Eliana Willis

More stories

  • 138 Shares99 Views

    in Television

    Stephen Colbert Has a Backup Plan for Parents in the Pandemic

    With the return of remote learning, Colbert says to bring in the mothers-in-law.Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Back to Home-SchoolStephen Colbert reported on the latest Covid surge on Tuesday night, pointing to the rise of major cities with schools returning to remote learning.“I long for the good old days, where our kids could safely go to school to butt-chug Tide pods,” Colbert joked.“Parents need emergency child care help now. I am calling on the federal government to release our strategic reserve of mothers-in-law. You know their motto: ‘I see you’re too busy to empty the bathroom trash can.’” — STEPHEN COLBERTThe Punchiest Punchlines (Stuck in Traffic Edition)“I saw that because of a huge winter storm, a 50-mile stretch of I-95 in Virginia was shut down, and drivers were stranded on the Interstate for more than 24 hours. Meanwhile, there was a dad sitting there like, ‘If I could just get over the one lane.’” — JIMMY FALLON“The only happy person was the cabdriver whose fare got up to $14 million.” — JIMMY FALLON“Twenty-four hours in standstill traffic — I’m pretty sure there’s 50 miles of highway just covered in yellow snow.” — JIMMY FALLON“And right now, there’s probably no better place on the planet to quarantine than I-95 in Virginia, where cars have been trapped in a traffic jam for nearly 27 hours. Holy never-getting-to-Toledo!” — STEPHEN COLBERT“In fact, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine was one of the commuters trapped on the Interstate, causing him to tweet this: ‘I started my normal 2 hour drive to DC at 1pm yesterday. 19 hours later, I’m still not near the Capitol.’ But his commute wasn’t done. It took him 27 hours to get to work. Twenty-seven hours! The stakes were high too because it only takes 24 hours for anyone to forget who Tim Kaine is.” — JAMES CORDEN“One minute you’re about to be vice president of the United States, the next you’re talking about your fluid intake.” — JIMMY FALLONThe Bits Worth WatchingThe “Late Late Show” guest Lily Collins recalls meeting Princess Diana and throwing a toy at Prince Charles’s head.What We’re Excited About on Wednesday NightThe “Scream” stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette will talk about reprising their iconic roles in the fourth film of the horror franchise on Wednesday’s “Late Show.”Also, Check This OutThe “Star Trek: Exploring New Worlds” exhibition at the Skirball Cultural Center includes a navigation console from the U.S.S. Enterprise, the first script from the first episode — and tribbles.Alex Welsh for The New York TimesA new exhibition at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles traces the Jewish roots of “Star Trek.” More

  • 138 Shares109 Views

    in Television

    ‘Late Night’ Cancels Shows After Seth Meyers Tests Positive for Coronavirus

    The NBC host said, “I feel fine,” and that his program would most likely return in a remote format next week.The resurgent pandemic continues to take its toll on the performing arts in New York and to disrupt the late-night comedy programs produced here. On Tuesday, Seth Meyers, the host of NBC’s “Late Night,” said that he had tested positive for the coronavirus and that tapings of his program would be canceled through the end of the week.In a tweet posted on Tuesday morning, Meyers wrote: “The bad news is, I tested positive for COVID (thanks, 2022!) the good news is, I feel fine (thanks vaccines and booster!)” He added that “Late Night” would most likely return in a remote format next week, asking viewers to “tune in next Monday to see what cool location we will try and pass off as a studio!!!”Meyers, the “Saturday Night Live” alumnus, had just returned to “Late Night” on Monday after a holiday break, in a broadcast that featured a live studio audience and guests (including cast members from the NBC drama “This Is Us” and the musician David Byrne) who appeared in remote interviews.“Late Night” is one of several NBC programs produced at the network’s flagship New York headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, along with “S.N.L.” and “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”The on-air talent at “Late Night” was being tested daily, and Meyers tested negative on Monday, according to someone familiar with operations at the show who was granted anonymity because that person was not authorized to speak publicly. NBC declined to comment beyond Meyers’s post on Twitter.Fallon, the “Tonight Show” host, said that he had tested positive for the coronavirus over the holidays and that he experienced “mild symptoms” while his program was on a scheduled break. He returned to host “The Tonight Show” on Monday.The final “S.N.L.” broadcast of 2021, which was shown on Dec. 18, was also significantly disrupted by the surging pandemic. It aired without a live audience or a musical guest, and with most of its regular cast members absent. More

