twi-ny recommended events

THE SEARCH FOR FREEDOM

THE SEARCH FOR FREEDOM (Jon Long, 2014)
Landmark Sunshine Cinema
143 East Houston St. between First & Second Aves.
Wednesday, June 10, $15, 7:00
212-330-8182
thesearchforfreedom.com
www.landmarktheatres.com

In 2000, Jon Long set out to follow up his forty-five-minute Extreme: An IMAX Experience with a feature film about the action sports revolution, but after beginning his interviews in 2004, he decided to focus on one concept that kept coming up: freedom. Ten years later, Long completed the project and has now released The Search for Freedom, a visually stunning examination of extreme action athletes and what drives them to risk their lives participating in dangerous sports involving the natural world and environment. “The basic instinct of a human being is his search for freedom, and still, the search for freedom is within all of us,” ski filmmaking trailblazer Warren Miller says early on. Long talks with an all-star cast of pioneers, legends, icons, visionaries, and champions, including skateboarders Tony Hawk, Danny Way, and Tom Schaar, surfers Kelly Slater, Meg Roh, and Steve Pezman, big mountain snowboarders Jeremy Jones and Annie Boulanger, free skiers Shane McConkey and Logan Laplante, mountain bike co-inventor Gary Fisher, street skater Nyjah Houston, windsurfer Robby Naish, mountain climber Ron Kauk, daredevil Robbie Maddison, Endless Summer director Bruce Brown, and others, combining interviews with mind-blowing archival and contemporary footage of men and women taking on extreme athletic challenges for the sheer rush and adventure, not for money and fame. “Whether you’re young or old, male or female, it’s the same thing. It’s that thrill of the first ride, and once it gets under your skin, you can never stop,” says surfer and Quicksilver founder Bob McKnight.

THE SEARCH FOR FREEDOM takes viewers on a thrilling journey through extreme action sports

The Search for Freedom is filled with amazing shots of these athletes base jumping off sheer rocks, snowboarding down impossibly steep mountains, mountain biking thousands of feet up, performing unbelievable skateboard tricks, and surfing through enormous waves, all with an infectious exhilaration. Perhaps most extraordinary is the story of Glenn Singleman, an Australian ER doctor who is also a wingsuit pilot and world record holder who flies through the air with his wife, Heather Swan, and discusses a genetic component to what makes extreme athletes do what they do. “You instantly feel like nothing else in the world exists, nothing else matters. You’re living in the moment,” explains stand-up paddle boarder Kai Lenny, revealing the so-called “zone” that paradoxically makes these sports meditation as much as action. The Search for Freedom soars over and across land, sea, and sky, revealing remarkable moment after remarkable moment. A film festival favorite, The Search for Freedom is having a special one-time-only screening in theaters across the country on June 10; here in New York City, it will be shown at 7:00 at the Landmark Sunshine on the Lower East Side.

THIS IS CELLULOID — 35MM: THE CRANES ARE FLYING

Sergey Urusevsky’s dazzling camera work is a character unto itself in THE CRANES ARE FLYING

THE CRANES ARE FLYING (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957)
Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Ave. at Second St.
Sunday, June 7, 6:15
Series runs through June 21
212-505-5181
anthologyfilmarchives.org

Even at a mere ninety-seven minutes, Mikhail Kalatozov’s The Cranes Are Flying is a sweeping Russian antiwar epic, an intimate and moving black-and-white tale of romance and betrayal during WWII. Veronika (Tatyana Samojlova) and Boris (Aleksey Batalov) are madly in love, swirling dizzyingly through the streets and up and down a winding staircase. But when Russia enters the war, Boris signs up and heads to the front, while Veronika is pursued by Boris’s cousin, Mark (Aleksandr Shvorin). Pining for word from Boris, Veronika works as a nurse at a hospital run by Boris’s father, Fyodor Ivanovich (Vasili Merkuryev), as the family, including Boris’s sister, Irina (Svetlana Kharitonova), looks askance at her relationship with Mark. The personal and political intrigue comes to a harrowing conclusion in a grand finale that for all its scale and scope gets to the very heart and soul of how the war affected the Soviet people on an individual, human level, in the family lives of women and children, lovers and cousins, husbands and wives.

