Saturday, April 20, 2024To borrow an Amazonian sales tactic, If you liked Madeline Miller's bestseller Circe, you should really catch the last four performances February 21-24 of Sophie Amieva and Suzanne Bagert's Medusa Volution at happylucky no.1. Just as Miller allows the nymph to describe in her own words her special skill set (turning men into pigs), the playwrights and their all-female Samvia Theatre group directed by Amiva create a strong collective voice untangling Greek/Roman mythology's if looks could kill eternal bad hair day. Taking their cue from a throwaway line Ovid's Metamorphosis, Medusa not always sprouted a head of snakes. The priestess's good looks attracted unwanted
Tag: #Metoo
Dance: The Sarasota Ballet at the Joyce
The Joyce's closed it's 2017-2018 season with the return of The Sarasota Ballet. With Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami visiting in June and Sarasota Ballet last week, New Yorkers and Tri-Staters got a good look at Florida's thriving dance scene. (Miami City Ballet comes to City Center in the fall.) The August 18 matinee exemplified the excitement with a ballet not seen locally in a decade, another glimpse at the company's enviable Frederick Ashton repertory, and a guest appearance by Marcelo Gomes. Program B opened with Christopher Wheeldon's There Where She Loved. Created for The Royal Ballet in 2000, it was last
Dance: The Joyce Ballet Festival
The annual Joyce Ballet Festival showcases the incredibly high level and high-energy of American ballet. This is a time of reflection, renewal and reconfiguration in ballet, and the two companies described here are conduits of that positive change. Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami (June 26-27) Ballet may never rate as high as Disneyland, but Miami now has two major dance companies Dimensions Dance Theatre, founded in 2016 by former Miami City Ballet married principles Carlos Guerra and Jennifer Kronenberg, opened The Festival on June 26. Founded in 2016, the company's gifted, personable dancers have already mastered an eclectic repertory. Guerra and Kronenberg themselves
Theatre: Elevator Repair Service performs Kate Scelsa’s “Everyone’s Fine with Virginia Woolf” at Abrons Art Center
Playwright Kate Scelsa and her Elevator Repair Service colleagues are completely at ease with Everyone's Fine with Virginia Woolf, a raucous re-imagining of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? George and Martha, perennial frontrunners for the unhappiest theatrical couple of all time, keep the gin, insults and laughs coming at Abrons Art Center. One is hard-pressed to find humor in Albee's peak into a marriage whose only common ground is destruction. The 1962 Tony winner is also something of a sacred cow because with the right actors (Liz and Dick in Mike Nichols' 1966 film, the 2005 Broadway revival starring Kathleen Turner
Mobile Unit: Henry V at The Public Theater
At any given moment in a theatrical season, it is likely there is a Shakespearean production being performed in both major and minor theatres and cities across the English-speaking world. The Bard’s relentless staying power is undeniable. But how do modern companies keep the work fresh and relevant, particularly the Histories, many of which are set in times, places and about people which seem to bear little significance on contemporary life in America? One simple answer is that at the root of all of these stories lie rich, complex and utterly human characters whose grappling with their struggles and delights in their
Theatre: The Flea Theater presents ‘MS. ESTRADA’ by the Q Brothers Collective
This season female empowerment dominates two big Broadway musicals. Sure, both "Frozen" and "Mean Girls" have female leads but those #MeToo connections are slightly perfunctory: the only change Disney princesses and a SNL alum bring to commercial theatre are record ticket sales + pricing along with celebrity audience sightings on Instagram. For those in search of a night out with their tweens or long for an original musical with a positive message delivered by "woke" females there is "Ms. Estrada" - the Q Brothers Collective shrewd Hip-Hop adaptation of Aristophanes’ ancient sex farce in its world premiere at The Flea. If