  • 113 Shares149 Views

    in Television

    To Boldly Explore the Jewish Roots of ‘Star Trek’

    LOS ANGELES — Adam Nimoy gazed across a museum gallery filled with “Star Trek” stage sets, starship replicas, space aliens, fading costumes and props (think phaser, set to stun). The sounds of a beam-me-up transporter wafted across the room. Over his shoulder, a wall was filled with an enormous photograph of his father — Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock on the show — dressed in his Starfleet uniform, his fingers splayed in the familiar Vulcan “live long and prosper” greeting.But that gesture, Adam Nimoy noted as he led a visitor through this exhibition at the Skirball Cultural Center, was more than a symbol of the television series that defined his father’s long career playing the part-Vulcan, part-human Spock. It is derived from part of a Hebrew blessing that Leonard Nimoy first glimpsed at an Orthodox Jewish synagogue in Boston as a boy and brought to the role.The prominently displayed photo of that gesture linking Judaism to Star Trek culture helps account for what might seem to be a highly illogical bit of programming: the decision by the Skirball, a Jewish cultural center known mostly for its explorations of Jewish life and history, to bring in an exhibition devoted to one of television’s most celebrated sci-fi shows.But walking through the artifacts Adam Nimoy recalled how his father, the son of Ukrainian Jews who spoke no English when they arrived, had said he identified with Spock, pointing out that he was “the only alien on the bridge of the Enterprise.”The “Star Trek: Exploring New Worlds” exhibition at the Skirball Cultural Center includes a navigation console from the U.S.S. Enterprise, the first script from the first episode — and tribbles.Alex Welsh for The New York TimesJewish values and traditions were often on the minds of the show’s writers as they dealt with issues of human behavior and morality, said David Gerrold, a writer whose credits include “The Trouble with Tribbles,” one of the most acclaimed “Star Trek” episodes, which introduces the crew to a cute, furry, rapidly reproducing alien life form.“A lot of Jewish tradition — a lot of Jewish wisdom — is part of ‘Star Trek,’ and ‘Star Trek’ drew on a lot of things that were in the Old Testament and the Talmud,” Gerrold said in an interview. “Anyone who is very literate in Jewish tradition is going to recognize a lot of wisdom that ‘Star Trek’ encompassed.”Adam Nimoy said his father, who played Spock, a part-Vulcan, part-human character, often noted that he was “the only alien on the bridge of the Enterprise,” drawing a parallel between his role and his history as the son of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants.Alex Welsh for The New York TimesThat connection was not explicit when the show first aired. And a stroll through the exhibition, which covers the original television show as well as some of the spinoffs and films that came to encompass the “Star Trek” industry, mainly turns up items that are of interest to “Star Trek” fans. There is a navigation console from the U.S.S. Enterprise, the first script from the first episode, a Klingon disrupter from “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” and a display of tribbles.The “Star Trek” exhibition has drawn 12,000 attendees in its first two months.Alex Welsh for The New York TimesA “Star Trek” phaser on display.Alex Welsh for The New York TimesA Klingon mask and costume at the “Star Trek” exhibition.Alex Welsh for The New York TimesTo some extent, the choice of this particular exhibition — “Star Trek: Exploring New Worlds” — to help usher the Skirball back into operation after a Covid shutdown reflects the imperatives museums everywhere are facing as they try to recover from a pandemic that has been so economically damaging. “These days — honestly, especially after the pandemic — museums are looking for ways to get people through the door,” said Brooks Peck, who helped create the show for the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle. “Museums are struggling to find an audience and are looking for a pop culture hook.”It seems to have worked. The “Star Trek” exhibition has drawn 12,000 attendees in its first two months here, a robust turnout given that the Skirball is limiting sales to 25 percent of capacity.