Unforeseen circumstances trap Veronika (Tatyana Samojlova) in wartime Russia in Mikhail Kalatozov’s masterful THE CRANES ARE FLYING

The only Russian film to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes by itself, The Cranes Are Flying is a masterful work of art, a searing portrait of the horrors of war as seen through the eyes of one desperate woman. Adapting his own play, Viktor Rozov’s story sets up Boris and his family as a microcosm of Soviet society under Stalin; it’s no coincidence that the film was made only after the leader’s death. It’s a whirlwind piece of filmmaking, a marvelous collaboration between director Kalatozov, editor Mariya Timofeyeva (Ballad of a Soldier), composer Moisey Vaynberg (the opera The Passenger), and cinematographer Sergey Urusevsky, who also worked with Kalatozov on I Am Cuba and The Unsent Letter; Urusevsky’s camera, often handheld, is simply dazzling, whether moving through and above crowd scenes, closing in on Samojlova’s face and Batalov’s eyes, or twirling up at the sky. Poetic and lyrical, heartbreaking and maddening, The Cranes Are Flying is an exquisite example of the power of cinema. You can see it June 7 at 6:15 as part of the Anthology Film Archives series “This Is Celluloid: 35MM,” a three-week celebration of the way films were made and shown before the digital age; as the festival website explains, “As the medium of celluloid (or more accurately but far less evocatively, polyester) is rapidly pushed towards obsolescence, and the new digital standard, DCP, continues to invade not only the world’s multiplexes but also those repertory theaters and museums devoted to screening movies from the art form’s first century, Anthology stands fast in its commitment to keeping 35mm and 16mm and 8mm alive!” The festival continues through June 21 with such other works as John Boorman’s Excalibur, Monte Hellman’s Two Lane Blacktop, Andrei Tarkovsky’s Nostalghia, Joseph Losey’s M, and Francis Ford Coppola’s Rumble Fish.

EGG ROLLS, EGG CREAMS, AND EMPANADAS FESTIVAL 2015

Museum at Eldridge Street
12 Eldridge St. between Canal & Division Sts.
Sunday, June 7, free, 12 noon – 4:00 pm
212-219-0302
www.eldridgestreet.org

The fifteenth annual Egg Rolls & Egg Creams block party is adding quite a twist this year, bringing together not only the Jewish and Chinese communities of the Lower East Side but also the Puerto Rican community. Taking place June 7, the festival will include food and drink, live music (klezmer, salsa, bomba, and plena) and dance, history, culture, and lots more. Among the highlights of the festival are the kosher egg creams and egg rolls — and new this year, empanadas — as well as yarmulke and challah workshops, tea ceremonies, Yiddish, Mandarin, and Spanish lessons, Hebrew and Chinese calligraphy classes, mah jongg, cantorial songs, Peking Opera, Chinese and Puerto Rican mask making, face painting, and free tours of the wonderfully renovated Eldridge St. Synagogue, which boasts the East Window designed by Kiki Smith and Deborah Gans. In past years, the festival has included performances by the Chinatown Senior Center Folk Orchestra, Qi Shu Fang’s Peking Opera, the Shashmaqam Bukharan Jewish Cultural Group, Ray Muziker Klezmer Ensemble, and Cantor Eric Freeman, some of whom will be back again for this year’s multicultural celebration.

