twi-ny recommended events

CROSSING THE LINE FESTIVAL 2017

Annie Dorsen turns FIAF auditorium into planetarium for Crossing the Line Festival

French Institute Alliance Française and other locations
Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
FIAF Gallery, 22 East 60th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
September 6 – October 15, free – $60
212-355-6160
crossingthelinefestival.org
www.fiaf.org

FIAF’s annual Crossing the Line Festival enters its second decade with the eleventh edition of its always exciting multidisciplinary lineup featuring unique and eclectic works from around the world. This year’s focus is on Congolese choreographer and CTL veteran Faustin Linyekula, who will be presenting the world premiere of the site-specific Banataba at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (9/9, 9/10, 9/12, $65), the U.S. premiere of In Search of Dinozord with Studios Kabako at the NYU Skirball Center (9/22, 9/23, $40), and the world premiere of Festival of Dreams at Roberto Clemente Plaza on 9/23 and Weeksville Heritage Center on 9/24 (free, 3:00). The festival begins September 6-7 with Ryoji Ikeda’s supercodex (live set) at the Met ($45-$60), a follow-up to his dazzling Superposition from 2014. In #PUNK, taking place 9/14-15 in FIAF’s Tinker Auditorium ($30), Zimbabwe-born, New York–based Nora Chipaumire channels the musical rage of Patti Smith; the 9/14 show will be followed by a Q&A with Chipaumire and Linyekula, moderated by Ralph Lemon. Performance festival regular Annie Dorsen (Magical, Yesterday Tomorrow) takes a new narrative approach to the internet in The Great Outdoors, 9/21-23 in FIAF’s Florence Gould Hall ($35). Alessandro Sciarroni continues his “Will you still love me tomorrow?” trilogy with the New York premiere of UNTITLED_I will be there when you die at La MaMa 9/28-30 ($25, 8:00).

Moroccan dancer-choreographer Bouchra Ouizguen’s Corbeaux (Crows) is a site-specific living sculpture that will move throughout the Brooklyn Museum’s Beaux-Arts Court 9/30 and 10/1 (free with museum admission). Drag fave Dickie Beau conjures Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland in Blackouts 10/5-8 at Abrons Arts Center ($30). Adelheid Roosen and Nazmiye Oral transform FIAF’s Le Skyroom into an intimate living room in No Longer without You 10/12-15 ($25), in which traditional Muslim immigrant Havva Oral and her Westernized daughter, Nazmiye, discuss faith, sexuality, identity, and more. In addition, Alain Willaume’s immersive exhibition, “VULNERABLE,” will be on view 9/15 to 10/28 in the FIAF Gallery (free), and Sophie Calle’s Voir la mer, set by the Black Sea in Istanbul, will be projected on Times Square billboards every night in October at 11:57 as part of the monthly Midnight Moment program.

TICKET ALERT: JOHN CLEESE AND MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL

john cleese monty python holy grail

NJPAC
1 Center St., Newark
Sunday, September 24, $44-$99, 3:00
973-297-5843
www.njpac.org

In 1975, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, and John Cleese made one of the funniest movies ever, the outrageously hysterical Monty Python and the Holy Grail. In the span of ninety-two minutes, the Monty Python troupe skewered royalty, government, religion, poverty, history, masculinity, the French, and just about everything else under the sun. On September 24, Cleese, who also starred in Fawlty Towers and was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay for A Fish Called Wanda, in which he also played Barrister Archie Leach, will be at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center for a screening of Holy Grail, followed by a discussion with Montclair Film executive director Tom Hall. VIP tickets include a photo op with Cleese, who in the movie portrays Sir Lancelot the Brave (“We were in the nick of time. You were in great peril”), the Black Knight (“Just a flesh wound”), the French Taunter (“Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries”), Tim the Enchanter (“Well, that’s no ordinary rabbit”), and other roles.

THE TERMS OF MY SURRENDER: REVISITED

The Donald hovers over Michael Moore in The Terms of My Surrender (photo by Joan Marcus)

Belasco Theatre
111 West 44th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Tuesday – Saturday through October 22, $29 – $149
www.michaelmooreonbroadway.com

