Brooklyn by way of San Francisco quartet the Men have a special relationship with their fans. First, they turn to them to make a video for the second single from their latest album, Tomorrow’s Hits (Sacred Bones, March 2014), then they post on their blog that they are in need of a van to use for their spring tour, which takes them from Cleveland on April 10 to DC on June 7. “Do you have a dependable van for rent or for sale?” they ask, promising, “The Men will return your van in great shape.” Guitarists Marius Atherton and Alex Rather-Taylor, bassist Paul Hanna, and drummer Danny Kendrick certainly do a lot of hard driving on their fourth full-length, a collection of eight songs recorded live in a Brooklyn studio that would sound great blasting out of a van speeding down the highway. (You can currently stream the album, the follow-up to such earlier albums as We Are the Men and Le Bonheur, here.) On Tomorrow’s Hits, the band mixes surf pop, garage rock, psychedelia, and even a little country, evoking Neil Young and Crazy Horse (“Dark Waltz”), Jerry Garcia (“Sleepless”), a frantic Bob Dylan (“Pearly Gates”), and even the Traveling Wilburys with the Velvet Underground (“Settle Me Down”), while ramping up some horns on the wild and crazy “Another Night.” German photographer Helge Mundt won the “Different Days” video contest; you can see his prize-winning entry above. We don’t know what happened with the van. The Men, who sparkled at last summer’s 4Knots Music Festival at the South Street Seaport, will be playing the Wick in Brooklyn on May 10 with the Obits and Nude Beach.
twi-ny recommended events
LA SOIRÉE
English Gent Hamish McCann dazzles at LA SOIRÉE (photo by Carol Rosegg)
Union Square Theatre
100 East 17th St.
Thursday – Monday through June 1, $37.95 – $127.95
www.la-soiree.com
If you don’t like La Soirée, well, then you just don’t know how to have fun. The raunchy, risqué mixture of burlesque, cabaret, vaudeville, circus, and Coney Island sideshow that has been touring the world for the last several years — an earlier iteration called Absinthe ran in the Spiegeltent at the South Street Seaport back in 2006 — is playing at the misty Union Square Theatre, where the audience is seated in the round, centered by a small circular platform where most of the often mind-blowing action takes place. Hosted by emcee Aidan O’Shea (among others, depending on which night you go), the two-hour evening features a core group of performers along with special guests. Singer-comic Amy G gets intimate with audience members and uses an unusual part of her body to play an instrument. Rhythmic gymnastics champion Lea Hinz contorts her arms and legs while suspended in the air in a hoop. The self-deprecating Marcus Monroe juggles a home-made combination of dangerous items. Jeans-wearing Joren “Bath Boy” Dawson splashes plenty of water while engaging in acrobatics in and around a claw-footed tub.
LA SOIRÉE is a deliciously twisted raunchy romp at the Union Square Theatre (photo by Carol Rosegg)
Marawa the Amazing shimmies with a vast array of Hula hoops. Scrawny, wild-haired Ringling Bros. Clown College graduate Manchego offers a different take on the male striptease. The English Gents (the dapperly dressed — and undressed — Denis Lock and Hamish McCann) dazzle with breathtaking feats of skill and strength, balancing on each other’s bodies; the highlight of the night might just be McCann’s gravity-defying one-man “Singing in the Rain” pole dance. Burlesque star Julie Atlas Muz somehow gets inside a large balloon bubble. Other performers you might catch at La Soirée, which was first presented by Brett Haylock, Mark Rubinstein, and Mick Perrin in London in 2010, include Bret Pfister, Scotty Blue Bunny, Miss Ekaterina, Mooky Cornish, Le Gâteau Chocolat, Ursula Martinez, Cabaret Decadanse, Meow Meow, Jess Love, Miss Behave, and Mario, Queen of the Circus. There’s also free popcorn, a bar that remains open throughout the show, lots of audience participation, and surprises galore in this randy, very adult romp that isn’t afraid to go too low, or too high, to get a laugh, a smile, a gasp, or even a groan.
TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 2014: TOP TWENTY
Kevin Spacey will be at the Tribeca Film Festival discussing documentary about RICHARD III production he starred in at BAM
Tribeca Film Festival
Multiple downtown locations
April 16-27, free – $33.50
646-502-5296
www.tribecafilm.com
Started by Robert De Niro, Craig Hatkoff, and Jane Rosenthal in 2002 as a way to help rebuild Lower Manhattan, the Tribeca Film Festival continues to mature as it reaches toward adolescence. The 2014 edition runs April 16-27 with world premieres, panel discussions, street fairs, workshops, and plenty of red carpet arrivals. Below is a guide to twenty highlights, beginning with ticket information. Hot items go fast, so, on your mark, get set…
Sunday, April 13
Individual tickets go on sale to downtown residents at ticket outlets only, proof of residence below Canal St. required, 11:00 am
Monday, April 14
Individual tickets go on sale to general public, all methods, 11:00 am
Monday, April 14
through
Thursday, April 17
Advance free tickets available for Film for All Friday (April 25), consisting of free screenings of thirty-five festival films at multiple locations (follow instructions here)
Thursday, April 17
Tribeca Drive-In: Mary Poppins (Robert Stevenson, 1964), Brookfield Place (World Financial Center), free, 8:00
Friday, April 18
CANCELLED: Tribeca Talks Directors Series: Lee Daniels with Robin Roberts, SVA Theater 1 Silas, 3:00
Tribeca Drive-In: Splash (Ron Howard, 1984), Brookfield Place (World Financial Center), free, 8:00
Saturday, April 19
Tribeca Talks After the Movie: Champs (Bert Marcus, 2014), screening followed by discussion with Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, and Lou DiBella, SVA Theater 1 Silas, $33.50, 3:00
Tribeca Drive-In: Next Goal Wins (Mike Brett & Steve Jamison, 2014), Brookfield Place (World Financial Center), free, 8:00
Saturday, April 19
through
Sunday, April 27
Meet the Filmmakers, workshops and discussions, Apple Store, SoHo and West 14th St., free, times and schedule to be announced
Sunday, April 20
Tribeca Talks Pen to Paper: Calling the Shots, with Marshall Curry, Ira Sachs, Orlando von Einseidel, and Sofia Norlin, moderated by Eric Kohn, Union Square B&N, free, 1:00
Monday, April 21
Tribeca Talks After the Movie: Now: In the Wings on a World Stage (Jeremy Whelehan, 2014), screening followed by discussion with Jeremy Whelehan, Kevin Spacey, and other members of the Richard III troupe, BMCC Tribeca PAC, $33.50, 6:00
Tuesday, April 22
Future of Film: Your Brain on Story — The Technologies of Immersion, with Jason Silva, and Future of Film: Your Brain on Story — Part Two: Psychos We Love, with Bryan Cranston, Terence Winter, and James Fallon, moderated by Cynthia McFadden, SVA Theater Two Beatrice, $33.50, 2:30
Thursday, April 24, 12 noon
through
Saturday, April 26, 6:00
Journey to the West at MoMA PS1: Journey to the West (Tsai Ming-Liang, 2014), MoMA PS1 geodesic VW Dome, free with museum admission
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND will have special tenth anniversary screening at 2014 Tribeca Film Festival
Friday, April 25
Possibilia: Endless Paths for Interactive Filmmaking: live interactive screening of Possibilia (Daniels) and screening of The Gleam (Daniels & Billy Chew), followed by discussion with members of the cast and crew, SVA Theater Beatrice, free with advance ticket, 2:30
Film for All Friday, free screenings of thirty-five festival films at multiple locations, advance tickets available April 14-17 (follow instructions here)
Saturday, April 26
Tribeca Family Festival Street Fair, with live performances, local food, games, and free screenings of The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939) at 11:00 am, shorts from the Tribeca Film Institute at 1:00, and Stories in Animation by StoryCorps at 3:00
Tribeca/ESPN Sports Day, with members of local professional sports teams, sports film screenings, athletic skill games, and more, North Moore St. between Greenwich & West Sts., free, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Tribeca Talks After the Movie: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004), tenth anniversary screening followed by discussion with Anthony Bregman, Daniella Schiller, and others, moderated by Ira Flatlow, SVA Theater 2 Beatrice, $33.50, 3:00