CARLOS ESTRADA-VEGA: SUITE COLOR

Carlos Estrada-Vega, “Jacoba,” wax, limestone dust, oil, olepasto, pigments on wood, 2015

Carlos Estrada-Vega, “Jacoba,” wax, limestone dust, oil, oleopasto, pigments on wood, 2015

Who: Carlos Estrada-Vega
What: “Suite Color”
Where: Margaret Thatcher Projects, 539 West 23rd St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves., 212-675-0222
When: Through June 6, free, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Why: Carlos Estrada-Vega has titled his latest exhibition at Margaret Thatcher Projects “Suite Color,” and his use of color is sweet indeed. Born in Chihuahua, Mexico, and living and working in Las Cruces, New Mexico, Estrada-Vega has created a series of three-dimensional eight-inch-by-eight-inch sculpture-paintings, each one consisting of more than three hundred tiny rectangular wooden boxes that jut out of an unseen metal plate at different levels, resulting in a colorful topography grid that bursts with childlike imagination. Each block is hand-painted in pigments made of wax, limestone dust, oil, and oleopasto, laid out in color schemes inspired by Estrada-Vega’s Mexican heritage, and featuring such names as “Jacinta,” “Jordana,” “Jimena,” “Judina,” and “Jorgina,” honoring the women in his culture. “My work is like a mantra that relies on discipline, intuition, and process,” Estrada-Vega notes in his artist statement. “The path of my work is systematically determined by the physical execution and my daily experience with life. Simplicity and repetition are the vehicles of form. The physical existence of the work is meant to open and reflect.” It is easy to open and reflect while looking at these engaging grids that also recall maps, pixels, and complex data representation as well as the simpler art materials of children, such as Play-Doh and Lego blocks.

THE 2015 TONY AWARDS

CURIOUS INCIDENT is nominated for six Tony Awards (photo by Joan Marcus)

Radio City Music Hall
1260 Sixth Ave. at 50th St.
Sunday, June 7, red carpet 5:30, show 8:00
www.tonyawards.com
www.radiocity.com

The 2014-15 Broadway season was a strong one, breaking records for both gross and attendance. Quality was up as well as quantity, with a bevy of musicals and plays worthy of high praise indeed. The Tonys will be handed out on Sunday night at Radio City, and below are my predictions for who will take home the prize, named after actress, director, and producer Antoinette Perry, the cofounder of the American Theatre Wing. In addition, you can read my review of every nominated show (save for one) here.

BEST PLAY
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Disgraced
Hand to God
Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
What Should Win: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, an utterly dazzling theatrical experience (by the way, was there really no room for Airline Highway in this category?)
What Will Win: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, a treat for the eyes, ears, and brain

BEST MUSICAL
An American in Paris
Fun Home
Something Rotten!
The Visit
What Should Win: Fun Home, because there’s nothing else quite like it
What Will Win: Something Rotten!, because it’s a clever Shakespearean musical that rewards the audience’s love of theater

BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY
The Elephant Man
Skylight
This Is Our Youth
You Can’t Take It with You
What Should Win: This Is Our Youth, a powerful drama that not enough voters will remember (and hey, what about It’s Only a Play?)
What Will Win: You Can’t Take It with You, because it has aged so surprisingly well

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
The King and I
On the Town
On the Twentieth Century
What Should Win: On the Twentieth Century, for its sheer glee and love of life
What Will Win: The King and I, because it’s The King and I

FUN HOME made a wildly successful move from the Public to Circle in the Square (photo by Joan Marcus)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE (MUSIC AND/OR LYRICS) WRITTEN FOR THE THEATRE
Fun Home, music by Jeanine Tesori, lyrics by Lisa Kron
The Last Ship, music and lyrics by Sting
Something Rotten!, music and lyrics by Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick
The Visit, music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb
What Should Win: Fun Home, because of its originality and daring
What Will Win: Something Rotten!, because it’s a celebration of all things Broadway

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAY
Steven Boyer, Hand to God
Bradley Cooper, The Elephant Man
Ben Miles, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
Bill Nighy, Skylight
Alex Sharp, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Who Should Win: Sharp, who boggles the mind as a boy on the autism spectrum, although Boyer is outrageous as a puppet-obsessed boy on the edge
Who Will Win: Sharp, in a very strong category where all are deserving