I attended the star-studded August 10 opening of Michael Moore’s Broadway debut, the mostly one-man show The Terms of My Surrender, in which the Flint native rails against Donald Trump and shares stories about how one person can make a difference. In my review the next day, I noted that there was a handful of important flaws; other critics were somewhat less generous (amid some raves). With all that is going on in the world, overwhelming us on a constant basis, I decided to revisit the Belasco Theatre the next week to see if Moore and director Michael Mayer had made any important changes and how Moore might incorporate the violent white nationalist march in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The show turned out to be much better the second time around. Moore was more comfortable (though not when it comes to dancing), several cringeworthy lines and a dreadful bit were cut, and no special guest arrived for the interview segment. Trump’s words relating to Charlottesville were projected across the stripes on the American flag that hovers behind Moore, and the proceedings had a more agreeable narrative flow. Moore did note at one moment that he went ahead with a line his producers wanted him to get rid of, and he made a point of explaining that he would not have done the show unless the producers agreed that all balcony seats would sell for $29, something he did not say on opening night, so perhaps the show has indeed undergone some necessary and successful nipping and tucking. Whatever the case, The Terms of My Surrender improved greatly upon repeat viewing, even if Moore is still preaching to the converted. However, I’m unlikely to go back a third time; as with presidents, two “terms” are enough.

COCKTAILS AT COOPER HEWITT — JONAH BOKAER: THE DISAPPEARANCE PORTRAITS

Jonah Bokaer concludes Cooper Hewitt series on August 24 with The Disappearance Portraits (photo by KSharkeyMiller)

Who: Jonah Bokaer
What: The Disappearance Portraits
Where: Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 90th St. between Madison & Fifth Aves.
When: Thursday, August 24, $13-$15, 6:00
Why: The summer Thursdays Cocktails at Cooper Hewitt series concludes August 24 with American choreographer and visual artist Jonah Bokaer’s The Disappearance Portraits, taking place in the Smithsonian Design Museum’s Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden. Bokaer, whose previous works include Eclipse, Triple Echo, Rules of the Game and Neither, will be performing to original music by Soundwalk Collective. The site-specific live installation was inspired by research Bokaer conducted into his family history and the Mediterranean migration crisis.

CHARLIE PARKER JAZZ FESTIVAL 25th ANNIVERSARY

Multiple locations
August 23-27, free (some events require advance RSVP)
cityparksfoundation.org/charlieparker

City Parks Foundation’s annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival turns twenty-five this year with a series of special events paying tribute to Bird, who lived in New York City from 1939 until his death in 1955 at the age of thirty-four. “In honor of this milestone we have expanded the program to five days, partnered with local institutions on family jazz events and open jam sessions, and are presenting a full evening of dance in the lineup for the first time. We hope all New Yorkers, young and old, jazz aficionados and new fans alike, will join us in honoring the legacy of Charlie Parker and jazz in New York City,” City Parks Foundation executive director Heather Lubov said in a statement. On August 23 at 7:00, the National Jazz Museum in Harlem will host “Harlem Speaks,” a conversation with alto saxophonist Lee Konitz. At 7:30, the New School will present “Bird with Strings,” an ensemble of students and veteran players performing the 1950 album Charlie Parker with Strings, featuring such classics as “April in Paris” and “Summertime.” At 10:00 pm, the Shed Open Jam takes place at Silvana. On August 24 at 5:30, Jazz in the Garden features Art Baron playing at the 6BC Botanical Garden. At 6:00, the New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music will screen Kasper Collin’s 2017 documentary I Called Him Morgan. At 7:00 in Marcus Garvey Park, Jason Samuels Smith’s “Chasin’ the Bird Remixed” brings together tap dancer and choreographer Smith, Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, and Derick K. Grant dancing to Parker’s “Donna Lee,” “Salt Peanuts,” and others, preceded by a Walk to SummerStage with the New York Road Runners Club. And at 9:00, the “In Bird We Trust” jam session takes place at Ginny’s Supper Club. On August 25 at 5:30, Jazz in the Garden features Bill Saxton in the Harlem Rose Garden, while at 7:00 the Anat Cohen Tentet plays in Marcus Garvey Park. On August 26 at 3:00, Marcus Garvey Park will be home to a fab concert with the Lee Konitz Quartet, Terri Lyne Carrington and Social Science, Louis Hayes, and Charenée Wade. And on Sunday, the grand finale moves to Tompkins Square Park at 3:00 with the Joshua Redman Quartet, Lou Donaldson, Tia Fuller, and Alicia Olatuja. All events are free; some require advance RSVP.