“This has been bringing in new people, no question,” said Sheri Bernstein, the museum director. “Attendance is important for the sake of relevance. It’s important for us to bring in a diverse array of people.”Jessie Kornberg, the president of Skirball, said that the center had been drawn by the parallels between Judaism and the television show. “Nimoy’s Jewish identity contributed to a small moment which became a big theme,” she said. “We actually think the common values in the ‘Star Trek’ universe and Jewish belief are more powerful than that symbolism. That’s this idea of a more liberal, inclusive people, where ‘other’ and ‘difference’ is an embraced strength as opposed to a divisive weakness.”Jessie Kornberg, the president of Skirball, said she had been struck by the links between “Star Trek” and Jewish beliefs, especially the importance of inclusivity. Alex Welsh for The New York TimesThe intersections between the television series and Judaism begin with its two stars, Nimoy and William Shatner, who played Capt. James T. Kirk. “These are two iconic guys in outer space who are Jewish,” said Adam Nimoy. And it extends to the philosophy that infuses the show, created by Gene Roddenberry, who was raised a Southern Baptist but came to consider himself a humanist, according to his authorized biography.Those underlying connections are unmistakable for people like Nimoy, 65, a television director who is both a devoted “Star Trek” fan and an observant Jew: He and his father often went to services in Los Angeles, and Friday night Sabbath dinners were a regular part of their family life.Nimoy found no shortage of Jewish resonances and echoes in the exhibition, which opened in October and closes on Feb. 20. He stopped at a costume worn by a Gorn, a deadly reptilian extraterrestrial who was in a fight-to-the-death encounter with Kirk.“When he gets the Gorn to the ground, he’s about to kill him,” Nimoy recounted. “The Gorn wants to kill Kirk. But something happens. Instead he shows mercy and restraint and refuses to kill the Gorn.”“Very similar to the story of Joseph,” Nimoy said, referring to the way Joseph, in the biblical book of Genesis, declined to seek retribution against his brothers for selling him into slavery.Leonard Nimoy died in 2015 at the age of 83. Shatner, who is 90 and recently became the oldest person to go into space, declined to discuss the exhibition. “Unfortunately Mr. Shatner’s overcommitted production schedule precludes him from taking on any additional interviews,” said his assistant, Kathleen Hays.The Skirball Cultural Center is set on 15 acres, about 20 miles from downtown Los Angeles.The exhibition ran for about two years in Seattle after opening in 2016 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the original “Star Trek” TV show’s 1966 debut. (That version was on NBC for three seasons.) The exhibition had been intended to tour, but those plans were cut short when the pandemic began to close museums across the country.“Skirball faced a bit of a challenge in trying to explain to its audience how ‘Star Trek’ fit in with what they do,” said Brooks Peck, who helped create the exhibition for the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle. “Happily it completely worked out.”Alex Welsh for The New York TimesThe exhibition was assembled largely from the private collection of Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft and founder of the Museum of Pop Culture, who died in 2018.Peck said he wanted to commemorate the anniversary of the series with an exhibition that explored the outsize influence the television show had on American culture. “The answer that I am offering is that ‘Star Trek’ has endured and inspired people because of the optimistic future it presents — the good character of many of its characters,” Peck said. “They are characters that people would like to emulate.”“Skirball faced a bit of a challenge in trying to explain to its audience how ‘Star Trek’ fit in with what they do,” he said. “Happily it completely worked out. I had always hoped that Skirball could take it. Skirball’s values as an institution so align with the values of ‘Star Trek’ and the ‘Star Trek’ community.”Bernstein, the Skirball director, said the exhibition seemed a particularly good way to help bring the museum back to life.“There was never a better time to present this show than now,” she said. “We very much liked the idea of reopening our full museum offerings with a show that was about inspiring hope. A show that promised enjoyment.”By spring, ‘Star Trek’ will step aside for a less surprising offering, an exhibition about Jewish delis, but for now, the museum is filled both with devotees of Jewish culture, admiring a Torah case from China, and Trekkies, snapping pictures of the captain’s chair that Kirk sat in aboard the Enterprise.“There is no such thing as too much ‘Star Trek,’” Scott Mantz, a film critic, said as he began interviewing Adam Nimoy after a recent screening at the museum of “For the Love of Spock,” a 2016 documentary Nimoy had made about his father. A long burst of applause rose from his audience. More