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAY
Geneva Carr, Hand to God
Helen Mirren, The Audience
Elisabeth Moss, The Heidi Chronicles
Carey Mulligan, Skylight
Ruth Wilson, Constellations
Who Should Win: Mulligan, who is sensational as a single woman coming to terms with her life
Who Will Win: Mirren, because she’s royalty on both sides of the pond

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Michael Cerveris, Fun Home
Robert Fairchild, An American in Paris
Brian d’Arcy James, Something Rotten!
Ken Watanabe, The King and I
Tony Yazbeck, On the Town
Who Should Win: Cerveris, who gives a complex, nuanced performance as a closeted husband and father
Who Will Win: Fairchild, who brings balletic elegance to Broadway while paying homage to Gene Kelly

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Kristin Chenoweth, On the Twentieth Century
Leanne Cope, An American in Paris
Beth Malone, Fun Home
Kelli O’Hara, The King and I
Chita Rivera, The Visit
Who Should Win: Chenoweth, who is an unstoppable force of nature
Who Will Win: Chenoweth, because there’s just no stopping her

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAY
Matthew Beard, Skylight
K. Todd Freeman, Airline Highway
Richard McCabe, The Audience
Alessandro Nivola, The Elephant Man
Nathaniel Parker, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
Micah Stock, It’s Only a Play
Who Should Win: Parker, for his novel, downright friendly interpretation of King Henry VIII, although Freeman and McCabe are exceptional as well
Who Will Win: Freeman, who is beguiling as transgender Sissy Na Na

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAY
Annaleigh Ashford, You Can’t Take It with You
Patricia Clarkson, The Elephant Man
Lydia Leonard, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
Sarah Stiles, Hand to God
Julie White, Airline Highway
Who Should Win: White, for her poignant portrayal of a brave woman struggling to get by day by day
Who Will Win: Clarkson, for her poignant portrayal of the brave woman who looks into John Merrick’s soul

Brad Oscar tries to predict the Tony future for him and Brian d’Arcy James in SOMETHING ROTTEN! (photo by Joan Marcus)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Christian Borle, Something Rotten!
Andy Karl, On the Twentieth Century
Brad Oscar, Something Rotten!
Brandon Uranowitz, An American in Paris
Max von Essen, An American in Paris
Who Should Win: Oscar, for joyfully going way over the top as the other Nostradamus
Who Will Win: Karl, who has quickly become a Broadway favorite

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Victoria Clark, Gigi
Judy Kuhn, Fun Home
Sydney Lucas, Fun Home
Ruthie Ann Miles, The King and I
Emily Skeggs, Fun Home
Who Should Win: Lucas, for her marvelous turn as the youngest Alison Bechdel
Who Will Win: Lucas, who has a charming presence beyond her years

BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY
Stephen Daldry, Skylight
Marianne Elliott, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Scott Ellis, You Can’t Take It with You
Jeremy Herrin, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
Moritz von Stuelpnagel, Hand to God
Who Should Win: Elliott, for the wildly inventive and constantly awe-inspiring Curious Incident
Who Will Win: Elliott, the mastermind behind an unforgettable production

BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
Sam Gold, Fun Home
Casey Nicholaw, Something Rotten!
John Rando, On the Town
Bartlett Sher, The King and I
Christopher Wheeldon, An American in Paris
Who Should Win: Gold, for reinventing Fun Home on its move from the Public to Broadway
Who Will Win: Sher, for his third straight beloved Rodgers & Hammerstein revival at Lincoln Center

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Joshua Bergasse, On the Town
Christopher Gattelli, The King and I
Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Casey Nicholaw, Something Rotten!
Christopher Wheeldon, An American in Paris
Who Should Win: Wheeldon, who has brought ballet back to Broadway
Who Will Win: Wheeldon, for his ingenuity and craftsmanship

