This was the third time that I have seen the New York City Ballet at the Kennedy Center. I like that the show contains several different pieces, and the selection is quite varied (although there is always some homage to George Balanchine). Here's what they performed:
This dance shows the similarities between ballet and square dancing. The dancers moved in circles and lines, just like at a country square dance. The program notes said that originally there was an actual caller, but that is no longer part of the dance. I liked the grace of this dance, and the simple costumes were very true to the art of ballet.
Here's a (somewhat shoddy) video of the piece (~12 minutes long):
This was my least favorite piece of the performance. The music was written by Louis Moreau Gottschalk from New Orleans, but the entire work has an Italian feel about it. The costumes look dated; Erica Pereira had to wear a stupid doily on her head with pigtails, and Spartak Hoxha looked like a pirate. He really outshown her, with his fun facial expressions and his larger (and higher quality) tambourine (don't even get me started on my hate for props in ballet...). I felt bad that the male dancer was getting a greater applause than the ballerina! The whole dance was very silly and childish. NOT what I wanted to see at the ballet.
There was almost nothing I liked about this piece. The program notes say the music is from a Russian film about Jewish gangsters in Odessa after the Russian Revolution, so I understand why the dance is so dark. But I like ballet (and actually most kinds of dance) to be happy!
My list of dislikes goes on. The music, written by Leonid Desyantnikov, was a little spastic, ranging from creepy violins to joyful brass sounds. I also did not enjoy the choreography by Alexei Ratmansky. Many parts seemed to be too similar to sexual assault: the male dancers would touch and grab female dancers, whose characters clearly did not want to be touched; one part almost reminded me of a gang-bang. On top of all this, the costumes were horrible! The women wore these ugly floral dresses that were completely pleated, and then men wore similar shirts with black pants (not even tights). The costume designer Keso Dekker has designed many outfits for many different ballet companies, but I just wasn't feeling this one. Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes
This piece is choreographed by Justin Peck, who is a dancer and choreographer for the New York City Ballet. This ballet actually won the Bessie Award for Outstanding Production in 2015, so that's cool. The piece is designed to be in four parts, but I'm not sure I really noticed the differences between each. They all seem very athletic, and feel more rugby than rodeo. The main thing that makes this piece unique is that there are 15 male dancers and only one ballerina; ballet is known for focusing on female dancers. I loved how everyone was smiling: the dancers looked like they were having fun and truly enjoying themselves! The performance I saw featured Peck and Tiler Peck as the soloists; it should be noted that they are NOT married and are NOT related, it's just a coincidence.
Here's a video for part of it:
Because this is such a varied program, another show could be completely different. I was disappointed to learn that I wasn't going to see American Rhapsody, which is choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, one of my favorite choreographers. I am tempted to see them perform again on Saturday just to see the rest of the program that I missed!
*Click here and here for my blog posts on their past performances in D.C.
I saw the play "Timon of Athens" earlier this week at the theater inside the Folger Shakespeare Library. I had never been to this venue before, nor had I heard of the play (one of Shakespeare's lesser-known works). The space is designed to look like the Globe Theatre, so it's small and intimate; you can't really have a bad seat. And it had a unicorn painted on the ceiling, so of course I loved that!
Sorry for the blurry image, but I did like the set. It's very minimal, with some stairs, railings, and lights with a square shape that's mimicked throughout the play (even their money is shaped like that). Even though this is an old play from the 1600's, and originally is written to take place in ancient Athens, this version is very futuristic. The set almost reminds me of something out of Star Trek, with the glowing lights, clear hand-held devices like iPads, and a screen that wraps around the set which shows pictures and videos of people as they come onto the stage. I liked the juxtaposition of the old English with the almost space-age set.