  • 113 Shares99 Views

    in Television

    Late Night Is Happy Twitter Booted Marjorie Taylor Greene

    Seth Meyers said that living in a world with the Republican congresswoman’s “insane” screaming was “like trying to have a conversation with a friend on the street next to a jackhammer.”Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Five Strikes and You’re OutMajorie Taylor Greene, the Republican congresswoman from Georgia, was permanently kicked off Twitter on Sunday for violating a policy against spreading misinformation about the coronavirus.On Monday’s “Late Night,” Seth Meyers pointed out how Greene had repeatedly lied about vaccines and called for a “national divorce.” “Which is, I guess, the sequel to ‘National Velvet’?” Meyers joked.“How would a national divorce even work? Who would get the White House? Who would pay alimony? Who would get custody of Eric? It would probably just be the two sides pushing him back and forth: ‘He’s a Republican, so he should go with you.’ ‘But he’s a New Yorker, so he should go with you!’” — SETH MEYERS“Looks like you finally got that divorce you wanted.” — SETH MEYERS“And regardless of how you feel about the ethics of kicking politicians off Twitter, it’s just a huge quality-of-life improvement. Like when Trump got kicked off Twitter. Trying to live in a world where people like Trump and Greene are constantly screaming insane [expletive] on Twitter is like trying to have a conversation with a friend on the street next to a jackhammer.” — SETH MEYERS“Now to spread the word about Jewish space lasers, she’ll have to use Mormon carrier pigeons.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“They only banned her personal account, not her congressional account, which is also known as her crazy-lite account.” — JAMES CORDEN“Greene had been temporarily suspended in the past for spreading Covid misinformation, but her latest online lie violated Twitter’s five-strike policy. Yes, five strikes. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, you only get two more foolins’ after that.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“On the bright side, she is still a full-fledged member of the United States Congress.” — JAMES CORDENThe Punchiest Punchlines (C.D.C. Edition)“Meanwhile, the C.D.C. has cut their recommended isolation time in half, and now it says you only need to quarantine for five days. Yeah, a lot of Covid regulations keep changing the longer the pandemic goes on. For example, back then, doctors said to cough directly into your elbow; now, doctors say just have fun out there.” — JIMMY FALLON“They added that today is basically over, so it’s really four days. Plus, Sundays don’t count, so three day — you know what? Just take the weekend.” — SETH MEYERS“They also said you can swim right after you eat, breaking a mirror only gives you four years bad luck, and stepping on a crack won’t break your mother’s back; her back will just be very disappointed.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Then the C.D.C. said to avoid large indoor gatherings. Now the C.D.C. says parties are fine as long as you set up a smaller ‘tested positive’ table.” — JIMMY FALLON“Also, back then you had to wash your hands for as long as it takes to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ twice. But now, you can sing it at the speed Applebee’s employees do when you can tell they’re not really into it.” — JIMMY FALLON“And, finally, back then they said to avoid misinformation by staying off the internet, but now the internet is where you live now — it is your home.” — JIMMY FALLONThe Bits Worth WatchingA “Tonight Show” viewer spotted a White Sox fan resembling Jimmy Fallon during a recent game.What We’re Excited About on Tuesday NightSt. Vincent will perform on Tuesday’s “Late Late Show.”Also, Check This OutSofia Kourtesis’s “La Perla” lands somewhere between hope and melancholia.Christopher BouchardThe Peruvian producer Sofia Kourtesis’s “La Perla” and “Paul Bearer” from the Michigan-based rapper BabyTron are just two of 15 underrated tracks from 2021. More

  • 100 Shares199 Views

    in Theater

    Coronavirus Is Surging. Avant-Garde Arts Festivals Are Closing.

