this week in music

BAM NEXT WAVE FESTIVAL: ANNA NICOLE

Sarah Joy Miller is front and center in glamorous production of ANNA NICOLE at BAM (photo by Stephanie Berger)

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
Through September 28, $25-$235
718-636-4100
www.bam.org
www.roh.org.uk

If Anna Nicole ends up being New York City Opera’s final presentation, then the organization (founded in 1943 and dubbed the People’s Opera by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia) is certainly going out with quite a, well, bang. Commissioned by London’s Royal Opera House and originally performed at Covent Garden, Anna Nicole is a playfully entertaining pop operetta based on the life of celebrity diva Anna Nicole Smith, following her life from her early years as Vickie Lynn Hogan in Mexia, Texas, through her apprenticeship as a stripper in Houston and then her success as a model in print ads and as Playboy Playmate of the Year. Composer Mark-Anthony Turnage, librettist Richard Thomas, and director Richard Jones tell the tale chronologically as Anna Nicole (Sarah Joy Miller) argues with her mother (Susan Bickley), marries and divorces her first husband, Billy Boy (Ben Davis), visits Doctor Yes (Richard Troxell) to get a huge pair of golden Winnebagos, meets and marries billionaire octogenarian J. Howard Marshall II (Robert Brubaker), and becomes a tabloid regular and reality TV superstar. It’s all bright lights and flashy colors on Miriam Buether’s wonderfully cheesy sets and Nicky Gillibrand’s riotous costumes while the cast, which includes sixty-six members of the New York City Opera, belt out self-referential, tongue-in-cheek lyrics that contain the kind of language not usually heard at opera houses around the world, highlighted by F-bombs galore and a host of naughty nicknames for breasts. The story skips around in often confusing ways, too much time is spent on some relatively insignificant sections just for shock effect (for example, the stripper scene), and Thomas, who cowrote Jerry Springer: The Opera, never really gets inside Anna Nicole’s head, which keeps the audience at a distance. In addition, Miller doesn’t quite embody Anna Nicole, and it is occasionally hard to interpret what she’s singing, forcing the audience to read the surtitles, which is not necessary for all the vocalists. The standout performers are Bickley and tenor Brubaker, who is a hoot, especially in his glam outfit. This coproduction with BAM continues at the Howard Gilman Opera House through September 28; it would indeed be a shame if this were New York City Opera’s swan song, as they are willing to take on challenges that other companies wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot (stripper?) pole. (You can contribute to keep their 2013-14 season alive here.)

THE DAN BAND

The Dan Band continue their residency at Stage 48 on September 27 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Stage 48
605 West 48th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Friday, September 27, $26, 8:00
Residency continues October 26 and December 12
www.thedanband.com
www.stage48.com
the dan band slideshow

Actor and comedian Dan Finnerty has carved out quite a niche for himself. Finnerty, who has appeared in such stage productions as Hair and Stomp, has spent the last decade heading the Dan Band, an outrageously funny group that specializes in covers of songs originally performed by women. On August 15 the Dan Band, who made a name for themselves by appearing in a trio of Todd Phillips movies, Old School, Starsky & Hutch, and The Hangover, began a four-show, four-month residency at Stage 48 on the Far West Side. Backed by a live band, Finnerty, wearing a mechanic’s outfit and a backward-facing baseball cap, and his two nerdy cohorts, Gene Reed and John Kozeluh, glided their way through such gems as ABBA’s “Fernando,” Anita Ward’s “Ring My Bell,” Christina Aguilera’s “Genie in a Bottle,” Vanity 6’s “Nasty Girl,” Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner,” Irene Cara’s “Flashdance (What a Feeling)” and “Fame,” and the pièce de résistance, Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” complete with non-radio-friendly bonus lyrics. They closed with their cult hit, “Candy Shop,” a raunchy original in which Finnerty sings, “You be a nympho / I’ll be a nympho / Got the magic stick / I’m the love doctor.” Finnerty walked across every inch of the stage, joined the suited Reed and Kozeluh in some corny choreographed moments with bells, Hula hoops, and other objects, and wandered into the audience numerous times, establishing a funny rapport with some of the fans up front. Finnerty, who has been married to actress and comedian Kathy Najimy since 1995, is in the process of recording the band’s third album, following 2005’s all-covers The Dan Band Live! and 2007’s all-original Ho: A Dan Band Christmas, featuring such key tracks as “I Wanna Rock U Hard This Xmas,” “Get Drunk & Make Out This Christmas,” and, of course, “Ho Ho Ho.” Though seemingly a one-trick pony, the Dan Band has so far avoided becoming overly gimmicky, as the shtick still works; they put on one damn entertaining show. The Dan Band will be back at Stage 48 on September 27, October 26, and December 12, so if you’re looking for some stupid fun, then this is the place to be.