Essentially the play starts out with this wealthy man Timon (pronounced "Time-in," played by Ian Merrill Peakes) giving away money and gifts to local people. He considers them friends and likes doing nice things for them without asking for anything in return. He is warned by his assistant (?) Flavius (played by Antoinette Robinson) to stop spending so much, and the philosopher Apemantus (played by Eric Hissom) tries to tell him that these people are taking advantage of Timon's generosity. But Timon continues to interact with these people, inviting them to feasts and even hiring dancers (played by Aliyah Caldwell and Amanda Forstrom, and John Floyd as Cupid) to come to a party he was hosting.
There were belly dancers, and I liked how during voice overs everyone started dancing in slow motion. Image found here
But of course we all knew that Timon's money would eventually run out. Eventually everyone is coming to him asking him to pay off his debts, but he doesn't have any money left. When he asks his "friends" to help him out, they don't, because they weren't true friends to begin with. This play certainly teaches the lessons that 1. you can't buy friendship and 2. human beings are and always will be greedy, wanting/taking something for nothing and never wanting to give anything back in return (both true statements that apply to thousands of years of human history, as well as the future, too).
Timon is very angry that he does not have the support of these people. He invites them over for one last dinner party, and sets a covered pot in front of them. When they go over to open it, they realize that it is not food in the pot, but feces! Timon starts rubbing it on himself and then throwing it at everyone else; a real sh*t show! In the original play, he serves them just water and rocks, but I think the poop is much more dramatic! I do believe it offended some people; there were definitely a few seats that were empty for the second act that had been filled for the first half of the play.
Act I was really interesting. There were a lot of characters, relationships between them all, complex dialog (yet actually clear to understand because the actors were so good at interpreting the old English with miming and such), real excitement...I was totally ready to recommend this play...until I got to the second act.
Act II starts with Timon in a cave (you would only know that if you had read the play or the notes in the program, so that was a bit confusing), where he has exiled himself. But he does have gold buried nearby (I'm unsure as to whether he found it there or put it there), and somehow word gets around that he has this gold (although he's in the middle of the wilderness, so I'm not sure how people found out...). Anyway, it seems like Athens has sort of fallen apart, and a military captain is now part of a gang that tries to rob Timon of his gold. The captain does not rob Timon because he knows him, but...
Timon randomly starts flirting with the two women in the gang (the same women who were the belly dancers), rubbing up on them and giving them gold. What was even more random was Forstrom's horrible Eastern European accent. I mean, why?
Throughout the rest of the second act, other people show up, like Flavius and Apemantus, but it's difficult to know if they really are there speaking to him, or if he's going crazy and he's just imagining them. He seems to ramble on about his hate of mankind throughout the entirety of Act II, to the point that you're completely confused and aren't sure what he's talking about. And then finally the madness ends and he dies (standing with his arms out like Jesus on the cross).
The first half was so good, and then the play just fell apart. The program did contain notes about how this play is viewed as unfinished or imbalanced, and that's totally right. The first half is smart and interesting and entertaining, while the last half is just Timon going in circles in his madness. I honestly didn't feel bad about falling asleep during the second act because I don't think I was missing much; it was all the same.
If you do want to see the show, you can buy tickets here. And if you do go? Just stay for the first half.
I hope you all had a good Memorial Day weekend! For the past two weeks, I have been enjoying the Edlavitch DCJCCWashington Jewish Film Festival. I'm not sure if they've offered a young professionals pass before, but this year, for a little over $40, I could go to pretty much all the movies I wanted! What a great deal!
Of course I couldn't go to all of the events, but here are the films I did see. Watch out for spoilers!
Moos is an awkward, unattractive (the actress Jip Smit looks like the female version of Paul Dano) young woman with no direction. She lives with her father, who assumes she'll take over the family business. But her dream is to go to theater school. She auditions, which her father and most others do not support. She tries out, can barely sing or dance, and is not accepted. But she's annoyed that no one believes in her or supports her aspirations, so she lies and tell everyone she did indeed get into the school. To make it look like she's busy with classes, she gets a job at the school's cafeteria, and she ends up sleeping with her voice coach. In the end the truth comes out, she gets in touch with reality, and while her friends and family are disappointed and upset with her at first, they can't stay mad at her because they love her.