    Under the Radar, Prototype and the Exponential Festival, annual January beacons of experimental work, have canceled their in-person offerings.Last Wednesday, the staff of the Under the Radar festival agreed on a path forward.They would limit the number of performances in the festival. They would not offer food or drink. The Public Theater, the host of this annual celebration of experimental performance, had already mandated that audience members provide the results of a negative PCR or rapid antigen test, in addition to confirming full vaccination status.Everyone concurred that these measures would keep audiences, artists and staff safe amid the current coronavirus surge. The festival would be able to open on Jan. 12, as planned.But Mark Russell, Under the Radar’s artistic director, woke up on Thursday morning and realized he and his colleagues were wrong.“I was sort of in denial, riding down the river of denial for a while,” he said on a video call Friday afternoon. “We tried all the adjustments until the last minute, and put a lot of work into rejiggering again, and then rejiggering again.”With case numbers rising, jiggering only went so far. When he spoke on Friday, the Public had just announced the festival’s cancellation, citing “multiple disruptions related to the rapid community spread of the Omicron variant.” This was just after the Exponential Festival, a multi-venue, multi-arts program based in Brooklyn, had made the decision to go entirely online. And on Monday, Prototype, a festival of avant-garde opera and musical theater, largely spiked its 10th anniversary celebration that was meant to open on Jan. 7. (One Prototype show, “The Hang,” will still open, a bit later in the month than scheduled.)Developed to complement the annual Association of Performing Arts Professionals conference, these three January festivals have grown to fill an essential niche, introducing presenters and civilians to innovative theater and performance — local, national and international. It was announced on Dec. 23 that the conference would go digital, which made the subsequent cancellations less surprising, if no less sad.Kristin Marting and Beth Morrison, two of the founding directors of Prototype, spent Friday morning telling artists that, while the festival would pay out their contracts, they wouldn’t be able to perform.“Purell Piece” was among the shows presented online last year by the Exponential Festival.Cory Fraiman-Lott“It’s been a terrible day,” Morrison said on a conference call that afternoon. “Tears and, of course, understanding. But incredible disappointment.”The cancellations speak to the difficulties of producing live performance in New York during a pandemic, even assuming the most responsible health and safety practices. On Monday the Joyce Theater said it would not be able to go ahead with Ayodele Casel’s tap-dance work “Chasing Magic,” which had been scheduled to open on Tuesday. Broadway is reeling from closures — most recently, Manhattan Theatre Club halted “Skeleton Crew” through Jan. 9 — and the unconventional, small-scale work championed by the trio of January festivals has been even slower to resume in the city.Now audiences will have to wait another year, at least, before this bounty properly returns. And the individuals and ensembles who create experimental work — and are often dependent on the income from touring it — will have to wait that much longer for showcases.When asked about the decision to cancel their live shows, the directors of all three events listed risks to performers and audiences, as well as visa problems and supply chain delays. Theresa Buchheister, the artistic director of the Exponential Festival, cited the cost — in both time and money — of testing performers every day.Russell mentioned the high positivity rate among the Public’s staff. “I might have been in a place of telling someone they can’t go on, because we don’t have a technician to run the lights,” he said.Ironically, the festivals all managed to open last year, albeit digitally. Prototype programmed six shows, three of them world premieres and three new to the United States. Under the Radar offered seven shows, as well as an online symposium and access to works in progress. The Exponential Festival presented a staggering 31 events, “Corona Cam Show” and “Purell Piece” among them. But all of the artistic directors had bet on a return to live performance — a decision made this summer, after vaccines were widely available but before the Delta and Omicron surges.“Maybe we shouldn’t have planned to do so many things in person, but we really thought that it was a choice that could happen,” Buchheister said.Until very recently that risk felt small, especially compared to the potential rewards. “We’re live producers,” Morrison explained on Wednesday, when Prototype was still planning to go ahead. “We’re interested in live theater and live opera and singing in the room and bringing people together and feeling everybody’s heartbeat synced in the audience. That’s why we do what we do and why we love what we do.”Silvana Estrada was to have performed her “Marchita” as part of Prototype.Mariscal/EPA, via ShutterstockSilvana Estrada, a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Mexico who had been booked to perform her “Marchita” at Prototype, described the frustrations of working digitally. “That’s something that I talk about a lot with my colleagues,” she said in a phone interview on Thursday. “Singing to a computer makes you feel so miserable. For me, having an opportunity to actually perform live again, it’s a fulfillment that I spent a long time without.”Prototype and Under the Radar had planned entirely live slates, feeling that a hybrid model would divert too many resources — artistic and financial. Only the Exponential Festival had preset an online option, with 15 shows to be presented live and four to be made available on YouTube. But in late December, after Buchheister tested positive, the decision was made to move Exponential online entirely. Seven of the live shows chose to adopt a digital format; eight opted to postpone.Dmitri Barcomi, the creator of “Case Studies: A New Kinsey Report,” didn’t seem too upset. “I think an even greater level of intimacy can be achieved through the added privacy of an at-home viewing,” he wrote in an email. Besides, he added, “so much of our generation discovered their queerness online, so it feels like a welcome back party!”But the online format didn’t work for everyone. “This play is meant to be experienced in person,” Marissa Joyce Stamps, the writer and director of “Blue Fire Burns the Hottest,” which had been booked for Exponential, wrote in an email. And Under the Radar and Prototype didn’t feel that their scheduled works could or should pivot at the last minute. Instead they both hope to return next year, perhaps in hybrid form, perhaps going all-in again on live.“This is what we do,” said Marting, the Prototype director. “Because art is meaningful in people’s lives. It’s not for special occasions. It’s for the fabric of our lives.” More

