Who: The Black Keys, Hozier, Nile Rodgers, Tom Morello, Don Felder, Bettye Lavette, Joss Stone, Allison Russell, Emily King, Marcus King, Lucius, Dave Grohl, Larkin Poe, Trombone Shorty, Luke Spiller, Quinn Sullivan, Bernie Williams, Conan O’Brien, Jim Gaffigan, Tracy Morgan, Martin Short, Ivan Neville, Jimmy Vivino What: Benefit concert for God’s Love We Deliver Where:Beacon Theatre, 2124 Broadway at 75th St. When: Thursday, March 7, in person $284 – $1,252, livestream $19.99, 8:00 Why: A batch of new tickets has been released for the eighth annual Love Rocks NYC, an all-star benefit concert raising money for the New York City nonprofit, nonsectarian organization God’s Love We Deliver, which, since 1985, has dedicated itself “to improve the health and well-being of men, women, and children living with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other serious illnesses by alleviating hunger and malnutrition.” Presented by fashion designer John Varvatos, real estate executive Greg Williamson, and events producer Nicole Rechter at the Beacon Theatre on March 7, the evening will feature performances by the Black Keys, Hozier, Nile Rodgers, Tom Morello, Don Felder, Bettye Lavette, Joss Stone, Lucius, Dave Grohl, Trombone Shorty, Bernie Williams, and more, with the house band consisting of music director and bandleader Will Lee, Michael Bearden, Steve Gadd, Shawn Pelton, Eric Krasno, Larry Campbell, Pedrito Martinez, and Jeff Babko. (A complete list can be found above.) This year’s hosts are Conan O’Brien, Tracy Morgan, and Jim Gaffigan, and there will be guest appearances by Martin Short, Ivan Neville, and Jimmy Vivino. The event will also be livestreamed over VEEPS for $19.99.
Mona Pirnot sits with her back to the audience throughout I Love You So Much I Could Die (photo by Jenny Anderson)
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH I COULD DIE
New York Theatre Workshop
79 East Fourth St. between Second & Third Aves.
Monday – Saturday through March 9, $65-$75 www.nytw.org
Almost forty years ago, I composed a eulogy for my father’s funeral but was unable to read it because I was too distraught; instead, one of my best friends read it for me. So I understand why Mona Pirnot performs her solo show, I Love You So Much I Could Die, about a family tragedy with her back to the audience and has a Microsoft text-to-speech tool read her story, interspersed with five songs she sings with an acoustic guitar without turning around. However, I’m not convinced that it’s the best way to share this specific narrative, which doesn’t live up to the technical aspects of the production.
The play starts with Pirnot walking down one of the aisles and onto Mimi Lien’s spare set, where she takes a seat on a ladderback chair at a folding table with a laptop, a water bottle, a microphone, and a lamp; a floor speaker and monitor are nearby. She opens the computer and pushes the space bar; a disconcerting, disembodied male AI voice begins, “I’ve been trying out different support groups. It has not been going well. I can’t seem to find the right group for me. And everything is on zoom. Which makes everything sadder than it already was. And everything was already sad.” The voice adds a moment later, “[The leader] asked if I wanted to share first. I did not. But I said okay. I shared my story and when I was done, the guy was like, oh my god that’s awful. And I was like, yep. And he was like, oh my god. And I was like . . . yeah.”
As the voice recites the text, audience members with sharp eyesight can follow along as each word is highlighted on the screen as it’s spoken, reminiscent of karaoke, especially when the amateur warbler might be a bit tipsy and/or tone deaf. The delivery is bumpy, with unexpected pauses and mispronunciations, particularly involving the name Shia LaBeouf.
Pirnot, wearing a comfortable jumpsuit (the costume is by Enver Chakartash), stops the program five times to perform melancholic songs, including “happy birthday whatever who cares,” “good time girl,” and “Home to You.” The tunes are slow, mournful, and self-deprecating; she introduces “good time girl” by explaining it is much better with a hardcore electric guitar solo, which she instead will perform with her mouth, and proceeds to sing, “I fell back into that hole I forgot was there / My ride drove off and left me in the middle of nowhere / mmm I’m gone / Don’t even know where I went.”
