twi-ny recommended events

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS

Oscar Isaac has to see a man about a cat in the Coen brothers’ INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS (Joel & Ethan Coen, 2013)
Opened December 6
www.insidellewyndavis.com

Over the years, Joel and Ethan Coen have created a slew of offbeat protagonists and antiheroes who trudge through surreal life experiences, from the McDunnoughs in Raising Arizona and Tom Reagan in Miller’s Crossing to the title character in Barton Fink and Anton Chigurth in No Country for Old Men. But they have come up with their most despicable — and most believable — main character in Inside Llewyn Davis. The previously little-known Oscar Isaac gives a career-defining performance as Llewyn Davis, a selfish wastrel who mistreats everyone he meets. A broke singer-songwriter in 1961 Greenwich Village whose former partner (voiced on record by Marcus Mumford) killed himself, Davis loses a mentor’s (Ethan Phillips) cat, curses out his agent (Jerry Grayson), impregnates a married friend (Carey Mulligan), makes fun of the husband’s (Justin Timberlake) new song, avoids visiting his ailing father (Stan Carp), insults a portly jazzman (John Goodman) — essentially, he meets every situation by insulting someone, then turning and walking away, without even the slightest hint of regret. And the beautiful thing is, the Coens aren’t about to offer him redemption. Inspired in part by the life of Dave Von Ronk and with sly references to such other musicians as Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Tom Paxton, Dr. John, Doc Pomus, and Jim and Jean along with music impresario Bud Grossman and Gerde’s Folk City, Inside Llewyn Davis is a bitingly funny black comedy about a nasty man living in his own egocentric world, refusing to share any part of himself with anyone else, through his music or face-to-face, even though people keep giving him opportunity after opportunity. And the audience is in on it too, wanting him to succeed despite his myriad offenses. The soundtrack, overseen by T Bone Burnett, who previously worked with the Coens on O Brother, Where Art Thou? brings it all back home, with such highlights as Isaac’s performance of “Hang Me, Oh Hang Me,” Timberlake, Mulligan, and Stark Sands teaming up on “Five Hundred Miles,” and Timberlake, Davis, and Girls hunk Adam Driver all having fun with an updated version of “Please Mr. Kennedy.”

Nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Cinematography (Bruno Delbonnel), Best Sound Mixing (Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff, and Peter F. Kurland)

PROTOTYPE 2014

Chamber-opera adaptation of Willa Cather’s PAUL’S CASE kicks off 2014 Prototype festival

PROTOTYPE: OPERA/THEATRE/NOW
Multiple venues
January 8-19, $15-$25
Proto Packs: $75 for five shows, $90 for seven
866-811-4111
www.prototypefestival.org

Prototype: Opera/Theatre/Now, a festival of classical and postclassical musical-theater and chamber-opera works from around the world, returns for its second year, consisting of seven performances in five venues from January 8 to 19. Presented by Beth Morrison Projects and HERE, Prototype gets under way with the New York premiere of Paul’s Case (HERE, January 8-13), composer Gregory Spears and playwright Kathryn Walat’s chamber-opera adaptation of Willa Cather’s short story. Husband and wife Lauren Worsham and Kyle Jarrow’s Sky-Pony (HERE, January 10-13) investigates the four humors of Ancient Greek medicine, the Melancholic, the Sanguine, the Phlegmatic, and the Choleric, in a multimedia performance over four nights. In Thumbprints (Baruch Performing Arts Center, January 10-18), composer Kamala Sankaram and librettist Susan Yankowitz follow a Pakistani woman’s fight for justice in the aftermath of a so-called honor crime. Composer Jonathan Berger and librettist Dan O’Brien’s Visitations (Roulette, January 11-13) consists of a pair of haunting one-act chamber operas, Theotokia, involving a man taunted by the mother of God, and The War Reporter, based on the real-life experience of journalist Paul Watson. In Du Yun’s multigenre Angel’s Bone (Trinity Church, January 12-15), a couple tries to turn a horrific situation to their advantage. In Have a Good Day! (HERE, January 15-19), composer Lina Lapelytė, librettist Vaiva Grainytė, and director Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė go inside the minds of mall cashiers. And New York-born, Moscow-raised musician Elizaveta will give a special one-night-only performance at Joe’s Pub on January 17. There will also be a series of talkbacks following specific performances, and Prototype, Coil, Under the Radar, and American Realness have joined forces to present free live concerts every night from January 9 to 19 in the Lounge at the Public Theater, including Invincible, Christeene, Ethan Lipton, Heather Christian & the Arbonauts, Sky-Pony, Timur and the Dime Museum, the Middle Church Jerriesse Johnson Gospel Choir, M.A.K.U. Sound System, DJ Acidophilus, and Nick Hallett, Space Palace, and Woahmone DJs.

