this week in lectures, signings, panel discussions, workshops, and Q&As

TAKE ME TO THE WORLD: A SONDHEIM 90th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

A parade of Broadway stars will celebrate Stephen Sondheim’s ninetieth birthday Sunday night on YouTube

Who: Meryl Streep, Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Mandy Patinkin, Christine Baranski, Donna Murphy, Kristin Chenoweth, Sutton Foster, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Kelli O’Hara, Aaron Tveit, Maria Friedman, Iain Armitage, Katrina Lenk, Michael Cerveris, Brandon Uranowitz, Stephen Schwartz, Elizabeth Stanley, Chip Zien, Alexander Gemignani, Melissa Errico, Ann Harada, Austin Ku, Kelvin Moon Loh Thom Sesma, Annaleigh Ashford, Laura Benanti, Beanie Feldstein, Josh Groban, Jake Gyllenhaal, Neil Patrick Harris, Judy Kuhn, Linda Lavin, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Platt, Randy Rainbow, Lea Salonga, Victor Garber, Joanna Gleason, Nathan Lane, Steven Spielberg, Raúl Esparza
What: Live online celebration of Stephen Sondheim’s ninetieth birthday
Where: Broadway.com YouTube channel
When: Sunday, April 26, free, 8:00
Why: Stephen Joshua Sondheim was born in New York City on March 22, 1930. Over his long career, the Oscar, Tony, and Grammy winner has written the music and lyrics for such shows as West Side Story, Gypsy, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, and many others. A much-lauded revival of Company was set to hit Broadway on March 22, joining a revival of West Side Story, but both shows were closed down when Broadway went dark March 12 because of the coronavirus. But an all-star lineup will be paying tribute to Sondheim from their homes with “Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration,” a gala event being held on April 26 at 8:00. Sponsored by Broadway.com, the party will be streamed live on YouTube for free, but watchers are encouraged to donate to ASTEP (Artists Striving to End Poverty), an NYC Service organization that seeks to “unite New Yorkers in service to advance lifelong civic engagement for a more equitable and inclusive city.” Above is the remarkable guest list of performers and well-wishers; the evening will be hosted by Tony winner Raúl Esparza, a veteran of Sunday in the Park with George and Company. Sondheim might be ninety, but we got used to seeing him all the time at the theater, as an audience member. Sunday night he’ll take center stage, where he belongs.

THOUSAND PIECES OF GOLD

Lalu (Rosalind Chao) is sold into human slavery in Thousand Pieces of Gold

THOUSAND PIECES OF GOLD (Nancy Kelly, 1990)
Virtual opening April 24
YouTube Live Q&A with Rosalind Chao, Chris Cooper, Nancy Kelly, Kenji Yamamoto, and Anne Makepeace on April 29 at 8:00
Five-day BAM pass $12
kinomarquee.com
kelly-yamamoto.com

Rosalind Chao lights up the screen in Nancy Kelly’s long-forgotten 1990 Western melodrama Thousand Pieces of Gold, which has been revived in a beautiful 4K restoration from IndieCollect, which begins its virtual release this weekend through BAM in New York and the Autry Museum in LA. Adapted by Anne Makepeace from Ruthanne Lum McCunn’s 1981 historical novel, the feminist epic is set in 1880, when Lalu (Chao), born in a tiny village in northern China, is sold by her father into slavery, winding up in a small mining town in Idaho. Her owner, Hong King (Michael Paul Chan), is a prominent gambler who runs the local brothel and has plans to exploit Lalu, renamed China Polly, as an exotic prostitute well worth higher prices.

But Lalu, strong-willed and determined, refuses to give in, fighting the seemingly inevitable fate of joining Berthe (Beth Broderick) and the other whores. The only people on her side are Jim (Dennis Dun), a Chinese man who transported her from San Francisco to Idaho and regrets his role in the deal, and Charlie (Chris Cooper), who runs the saloon and finds an aching humanity in Lalu; he stands up for her when such lowdown and dirty men as Jonas (Jimmie F. Skaggs), Miles (Will Oldham), and Ohio (David Hayward) either line up to be with her or look the other way when she is abused. Every time Lalu, a smart, brave woman who picks up English quickly, thinks she has found a way out, circumstances beyond her control keep her trapped in her horrific situation, one that she refuses to accept.

