Some of us measure time by the careers of stage stars. It has been 50 years since Donna McKechnie’s Broadway debut, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, where she appeared as an office worker dancing Bob Fosse’s quirky steps. It has been 35 years since A Chorus Line opened on Broadway, winning her a Tony Award as the quintessential musical theater dancer. And 10 … [Read more...]
Daniel Ellsberg: On whistleblowing, leaks and secrecy
Daniel Ellsberg was an anonymous military analyst working for a conservative think tank until 1971, when he ignited a national firestorm by releasing the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret expose of government decision-making about the Vietnam War. The epic document, detailing some 22 years worth of sensitive information, established a precedent for conscientious whistleblowers that … [Read more...]
Music roundup: A powerful premiere at Lynn; evocative Ravel at PB Symphony
Lynn Philharmonia/Gunther Schuller (Jan. 29, Wold Performing Arts Center, Boca Raton) “I am Chiayu!” the small woman wearing a red dress jacket almost shouted to the audience at the Wold Performing Arts Center as she took the stage at Lynn University in Boca Raton to introduce her new composition. Chiayu Hsu, a Taiwan-born composer who earned her doctorate at Duke University, … [Read more...]
Music roundup: Lyrical Haydn, revelatory Korngold, daring Links
Boca Raton Symphonia (Sunday, Jan. 23, St. Andrew’s School, Boca Raton) The eminent American composer and educator Gunther Schuller was joined by a very young cellist Sunday afternoon in a concert by the Boca Raton Symphonia that was one of the most polished this group has offered in some time. From the tightness of the Cosi fan Tutte overture that opened the concert at St. … [Read more...]
Theater roundup 2: Provocative ‘Clybourne’; a star turn for Gless
African-Americans have federally sanctioned civil rights and the nation voted a black man into the White House. So we must have made substantial advances towards racial equality and co-existence since Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 stage drama, A Raisin in the Sun, haven’t we? Not necessarily, suggests playwright-provocateur Bruce Norris in his cynical satire Clybourne Park, which … [Read more...]
The View From Home 19: New releases on DVD
Shock Corridor and The Naked Kiss (Criterion) Release date: Jan. 18 Standard list price: $21.99 each In all the documentaries and video interviews made about the work of the great director Samuel Fuller, the movie referenced more than any other is not even made by Fuller. It’s a scene from Pierrot le fou, Jean-Luc Godard’s manic farrago from 1965. Fuller, in at the time in … [Read more...]
Violinist Ehnes, Toronto SO begin Florida tour
The promoters of this week’s Toronto Symphony concerts might not have noticed it, but the program and its presenters make up something of an international accord between the two big federal republics of North America. So says James Ehnes, a violinist from Manitoba and a dual citizen of Canada and the United States who now calls Brandenton home. “It’s kind of a nice, friendly … [Read more...]
Boca Symphonia enters Age of Philippe
The French pianist Philippe Entremont was born in 1934 in Rheims, France, to two musicians, and found fame early, entering the Paris Conservatoire at 12 and winning first prizes in solfège, chamber music and piano performance by the time he was 15. He made his American debut in 1953, and has enjoyed a career as one of the world’s leading pianists, with numerous recordings and … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Dec. 24-26
Film: With meticulous attention to period details and an engrossing history-based story that humanizes the struggle of a British king like no movie before it, The King’s Speech is great, albeit old-fashioned, filmmaking. Colin Firth stars as Bertie, a/k/a Prince Albert (Colin Firth), who unexpectedly becomes King George VI as World War II looms, due to his older brother’s … [Read more...]
Gruen’s ‘Ape House’ misses out on animal magnetism
Reading Sara Gruen’s Ape House, I was reminded of one April Fool’s Day when my daughters were 6 and 4. I got up in the morning and excitedly called them: “Come quick, our cat Mittens is talking!” Their astonished but not disbelieving faces as they rushed into the living room, expecting to hear our housecat opine for tuna rather than Meow Mix delighted me, and we all ended … [Read more...]