The story also goes back ten years, when Pirnot first met a playwright who “would later become quite famous. As famous as a playwright can get ha ha if playwrights can ever really get famous.” Although she never mentions him by name, it is the man she would eventually marry, Lucas Hnath, who has written such plays as Red Speedo,The Christians,A Doll’s House Part 2, and The Thin Place. Hnath is the director of I Love You So Much I Could Die and has noted in interviews that one of the reasons he opted for Pirnot to sit with her back to the audience because that is how he saw her when she was writing the piece. For added intimacy, the lamp on the table is from their home.
I Love You So Much I Could Die is part of an unofficial trilogy (with maybe more to come?) in which Hnath explores unique methods to tell stories using old and new sound technology in one-person shows. In Dana H., Deirdre O’Connell won a Tony without speaking a word, instead lip-synching to an interview Hnath’s mother gave about her abduction by a member of the Aryan Brotherhood. In A Simulacram, actor, magician, and illusion designer Steve Cuiffo discusses his life and career by using an in-ear device to communicate live with a cassette recording of Hnath, re-creating exact conversations they had over the course of more than fifty hours of workshopping.
Dana H. and A Simulacram were both fascinating plays with compelling, entertaining stories to tell; unfortunately, I Love You So Much I Could Die falls short in that respect. Perhaps Hnath is too close to this one; the play might be a great way for Pirnot (Private,the world is full on) to deal with her personal situation, but it’s not an unusual one, even though she does not give specific details of what happened. In addition, the final section feels manipulative, tossed in to elicit a last surge of emotional melodrama.
While the AI’s voice is clear and crisp, it is often difficult to make out everything Pirnot is singing in her slow, eerily quiet tunes. (The sound design is by Mikhail Fiksel, with music direction by Will Butler.) Throughout the play’s sixty-five minutes, Oona Curley’s lighting dims nearly imperceptibly throughout the theater, ending in complete darkness.
I was hoping that at the conclusion, Pirnot would get off the chair and make her way to the door at the back left of the theater, never showing herself to the audience, but instead she turned around and smiled as she bowed. It’s not that didn’t deserve applause, but I thought it was a lost opportunity to add a special coda to this very private play.
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]
Alonzo King LINES Ballet makes Lincoln Center debut with Deep River
Who:Alonzo King LINES Ballet What: Lincoln Center debut Where:Rose Theater, Broadway at West Sixtieth St., fifth floor When: February 22-24, choose-what-you-pay (suggested admission $35), 7:30 Why: San Francisco–based Alonzo King LINES Ballet makes its Lincoln Center debut this week with Deep River, an evening-length piece that kicked off its fortieth anniversary season last year. The title is taken from the popular spiritual performed by such singers as Marian Anderson, Paul Robeson, Odetta, Johnny Mathis, Mahalia Jackson, and Beverly Glenn-Copeland. The sixty-five-minute work features an original score, incorporating Jewish, Indian, and Black traditions, by multidisciplinary artist and longtime King collaborator Jason Moran and is sung live onstage by vocalist Lisa Fischer, alongside music by Pharoah Sanders, Maurice Ravel, and James Weldon Johnson, who wrote “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
The company consists of dancers Babatunji, Adji Cissoko, Madeline DeVries, Theo Duff-Grant, Lorris Eichinger, Shuaib Elhassan, Joshua Francique, James Gowan, Ilaria Guerra, Maya Harr, Marusya Madubuko, Michael Montgomery, and Tatum Quiñónez, with lighting by Jim French, costumes and sets by Robert Rosenwasser, and sound by Philip Perkins. King, who was born in Georgia to parents who were staunch civil rights activists, notes in a statement about Deep River, “Love is the ocean that we rose from, swim in, and will one day return to.”
I first met James Mastro in the late 1980s, when he had a side gig as a freelance proofreader and I worked at a small publisher and used to assign him work. I already knew who he was from his time in the iconic Hoboken band the Bongos; he would go on to form Strange Cave and the Health & Happiness Show before joining Ian Hunter’s Rant Band in 2001.