UNDER THE RADAR 2014

The Public Theater and other venues
425 Lafayette St. by Astor Pl.
January 8-19, $20-$28 (UTR Packs $75 for five shows)
212-967-7555
www.undertheradarfestival.com

The tenth edition of the Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival is another diverse collection of unique and unusual international theatrical productions, roundtable discussions, and free live music, from the strange to the familiar, the offbeat to the downright impossible to describe. Among the sixteen shows, most of which take place at the Public, are 600 Highwaymen’s The Record, a dance-theater work that brings together a roomful of strangers to comment on the relationship between performer and audience; John Hodgman’s one-man piece, I Stole Your Dad, in which the Daily Show “resident expert” shares intimate, personal stories about his family and technology while baring himself onstage; psychiatrist Kuro Tanino and his Niwa Gekidan Penino company’s The Room Nobody Knows (at Japan Society), about two brothers getting ready for the older one’s birthday party; Andrew Ondrejcak’s Feast, in which a king and his court (starring Reg E. Cathey) have a farewell dinner as Babylon collapses; and the American premiere of hip-hopper Kate Tempest and Battersea Arts Centre’s Brand New Ancients (at St. Ann’s Warehouse), a multidisciplinary show about everyday life in a changing world. Also on the roster is Sacred Stories, Toshi Reagon’s thirtieth annual birthday celebration with special guests; Roger Guenveur Smith’s one-man improvisation, Rodney King; a reimagining of Sekou Sundiata’s blessing the boats with Mike Ladd, Will Power, and Carl Hancock Rux; Cie. Philippe Saire’s Black Out (at La MaMa), Edgar Oliver’s Helen and Edgar, Lola Arias’s El Año en que nací / The year I was born (at La MaMa), SKaGeN’s BigMouth, tg STAN’s JDX — a public enemy, Sean Edward Lewis’s work-in-progress Frankenstein (at the Freeman Space), excerpts from ANIMALS’ The Baroness Is the Future, and Daniel Fish’s Eternal, the last three also part of the Incoming! Festival within a Festival.

Kate Tempest will rap about the state of the world in BRAND NEW ANCIENTS (photo by Christine Hardinge)

In addition, there will be numerous postshow talkbacks, a pair of workshops with Sara De Roo and Jolente De Keersmaker of tg STAN on January 10-11, four noon Culturebot conversations January 11-12 and 18-19, and Coil, Under the Radar, Prototype, and American Realness have joined forces to present free live concerts every night from January 9 to 19 in the Lounge at the Public, including Invincible, Christeene, Ethan Lipton, Heather Christian & the Arbonauts, Sky-Pony, Timur and the Dime Museum, the Middle Church Jerriesse Johnson Gospel Choir, M.A.K.U. Sound System, DJ Acidophilus, and Nick Hallett, Space Palace, and Woahmone DJs.