Tribeca Talks After the Movie: Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon (Mike Myers, 2013), screening followed by discussion with Michael Douglas and Shep Gordon, SVA Theater 1 Silas, $33.50, 5:30
Sunday, April 27
Tribeca Talks After the Movie: Compared to What: The Improbable Journey of Barney Frank (Sheila Canavan & Michael Chandler, 2014), screening followed by discussion with Barney Frank and Alec Baldwin, SVA Theater 1 Silas, $33.50, 2:30
MATA FESTIVAL 2014
Finnish new music ensemble Uusinta will be performing at the MATA Festival
The Kitchen and other locations
512 West 19th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
April 14-21, workshops and talks free with advance RSVP, concerts $20
www.matafestival.org
www.thekitchen.org
Tired of the same old, same old? Try something rather different at the annual spring MATA Festival. A nonprofit organization founded in 1996 by Philip Glass, Eleonor Sandresky, and Lisa Bielawa, MATA showcases the work of composers and musicians under the age of forty. This year’s fest runs April 14-21 at the Kitchen and other venues, with free workshops and panel discussions (with advance RSVP) and concerts a mere twenty bucks. The lineup features thirty-four composers from seventeen countries, beginning with a sweet sixteen gala on April 14 at Paula Cooper Gallery with live performances by ICE and Matt Evans, a sound installation by Christopher Marianetti, and more. On April 16, Yotam Haber, Melissa Smey, Chris McIntyre, Amelia Lukas, and Mark Peskanov will discuss “On the Art of Curation” at BMI at 7 World Trade Center at 2:00, and the Kitchen will host “Between Noise and Silence,” with Helsinki music ensemble Uusinta playing works by Aaron Helgeson, Alexander Khubeev, Joan Arnau Pàmies, Hikari Kiyama, Ilari Kaila, and Sampo Haapamäki. On April 17 at 3:30, the workshop “The Business of Being a Composer Part 1” will bring together Cia Toscanini, Scott Winship, Paola Prestini, Steven Swartz, Richard Carrick, and Sarah Kirkland Snider at ASCAP at 1 Lincoln Plaza; at the Kitchen at 8:00, “That Which Remains” consists of Rubens Askenar García Hernández’s El Puerperio, André Damião Bandeira’s em_bruto, Natacha Diels’s A Is for Alphabet, a new work by Alex Weiser, and a new MATA commission by Carolyn Chen, performed by such musicians as pianist Vicky Chow, percussionist Matt Evans, and violinist Marina Kiff.
The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) will present U.S. premiere of Oscar Bianchi’s MATRA with Neue Vocalsolisten
On April 18 at 11:00 am, Uusinta is back for an Afternoon Reading Session at BMI; that night, Talea Ensemble and Ekmeles team up on pieces by Šimon Vosecek, Edward Hamel, Clara Ianotta, Todd Tarantino, Martin Iddon, and Josep Sanz for the program “Lives in Miniature.” On April 19 at 8:00 at the Kitchen, Germany’s Neue Vocalsolisten and ICE will present the U.S. premiere of Oscar Bianchi’s Matra, with tubax, contrabass recorder, and bass flute, followed by a Q&A. On Easter Sunday at 1:00 at the Kitchen, the a cappella Neue Vocalsolisten will highlight works by American composers Georges Aperghis, Silvia Rosani, Brahim Kerkour, Zaid Jabri, Francesco Filidei, Gabriel Dharmoo, Lars Petter Hagen, and Jennifer Walshe. The festival concludes on April 21 with the workshop “The Business of Being a Composer Part 2” at BMI at 11:00 am with Ralph N. Jackson, Deirdre Chadwick, Bill Holab, Katie Baron, and Michael Geller; a pair of snare drummers will play David Bird’s Fields on the High Line between Nineteenth & Twentieth Sts. at 1:30 (free, no RSVP necessary); and MIVOS Quartet and Mantra Percussion combine for “Of Circles and Motions of the Others” at the Kitchen at 8:00, performing Lisa Streich’s Playtime, Daniel Wohl’s Progression, Yotam Haber’s Torus, Ansgar Beste’s Pelerinage Fantastique, Paula Matthusen’s The Days Are Nouns, and Ke Xu’s Tai Chi.