Mastro started playing in New York City when he was teenager in the late 1970s, eventually performing with Patti Smith, John Cale, the Jayhawks, Alejandro Escovedo, Richard Lloyd, Garland Jeffreys, the Feelies, Jesse Malin, Amy Speace, Jill Sobule, and Robert Plant, among so many others throughout his career. He opened Guitar Bar in Hoboken in 1996 as a place where musicians could not only shop but play live and hang out. He has now followed that up with 503 Social Club, an art gallery that hosts live events, including recent concerts by Sobule, Freedy Johnston, and Bobby Bare Jr.; Jon Langford performed there with friends amid his paintings on the walls.
At long last Mastro has made his debut solo album, Dawn of a New Error, out from MPress Records on February 21. The title has multiple meanings, referring to the state of the world, Mastro’s shift to being the main man, and, at least to me, those old days when I was hiring him to find mistakes in kids books. Longtime Smith bassist and New Jersey native Tony Shanahan produced and plays bass and keyboards on the LP, which ranges from jangly pop, acoustic folk, and romantic ballads to gospel and country, celebrating such influences as the Beatles, the Ramones, T-Rex, Roxy Music, Bob Dylan, and David Bowie. Reilly and Hunter each appear on three tracks, with Hunter as “the voice of god” on “The Face of the Sun.” Mastro takes on faith and religion in “My God,” death and loss in “Never Die,” true love in “Gangster Baby” and “Three Words,” and fake news in “Right Words, Wrong Song.” “Trouble” was inspired by Dr. Seuss and Levon Helm.
Mastro will have album release parties on February 21 at Bowery Electric and February 24 at Transparent Clinch Gallery in Asbury Park. We recently spoke over Zoom, discussing music, art, family, hats, and stepping out into the spotlight.
James Mastro plays with Ian Hunter and R.E.M’s Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey of the Baseball Project at the 2011 Hoboken Music & Art Festival (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
twi-ny: We’ve known each other for thirty-five years. Back in the late 1980s and early ’90s, I would send you freelance work while you were out on the road. What was that like to be playing in bands and proofreading children’s nonfiction books?
james mastro: I had a family to feed, by any means necessary. And luckily, I was doing two things that I love to do: playing music and reading books. So it was a good marriage.
For us too; you did both exceptionally well. How has the road changed for you since then?
jm: With Ian Hunter, it definitely got a little bit more comfortable. The things I love about it I still love, always trying to take the dirt road as opposed to the highway. Touring can be a drag, but you can also make it incredibly great and fun. We would plan out an agenda every time. It’s worth it to get up an hour or two earlier to take a little trip and go see a museum or something crazy that a friend told you about.
twi-ny: Back in 2011, you very generously played at twi-ny’s tenth anniversary party with Megan Reilly at Fontana’s, which is gone. New York City has had such a turnover of music venues. Are there specific clubs that you miss from the old days? Obviously, I think we’re going to mention Maxwell’s.
jm: CBGBs especially will always hold a place in my heart, just playing there as a teenager and getting to see some of the bands that inspired me to play and getting to play with some of them. So CBs and Maxwell’s, yes; huge holes that were left. I miss Fez under Time Cafe a lot; it was just a really special place. Usually what makes a place special — I was thinking about Maxwell’s this morning and CBs — are the people that ran it. Maxwell’s, I remember, was one of the first clubs that would feed you, no matter who you were; if you were playing there, they would feed you, which for a musician is huge. You may not get paid, but at least you knew you were getting fed. [Maxwell’s owner] Steve Fallon always treated musicians well, Hilly Kristal at CBGB. It starts at the top if you have great people running a space.
twi-ny: Maxwell’s was such a fan-friendly venue. I saw your bands, Robyn Hitchcock, the Mekons, Bob Mould. So you played that tenth anniversary show with Megan, who sings backup on several songs on your new record. What is it about you and Megan that gels so well over the years?
jm: I think she’s one of the finest singers out there right now. I mean, her voice just kills me. It’s kinda like beauty and the beast. I’m not crazy about my voice, so anything that will complement it, like a voice like Megan’s, I love singing with. And just musically, she’ll show me a song of hers and right away I don’t even have to think about it; these parts come out because the way she writes is so dreamy and from a special place. I connect with that so well. The other day she and I just did a rehearsal together, the two of us playing and singing for my show coming up. And I was just thrilled. I’d be happy just doing that too. She’s a very special person musically, and as a person. Just very talented.