  • 138 Shares99 Views

    in Theater

    Review: ‘The Streets of New York’ Is a Good Old Melodrama

    At the Irish Repertory Theater, this musical confection is a luridly entertaining tale, set mostly in 1857, about a villainous banker and his wily clerk.The 19th-century playwright Dion Boucicault cut an uncommonly colorful figure — prodigal, voracious, cavalier. As an author of theatrical hits on both sides of the Atlantic, he made assorted fortunes and lost them reliably, while his romantic life was the stuff of drama, and occasionally farce.One of the earliest headlines about him in The New York Times, in 1863, was the simple “Dion Boucicault in Trouble.” A lawsuit said that the married playwright had locked himself in the London bedroom of an unwitting colonel during a midnight visit to an actress whose estranged husband was in hot pursuit.Scandal, riches, penury — the Dublin-born Boucicault knew each of those states from the inside, and was brilliant at weaving them into luridly entertaining melodramas. Two decades ago, Charlotte Moore, the artistic director of Irish Repertory Theater, adapted one of those plays, “The Poor of New York,” into a sweetly funny confection of a musical, “The Streets of New York,” now enjoying a charmer of a revival on the company’s main stage.Directed by Moore on an agile, stylized set by Hugh Landwehr, it’s a pleasurable escape, for a tuneful two-plus hours, into a quasi-cartoon version of old New York, where the virtuous struggle and the villainous thrive. You know in your bones, because this is melodrama, that a comeuppance for the bad guys is inevitable — just as soon as a slip of paper, long missing from its rightful owners, reappears.“The Streets of New York” begins in 1837, on the eve of a financial panic, as the scoundrel banker Gideon Bloodgood (David Hess) prepares to abscond from New York with a fortune and let his depositors suffer the consequences. Enter Patrick Fairweather (Daniel J. Maldonado), a sea captain eager to entrust his $100,000 to Bloodgood. The receipt for that transaction, stolen by Bloodgood’s wily clerk, Brendan Badger (Justin Keyes), is the slip of paper in question.The plot soon leaps forward 20 years to find the captain’s widow, Susan (Amy Bodnar), and grown children, Lucy (DeLaney Westfall) and Paul (Ryan Vona), in desperate straits in a tightfisted economy. But the merciless Bloodgood and his spoiled-from-the-cradle daughter, Alida (Amanda Jane Cooper, delightfully comic in the show’s best role), are flourishing.So is romantic longing. Will the handsome, down-on-his-luck scion Mark Livingston (Ben Jacoby) end up with Lucy, his true love, or will the scheming Alida ensnare him? Will Paul and the sharpshooter Dixie Puffy (a terrific Jordan Tyson) — who sings of wanting to “hold his hand, touch his skin, kiss his lips, rip his shirt off” — ever figure out that their ferocious crush is mutual?Moore injects plenty of playful effervescence into the show’s tension — particularly in Alida’s exuberant numbers, “Oh How I Love Being Rich” and “Bad Boys,” and her dripping-with-decadence dresses. (The choreography is by Barry McNabb; the costumes are by Linda Fisher.)For the most part, the show deftly balances dark and light even as it retains Boucicault’s social critique of the rich nonchalantly crushing the poor. But the ending teeters into treacle with would-be uplift aimed at the audience, which feels out of joint with the rest.That is a minor point, though, in a production that is otherwise wonderfully done. With a lovely aural depth provided by an orchestra of cello, woodwinds, harp, bass and violin (directed, at the performance I saw, by Ed Goldschneider), this is an old-fashioned, get-your-mind-off-things kind of show.Grab your vaccine card, put on a good mask and go.The Streets of New YorkThrough Jan. 30 at the Irish Repertory Theater, Manhattan; irishrep.org. Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes. More

