Sayonara, Ken

A Little Priest

Falling Slowly: Arthur Darvill Edition

Great Performance at Lincoln Center

Sydney Theatre Company artistic directors Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton will bring their acclaimed production of Uncle Vanya to the Lincoln Center Festival next month.  Nigel Redden from Gotham Magazine had an in depth interview with the pair about the complexities and thrills of bringing the play to NYC. 

Here's an excerpt:

NIGEL REDDEN: We are thrilled that you are bringing this production of Uncle Vanya to the Lincoln Center Festival. Can you tell me what it means to you and the company to stage the play in New York?
CATE BLANCHETT: It’s an absolute privilege, and it’s wonderful to be juxtaposed against all the other extraordinary things that you program for the Lincoln Center Festival. Often when theater is talked about in New York, it is talked about as if it were a sort of homogeneous blob. There are so many different types of audiences in New York, and we are very excited to be there in a festival context because it generates a way of looking for an audience that’s very different than if we were doing a four-month run. There is a special, “see it now or you miss it” feeling that we are all very excited by.

To read the full article, please click here.

(photo above from Gotham Magazine)

War Horse

Steven Spielberg's film version of War Horse is coming out on Christmas Day. Every time I see the trailer, I recall the magical and unique theater-going experience that we had. (See Pinky's review here.) And although working with live animals for the screen has traditionally been a challenge for filmmakers, mounting this play seems even more daunting.
I am still amazed at the genius and artistry of the Handspring Puppet Company in bringing Joey and the other horses to life. It seemed like there were real animals on stage. Your eyes will be drawn to every breath, every twitch, every flick of the tail or the mane, every gallop.
But even more moving is the story, the friendship between man and horse. For such majestic and noble animals to allow humans to ride on their backs requires a special bond and an incredible level of trust. It's a shame and a waste of their equine lives to lead them into battle.
When the play ends, one is left with anger at the futility of war---World War I in particular---and the foolishness of men who wage them. But it was also a humble tribute to the sacrifices of soldiers and the horses. The show (and I'm sure the movie adaptation also) will bring you to tears.




The beautiful line drawings that were projected on a screen that showed the horrors of war.

Pal Joey

An epic theatrical experience is currently playing at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in Lincoln center. As the 2011 Tony Award for Best Play, War Horse is based on the children's novel by Michael Morpurgo and has been adapted for the stage by Nick Stafford. It is an engaging story about Albert Narracott and his bond with his horse named Joey.

During the outbreak of The Great War (WWI), Albert's father sells his horse, Joey to the cavalry and is later shipped to France. Joey then serves the British Army but later with the tides of the war turning, serves the German Army. He also befriends another army horse named Tophorn and both are taken into an odyssey through enemy lines, cross fires and later No Man's Land (a land between two enemy trenches filled barb wires). Distraught at the loss of Joey, Albert, although still too young, conscripts with the British Army and sets out to find Joey in France.

It's an astounding production that came from the National Theatre of London and directed by Marianne Elliot and Tom Morris. Both won the 2011 Tony for best direction of a play. It is a pretty straight forward war/coming of age story but what makes this production impressive is it's use of horse puppetry (made by the Handspring Puppet Company). Each horse is controlled by three handlers two underneath the horse and one controlling the head and neck. When the play started, I found myself trying to watch how the puppeteers were controlling the horse but after a while they just disappear and one starts to see just the horse, alive onstage. The horse movements are so nuanced (thanks to Toby Sedgwick who developed the "horse choreography") it's uncanny.

The war scenes are incredibly stage on the Beaumont's thrust stage that you feel so involved in the action unfolding in front of you. It feels sweeping and epic. There's this one scene when during the course of the play Tophorn dies and keels over. The puppeteers then slowly crawls backwards in sync into the wings as if the soul of the creature has left it. It gave me goose bumps and it still does as I write this. I know for sure this post won't do it justice so maybe a snippet of the play would give you a feel for it so click on the video above.

Drawing of the horses

The Vivian Beaumont Theatre

Lincoln Center Festival 2010

Simon McBurney's Olivier Award-winning play A Disappearing Number will end its extremely limited New York run at the Lincoln Center Festival this Sunday, the 18th of July.

The festival ends 25 July.

A Walk on the UWS part 2

As I was walking around the Lincoln Center area last Monday, I saw this concert by music students in front of Alice Tully Hall. Now I don't know if they were students from Juilliard or from the LaGuardia HS of the Performing Arts (which is also located around the area) but they were good! Enjoy!

A Walk on the UWS

Last Monday, I took a walk around NYC's Upper West Side to see the newly made Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. Here are photos of that day:


The Metropolitan Opera House, home of the Met Opera and the American Ballet Theatre




Juilliard School

Juilliard Lobby on 65th Street

The facade of Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center

It has an outdoor seating for outdoor concerts

This is the corner of 65th and Broadway

Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, home of the NY Philharmonic

David H. Koch Theatre, home of the NYC Ballet and NYC Opera

the gift shop at the Metropolitan Opera House

look they even sell opera glasses!

NY Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center - it houses archival videos of almost all of the Broadway shows. The public is allowed to view their requested show as long as they have a valid reason.