She's supposed to be lovable in all of her awkwardness, but honestly, I found her character very unlikable. She's the kind of person who lies to her father, gets angry with him for having a girlfriend even though her mother has been dead for some time, sleeps with her teacher...I would NEVER be friends with someone like that! The film has no real romance (they show a couple having sex in a restaurant bathroom...), and it starts off with fart jokes. I should have known right then I picked the wrong film to see.
First, let's try to get past the poor grammar in the title: people should be referred to as "who," not "that."
Okay, moving on. So, this film is about a 25-year-old girl named Joy (played by Hadas ben Aroya, also the director) whose identity is clearly formed by the men in her life. The movie starts off with her crying and naked, filming a love confession to a man she's clearly no longer dating. While that drama is going on, she hangs out a lot with her friend Nir (played by Hagar Enosh [I think]). They sort of have a friends-with-benefits situation, but they never have sex, and he doesn't like that she's starting to have feelings for him. She's also looking for a new roommate, and when Oren (played by Meir Toledano) stops to see the place, he doesn't want to live there, but he wants to go out with her. They go out ONCE for drinks, she asks him up to her apartment, and they get naked; he can't get it up, so nothing happens. But later he calls her to say he has gonorrhea, and suggests she get tested. The movie ends with her sneaking into her ex's apartment and crawling into his bed, and then latching herself so tightly to him that he can't get her off. It would have been comical if the entire story weren't so pathetic.
I saw Moos and this film in the same night, so it was discouraging to see young women portrayed in this manner. Both of them are lost young women who aren't sure of who they are and use men for comfort even though that doesn't actually help anything. Why can't films show young, beautiful women who are succeeding in life and maybe don't even have boyfriends at all? Strong independent women who have their s**t together? Would that be so difficult to make a character like that for a movie? I think not.
This movie is based off of the true story of Gilbert Chikli. He and his brother (and eventually the Israeli mafia) ran a scam where they would use spoof phone numbers (i.e. numbers that can't be traced) to call people who worked for banks or big companies; Gilbert would claim to work for the government in national security, and that the money from certain accounts had to be emptied because the accounts belonged to criminals. The gullible employees would believe Gilbert and transfer the money to a different account (i.e. where Gilbert could access it), and after years (I think) of doing this, Gilbert stole millions of dollars (well, Euros, but anyway). Of course he eventually gets caught (and his brother looked like a snitch and has his mouth sewn/stapled shut [I can't tell you which because I was too traumatized to watch!]), and he goes to jail.
I thought this was a pretty interesting movie, and the fact that a lot of it comes from real life makes it an even stronger film (much like Captain Phillips). I would recommend it, but I'm not sure I'd watch it more than once.
This is a documentary about Marcia Nasatir, the first female VP at a Hollywood studio. The film follows her life of how she climbed up the ladder in the industry, but never made it to the top ("If I'd been born 20 years later, I would be head of a studio"). She was in production, and was the one who read scripts to decide whether they were worth making into movies or not. She made risky choices, making movies that no one else wanted to make, but they became big hits. The list of movies she was involved in making is long and distinguished (these are just some of the most famous ones):
You'll notice that she helped make a lot of movies that were about the Vietnam War. Her son was in the war, and I think that had a big impact on the kinds of stories she wanted to tell.
A big point of the movie was to show how many people in showbiz she has touched. Whether she helped someone get a job as a reader (i.e. reading scripts before the higher-ups see them), or advocated for a certain script or actor, it seems like everyone in Hollywood knows Nasatir. She was especially helpful for other women, and like she said, if she were still at her prime right now, more doors would have been open to her. BUT she is the one who helped open those doors for the next generation of women who wanted to work in the industry.
I really liked this movie. Even in her 90s, Nasatir is quick-witted and sharp. She's definitely a great role model, and she has been an incredible asset to Hollywood for decades. I'm happy she now has her own story to share with the world!