twi-ny: On “Three Words” she really just takes it and builds to that finale.
jm: It’s like from the purr of a lion . . . She starts off so subtle and by the end of that song, she takes it to a place I never would’ve thought of going. I don’t think that that song would’ve made it on the record if she didn’t sing on it. I really think she sells it.
twi-ny: You’re very self-deprecating about your voice. On the record you say a couple of things that really lends insight to you. I’ve been listening to you play for decades. I’ve seen you in bands that you lead and bands that you’re the guitarist, the backup vocalist. So to hear you front and center on an entire record and writing songs that sound very intimate and personal, I’m learning things about you that I never knew.
jm: Therapy begins. [laughs]
twi-ny: On “Right Words,” you sing, “The lead singer at the mic wants so badly to be liked.” And on “Three Words,” you claim, “I’m not a singer and I can’t write songs.”
jm: Mm-hmm.
twi-ny: But clearly you can sing and you can write songs.
jm: Mm-hmm.
twi-ny: Humble as ever. What’s it like to finally have a solo album under your own name? Songs you wrote, songs you’re singing lead on. Why now?
jm: Good question, Why now? Well, I’ve really enjoyed being a side guy all these years, and especially when you’re working with someone like Ian Hunter, or Patti or John, anyone I’ve worked with, Megan. So it’s been nice to go in and try to contribute and watch how other people work. It takes a lot of pressure off. Running a band is a pain in the ass; you gotta make sure the drummer doesn’t get arrested —
twi-ny: Is that a Steve Holley problem?
jm: No, no, not at all. [laughs] At that time in my life, it was very nice to just take some of the responsibility off. Even though I started recording these songs before Covid just kind of as fun, with no pressure or no idea of making a record, when Covid hit, that really made me realize, Well, I’ve got time on my hands. Everything is kind of slowed down. Let’s take a look at these songs and see if we have an album here.
twi-ny: So the songs were already written?
jm: Yes, they were. Most of them were either recorded or just about finished. Tony Shanahan had just opened a studio in Hoboken. He called me up and says, Hey, I wanna just check out the room and the gear and see how things go in here. Do you have any songs? We’ll record. I was like, great. So we went in and it was just me, him, and, for the first few, Louie Appel on drums. Three friends just playing some songs.
I’d show them the songs right then and there. There was a great spontaneity and contribution from them. And it was really fun, so we just did that over a course of a few years, on and off, whenever the studio was open.
twi-ny: No pressure.
jm: No pressure.
twi-ny: So now, not only are you front and center, on lead vocals, you’re turning to people like Ian Hunter to participate. Ian hasn’t been performing because he’s got tinnitus?
jm: Tinnitus, yeah.
twi-ny: What was his reaction when you asked him to be on the album?
jm: He did one track, “Right Words, Wrong Song,” and it was perfect. It’s exactly what I wanted. He sounded just like Ian Hunter, you know? And then he finished that and he’s like, What else you got? And so he sat and I locked the door right away.
twi-ny: Oh, so he was with you in Tony’s studio?
jm: Yeah. He came down to do that. So we played him songs. He is like, “Oh, I hear a part on this. Let me try this. This is great.” He’s a very musical guy, a very giving guy. And so for me, having the guy that inspired me to pick up a guitar sing on my record after I worshiped his, it was a nice little payback.
twi-ny: And then you get to direct him in a video. You directed it, you star in it, you’ve got Tammy Faye Starlite, you’ve got Ian, you put on these great wigs. To me it’s a throwback to the early days of MTV. Is that what you were going for?
jm: Definitely. I think it was a mix of early MTV and the Colbert show and The Daily Show. I guess you could say it could be a serious song, but I think sometimes you can get a point across better by being a little irreverent about it.
twi-ny: It looks like it was fun to shoot.
jm: It was a riot. I usually backpedal at things like this. I’ve been asked to be in other videos, and I’m just like, Oh, no, I can’t. So I went into this with a little trepidation, but we had a great time.
twi-ny: How often before have you gotten to act without a guitar in your hand? Has that happened a lot?
