bandshell, 7:30

Sunday, July 1
Shell-ebrate Oysters, Hudson River Park, Pier 25, registration recommended, 4:00

ALL ABOUT EVIL: ALL ABOUT EVE and SHOWGIRLS

Margo Channing (Bette Davis) sees more than a little of herself in Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s All About Eve

ALL ABOUT EVE (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950)
Museum of the Moving Image
35th Ave. at 36th St., Astoria
Sunday, June 24, $15 (includes museum admission), 2:30
718-777-6800
www.movingimage.us

Nominated for fourteen Academy Awards and winner of six, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, All About Eve is one of Hollywood’s all-time greatest movies, a searing depiction of naked ambition set on the Great White Way. Based on Mary Orr’s 1946 short story “The Wisdom of Eve,” writer-director Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s flawless drama stars Anne Baxter as Eve Harrington, who is not exactly the mousy wallflower she at first appears to be. She quickly worms her way into an inner circle of Broadway vets populated by superstar Margo Channing (Bette Davis), her younger lover, Bill Sampson (Gary Merrill), playwright and director Lloyd Richards (Hugh Marlowe), and Richards’s wife, Karen (Celeste Holm), who takes Eve under her wing. Joining in on all the fun is powerful theater critic Addison DeWitt (Oscar winner George Sanders), who marvels at all the manipulation and backstage drama, much of which he wickedly orchestrates himself.

“There never was, and there never will be, another like you,” DeWitt tells Eve in one of the film’s most poignant moments. All About Eve is filled with classic quotes, including the iconic “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night,” boldly proclaimed by Davis. In a movie about acting and the theater, Mankiewicz never shows anyone onstage; instead, he focuses on the characters and the intrigue with a sly flair that is deliciously entertaining. All About Eve is screening June 24 at 2:30 in the Museum of the Moving Image series “All About Evil: All About Eve and Showgirls,” bringing together Mankiewicz’s fab film and Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls, which does show women onstage; the pairing came about because Verhoeven referred to his 1995 flop, often considered one of the worst movies ever made, as “All About Evil.” Adam Nayman, author of It Doesn’t Suck: Showgirls, will be signing copies of his book at 5:00, then introduce the 6:00 Showgirls screening.

DRAGON BOAT FAMILY FESTIVAL 2018

dragon boat festival

端午节
Museum of Chinese in America
215 Centre St.
Saturday, June 23, $10, noon – 4:00
www.mocanyc.org

The big Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival doesn’t take place until August 12-13 in Flushing Meadows Park, but you can get ready for the festivities with the Museum of Chinese in America’s Dragon Boat Family Festival, taking place at the downtown institution on June 23. The afternoon includes arts and crafts, workshops, live performances, storytelling, special food, Chinese board games, and more. Kids can make a good-luck fabric sachet known as a xiang bao, summer solstice sun catchers, team banners, and miniature floatable dragon boats and race them. There will also be a bug hunt, a yo-yo performance by eleven-year-old champion Alex Tai, ink brush painting with the NY Chinese Cultural Center, a double watercolor workshop with Jian Zhong, and a zongzi wrapping and tasting with Sophia Hsu.

TWI-NY TALK: JOE WISSLER / ALL MY SONS

George Deever (David Winning) and Joe Keller (Joe Wissler) face some hard truths in All My Sons at Bernie Wohl Center (photo by Susan Case/Halina Malinowski)

Bernie Wohl Center @ Goddard Riverside Community Center
647 Columbus Ave. between Ninety-First & Ninety-Second Sts.
June 20-24, $20
www.outoftheboxtheatre.com

Joe Wissler loves acting; it’s in his bones. You can see it when he’s onstage performing or when he’s discussing his career, which has included appearing in shows at the Mint, the Fringe, the Actors Studio, the Producers Club, and Where Eagles Dare and such indie films as Powder Strike, Empire, and Street Revenge. The Manhattan-born, Brooklyn-raised character actor is quite a character himself, a tough guy with a heart of gold. Wissler is starring this week in the lead role of Joe Keller in the Out of the Box Theatre production of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, an Actors’ Equity showcase running June 20-24 at the Bernie Wohl Center at the Goddard Riverside Community Center. The play is directed by Justin Bennett, with a cast also featuring J. D. Brookshire, Matthew Dunivan, Marie Lenzi, Susan McBrien, Patrick McGuiness, Nirvaan Pal, Anna Marie Sell, Jennifer Wingerter, and David Winning.