This was the best movie I saw over the entire film festival. It's the "Miracle on Ice" of basketball. A club basketball team from Tel Aviv, the underdog in most games (and Israel as the underdog in pretty much all situations), wins the European Cup Basketball Championship after beating several teams, including the team from Moscow (the Russians are always the bad guys, am I right?).
The team was mostly made up of Americans who either didn't make it into the NBA, or they amazingly gave up the chance to play in the NBA to join Maccabi Tel Aviv (like team captain Tal Brody). The film has tons of old footage, some of which was archived and most likely never seen before. The movie also includes interviews with several of the players, as well as sports announcers of the time, Bill Walton (a close friend of Brody's and a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame), and the wife of teammate Jim Boatwright. Boatwright had already passed away, so he is not featured in the film. Actually, his death helped get this movie made: the director of the film, Dani Menkin, wanted to tell this story before all of these men were gone.
Menkin was at the screening, and he mentioned that the story wouldn't have been believable as fiction:
Brody was able to get on an airplane from JFK back to Israel without a ticket because a security guy recognized him
Rabin postponed his resignation until after this big basketball game was over so his televised resignation wouldn't interrupt the game
The team's coach was a Holocaust survivor and later was asked to coach a German team
AND the fact that the team won the championship in the first place.
It's all almost too amazing to believe, except it actually did happen!
So where does the title come from? After the Israeli team beat the Soviets, American Brody said in Hebrew, "We are on the map and we will stay on the map! Not only in sports but in everything!" This statement means so much: not only was he saying that the Israeli basketball team was a real competitor, but that Israel as a nation was here to stay. How prophetic! This was a defining moment for Israel, and I get chills just thinking about it. This really is a great, inspirational sports story, and I'm not sure how I've never heard of it before. I highly recommend this film. Here's the trailer in case you need more convincing:
This was one of the fictional comedies I saw during the festival. It's about an old psychotherapist (played by Toni Servillo) who doesn't get out much; when his doctor tells him he needs to exercise more, he gets a personal trainer named Claudia (played by Verónica Echegui). That's where the shenanigans begin. She's over-the-top and ends up putting the old man in danger because her ex gets out of jail and is looking for stolen jewelry. The whole movie is full of dysfunctional relationships: Elia still lives next door to his wife (They're separated but never got a real divorce; they talk all the time and even go to the theater together), and Claudia is yet another female character portrayed in today's films as an unwed, incompetent mother. There were some funny bits, but in general this movie was a waste of time. I wouldn't see it again, and I don't feel bad that I almost feel asleep while watching it.
This is another biographical film I really enjoyed. Naomi Kutin is a young girl who has broken power-lifting records, and "Supergirl" is her alter-ego when she's working out and performing at competitions. After seeing so many movies where women twice her age don't know what they're doing with their lives, this film was a breath of fresh air, showing that women (girls even!) can put their minds to work, set goals, and achieve their dreams. The whole time I was thinking of another movie, The Eagle Huntress, which is the true story of a young Mongolian girl who wants to be an eagle hunter, which is traditionally a man's role. In both films you have these young girls breaking barriers and reaching success. I recommend both!
I had heard of this movie before, and I knew that Liza Minnelli was famous, but that was pretty much it. I really liked this film, even though I'm kind of a prude when it comes to burlesque or bawdy shows like that. The head of the film festival introduced this movie as ahead of its time (1972), but I'm not sure I agree with that. Minnelli's character Sally Bowles reminded me a bit of Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's (written in 1958), with her (at times) care-free attitude and personable nature; the love triangle between Sally, Brian, and Max reminded me of The Great Gatsby (written in 1925), with a poor and a rich man in love with the same woman. But, I do suppose the fact that the love triangle included the two men sleeping with each other is modern for the film (though the act has been going on for thousands of years), and I don't think abortion was discussed too often in movies back then, either. I liked the music (although Joel Grey's character was a bit creepy), and of course I couldn't help but compare it to the musical Chicago (which came out just a few years later).