MARCO BENEVENTO PRESENTS: A CIRCUIT BENT PIANO ROCK PICTURE SHOW IN EXPLODING COLOR

Marco Benevento will combine music and images at special presentation at the Winter Garden

Brookfield Place Winter Garden
200 Vesey St.
Thursday, September 19, free, 8:00
212-945-0505
www.brookfieldplaceny.com
www.marcobenevento.com

Pianist Marco Benevento, who has melded jazz, pop, and indie on such records as Between the Needles & Nightfall, Me Not Me, and his latest, the just-released TigerFace, will be at the Brookfield Plaza Winter Garden on September 19 for the special free presentation “A Circuit Bent Piano Rock Picture Show in Exploding Color.” Benevento will be joined by bassist Dave Dreiwitz (Ween), drummer Andy Borger (Norah Jones, Ani DiFranco), and video artist Jay Cooper, playing original songs to projections that will include new images as well as their previous videos. Benevento is entering another phase of his career, reaching the point where he can do exactly what he wants. “It’s nice to try to create with people who are in the same boat as me – they’re kind of doing well, but they’re also kind of trapped in this vague cloud of ‘what kind of music are you?’” he explained in a statement. Formerly known as the World Financial Center, Brookfield Plaza has been home to numerous productions that have combined live music with projected images, from DJ Spooky’s “Rebirth of a Nation” to the Alloy Orchestra performing to Buster Keaton shorts, so this evening should add to that welcome tradition.

MIXER READING AND MUSIC SERIES: LUCY CORIN, ALINA SIMONE, AND RAYYA ELIAS

Rayya Elias will read from her memoir and play a twenty-minute set at free Mixer series at Cake Shop on September 18 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Cake Shop
152 Ludlow St.
Wednesday, September 18, free, 7:00
212-253-0036
www.cake-shop.com

Hosts Melissa Febos and Rebecca Keith have put together another eclectic collection of writers for this month’s edition of the Mixer Reading and Music Series, taking place September 18 at 7:00 at Cake Shop. Lucy Corin will be reading from her new collection, One Hundred Apocalypses and Other Apocalypses (McSweeney’s, August 2013), Alina Simone will share parts of her latest novel, Note to Self (Faber & Faber, June 2013), and Rayya Elias will be delving into her debut, Harley Loco: A Memoir of Hard Living, Hair, and Post-Punk from the Middle East to the Lower East Side (Viking, April 2013). In addition, Elias, who has been a hair stylist to the stars, a punk rocker, a homeless woman, a drug addict, and an incarcerated prisoner during her remarkable life, will be playing a twenty-minute set of songs that serve as the soundtrack to her book.

FIAF FALL FSTVL: CROSSING THE LINE

Eliane Radigue and Xavier Veilhan’s SYSTEMA OCCAM kicks off FIAF’s seventh annual Crossing the Line festival

French Institute Alliance Française and other locations
Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
Le Skyroom and FIAF Gallery, 22 East 60th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
September 19 – October 13, free – $30
212-355-6160
www.fiaf.org

Curators Lili Chopra, Simon Dove, and Gideon Lester have once again put together an impressive, wide-ranging program for the Crossing the Line festival, now in its seventh year. Sponsored by the French Institute Alliance Française and taking place there as well as at other venues around the city, CTL features cutting-edge art, dance, music, theater, discussion, and more from an international collection of multidisciplinary performers, with many events free and nothing costing more than $30. The twenty-five-day festival begins September 19 with electronic music composer Eliane Radigue and artist Xavier Veilhan collaborating on Systema Occam (Florence Gould Hall, $30), a multimedia performance installation that is part of CTL’s “New Settings” series, a joint venture with Hermès; the fashion company will be hosting Martine Fougeron’s “Teen Tribe” photo exhibition at the Gallery at Hermès from September 20 to November 8. In Capitalism Works for Me! True/False (September 20, October 6-9, free), Steve Lambert will keep score in Times Square as people vote on whether capitalism indeed works for them. The award-winning Nature Theater of Oklahoma presents episodes 4.5 and 5 at FIAF of their massive undertaking, Life and Times (September 20-21, $30), accompanied by the FIAF Gallery show “10fps,” consisting of 1,343 hand-colored drawings (September 21 – November 2, free). For “The Library,” Fanny de Chaillé invites people to FIAF’s Haskell Library on September 24 and 26 and the NYPL’s Jefferson Market Branch on September 27 (free), where they can choose books that are actually men and women who will share their stories verbally one on one.