“As a director, it is an immense pleasure to work with an actor like Joe,” Bennett said. “He is constantly striving to find the depth of a complex character that many actors consider to be a dream role. He is always willing to try different ways to do something. Fortunately, the rest of the cast works in a similar way in order to produce a fantastic quality of acting in one of the masterpieces of American theater.” Founding Out of the Box board member and coproducer (with Halina Malinowski) Susan Case added, “We’re delighted to welcome Joe Wissler to the Out of the Box family. Justin cast Joe to play the lead role of Joe Keller after wading through several hundred resumes and auditioning numerous actors. Joe brings great warmth and honesty to his compelling portrayal of this beleaguered character.” After finishing tech rehearsal, Wissler filled us in on his latest show and more.

twi-ny: We last spoke with you four years ago, when you were in Baby GirL at the Fringe in 2014. How’ve you been since then?

Joe Wissler: The years certainly do fly by. In those years both my children have gotten married, Joe to Kaylyn and Nicole to Sam. In addition, Kaylyn is expecting our first grandchild in July. I have spent a good amount of that time writing. The first project, 20 to Life, is about a police officer who is all set to retire, only to find that his new girlfriend is pregnant, forcing him to stay on the job. Production is set to begin in the fall of 2018.

Chris Keller (Matthew Dunivan) and his father, Joe (Joe Wissler), have tense moments in Out of the Box revival of Arthur Miller classic (photo by Susan Case/Halina Malinowski)

twi-ny: You’re starring as Joe Keller in All My Sons at the Bernie Wohl Center at the Goddard Riverside Community Center. How did that come about?

JW: I saw a listing on Actors Access and submitted. I went in to the audition with one simple strategy: Tell the story from the heart, not the head. It seems to have worked. I am now part of a cast that I consider to be the some of the finest actors I have ever had the pleasure to share a stage with. Our director, Justin Bennett, has guided us on the journey with the precision of Magellan. I am so thankful to Out of the Box for producing this masterpiece and for being the most professional, amazing people that they are.

twi-ny: Joe Keller has previously been portrayed onstage by such actors as Ed Begley, Richard Kiley, John Lithgow, and David Suchet and on film by Edward G. Robinson and James Whitmore. Aside from the original 1947 version, of course, have you seen any of the other adaptations?

JW: I have not seen a stage production of this play before. Which is fine by me. It allowed me to create the character from the ground up. Which is sometimes very difficult to do if you have seen an amazing production. Watching a master actor such as the ones you have listed would leave an impression that would be hard to erase. This Joe Keller is all Joe Wissler’s.

twi-ny: What approach are you taking for such a classic role? What do you think is the key to the part?

JW: I am approaching this classic with the respect it deserves. It is truly one of the finest plays ever written. To win this part is one of the greatest honors I have received professionally. I am letting my emotions guide me through the text as a conductor would rely on his sheet music. Every line has such an emotional explosion behind it. The key to this play is Joe’s love for his son. I believe nothing is more important to Joe. And that’s why I love playing this role. I have the same love for Joe and Nicole.

all my sons

twi-ny: Keller has to deal with something from his past that haunts him. Is there any one thing that you regret from your past that you wouldn’t mind sharing with us?