jm: You know, since high school.
twi-ny: So you have a little acting bug inside you?
jm: It’s a good career to have to fall back on if music doesn’t work out. It’s a good safety net. Do some acting.
twi-ny: It looks to me like you’re sitting right now in 503 Social.
jm: I am. Yeah.
twi-ny: In 1996, you started Guitar Bar, which revolutionized the music scene in Hoboken. And now you’ve expanded it with 503 Social Club. How did that get going?
jm: Well, all these projects are done for selfish reasons. Guitar Bar was because I just got tired of going into New York to buy strings, and Social Club, it just popped up. A friend of mine told me about this space that became available for rent, and he’s like, You gotta go see it. The last thing I need is something that takes more sleep away from me. But it was just crying to be something. There are so many talented people in this area and there’s a lack of venues, be it for artists or musicians. So I just felt, let’s give it a shot. It’s selfish because I get to see my friends’ artwork up close and see my friends play. So it’s a labor of love, but it’s been really fun, and the feedback’s been great.
twi-ny: You had a big night there with the great and mighty Jon Langford.
jm: He’s a dynamo in every way. I love his artwork, and so he had a great show. I thought he was just gonna come in solo, but he brought half the Mekons with them, Sally [Timms] and some of the others. And they just tore this place apart.
twi-ny: I’m mad that I missed that.
jm: I understand. Well, he’s coming back. So the fact that I can get people like that here . . . it’s very fun and special for me and inspiring.
twi-ny: Speaking of inspiring, you’ve been married for thirty-one years, you’ve got two daughters, and at least one of them is a musician.
jm: Yeah, Lily is in Long Neck, her professional name and band. [Daughter Ruby, a London-based sound designer and filmmaker, edited the “Right Words, Wrong Song” video.]
twi-ny: So is music just in the Mastrodimos blood?
jm: Neither of my parents were musical. Both my brother and I were, and, my kids by default. There were always guitars in the house, music playing.
twi-ny: Is your wife musical?
jm: She is; she doesn’t play, but she sings great. She has no desire to do that. I truly think the kids get their talent from her, not me.
twi-ny: On February 21, you’ll be at Bowery Electric for the album release party. You’ve told us that you’re gonna be playing with Megan; who else will be joining you?
jm: It’s a great band and people. I’m really happy to be playing with Tony, who produced the record and has been with Patti Smith for years.
twi-ny: He’s doing a special Lunar New Year show with Patti at Bowery Ballroom on February 10.
jm: Yes, I will be there.
twi-ny: Awesome. I will be there too. So you’ve got Tony.
jm: He and I have been playing together for thirty-something years. So that’s easy. Dennis Diken from the Smithereens will be on drums. Megan will be singing, playing some guitar, and I got her playing some keyboards. She’s excited about that. The other guitar player, Chris Robertson, he’s in a band now called Elk City; he was in the Psychedelic Furs side project Feed and played with Richard Butler, just great, another friend. If I’m gonna do this, I want it to be fun for me, and if it’s fun for me, hopefully it’ll be for everybody else. These are good mates to be in a room with.
twi-ny: Okay, so one last question, something I’ve always wanted to ask you. You have always worn hats onstage; how many do you have, and how did the hat thing get started?
jm: I always wore boleros or something. I just I love that era. My dad used to wear hats, and I love that era when you look at old photos of Yankee Stadium, and men are in suits and in hats, like the whole crowd is at a baseball game but they’re dressed to the nines. So I just always have loved hats. How many do I have? Not as many as you would think. Not as many as Alejandro Escovedo — talk about a snappy dresser. I aspire to be him when I grow up. He and I are always going out hat shopping when we’re on the road.
twi-ny: Oh, speaking of which, you’re about to go out on the road with him again.
jm: I am. Yeah.
twi-ny: He previously played with the Rant Band when Ian couldn’t tour.
jm: Right. Alejandro’s got a new album coming out too [Echo Dancing], and it’s really a great, interesting record. He’s kind of revisited some of his old songs but totally deconstructed them. I don’t want to say it’s techno, but it’s unique and great. So it’s gonna be a little different from what people might expect from him. It’s kind of what John — he’s worked with John Cale also — it’s what John would do. Nothing was sacred to Cale. We’d go onstage and he’d be like, You know what, let’s change this song (that we had done the night before). But he would just totally revamp it. And I love that. Nothing should be set in stone. So that’s kind of what Alejandro’s done. I’ll be playing with him in that, but I’m also opening the shows acoustically and, depending on what town we’re in, if I have some friends there, I’ll ask them to come up and join me.