This is also a beautiful film to watch, with the vibrant colors and a variety of sets/scenes. I can see why this is a classic! I would totally recommend it, and I'd watch it again, too!
This disturbing story is based on real life. The tale was first a book written by Jacque Chessex, who as a young boy saw the inner-workings of a local Nazi group in Switzerland (which is always known as neutral during World War II), including the murder of a well-known townsman (which is a very gory scene in the movie). The film mixes up time: we're supposed to be in the 1940's during WWII, but some of the cars and costumes in the movie are modern-day; we see Chessex as a little boy like a flashback, but then Chessex as an old man is inserted here and there into the older scenes. I believe the book came out just as some of the criminals were getting out of jail, and some people thought the book was just bringing back the past and was unnecessarily "morbid." But Chessex' point is that 1. we should never forget the horrible things that happened in the past and 2. that history repeats itself, and antisemitism lives on today. A moving story, but certainly depressing.
This movie is in black and white, even though it was filmed this year. Again, this movie takes place around the World War II time-period (hence the title). There's a small town, and word gets around that two Jews have arrived. Because people had taken over the lands, houses, and belongings of Jews once they had left, the townspeople are worried that the Jews are back to claim their things, as well as to take back the pharmacy they had owned before the war. Some feel guilty about what they had done (to the point of hanging themselves), while others feel like the houses and such are rightfully theirs. In the end, you see that the Jews only came back to bury what was left of their dead: tiny children's shoes, toys, books. This film shows the spectrum of feelings that people had just after the war. Most of those feelings seemed to be negative, which is probably why I didn't enjoy the film that much.
This film was made in 1985, which is not the oldest movie I saw, but the rendering was quite bad, especially when I'm used to watching everything in HD. The movie is about the single Mr. Wolny (played by Armin Mueller-Stahl) who houses a Jewish woman (Elisabeth Trissenaar) on the run; even though she is married, he falls in love with her, and keeps her as his woman. There are many forces between the two of them: she doesn't love him, but she is thankful for his help, while still feeling dead inside without her family; he's Catholic and disrespects her Jewish faith, but he's never been with a woman before, and he likes that he's not alone anymore. There are many stressful moments throughout the film, the culminating of which takes place when he is letting another woman stay with him, so the first has to leave. He sets up another hiding spot for her, but she is already so worried about her situation that she doesn't want to go. She pleads with him to stay, but he is adamant that she leave. She asks for a bucket of hot water, and the next thing we know, she has slit her wrists and died. Soon after, her husband who also escaped is there asking about her. If only he had shown up sooner, or if she could have stayed just one more night! There's a lot of hurt in this film, and it does an excellent job of showing all the tension at that time between everyone.
After the screening, the director Agnieszka Holland did a talk/Q&A. She is very funny, especially when she was talking about how she went about learning English (she had several teachers, each of which moved on in some form or fashion before she could learn very much). She is clearly very talented, and is a role model for women who are interested in directing movies.
Unrelated to the film festival but during the same time, I also got to see a preview screening of Rough Night.
SO MANY MOVIES! What have you seen lately? Anything good?
*I did get to go to the screening for free and got two glasses of wine on the house, so watching this dumb movie was kind of worthwhile. You should just wait to see it on Redbox or Netflix.
This past weekend, I saw the last performance of the season for the National Philharmonic at the Strathmore. The National Philharmonic Chorale was there, too, so there was a mix of classical music with singing. Quite the finale for the season!
The show started with Andreas Makris' Alleluia, followed by Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture (a very recognizable piece if you scroll to about 4:20). But the heart of the show was Carmina Burana, composed by Carl Orff in the mid 1930's. Here are some notes from the program:
"Carmina Burana puts to music a total of 24 poems, some written in Latin and others in a very old form of German, covering a great range of subjects that would have been part of the lyrical repertoire of troubadours and minstrels in the Middle Ages: the fickleness of Fortune; the vagaries of love; drunkenness and ribaldry; gluttony; gambling; the coming and going of seasons; and the ordinary spectacle of life in general...In its final form, it is composed of five sections with a total of 25 movements [which are] subsumed under three larger sections, titled "Spring," "In the Tavern," and "Love."