JW: “Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention.” Thanks for giving me the chance to say that. My biggest regret is not spending even more time with my mother over the years. She passed away suddenly at the young age of sixty-five and it wasn’t until she wasn’t there anymore that I realized how much I still depended on her. It was her guidance that brought me to acting. And that gave me the heart to love as deeply as I do. Anything good that can be said about me is because of her. I dedicate this performance to her.

twi-ny: Have you done any other Miller plays? Do you have a favorite?

JW: This is my first Miller play. I hope to get cast in many more. I do have a favorite. Actually two, A View from the Bridge and of course All My Sons.

twi-ny: Did Joe and Nicole treat you well on Father’s Day?

JW: To look in their eyes and see them smiling is all I need. The gifts were nice too.

MAKE MUSIC NEW YORK SUMMER 2018

make music new york

Make Music New York is back for its thirteenth summer season, celebrating the longest day of the year with more than a thousand free concerts across the city on June 21. There are Mass Appeal participatory events, live music in parks and plazas, unique gatherings in unusual places, and just about anything else you can think of. Below are only a handful of the highlights, arranged chronologically.

Sunrise/Sunset, communal performance by composer Brian Petuch, 155 Cedar St., World Trade Center, 5:25 am – 8:31 pm

Mass Appeal Vocals: Midsummer Mozart’s Requiem, 180 Greenwich St., 9/11 Memorial Plaza, 12 noon

Mamma Mia Sing Along Truck, Times Square at 12:30, Theodore Roosevelt Park at 2:00, Old Fulton Street Plaza at 4:00, and Storm Ritter Studio at 6:00

Joe’s Pub Block Party, with Treya Lam, Migguel Anggelo, Yemen Blues Duo featuring Ravid Kahalani & Omer Avital, Mohsen Namjoo, and M.A.K.U. Soundsystem, Astor Place Plaza, 1:00 – 7:00

On the Waterfront at Pier I, classical minimalist piano pieces performed by Ethan Liang and Ella Kronman, Emily Tong and Maxim Dybal Denysenko, Joan Forsyth and Griffin Strout, Olivia D’Amato and Griffin Strout, Katherine Miller, Mary Coit, Julia Meltzer, Mia and Michelle Akulfi, Curtis Decker, Ella Kronman and Jacqueline Ramirez, Ariela Bohrod, Yusei Hata, and Jenny Undercofler, Riverside Park off West Seventieth St., 4:30

Mass Appeal Bucket Drumming, with Jessie Nelson and Shelby Blezinger-McCay, Pearl St. Triangle, 5:00

The Well-Tempered Clavier, 9/11 Memorial Plaza, 5:00 – 8:00

LIC Block Party, with Avi B Three, the Blue Dahlia, and Underground Horns, Dutch Kills St., 5:00 – 9:00

Mass Appeal Harmonicas, with Jia-Yi He, Central Park Pond Lawn, 5:30

Mass Appeal Ukuleles, with Makalina Abalos Gallagher, Central Park Ladies Pavilion, 5:30

Harlem to Broadway!, Richard Amphitheater, Marcus Garvey Park, 6:00

Mass Appeal French Horns, with Linda Blacken and the French Horn Nation, “Uptown Grand Central” community plaza, East 125th St. & Park Ave., 6:30

The Mp3 Experiment Number Fifteen, Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Harbor View Lawn, Pier 1, 7:00

Mass Appeal Guitars, with Evie Dolan, Brandon Niederauer, and Maxwell Violet, Union Square Park, 7:00

Twilight Chorus (for Humans), composed by Pete M. Wyer, Brooklyn Botanical Garden, enter at 150 Eastern Pkwy., 7:00

Swamped, with Elliott Sharp and ten canoes, the Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse, 125-153 Second St., Brooklyn, 7:30

Mass Appeal Mandolins, with the New York Mandolin Orchestra, Theodore Roosevelt Park, 6:30