So I’m looking forward to it. Traveling with good friends and playing music, what could be better, you know?
twi-ny: You’re just having a ball, right? Just loving life?
jm: It may sound like a cliché, but if I wake up in the morning, it’s a good day. Anything after that is icing on the cake.
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]
Christine Lyons, Bernard Holcomb, and Philip Cokorinos star in The Immersive Coffee Cantata (Dan Wright Photography)
THE IMMERSIVE COFFEE CANTATA EXPERIENCE
The Lost Draft
398 Broome St. between Lafayette & Mulberry Sts.
February 14-25, $40 osopera.org thelostdraft.com
I have never been a coffee drinker. In fact, I have not had a sip of any type of java in more than forty years. But On Site Opera’s (OSO) latest site-specific production, The Immersive Coffee Cantata, is my kind of cuppa.
Coffee first made its way into Germany around 1670. In 1735, composer Johann Sebastian Bach and poet and librettist Christian Friedrich Henrici, known as Picander, teamed up for Coffee Cantata (Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht, BWV 211), a tasty tale of a father who insists his daughter give up coffee if she ever wants to get married.
OSO, which has staged shows at Wave Hill, at a barbecue market, in a soup kitchen, and on board ships at the South Street Seaport, this time moves into the Lost Draft coffee shop in SoHo, which, in its mission statement, explains, “Art is an expression that can never be perfected. It is indefinite, ever-evolving. Artists reveal the highest versions of themselves when they are lost in their work. There is no final draft. There is only the draft that best represents you as an artist. And what artist doesn’t love coffee? That is the inspiration behind the Lost Draft. A creative space for creative people who love coffee.”
The Lost Draft is a long, narrow shop with the counter on the left and small tables on the right. On each table are several empty coffee cups, two boxes of popcorn, and freshly baked cookies that you can start on while the four-piece band warms up. (If you’re lucky, you’ll get the scrumptious passion fruit red velvet delights along with the chocolate espresso cookie.) You can also take a coffee quiz by scanning the QR code on the card on your table.
The Immersive Coffee Cantata takes place in the Lost Draft coffee shop in SoHo (Dan Wright Photography)
The show begins with Joe, the barista and narrator (tenor Bernard Holcomb), advising us, “If you’ll pipe down, and put your phones on mute, / You’ll overhear a family dispute: / Here comes Herr Schlendrian, / His daughter Lieschen close behind. / He’s about to lose his mind — / Or maybe it’s already gone.”
Schlendrian (bass-baritone Philip Cokorinos) enters, upset that his daughter, Lieschen (soprano Christine Lyons), is late and never listens to him. When she finally arrives, he yells at her, “You stubborn child, don’t drink that gritty mixture!,” but she declares, “My whole world floats in a cup or mug, / Revolving around Heaven’s true wonder drug / Thirsty for nectar from above. / Coffee, coffee: I’ve got to have it, / And it’s such a victimless habit. / Coffee is my liquid love!”
The sweet new libretto by Geoffrey McDonald, who also did the lovely orchestrations, quickly makes it clear that coffee is a stand-in for a man; fathers usually complain about a daughter’s choice in partners, but soon Schlendrian is checking the online matchmaking site Duetto to find Lieschen an acceptable future husband. Among the stickers on the back of Lieschen’s laptop is one of the iconic New York Greek coffee cup.
“Marital bliss: / Father, I want true love’s kiss! / Yes, a spouse! / Raise a family, buy a house!” she sings. “But I want a worthy suitor, / One who treats me like a queen. / I’ll agree to quit caffeine, / If you’ll serve as my recruiter!” And off they go, determined to make their dreams come true, demonstrated by a clever use of large and small paper coffee cups.