FALSTAFF

Alice (Angela Meade) and Sir John Falstaff (Ambrogio Maestri) set up a romantic rendezvous in first new production of FALSTAFF at the Met in nearly fifty years (photo by Ken Howard/Met Opera)

The Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center
Between West 62nd & 65th Sts. and Columbus & Amsterdam Aves.
January 6 & 11, $17 standing room – $330
212-362-6000
www.metoperafamily.org

The Met’s first new production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Falstaff in nearly fifty years is a spirited, engaging version by Robert Carsen, conducted with inspired flair and panache by James Levine. Baritone Ambrogio Maestri is splendid in the boisterous title role, which Verdi and librettist Arrigo Boito adapted from Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor as well as the two Henry historical plays. In Verdi’s final opera, a rare comedy, he tells a tale of Sir John Falstaff and his extravagant lifestyle, beginning in his elegant room at the Garter Inn the morning after an all-night drunken feast with his lawyers, Bardolfo (Keith Jameson) and Pistola (Christian Van Horn), as they recover and dispute Dr. Caius’s (Carlo Bosi) claims of robbery. In need of funds, Falstaff decides to woo wealthy married matrons Alice Ford (Angela Meade) and Meg Page (Jennifer Johnson Cano) for their money, but his scheme goes awry when the two women, along with Alice’s daughter, Nannetta (Lisette Oropesa), and gossipmonger Mistress Quickly (Stephanie Blythe, in fine form), learn of his devilish plot and decide to give him a dose of his own medicine. However, their plan is complicated when Alice’s husband, Master Ford (Franco Vassallo), believes a scheduled rendezvous between Falstaff and Alice is real. Meanwhile, Nannetta secretly trysts with her true love, Fenton (Paolo Fanale), while her father wants to marry her to Dr. Caius, allowing Verdi to go from raucous to romantic in the snap of a finger. Eventually everyone ends up in the dark forest, with appropriate chaos erupting.

Alice (Angela Meade) and Sir John Falstaff (Ambrogio Maestri) have a rather comedic tryst in Robert Carsen’s colorful production of FALSTAFF at the Met (photo by Ken Howard/Met Opera)

Carsen, who directed Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at the Met in 1997 and whose new production of Boito’s Mefistofele will arrive in 2015, moves the bawdy tale to 1950s England, allowing costumer Brigitte Reiffenstuel and set designer Paul Steinberg to have a ball, particularly in a slapstick scene in act II when Ford interrupts Falstaff’s assignation with Alice in a brightly colored kitchen with Formica counters, a sparkling alternative to the austere elegance of the men’s lounge at the Garter. The very different sets, along with Falstaff’s poverty and the Fords’ wealth, also bring to mind the growing separation between the rich and the poor in postwar Britain. Things go off the rails in the forest finale in Windsor Great Park — what’s with the moving table and the headpieces? — but not enough to detract from the jolly enjoyment offered by the previous two hours plus. Maestri, who at the Met has sung Dr. Dulcamara in L’Elisir d’Amore, Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana, and Amonasro in Aida, seems born to play Falstaff, taking delight in every belly rub, alcoholic imbibement, blustery pronouncement, and extravagant costume. Levine, who recently returned to the Met following a two-year absence because of a spinal cord injury, conducts with an infectious glee from his specially designed motorized wheelchair. The supporting cast, highlighted by Blythe, Meade, and Vassallo, keep pace with Maestri and Levine, resulting in a Falstaff to remember.

NYC WINTER JAZZFEST 2014

Bobby Previte’s “TERMINALS” will kick off the 2014 NYC Winter Jazzfest with special guests at le Poisson Rouge

Multiple venues
January 7-11, $10-$45
One-day marathon $35, two-day marathon $55, Full Festival Pass $95
www.winterjazzfest.com

NYC Winter Jazzfest is celebrating its tenth anniversary this month with more than one hundred acts comprising more than four hundred musicians playing ten downtown venues. Things kick off January 7 at le Poisson Rouge with Bobby Previte’s TERMINALS feat. So Percussion, John Medeski, and Nels Cline, followed by the Blue Note Records 75th Anniversary Concert on January 8 at the Town Hall with Robert Glasper & Jason Moran with special guests Ravi Coltrane, Bilal, Eric Harland, and Alan Hampton and a SummerStage Showcase on January 9 at le Poisson Rouge with Revive Big Band, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Bilal, and the Wallace Roney Orchestra performing Wayne Shorter’s “Universe,” “Twin Dragon,” and “Legend.” January 10 & 11 boasts ten-hour marathons at nine clubs, with such Friday highlights as Keren Ann (le Poisson Rouge, 7:15), the Mary Halvorson Septet (Judson Church, 10:00), the Roy Hargrove Quintet (le Poisson Rouge, 11:00), the Burnt Sugar Arkestra Review with Melvin Van Peebles, Vernon Reid, and Rebellum (the Bitter End, 11:15), and 3rd Eye 4tet: McPherson, Waits, Burton, Hurt (Zinc Bar, 11:30), and such Saturday hot stuff as Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society (Subculture, 6:00), Slavic Soul Party! Plays Ellington: The Far East Suite (Bowery Electric, 7:45), Henry Threadgill’s “Ensemble Double-Up” in Remembrance of Lawrence Butch Morris (Judson Church, 8:00 & 10:00), Elliott Sharp’s Orchestra Carbon (NYU Law, 11:45), Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog with Mary Halvorson (Judson Church, 11:45), the Matthew Shipp Trio (Judson Church, 1:00), and the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (le Poisson Rouge, 1:30).