Muscota Marsh Harmony, with singers Kristen Kasarjian, George Kasarjian, Jeff Gavett, and Nina Dante and speaker operators John Hastings, Caroline Hastings, Terrance Solomone, and Kim Blair, Muscota Marsh, Inwood Park, 7:45

Make Music New York After Party, with Supermoon and Nation Beat, DROM, 85 Ave. A, 9:00

SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK: OTHELLO

Iago (Corey Stoll) has a point to make with Othello (Chukwudi Iwuji) in Othello at the Delacorte (photo by Joan Marcus)

Central Park
Delacorte Theater
Tuesday-Sunday through June 24, free, 8:00
shakespeareinthepark.org

While filming Richard Eyre’s 2018 BBC television adaptation of King Lear, Chukwudi Iwuji, who was playing the king of France, was told by Sir Anthony Hopkins, who was starring in the title role, “You must be ready for your Othello now.” Iwuji proves he is more than ready in Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s gripping, emotional production that opened last night at the Delacorte in Central Park as part of the Public Theater’s annual Shakespeare in the Park presentation. Born and raised in Nigeria, later educated in Ethiopia and England, and now living in New York City, Iwuji, a Royal Shakespeare Company associate artist, has built up quite a resume at the Public, portraying the narrator and Enobarbus in Anthony and Cleopatra at the Anspacher in 2014, as Edgar in King Lear at the Delacorte that same year with John Lithgow as the monarch, taking the lead in Hamlet in the Public Theater’s Mobile Unit abbreviated 2016 version, and being nominated for awards as slave John Blanke in Bruce Norris’s The Low Road at the Anspacher earlier this year. (He also played the duke of Buckingham in Richard III at BAM in 2012.) In a role previously played at the Delacorte by James Earl Jones in 1964 and Raul Julia in 1979 and 1991, Iwuji might be shorter in stature and more naturally handsome than most actors who portray Othello, but he commands the role from the very moment he appears onstage, displaying a regal charm and joie de vivre even as he is instantly hustled by his devious ensign, Iago, played here by the tall, thin, bald Corey Stoll with a sarcastic and cynical sense of humor that is often laugh-out-loud funny.

Desdemona (Heather Lind) and Emilia (Alison Wright) help the women take charge in Othello in Central Park (photo by Joan Marcus)

Tony-winning actor and director Santiago-Hudson (Jitney, Paradise Blue) keeps the focus on romance, particularly the deep, passionate love between Othello and Desdemona (Heather Lind), who have just gotten married against the wishes of her father, senator Brabantio (Miguel Perez), contrasting sharply with the much colder relationship between Iago and his wife, Emilia (Alison Wright). A Venetian military hero fighting the Turks, Othello has complete trust in Iago, who is out to destroy him, using and abusing his right-hand man, Roderigo (Motell Foster), in the process. Iago’s plan involves driving Othello into a jealous rage by convincing him that Desdemona is being unfaithful with Othello’s loyal lieutenant, Cassio (Babak Tafti), whose girlfriend, Bianca (Flor De Liz Perez), is no mere prostitute. In Santiago-Hudson’s vision, Desdemona, Bianca, and Emilia are strong female characters who are quick to stand up for themselves. Wright brings the house down in a late, fiery speech that gets to the heart of the truth. The excellent ensemble also includes Peter Jay Fernandez as the duke of Venice, Andrew Hovelson as Lodovico, Thomas Schall as Montano, and Peter Van Wagner as Gratiano, the cast moving through Rachel Hauck’s relatively basic but effective set, two walls with gothic archways, with a small tower on either side. Toni-Leslie James’s period costumes have a punk edge, consisting of lots of black leather and cool accessories on the men and lush gowns on the women.