Hong King (Michael Paul Chan) and Charlie (Chris Cooper) argue over a Chinese woman’s freedom in epic feminist Western

Watching the film today, it’s hard to imagine that it’s Kelly’s only fiction movie; she continues to make documentaries, which have included A Cowhand’s Song, Rebels with a Cause, Trust: Second Acts in Young Lives, and Smitten, but the Hollywood system did not welcome her, much like Lalu was not welcomed in America. Kelly is in full command of the story, which is gorgeously photographed by Bobby Bukowski and keenly edited by Kenji Yamamoto, Kelly’s husband and longtime filmmaking partner, along with a vivid score by seven-time Emmy winner Gary Malkin. The camera loves Chao (Joy Luck Club, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine): Her deeply expressive eyes dominate the screen and envelop the viewer in heartfelt emotion. Oscar winner Cooper (Seabiscuit, Adaptation.) is tender and warm as Charlie, channeling Jon Bon Jovi along the way.

Based on the true story of Chinese pioneer Lalu Nathoy, Thousand Pieces of Gold has been rereleased at just the right time — the digital restoration debuted in March 2019 at the Museum of the Moving Image — as it relates to such current hot-button issues as the #metoo movement, immigration, racism aimed specifically at the Chinese, human trafficking, and economic inequality. On April 29 at 8:00, there will be what should be a fascinating live panel discussion with Kelly, Yamamoto, Makepeace, Chao, and Cooper.

COCKTAILS WITH A CURATOR (FROM THE FRICK)

Frick chief curator Xavier F. Salomon enjoys cocktails while discussing masterpieces in weekly Friday happy hour (courtesy the Frick Collection)

Who: Xavier F. Salomon
What: Happy-hour discussion of great works of art in the Frick Collection
Where: Frick YouTube channel
When: Fridays at 5:00, free
Why: One of my very favorite places in New York City is the Frick Collection, a kind of home away from home for me, where I go when I need to take a break from the rest of the world and relax among spectacular works of art — many of which I consider close friends — and sit peacefully in the enchanting garden with its lush fountain. But I’m now able to get a much-needed taste of the Frick — which opened in 1935, sixteen years after the death of Pittsburgh industrialist Henry Clay Frick — with the fab program “Cocktails with a Curator.” Every Friday at 5:00, Frick chief curator Xavier F. Salomon enjoys a specifically chosen drink (recipe included for cocktail and mocktail) with viewers as he describes one of the museum’s treasures. On April 10, Salomon discussed Giovanni Bellini’s St. Francis in the Desert while sipping a Manhattan, followed on April 17 with a look at Rembrandt’s Polish Rider while enjoying a Szarlotka. On April 24, Salomon will delve into Anthony van Dyck’s Sir John Suckling with Pink Gin in hand. Speaking live from his New York City apartment, Salomon is seen in the lower right hand corner of the screen as the camera roams around the artwork, offering stunning detail; Salomon is wonderfully calm and straightforward as he explores the piece and relates its story to what is happening today during the pandemic.

MADE IN HARLEM — REMEMBERING THE RENAISSANCE: LOOKING FOR LANGSTON (with live Q&A)

Free livestream screening of Looking for Langston will be followed by panel discussion

Who: Zohra Saed, LaTasha Diggs, Paolo Javier
What: Live online film screening and panel discussion
Where: Poets House Twitter feed
When: Friday, April 24, free with RSVP, 4:00
Why: As part of its series “Made in Harlem: Remembering the Renaissance,” Maysles Documentary Center is teaming up with Poets House to present a live online screening of Looking for Langston, Isaac Julien’s forty-five-minute 1989 docudrama about Hughes, the twentieth-century poet, playwright, and novelist who chronicled black and gay life and culture in America in such books as The Weary Blues and Not without Laughter. The London-born Julien is a multimedia installation artist who has made such other films as Western Union: Small Boats and Ten Thousand Waves. The 4:00 screening, free with RSVP, will be followed by a panel discussion on Hughes’s literary legacy, Julien’s cinematic style, and the hundredth anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance with Brooklyn-based Afghan American poet Zohra Saed and Harlem-based writer, vocalist, and sound artist LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, moderated by Poets House program director and former Queens poet laureate Paolo Javier.