ROCKY
A pair of would-be losers (Andy Karl and Margo Seibert) find love in ROCKY (photo by Matthew Murphy)
Winter Garden Theatre
1634 Broadway between 50th & 51st Sts.
Through November 23, $39-$143
www.rockybroadway.com
The musical version of Rocky is certainly expected to go the distance, moving into Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre, which was home to Cats from October 1982 to September 2000, then Mamma Mia! from October 2001 to October 2013 (before moving to the Broadhurst). And there’s no reason to think this champ won’t be around for a long time too, as the stage adaptation of John G. Avildsen’s Oscar-winning 1976 film, which spawned five sequels over thirty years is a rousing triumph. Rocky works primarily because Sylvester Stallone, who wrote the book with Thomas Meehan (The Producers, Hairspray), has stayed faithful to his story of a local boxer trying to get by in South Philadelphia. In many ways, Rocky is more a play with songs rather than an all-out musical, with lots of dialogue, much of it taken directly from the film’s screenplay, which earned Stallone an Oscar nomination. Andy Karl (The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Legally Blonde) puts on the gloves as Rocky Balboa, who lives alone in a small, cramped apartment where he worships undefeated champion Rocky Marciano and hasn’t given up his dreams quite yet, despite his lack of success. He “Ain’t Down Yet,” the show’s first big number announces, after which he proudly declares, “My Nose Ain’t Broken.” He’s lost his locker at the gym and can’t get a date with the mousey Adrian (Margo Seibert), his best friend Paulie’s (Danny Mastrogiorgio) timid sister, but his life takes quite a turn when heavyweight champion Apollo Creed (Terence Archie) chooses Balboa to be his underdog challenger in a patriotic battle for the world title.
Mickey (Dakin Matthews) makes his case to train Rocky (Andy Karl) in new Broadway musical (photo by Matthew Murphy)
His trainer, Mickey (Dakin Matthews), comes crawling back to him, and off Rocky goes, running through the streets of Philadelphia (yes, including the steps of the art museum), pounding meat, and tenderly wooing Adrian, who is slowly breaking out of her shell, as the championship fight nears. And what a fight it is, highlighted by a moving stage that floats into the audience as set designer Christopher Barreca turns the Winter Garden into the Spectrum. Director Alex Timbers has shown he has a unique take on musical theater in such wildly hailed productions as Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and Here Lies Love, and he does so again with Rocky, bringing visual flair and tongue-in-cheek humor to this familiar tale, led by a strong performance by Karl as the Italian Stallion, balancing toughness with a tender charm. Stephen Flaherty’s music and Lynn Ahrens’s lyrics aren’t particularly memorable and Archie’s Creed doesn’t have the depth displayed by Carl Weathers in the films, but this underdog musical manages to get past a few dull rounds, ending up packing quite a wallop.