Boyzie Cekwana and Panaibra Canda look at postcolonial Africa in THE INKOMATI (DIS)CORD

In The Inkomati (dis)cord (September 25-26, New York Live Arts, $20), Boyzie Cekwana and Panaibra Canda use contemporary dance to examine postcolonial Africa. De Chaillé teams up with Philippe Ramette for Passage à l’acte / Acting Out (September 26-28, Invisible Dog, $30), using absurdist human sculpture to “rationalize the irrational.” Dancer and choreographer Nora Chipaumire will perform the CTL-commissioned solo piece rite riot (October 3-5, Le Skyroom, $30), exploring African stereotypes, collaborating with writer Teju Cole and visual artist Wangechi Mutu. Pascal Rembert’s large-scale A (micro) history of world economics, danced (October 11-13, La MaMa, $20) features New Yorkers discussing how the financial crisis impacted their lives. The festival also includes works by Annie Dorsen, Ernesto Pujol and Carol Becker, Bouchra Ouizguen, Tim Etchells, and Kyle deCamp and Joshua Thorson, in addition to a series of talks and conversations.

DAYLIFE

DayLife festival returns to Lower East Side for summer finale on September 15

Orchard St. between East Houston and Delancey Sts.
Sunday, September 15, free, 12 noon – 5:00 pm
www.lowereastsideny.com

The Lower East Side BID says goodbye to summer with DayLife, a block party featuring food, fashion, live music, food, sports, and other activities. (The LES welcomed the season with a DayLife party back on June 2.) Held on Sunday, September 15, from 12 noon to 5:00, the three-block festival will cover Orchard St. in AstroTurf between Houston & Delancey Sts. The music lineup, sponsored by the Living Room on the Tammany Hall Stage, begins at noon with DJ Twin T and continues with Catey Shaw, DJ Kai Song, Miwa Gemini, Michael Hunter, Norman Vlardimir, and Deja; the Hits, Lewis Lazar, Chances with Wolves, and Swaai Boys will play on Lost Weekend’s Leadbelly Stage. There will also be fitness challenges, badminton, urban croquet, yoga demonstrations, an art fair, face painting, and other family-friendly activities. Food will be supplied by more than two dozen local restaurants, including Antibes Bistro, Georgia’s BBQ, Goodfellas Brick Oven Pizza, the Meatball Shop, Melt Bakery, Mission Chinese, Pop Karma, Souvlaki GR, and Sweet Buttons Desserts.

THE SISTER ROSETTAS

terraNOVA Collective
IRT Theater
154 Christopher St.
Friday, September 13, 20, 27, $20-$25, 9:30
917-639-3166
www.terranovacollective.org

From 2006 to 2009, Ming Dynasty built a large local following, playing such clubs as the Continental, Arlene’s Grocery, and CBGB and releasing such discs as Yellow Tiger and Spaghetti Eastern. Led by former Plums frontman Eric Miranda and Taipei-based Moo Shoo Sweet Potato singer and bassist Ming Chan, Ming Dynasty mixed ’70s glam rock with Beatles-esque melodies and propulsive power pop on such songs as “Kung Fu Girl,” “Spy People,” “Bring Me Down,” and “Tangerine.” Ming Dynasty parted ways in 2009, but four days after bumping into musical theater actress and singer-songwriter Diana Oh on the corner of Bleecker and Lafayette, Miranda and Oh decided to revive Ming Dynasty’s music in a fresh new way. This month, the Sister Rosettas, named after gospel crossover star Sister Rosetta Tharpe, will make their debut with a Friday-night residency at the IRT Theater in conjunction with terraNOVA. The band consists of Oh on lead vocals, Miranda (who does a mean Neil Diamond impression) on vocals and lead guitar, Kole Smith on guitar, Philippe Arman on bass, and Matt Harrington on percussion, with Jessi D. Hill serving as creative director. Yesterday, Oh posted on Facebook that “we just had the best band practice ever on the planet of band practices. Everything came together like butter on bread, like sushi on rice, like crackers on cheese. The boys sang me ‘you have our blessings’ in four part harmonies into their microphones. I sang it back. And with that, we marry theatre with rock and roll. And rock and roll with theatre tomorrow night. What you thought you’d never see, you are about to see. And hear. And feel. And love.” The Sister Rosettas will be at the IRT Theater on September 13 with Christopher Gabriel Núñez, September 20 with Jes Tom, and September 27 with Lauren Hennessy.