  • 138 Shares169 Views

    in Television

    What’s on TV This Week: ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ and ‘Batman Forever’

    The 14th season of RuPaul’s Emmy-winning competition series premieres on VH1. And “Batman Forever” airs on BBC America.Between network, cable and streaming, the modern television landscape is a vast one. Here are some of the shows, specials and movies coming to TV this week, Jan. 3-9. Details and times are subject to change.MondayINDEPENDENT LENS: PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF DESIRE 10 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). This documentary explores how real-life connections are being replaced by virtual relationships within the fast-paced livestreaming industry in China. Through a closer look at the popular YY streaming platform, it exposes the impact of technology as a revenue-generating platform, and what younger generations consider success in a never-ending online popularity contest.TuesdayMY SALINGER YEAR (2020) 5 p.m. on Showtime. Adapted from the memoir of Joanna Rakoff, this film follows a young writer, Joanna (Margaret Qualley), who lands a job as assistant to a technology-averse literary agent, Margaret (Sigourney Weaver), in New York City. Joanna is assigned the dull task of sorting through the fan mail of J.D. Salinger, the agency’s reclusive top client, and decides to bend the rules, personally responding to letters that would otherwise go unread.Tommy Lee Jones, left, and Jim Carrey in “Batman Forever.”Warner BrothersBATMAN FOREVER (1995) 6 p.m. on BBC America. In this Joel Schumacher-directed installment of the “Batman” series, Batman (Val Kilmer) faces off against the cackling split personality of Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) and the relentlessly wacky, neon-green-clad Riddler (Jim Carrey) in Gotham City, where everyone seems to have a secret. Brought together by their shared hatred of authority (in this case, Bruce Wayne and his company, Wayne Enterprises — and of course, Batman), the dastardly duo team up and devise a plot to drain the brains of the citizens of Gotham City to uncover the true identity of Batman. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne finds himself a ward, Dick Grayson (Chris O’Donnell), soon to be Robin, and tries to sort out his feelings for Dr. Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman), a psychologist new to the city.WednesdayTHE AMAZING RACE 8 p.m. on CBS. In March 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic forced a pause on production after the first three legs of this competition show’s 33rd season were already recorded, sending the teams and crew into a nearly 20-month hiatus before they could resume racing around the world. Finally, they’re back. The two-hour Season 33 premiere shows us 11 teams composed of internet personalities, father-daughter duos, best friends and married couples, all competing in challenges for a chance to win $1 million.ThursdayFaye Dunaway and Warren Beatty in “Bonnie and Clyde.”Warner BrothersBONNIE AND CLYDE (1967) 9:30 p.m. on TCM. The original tagline from Warner Brothers says it all: “They’re young. They’re in love. They kill people.” When the ex-con Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) meets Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) in a small humdrum town in the 1930s, they’re both enthralled. Soon, the two are off causing mayhem and robbing banks across four Southern states, charming each other to death. In February 1968, months after its release, The New York Times reported that “Bonnie and Clyde” was banned in Norway for being “too brutal.”FridayRUPAUL’S DRAG RACE 8 p.m. on VH1. Gaze upon 14 shimmering, glittering drag stars — make no mistake, they’re queens, not contestants — as they compete in lip sync battles, bizarre challenges and create showstopping head-to-toe looks in hopes of being crowned America’s Next Drag Superstar by the one and only RuPaul. The 14th season premiere is turning heads for more than one reason, with the show’s controversial first-ever “straight queen” added to the roster, yet this Emmy Award-winning series continues to celebrate the journeys of all of its queens. “We, as queer people, that’s kind of our thing,” Symone, the winner of the 13th season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” said in an interview with The Times. “We look up to our heroes. They give us strength.” Now, sashay away!SaturdayMartin Freeman in “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.”James FisherTHE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY (2012) 5 p.m. on HBO. For some millennials, the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy “occupies the same role that ‘Star Wars’ might for those who grew up from the late ’70s into the ’80s,” Nikita Richardson wrote in a recent article in The Times. But long before Frodo Baggins begins his journey, his distant cousin Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) embarks on a mission of his own. At the request of wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen), Bilbo leaves the comfort of his home and travels across the evil-creature-riddled land of Middle-earth to the Lonely Mountain, where a community of dwarves have lost their home to a greedy, gold-hoarding dragon. Adding to an origin story of grand proportions, a certain “precious” gold ring slips into Bilbo’s hands, with the power to alter the fate of all Middle-earth.THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (1994) 7 p.m. on Paramount Network. Based on a 1982 Stephen King short story, this film follows Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) after he is convicted of his wife’s murder and sent to Shawshank Prison. Although quiet and reserved, Dufresne befriends a few inmates, including Red (Morgan Freeman), the film’s narrator and the one on the inside who can get you anything. “Without a single riot scene or horrific effect, it tells a slow, gentle story of camaraderie and growth, with an ending that abruptly finds poetic justice in what has come before,” Janet Maslin wrote in her review for The Times in 1994.SundayROBIN AND MARIAN (1976) 8 p.m. on TCM. This take on the legend of Robin Hood follows that hero (played by Sean Connery) as he returns to Sherwood Forest some 20 years after the original “steal from the rich, give to the poor” story took place. Upon his return from fighting in the Crusades, Robin Hood finds himself taking on his greatest adventure of all: attempting to win the heart of Maid Marian (Audrey Hepburn). In true medieval fashion, the journey boasts many a duel, heroic exchanges, cruel foes (notably the Sheriff of Nottingham, played by Robert Shaw) and no shortage of romance. More