HATESHIP LOVESHIP
Kristen Wiig shows a new side of herself in tender tale of an odd woman
HATESHIP LOVESHIP (Liza Johnson, 2013)
Opens Friday, April 11
www.ifcfilms.com
SNL alum Kristen Wiig gives a chilling breakthrough dramatic performance in Hateship Loveship. Wiig (Bridesmaids) stars as Joanna Parry, a relatively nondescript, ordinary woman who works as a professional caregiver, with little life of her own. After her client, an old woman, dies — Joanna barely reacts when she finds her dead in bed — she is hired as a housekeeper by a widower, McCauley (Nick Nolte), to watch over his teenage granddaughter, Sabitha (Hailee Steinfeld). The girl’s father, Ken (Guy Pearce), was recently released from prison, having served time for his involvement in the tragic accident that killed his wife — Sabitha’s mother and McCauley’s daughter. Trying to get back into his daughter’s life, Ken writes a kind note to the shy, lonely Joanna, who misinterprets his interest and writes him back. When her letter is intercepted by Sabitha and her best friend, Edith (Sami Gayle), the two girls begin a fake e-mail exchange with Joanna, deceiving her into thinking that she and Ken are falling in love. When Joanna ultimately approaches Ken, she discovers the truth, but just like everything else in her life, she sees it as a mess that can be cleaned up.
Kristen Wiig and Guy Pearce star in indie film based on Alice Munro short story
Director Liza Johnson’s follow-up to her debut, Return, is a tender, poignant tale of an odd woman not necessarily trying to find her place in the world. Working from a script by Mark Poirer (Goats, Smart People) based on the short story “Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage” by 2013 Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro, Johnson takes what could have been an overly familiar, clichéd situation and builds a believable narrative with realistic characters. Wiig is extraordinary as Joanna, channeling Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman as she generally goes about her daily chores with no emotion whatsoever. Just as in the recently released Breathe In, Pearce is excellent as a gentle, troubled soul at a crossroads in his life, his eyes revealing just the right amount of fear at the choices facing him. The all-star cast also includes Christine Lahti as a local banker with a thing for Mr. McCauley and Jennifer Jason Leigh as Ken’s drug-addict girlfriend. (For our twi-ny talk with Johnson, go here.)
WAVERLY MIDNIGHTS: MS. 45
A mute rape victim (Zoë Tamerlis Lund) seeks revenge DEATH WISH-style in Abel Ferrara’s MS. 45
LATE-NIGHT FAVORITES: MS. 45 (Abel Ferrara, 1981)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Friday, April 11, and Saturday, April 12, 12:10 am
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com
www.drafthousefilms.com
If you missed the new digital restoration of Ms. 45 at BAMcinématek’s “Vengeance Is Hers” festival in February, you have another chance to catch it this weekend when it screens as part of the IFC Center’s weekly “Waverly Midnights: Late-Night Favorites” series on April 11-12. Abel Ferrara’s third film, following the 1976 pornographic 9 Lives of a Wet Pussy Cat and the 1979 gorefest The Driller Killer, is a low-budget grindhouse female revenge fantasy set on the gritty streets of New York City. In Ms. 45 (also known as Angel of Vengeance), Zoë Tamerlis Lund makes her screen debut as Thana, a mute woman working as a seamstress in the Garment District. After being raped twice in one day on separate occasions, she soon goes all Death Wish / Taxi Driver on men seeking a little more from women. Thana — named after Freud’s death instinct, Thanatos, the opposite of the sex instinct, Eros — grabs herself a .45 and quickly proves she is one helluva shot as she goes out in search of potential victims in Chinatown, Central Park, and the very place where Woody Allen and Diane Keaton sat on a bench, romantically looking out at the Queensboro Bridge in an iconic moment from Manhattan. Ferrara, who plays the masked rapist, captures the nightmarish feel of the city at the time, where danger could be lurking around any corner, with the help of James Lemmo’s lurid, pornlike cinematography and Joe Delia’s jazz-disco soundtrack. Lund would go on to cowrite Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant, in which she plays a junkie named Zoë, before drugs killed her in 1999 at the age of thirty-seven. Ms. 45 is a cult classic that keeps getting better with age — and yes, that is a man dressed as Mr. Met at the Halloween party.