England’s Alan Bennett first came to prominence in the early ’60s, as one of the four collegiate satirists who wrote and performed an evening of sketch comedy called Beyond the Fringe. It was fairly cerebral as revues go, but it did not suggest the major playwright Bennett would become, penning such thought-provoking, yet still entertaining scripts as The History Boys, on the … [Read more...]
Early music specialist Jeannette Sorrell comes to New World
If you were a member of the prosperous middle class of Leipzig in the early part of the 18th century, chances are you’d have made it over to the Catharinenstrasse on a wintry Friday night to catch the cantor of the city’s St. Thomas Church, one Johann Sebastian Bach, holding forth at the head of an instrumental ensemble playing some of the best new music of the time. You’d … [Read more...]
The Both: Friendly collaboration, musical powerhouse
By Hilary Saunders Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, who will be performing this weekend at the Sunshine Music and Blues Festival they curated, aren’t the only formidable duo who will take the stage at the Mizner Park Amphitheatre. Guitarist, bassist, and vocalist Aimee Mann — who established herself as one of the most adaptable and influential female musicians in the early … [Read more...]
Sundays: The era of alt-delete
By Myles Ludwig Erase thyself. This might very well turn out to be the 11th Commandment of the early 21st century. It could be the Holy Grail of semi-privacy or just a cure for the bewildering, often incapacitating condition of Kardashiana, popularly known as TMI. Like most cures (the off-label uses of moldy bread, for example), this one was discovered by accident. Thanks … [Read more...]
History and art meet on Clematis Street
A splash of public art has recently appeared in unexpected places in downtown West Palm Beach’s Clematis Street District. Thanks to support from the Downtown Development Authority and the Historical Society of Palm Beach County, six formerly graffiti-laden metal electric utility boxes have received an art makeover as part of the city’s Art in Public Places initiative. The six … [Read more...]
The View From Home 27: New releases and notable screenings, June 14-30
Is there anything quite like the early films of Todd Haynes? Before he graduated to star-studded Hollywood casts and respectable HBO miniseries (this year’s Mildred Pierce), Haynes was a provocative enfant terrible whose early experimental films upset narrative status quos and pushed censors’ buttons. His 1987, 43-minute docudrama – for lack of a better designation – was … [Read more...]
Early Brahms sparkles under young pianist’s fingers
The piano sonatas of Johannes Brahms are all early, thickly scored, finger-busting works, and while they receive respect from the performers who study them, rare is the pianist who brings them along on recital. The young Chinese pianist Ran Jia was an exception to that rule last Wednesday at Stage West in the Duncan Theatre, ending her meat-and-potatoes recital of Beethoven, … [Read more...]