BELMONT STAKES DAY 2015

American Pharoah prepares for the Belmont Stakes with a workout at Churchill Downs this week (photo by Churchill Downs / Reed Palmer Photography)

Belmont Park
2150 Hempstead Tpke., Elmont
Saturday, June 6, $15-$400, first race at 12:50 am
516-488-6000
www.belmontstakes.com

For the seventh time in this young century, including three of the last four years, a racehorse has won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, with only the Belmont Stakes standing in the way of history and the Triple Crown. On June 6, three-year-old American Pharoah — yes, the second name is misspelled, accidentally — will be twelve furlongs (a mile and a half) from the elusive goal (last achieved by Seattle Slew in 1977 and Affirmed in 1978), a prohibitive 4-5 favorite against only seven other horses: Frosted, Materiality, Madefromlucky, Mubtaahij, Tale of Verve, Keen Ice, and Frammento. The usual capacity is 85,000 to 90,000 fans at the park, but you can expect even more to squeeze in for this major sporting event; if you want to witness the excitement in person, you better get your tickets fast, because many sections are already sold out, and no tickets will be available on race day. Parking costs between $20 and $125, and the LIRR is a viable option as well; more than $5 million has been spent to improve on last year’s nightmare of getting everyone out after California Chrome got trounced by Tonalist. There’s no need to rush back to Penn Station right after the Stakes, as not only are there several races after that, but the Goo Goo Dolls will be playing a post-race concert (as well as a pre-race set). There will also be performances by the cast of Jersey Boys and the USMA West Point Cadets. Saturday’s schedule also features five other races with purses of at least $700,000. And more than thirty food trucks will be on hand, including Trusty Truck, Sanducci’s Wood Fired Pizza, Uncle Gussy’s, Hibachi Heaven, Nuchas Empanadas, Mr. Smith’s Seafood, and Mike ‘n’ Willie’s. Even with rain expected, there’s nothing quite like going to the park, where you can get up close and personal with the horses as they proudly parade around the paddock before each race; post time for the 147th running of the Belmont Stakes is 6:50; make sure you have a really wild hat.

FIRST SATURDAY: INTERNATIONAL LGBTQ PRIDE

Zanele Muholi (South African, b. 1972). Faces and Phases installed at dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany, 2012. (Photo: © Anders Sune Berg)

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, June 6, free, 5:00 – 11:00
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org

The June installment of the Brooklyn Museum’s free First Saturday program celebrates LGBTQ Pride, with live performances by the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus, Aye Nako, DJ Lynnee Denise, DJ Ilsa, and Junglepussy with DJ Joey Labeija; an exhibition talk by Jess Wilcox on “Zanele Muholi: Isibonelo/Evidence” and ten-minute pop-up gallery talks about “Diverse Works: Director’s Choice, 1997–2015”; a flag-making workshop; a poetry performance by Dark Matter (Alok Vaid-Menon and Janani Balasubramanian); a literary workshop with bklyn boihood, focusing on its upcoming publication, Outside the XY; screenings of Seyi Adebanjo’s 2013 documentary, Trans Lives Matter! Justice for Islan Nettles, followed by a talkback with the director, and Dan Sickles & Antonio Santini’s 2014 film, Mala Mala, followed by a talkback with the directors and cast memebers Paxx and Joyce Puty; and a tribute to retiring museum director Arnold Lehman, with reflections and performances by DapperQ, Visual Aids, Harriett’s Apothecary, Haiti Cultural Exchange, CaribBEING, Afrika 21/Harriet’s Alter Ego, and Balmir Latin Dance. In addition, you can check out such exhibitions as “Basquiat: The Unknown Notebooks,” “Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic,” “Kara Walker: ‘African Boy Attendant Curio (Bananas),’” and “Chitra Ganesh: Eyes of Time.”