FOCUS 2014: FOCUS DANCE

Keely Garfield’s TWIN PINES is part of Focus Dance at the Joyce

The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
January 7-12, $10-$39
212-242-0800
www.focusdance.us
www.joyce.org

The third edition of Focus Dance, the annual celebration of American movement-based art, will take place January 7-12 with four programs presented by the Joyce Theater in conjunction with Gotham Arts Exchange. Curated by Laurie Uprichard, each performance runs between eighty-five and one hundred minutes and features two U.S.-based companies, beginning January 7 with Vicky Shick and Dancers’ Everything You See and doug elkins choreography, etc.’s Scott, Queen of Marys (also January 12). Morgan Thorson’s The Thing of It Is and Keely Garfield Dance’s Twin Pines (part real, part arboreal) double up on January 8 and 11, while Yvonne Rainer and Group’s Assisted Living: Do You Have Any Money? and Urban Bush Women’s Dark Swan team up on January 9 and 12. The final program pairs Jean Butler’s Hurry with Mark Haim Dance and Theater’s This Land Is Your Land. The pieces are a mix of old and new works and offer a concise yet broad look at the current American dance scene.

ZOË BELL — FROM STUNTWOMAN TO STAR: KILL BILL VOL. 1

Uma Thurman, with the help of stunt double Zoë Bell, gets ready for quite a finale in KILL BILL VOL. 1

KILL BILL VOL. 1 (Quentin Tarantino, 2003)
Museum of the Moving Image
35th Ave. at 36th St., Astoria
Sunday, January 5, free with museum admission, 2:30
Series runs January 4-7
718-777-6800
www.movingimage.us

Take a little bit of Sergio Leone spaghetti Westerns, mix in a bunch of Saturday afternoon Kung-Fu Theater, add a touch of Japanese anime and a pinch of Sam Peckinpah’s “Salad Days,” and toss liberally with blood and guts and you’ll end up with Quentin Tarantino’s awesome gorefest about a wronged woman (Uma Thurman as Black Mamba, the Woman with No Name) seeking revenge against the people (Daryl Hannah, Vivica A. Fox, Lucy Liu, and David Carradine) who tried to kill her on her wedding day but made the fatal mistake of not finishing the job, with the only person apparently on her side being Hattori Hanzo, played by the great Sonny Chiba. Monty Python would be proud of all the limbs that are cut off and the comic blood that flows. Yeah, a lot of the movie is Tarantino just showing off, but there are enough gorgeous shots (Thurman fighting in the dark, silhouetted against a blue background; Thurman and Liu battling in the pristine white snow in a Japanese garden) that it is all worth it. And, of course, the soundtrack is just killer, as is Vol. 2, which followed a six months later. Vol. 1 is screening January 5 at 2:30 as part of the Museum of the Moving Image series “Zoë Bell: From Stuntwoman to Star,” which consists of five films in which the New Zealand actress gets to strut her stuff, not only as a stunt double for Thurman in the two Kill Bill films (Vol. 2 is being shown January 5 at 5:30), but also in more regular, credited roles in Drew Barrymore’s Whip It, Tarantino’s grindhouse flick Death Proof, and in the “Fist and Sword” presentation of Josh C. Waller’s Raze, which will be followed by a Q&A with Bell.