Othello (Chukwudi Iwuji) holds on tight to Desdemona (Heather Lind) as Emilia (Alison Wright) looks on in Rubin Santiago-Hudson’s stirring period version of classic Shakespeare play (photo by Joan Marcus)

“Rude am I in my speech / And little blessed with the soft phrase of peace,” Othello says early on, but in actuality Iwuji speaks Shakespeare’s words with such poetic beauty and skill that it evokes the sound of the birds singing in the trees as night falls. Iwuji and Lind (The Merchant of Venice, Incognito) are electric together; at one point Othello lifts his arm out to her and it is magical. Meanwhile Stoll (Intimate Apparel, Plenty), in his third consecutive year doing Shakespeare in the Park (following Troilus and Cressida and Julius Caesar), and Emmy nominee Wright (The Americans, Sneaky Pete) are also a dynamic pair as their characters’ marriage heads toward a giant abyss of lies. Of course, even with the concentration on romance and the emergent power of the women, as well as the undercurrent of racism that is always simmering, the success of the play ultimately relies on the chemistry between the actors playing Othello and Iago, who have previously been portrayed by such mixed-race pairs as David Oyelowo and Daniel Craig, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Ewan McGregor, Laurence Fishburne and Kenneth Branagh, Paul Robeson and José Ferrer, Jones and Christopher Plummer, and Julia and Christopher Walken. “O grace! O heaven forgive me! / O monstrous world! Take note, take note, O world: / To be direct and honest is not safe,” the conniving Iago says. “Nay, stay. Thou shouldst be honest,” the too-easily-convinced Othello replies. Iwuji and Stoll have now become part of the canon, and they well earn their place in this stirring, elegant production.

BRIC CELEBRATE BROOKLYN! FESTIVAL: AIMEE MANN / SUPERCHUNK / JONATHAN COULTON

Aimee Mann will be at Prospect Park Bandshell for free show with Superchunk and Jonathan Coulton on June 21 (photo by Sheryl Nields)

Prospect Park Bandshell
Prospect Park
Ninth St. & Prospect Park West
Thursday, June 21, free, 7:00
www.bricartsmedia.org

On June 21, the free BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival is hosting one of its best summer lineups at the Prospect Park Bandshell, with Aimee Mann, Superchunk, and Jonathan Coulton. For four decades, Mann has proved herself to be one of the most brilliant singer-songwriters in the business, a perceptive and immensely clever wordsmith who digs deep into the heart in intimate songs about loss, love, and hope. (She’ll break your heart over and over again in this video for “Goose Snow Cone.”) But various bad dealings with record companies have kept her from becoming the superstar she should be, although she gets plenty of critical and popular acclaim. Originally with the Boston band ’Til Tuesday in the 1980s, Mann broke out on her own in the 1990s, releasing such fab albums as Whatever in 1993 and I’m with Stupid two years later. Her most recent disc, last year’s Mental Illness, earned her a Grammy for Best Folk Album; several of the songs are based on people she knows who are suffering from various forms of mental illness. Mann collaborated on three Mental Illness songs, “Patient Zero,” “Good for Me,” and “Rollercoasters,” with Brooklyn-based SuperEgo labelmate and graphic novelist Coulton, a friend whom she describes as “an internet-famous, nerd-centric songwriter, but he’s really great.” Coulton’s latest album, 2017’s Solid State, features such wide-ranging tunes as the Beatles-esque “Square Things,” the ballad “Pictures of Cats,” and the poppy “Don’t Feed the Trolls,” referring to social media.

Chapel Hill indie legends Superchunk, who will be celebrating their thirtieth anniversary next year (including a nine-year sabbatical), are coheadlining with Mann, touring behind their new disc, What a Time to Be Alive, a punk take on the world today, with such songs as “Erasure,” “Cloud of Hate,” and “Reagan Youth.” “It would be strange to be in a band, at least our band, and make a record that completely ignored the surrounding circumstances that we live in and that our kids are going to grow up in,” singer, guitarist, and cofounder Mac McCaughan says, explaining that the album’s “about a pretty dire and depressing situation but hopefully not a record that is dire and depressing to listen to.” In many ways, Mann could say the exact same thing about Mental Illness.