TICKET ALERT — ÓLAFUR ELIASSON: ARCTIC IMAGINATION

olafur nypl

Who: Ólafur Eliasson
What: LIVE from the NYPL
Where: Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Celeste Bartos Forum, 476 Fifth Ave. at 42nd St., 917-275-6975
When: Thursday, September 21, $40, 7:00
Why: Danish-born Icelandic artist Ólafur Eliasson has presented environmentally related projects around the world, including here in New York, in such exhibitions and installations as “Volcanoes and Shelters” at Tanya Bonakdar in Chelsea, “The New York City Waterfalls” along the East River, and the career-defining “Take Your Time” at MoMA PS1. Eliasson, who lives and works in Copenhagen and Berlin, will be at the New York Public Library on September 21 to participate in “Arctic Imagination” as part of the “Live from the NYPL” series. “Arctic Imagination” is a library initiative involving speakers in the United States and Northern Europe sharing their thoughts on climate change and melting Arctic ice. “In just one hundred years, the Arctic and the North Pole have been transformed from extremely dangerous, mysterious peripheral areas to regions which, in the race against climate change, are now in need of our protection and sense of responsibility,” the project explains in its mission statement. “In 2017 the libraries will be focusing on this theme in ‘Arctic Imagination’ — a series of events, readings, and live conversations in New York, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, and Nuuk.” Eliasson will be in conversation with the NYPL’s Paul Holdengräber. If you are unable to attend the event, which is copresented with the Royal Danish Library and the Consulate General of Denmark in New York, you can follow the livestream here.

MARVIN’S ROOM

Sisters Lee (Janeane Garofalo) and Bessie (Lily Taylor) reunite after eighteen years in Marvin’s Room (photo by Joan Marcus)

American Airlines Theatre
227 West 42nd St. between Broadway & Eighth Ave.
Through August 27, $47-$127
212-719-1300
www.roundabouttheatre.org

Scott McPherson’s 1990 play, Marvin’s Room, is finally making its Broadway debut, in a touching and funny Roundabout production directed gracefully by Anne Kaufman. The work, which focuses on the complex relationship between two sisters, ran in New York at Playwrights Horizon and the Minetta Lane Theater in 1992-93, winning two Drama Desk Awards (including Outstanding Play) and an Obie, and was then turned into a film in 1996 with an Oscar-nominated Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Gwen Verdon. For its Great White Way bow, it has enlisted a pair of fab actresses to portray the sisters. Lily Taylor stars as Bessie, a forty-year-old woman who has been caring for her ailing father, Marvin (Carman Lacivita), and her partially incapacitated aunt, Ruth (Celia Weston), in their Florida home for decades. “Dad’s dying but he’s been dying for about twenty years. He’s doing it real slow so I don’t miss anything,” Bessie tells Dr. Wally (Triney Sandoval), who is filling in for her regular physician. “And Dr. Serat has worked a miracle with Ruth,” she adds. “She’s had constant pain from her back since she was born, and now the doctor had her get an electronic anesthetizer; you know, they put the wires right into the brain and when she has a bad pain she just turns her dial. It really is a miracle. . . . If she uses it in the kitchen our automatic garage door goes up. But that’s a small price to pay, don’t you think?” The scene’s elements of vaudeville slapstick prepare the audience for Bessie’s discovery that she is sick as well. Her sister, Lee (Janeane Garofalo), arrives from Ohio to offer assistance, along with her two boys, Charlie (Luca Padovan) and the older, deeply troubled Hank (Jack DiFalco). It’s not exactly the most heartwarming of family reunions as everyone tries to decide how far they’re willing to go to help.

Ruth (Celia Weston) and Bessie (Lily Taylor) have their hands full in Broadway debut of 1990 Scott McPherson play (photo by Joan Marcus)

Garofalo (Russian Transport, The Truth about Cats and Dogs), in her Broadway debut, and Emmy winner Taylor (Aunt Dan & Lemon, Six Feet Under) get the sibling thing just right; they even look somewhat similar, and more so as the play continues. Taylor plays Bessie with a soft vulnerability beneath her hard shell, while Garofalo is excellent at keeping Lee’s motives just under the surface. Whenever they are together, Marvin can be seen in silhouette lying down in the bedroom, a constant reminder of what drove the sisters apart. Tony nominee Weston (True West, The Last Night of Ballyhoo) provides comic relief as the slow-moving, God-fearing Ruth, who refers to a bowel movement as a “stinky.” The set by Laura Jellinek (The Nether, The Wolves) easily slides from kitchen to doctor’s office to hospital room to retirement home while Obie winner Kauffman (Marjorie Prime, Belleville) moves the story at a calm pace despite the occasional fireworks. The play was inspired by childhood memories as well as a different play McPherson was writing, about an AIDS clinic. McPherson later cared for his partner, a cartoonist and activist who died of AIDS in February 1992 at the age of thirty-three; McPherson, who also wrote Scraped, passed away from AIDS complications later that year, at the same age. Marvin’s Room is a tragicomic story that boldly addresses the question of what happens when a caregiver needs a caregiver as well as a bittersweet reminder of the weight of family responsibility and heartbreaking loss.