A lot of percussion instruments are used in the piece, and you can't help but feel strong emotions when listening to such amazing music. There were also soloists singing throughout the performance, so that added another layer of complexity to the work!
The entire thing is over an hour long, so I've broken it down by including lots of short videos as opposed to one really long one. Feel free to skip a few or just watch one or two at a time; it can be rather overwhelming! And none of these videos feature the National Philharmonic or the singers I saw that night, but you'll get the idea.
The first (and last) part of Carmina Burana is titled "Fortune, Empress of the World," which has been used in many movies and is quite popular on its own. Read this article from the Phoenix Chorale to learn more; listen below and you'll instantly recognize it.
Sound familiar?
The next section is called "In Springtime," and it sounds quite different from the first, especially the happy third part!
"One the Lawn" is the next part, with five sub-parts:
This one kind of sounds familiar to me. Do you recognize it?
Make sure to turn up the volume for this one:
Now we go "In the Tavern" ...
I think this next part is supposed to be funny, even though I don't understand the lyrics! But it's called "Song of the Roast Swan," and the bassoon kind of does sound like a goose...
The final full section is "The Court of Love," and it's the first time we hear from the Soprano. These parts definitely sound romantic!
Turn up the volume for this one, too:
This one also sounds familiar, but maybe because it sounds like an earlier "Springtime" piece?
And here is the last part (along with the first part repeated):
Whew, that is A LOT to take in! It's really beautiful, but I will say it was hard sitting still for so long. Maybe I should just buy a CD... But truly, it's amazing piece, and I hope you like it, too!
The first opener was The Native Sibling, a brother-sister duo. They both have great voices, and because it's a girl-guy duo, I think they're perfect to be touring with The Wind + The Wave, who started out as a band of two. They've been around for a few years, but I had never heard of them before. They released their first full-length album in 2014, which is the same year when they won the iTunes Best Singer/Songwriter albums award. How neat is that! Here are some of their music videos:
My Body Tells Me No (which is strange, since most songs are about your body saying yes!)
Then it was the headliner's turn! The Wind + The Wave sang songs from both of their albums, From the Wreckage and Happiness is Not a Place (I own both and love them!). They sounded amazing, and I love the energy of their newer band members, Nick the drummer ("Babyface Manbody"), and Scott the guitarist ("Fat Scott" who also performs on Broadway!). I think they have an all-black dress code, and all the guys have the same haircut! I sang along with every song, except maybe their encore of R. Kelly's song "Ignition;" that's a tough song to sing! Here are a few of my favorite songs from the band:
I've never added a filter to a photo before, but this one looked better "Golden."
I had a few bananas that were getting to be a bit too ripe, so I figured I'd make banana bread with them. But I make that all the time, so I thought I'd mix it up and try this new recipe I found on Epicurious.
Ingredients
o1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
o1 teaspoon baking powder
o1/4 teaspoon salt
o2 very ripe bananas, mashed (3/4
cup)
o1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter,
melted
o2/3 cup sugar
o1 large egg
o1/2 teaspoon vanilla
o3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut
Preparation
1.Put oven rack in middle position and
preheat oven to 375°F. Line muffin cups with liners.
2.Whisk together flour, baking powder,
and salt in a bowl. Whisk together bananas, butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, and
1/2 cup coconut in a large bowl until combined well, then fold in flour mixture
until flour is just moistened.
3.Divide batter among lined muffin
cups and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup coconut. Bake until muffins are puffed
and golden, about 25 minutes. Transfer muffins to a rack and cool slightly.
These were so easy to make, and they are delicious! They poofed up a lot, so I bet you could divide the batter into 10-12 muffins, not just 8. I think they look fun and different with the coconut sprinkled on top. Online there are 214 reviews, and 94% of people said they would make this recipe again. I would, too!