  • 113 Shares99 Views

    in Theater

    Under the Radar Theater Festival Canceled as Omicron Surges

    Putting off the Public Theater’s annual showcase for experimental work was the latest sign of the variant’s impact on live performance.As a surge of coronavirus cases driven by the Omicron variant takes a growing toll on live performance, the Public Theater on Friday announced it would cancel its Under the Radar festival, originally scheduled to begin on Jan. 12.In a statement, the theater cited “multiple disruptions related to the rapid community spread of the Omicron variant,” including effects on staff availability, cancellations by artists and audience members, flight interruptions and visa processing delays.Mark Russell, the festival’s director, said in a video interview that his team had worked on plans to streamline Under the Radar — the Public’s annual showcase for experimental work, and one of several New York festivals that have formed around the Association of Performing Arts Professionals conference — so that it could proceed despite the surge. But on Thursday morning, Russell said, he took stock of the test positivity rate and number of cases in New York, and decided it would be irresponsible to press on.“It was not a time for a festival,” he said. “A festival is a celebration. It’s supposed to be a coming together to celebrate this work, and it was not going to be a celebration.”Although last year’s Under the Radar was completely virtual, that took months of planning, Russell said, so it would not have served this iteration to attempt to go hybrid or digital so late. Oskar Eustis, the Public’s artistic director, said in the interview that all festival artists and staff will be paid as planned.The lineup for Under the Radar was to have included “Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner,” by Jasmine Lee-Jones; “Our Country,” by Annie Saunders and Becca Wolff; “An Evening With an Immigrant,” by Inua Ellams; “Otto Frank” by Roger Guenveur Smith; and “Mud/Drowning,” with texts by María Irene Fornés.As part of Under the Radar’s On the Road initiative, “The Art of Theater” and “With My Own Hands,” two monologues by Pascal Rambert, will still be presented by Performance Spaces for the 21st Century in Chatham, N.Y. “An Evening With an Immigrant” is still expected be performed at Oklahoma City Repertory Theater (Jan. 22-23) and at Stanford University (Jan. 29-30), and “Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner” is still planning a three-week run at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington (Feb. 14-March 6).In December, the Public announced that it would require full vaccination and, through the end of January, proof of a negative Covid-19 test to access its theaters and restaurant. With no main-stage performances during that time, the policy was aimed mainly at Under the Radar, which had been scheduled to end on Jan. 30.Another presentation of experimental performance, the monthlong Exponential Festival, will be presented online, on the festival’s YouTube channel and Twitch. More