Schlendrian (Philip Cokorinos) is concerned for his daughter’s future in The Immersive Coffee Cantata (Dan Wright Photography)
During the forty-five-minute presentation, the actors and staff pour three tastings, Mama Mina, Kahawa Chungu, and the Queen’s Cup, the last also available in a go-cup. Meanwhile, the score is performed in a near corner by members of the American Modern Ensemble, featuring Valeriya Sholokova on cello, Nikita Yermack on violin, John Romeri on flute and recorder, and Dan Lippel on guitar, not all instruments Bach intended, but it works.
The Immersive Coffee Cantata is the first production under new OSO artistic director Sarah Meyers, who helms the show with an intimate, friendly touch. Cofounding general and artistic director Eric Einhorn, who stepped down at the end of last year, was chosen as one of Lieschen’s potential suitors in an earlier performance.
Met Opera veteran Cokorinos is terrific as the concerned father who wants only the best for his daughter, his face bold and expressive. Holcomb is welcoming as the amiable Joe, and Lyons is charming as Lieschen, who is forced into choosing between mocha and a man. Cokorinos’s diction is impeccable; you might have to refer to the online libretto for certain lines sung by Holcomb and Lyons, both of whom have exceptional voices.
My only quibble with the show is that it’s too short; I wanted to spend more time with the cast and crew, if not with the coffee itself.
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]
THE FEST FOR BEATLES FANS
TWA Hotel at JFK Airport
One Idlewild Dr., Queens
February 9-11, $49.50-$325 for various packages for children and adults, $24 virtual www.thefest.com www.twahotel.com
On February 7, 1964, a Pan Am plane carrying John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr landed at JFK Airport in Queens, and Beatlemania was unleashed on America. So it makes sense that the fiftieth anniversary edition of the Fest for Beatles Fans is taking place this weekend at the TWA Hotel at JFK. Even after all that time, the lads from Liverpool are as popular as ever, recently releasing the new song “Now and Then,” winning a Grammy for Best Music Video for the lushly animated “I’m Only Sleeping,” and being the subject of the eight-hour Peter Jackson documentary Get Back.
Running February 9-11, the fest features live performances by Liverpool, the Weeklings, Black Ties, Blac Rabbit, Cellophane Flowers, the Meetles, James Gray, Jeff Slate’s Weekend Wilburys, and others, signing sessions, panel discussions, and more, including the Giant Beatles Marketplace, the Annual Friday Night Dance Party (with ’60s Dress-Up Night and best outfits and lookalike contests), a You Sing the Beatles contest, the Beatles Museum (and art contest), the interactive FABoratory, an indoor pool, the Beatles Ashram, trivia games, participatory lobby jams, an auction, yoga, karaoke, and activities for kids.
Among the special guests are Micky Dolenz from the Monkees, Wings guitarist Laurence Juber, Wings drummer Steve Holley, Billy J. Kramer from the Dakotas, Chris O’Dell from Apple Records, original Beatles Fan Club president Freda Kelly, roadie Mal Evans’s son Gary Evans, former NEMS and Apple employee Tony Bramwell, Pattie Boyd’s sister Jenny Boyd, Paul’s stepmother and stepsister Angie and Ruth McCartney, and Gregg Bissonette and Mark Rivera from Ringo’s All-Starr Band. Deejay Ken Dashow serves as emcee, assisted by Tom Frangione.