DUET: LONNEKE GORDIJN IN CONVERSATION WITH LEE RANALDO

Lonneke Gordijn (photo by J. W. Kaldenbach) and Lee Ranaldo (photo by Cara Stricker © Lee Ranaldo) will discuss art and collaboration in the age of coronavirus on April 23 over Instagram

Who: Lonneke Gordijn, Lee Ranaldo
What: Online conversation hosted by Pace Gallery
Where: Pace Gallery Instagram Live
When: Thursday, April 23, free, 5:00
Why: If you haven’t been to Pace’s huge new home in Chelsea yet, it will be a little while longer before you get to check it out. But during the lockdown, Pace is hosting a series of livestreamed performances and conversations. On March 12, musician, composer, visual artist, writer, producer, and Sonic Youth cofounder Lee Ranaldo was scheduled to play a duet with EGO, a shapeshifting sculptural installation by DRIFT, a Dutch studio that was established in 2006 by Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn to bring people together with nature and technology. That event was cancelled because of the coronavirus, but on April 23 at 5:00, Ranaldo and Gordijn will take part in “Duet: Lonneke Gordijn in Conversation with Lee Ranaldo.” The free talk, focusing on creative collaboration in today’s complex world, will be streamed live on Instagram.

WATCH WITH ME — FAYE DRISCOLL’S THANK YOUR FOR COMING: ATTENDANCE

Who: Kiki Abba, Erin Bednarz, Alyza DelPan-Monley, Nick Spencer, Ayo Tushinde, Faye Driscoll
What: Live watch party with preshow chat and postshow wrap-up
Where: Instagram
When: Wednesday, April 22, free, 7:00
Why: When Seattle arts organization On the Boards kicked off its 2019-20 fortieth anniversary season last year with the theme “In the Future’s Wake: Rituals, Ceremonies, and Happenings,” it could never have conceived what the future did in fact hold for them and the rest of the country (and world). On April 22, the company will be hosting a highly relevant watch party on Instagram, streaming the first part of Faye Driscoll’s Thank You for Coming: Attendance, recorded with four cameras at Danspace Project in 2014. Driscoll followed Attendance with Play and Space, an endlessly creative trilogy that ingeniously shatters the boundaries between audience and performer. The work takes on a new meaning in the age of Covid-19, with the relationship between audience and performer changing again — and among the performers themselves, since they can’t be together in the same place, instead relegated to individual boxes on a screen — as we are all hunkered down at home, seeing one another only through our phones and computers and communicating via live chats. This online presentation of Attendance begins with an introduction and preshow chat at 7:00 with the Bounce House, a cohabitating collective that consists of Kiki Abba, Erin Bednarz, Alyza DelPan-Monley, Nick Spencer, and Ayo Tushinde, followed by the performance and a wrap-up at the end. The show will be streamed on DelPan-Monley’s Instagram.

LA CONVIVIALITÉ: LA FAUTE DE L’ORTHOGRAPHE (with live Q&A)

Arnaud Hoedt and Jérôme Piro will take a unique look at French spelling at FIAF online performance

Who: Arnaud Hoedt and Jérôme Piro
What: Live performance and Q&A from Belgium (in French)
Where: French Institute Alliance Française
When: Wednesday, April 22, free with advance RSVP, 5:00
Why: In 1771, Voltaire wrote, “The spelling in French books is ridiculous for the most part. Convention alone allows this incongruity to persist.” Two former Belgian teachers, Arnaud Hoedt — a self-described “linguist dilettante, philographer, pedagogue, true-false comedian, and academician eater” — and Jérôme Piro have taken that quote as inspiration for their two-person presentation La Convivialité: La Faute de l’Orthographe (roughly, Friendliness: The Spelling Error), an abridged version of which they will perform on April 22 at 5:00 via FIAF’s Facebook page and Zoom, followed by a Q&A. You need to register in advance here to receive the Zoom password and be able to ask questions. You can get a preview of their dissection of the French language by watching their May 2019 TEDx Talk and this preview, both of which are in French without English translation, as will be the FIAF program. And you thought American English spelling had problems.