Friday, February 9 Beatle World Biographies: Brian Epstein & Yoko Ono, with Vivek Tiwary and Madeline Bocaro, Paperback Writer Discussion Room, 7:15
Good Ol’ Freda, Q&A with Freda Kelly, Mop Top Room, 8:00
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds: A Dreamhouse Party for Brian Epstein, with DJ sets by Justin Cudmore and Danny Clobber, runway show by PVR x Tillium, drag show by Thee Suburbia with live music by Plastic Tizzy Band, and a ’60s salon by Sean Bennett, 1964 Room, 10:00 pm – 2:00 am
The First Origin Story, with Beatles Fest founder Mark Lapidos, Main Stage, 11:15
Saturday, February 10 The Beatles on Film, with Steve Matteo and Darren DeVivo, Paperback Writer Discussion Room, 12:15
Micky Dolenz: Special Guest Interview with Ken Dashow, Main Stage, 4:00
Historians Panel — Free as a Bird, Real Love, and Now and Then: The End of Beatles History?, with Susan Ryan, Jim Ryan, Janet Davis, Kit O’Toole, Andy Nicholes, and Caitlin Larkin, Paperback Writer Discussion Room, 4:30
Live Beatles Concert by Liverpool, featuring Micky Dolenz, Billy J. Kramer, Mark Rivera, Gregg Bissonette, Gary Burr, Laurence Juber, and Steve Holley, with a Wings tribute to Denny Laine, Main Stage, 9:00
Sunday, February 11 Live Broadcast: Breakfast with the Beatles, with Ken Dashow and guests, 8:00
The Beatles Are Coming! Beatles Parade, meet in the Twister Room, 2:00
Super Peace Bowl: Bed-In for Peace, 1964 Room, 5:00
Live Beatles Concert by Liverpool, featuring Micky Dolenz, Billy J. Kramer, Laurence Juber, and Steve Holley, plus grand jam finale, Main Stage, 9:00
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]
Bruno Isaković and Nataša Rajković’s Yira, yira (Cruising, cruising) is part of QNYIAF (photo by Silvija Dogan)
QUEER NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL
NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts
566 La Guardia Pl. between Third & Fourth Sts.
February 7 – 17, $25
212-945-2600 nyuskirball.org
After a six-year break, the Queer New York International Arts Festival returns to the city, taking place February 7-17 at NYU Skirball. Started by Queer Zagreb founder Zvonimir Dobrović in 2012 at Abrons Arts Center, the fest consists of works that address queerness in today’s society, this year with presentations from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, and Germany, including live performances, installations, and public talks.
The 2024 QNYIAF kicks off February 7 with Croatian artist Arijana Lekić Fridrih’s From5to95, a hybrid video installation and online project in which Croatian women from the ages of five to ninety-five share their personal stories about gender inequality. On February 7 and 8, Croatian artists Bruno Isaković and Nataša Rajković’s Yira, yira (Cruising, cruising), which premiered in Argentina in 2019, is performed by sex workers Juan Ejemplo, Leandra Atenea Levine Hidalgo, Pichón Reyna, and Sofía Tramazaygues, exploring the relationship between client and sex worker.
Bruno Isaković and Mia Zalukar’s Kill B. reimagines the Bride from Quentin Tarantino films (photo by Hrvoje Zalukar)
Isaković collaborates with fellow choreographer and dancer Mia Zalukar on Kill B., inspired by Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. Playing February 9 and 10, the piece focuses on the character of the Bride as well as artistic hierarchical structures and their own professional partnership. On February 13, Toronto-based performance artist Clayton Lee goes through his sexual history in The Goldberg Variations, which mashes up Johann Sebastian Bach with WCW and WWE wrestler and actor Bill Goldberg, host of the 2018-19 competition series Forged in Fire: Knife or Death and a contestant on The Celebrity Apprentice. Some iterations have included smells and live snakes, so be ready.
On February 15, Argentinian interdisciplinary artist Tiziano Cruz will deliver the autobiographical performance lecture Conference, followed by a discussion. His piece Soliloquy — I woke up and hit my head against the wall was about his mother; in Conference he turns his attention to his ancestors and his late sister. On February 16, Brazilian artist Wagner Schwartz’s performance lecture La Bête is an interactive solo in which he activates a plastic replica of one of Lygia Clark’s rearrangeable hinged metal sculptures known as bichos, or “beasts,” and then the audience does the same, except with Schwartz’s naked body.
QNYIAF concludes February 17 with Raimund Hoghe Company members Emmanuel Eggermont and Luca Giacomo Schulte’s An Evening with Raimund, a tribute to German choreographer, dancer, and journalist Raimund Hoghe, who died in 2021 at the age of seventy-two; excerpts from his works will be performed by seven dancers. “To see bodies on stage that do not comply with the norm is important — not only with regard to history but also with regard to present developments, which are leading humans to the status of design objects,” Hoghe said. “On the question of success: It is important to be able to work and to go your own way — with or without success. I simply do what I have to do.”
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]
