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      Keegan-Michael Key Reaches into the Past With ‘Midnight Run’ and ‘Electric Ladyland’

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyMy TenKeegan-Michael Key Reaches into the Past With ‘Midnight Run’ and ‘Electric Ladyland’The actor, who appears in the upcoming musical “The Prom,” looks back on improv guides, Whoopi Goldberg’s comedy and Diego Rivera’s murals.Credit…Rich Polk/Getty Images For ImdbDec. 15, 2020, 10:00 a.m. ETThe world may have turned upside-down this year, but the actor-producer Keegan-Michael Key has grounded himself in his work, finding a refuge from the isolation and anxiety of the pandemic.For a gregarious person like Key, who is used to collaborating with others on set in projects like Netflix’s “Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey,” Ryan Murphy’s musical “The Prom,” and even “Home Movie: The Princess Bride” on Quibi (R.I.P.), conditions this year have forced him to work remotely every day.“It’s been fascinating to have just finished work before the pandemic really hit the States,” he said. “I was in a very, very communal experience, working on ‘The Prom.’ And then the stark contrast of doing Zoom meeting after Zoom meeting and doing audio work from your home.”Digging into the things that bring him joy has helped him keep his equilibrium, he says. In a recent phone interview from Vancouver, where he’s shooting a musical comedy for Apple TV+, Key walked through the 10 things he’s found himself revisiting during his extra time. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.1. “Every Frame a Painting”There’s a YouTube channel by a gentleman by the name of Tony Zhou, and it’s about film critique. The channel is called Every Frame a Painting [cocreated by Taylor Ramos]. I just absolutely love it, and I think it’s a tragedy that he stopped making them. Of the videos on the channel, my two favorite videos would be How to Do Visual Comedy, which is pretty much an exploration of Edgar Wright and his work. And then there’s one called How to Do Action Comedy, which is an entire episode about the art and craft of Jackie Chan.I think part of what draws me to all that stuff, to both of those, is the theatricality of them. So, the stuff with Jackie Chan I find so fascinating because he talks about how he locks off shots. He doesn’t pan or track. He always lets the performer do the special effects in the camera. So, seeing people actually jump and leap and fall and be struck is so dynamic and exciting to experience. With Edgar Wright, it’s the opposite. He uses a lot of artistry to show the passage of time, and a person moving from one place to another using cinematic techniques.But every single episode is an absolute gem. Sometimes if I’m just sitting during the day and I’m being contemplative or I have a break, I’ll find myself gravitating toward Every Frame a Painting. And it’s just something that gives me a lot of joy, and a lot of edification.2. “Impro” and “Impro for Storytellers” by Keith JohnstoneI had a director at the Second City who taught a technique about improvisation that he shared with us in a very figurative manner.He told us this quote, and I’m paraphrasing, about an improviser’s job is always to walk back, as if you’re walking backward. A performer’s always walking backward through space. As you keep walking backward, more things come into your field of vision.Oh, that’s a window, and that’s a lamp that’s now in the window. And I back up, now I see the kitchen counter. You need to see all of those things to help establish where you are.He got that idea from Keith Johnstone. He wrote a couple of really amazing books called “Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre” and “Impro for Storytellers.” And they were just perpetual manuals for me when I was performing as an improviser full-time and also teaching. And I just find so many fantastic things about narrative and how he looks at game play and how to open children’s minds and have them experience life in a fearless manner.3. “Midnight Run”One of my favorite movies of all time is “Midnight Run,” with Robert De Niro, Charles Grodin, Dennis Farina. Martin Brest directed it. American action films at that time had quite a lot of humor in them. But the bullets were still real. And there was this sensibility that the danger was gritty and authentic, yet there was also a place for jokes. And that’s fascinating to me.If you watch “Midnight Run,” it’s the funniest I think De Niro ever was in his career. Everything in the piece fits together. The narrative of the piece, and also how he’s reacting to Grodin. There was something very authentic about their buddy story, about the evolution of them coming together as two people.4. Kehinde WileyI think Kehinde Wiley is amazing. Just talk about an artist who really effectively uses juxtaposition. And the way that he celebrates the Black experience through another older experience. Legitimizing our very existence by saying, “Why couldn’t we have been any different to men on horseback with all this frippery, and regaling themselves with sashes and capes and sabers?” His art, it’s so dynamic and colorful and powerful and inspiring. I can’t go to an art museum right now, but I really enjoy his books so much.5. The Detroit Industry MuralsI’m from Detroit, and there’s a real love of epic that I have. In the Detroit Institute of Arts, there’s a room, and all the walls are filled with these murals that were painted by Diego Rivera in the ’30s. And they’re absolutely magnificent. It’s just these great images of all the people of the world. And then below it, almost the evolution of industry, and it’s fantastic. It’s just breathtaking. Absolutely breathtaking.6. “The Great Eastern” by Howard RodmanI read a book right on the edge of Covid. It’s a piece of historical fiction called “The Great Eastern,” and it’s fantastic.There was a civil engineer in the 19th century in England by the name Isambard Kingdom Brunel. And he helped build the tunnel underneath the Thames, and he did all this in the 1850s, 1860s. A ship called the Great Eastern suffered from an explosion. That’s all historical fact. But Howard Rodman, the author, what he did is you find out it was actually a terrorist attack. A gentleman blew up the ship, and then kidnapped Brunel. And you find out, through the story, that the person who kidnapped him is Captain Nemo.It’s great. It’s been my favorite read of the year so far.7. “Electric Ladyland” by the Jimi Hendrix ExperienceI’m an enormous Jimi Hendrix fan. I think that “Electric Ladyland,” which was his third album, is an absolute masterpiece. And something that if I ever really want to get lost in a song, my favorite song on that album is a song called “1983 … (A Merman I Should Turn to Be).” And it’s like a whole big opus. And I love this song. It’s one of these great songs that has movements in it. I don’t even know how he makes the sound, but these wonderful sounds of, like, sea bells. Like, foghorn-y sounds and sea gulls. He paints a seascape with sound, and makes bubbly sounds with the bass guitar and the guitar. And the whole song is about being someone who’s submerging underneath water, because that’s going to be a place to exist in the future.8. East Asian CinemaI’m a big fan of kung fu and wuxia cinema. There was a movie that came out in 2002 called “Hero,” which is a Zhang Yimou film, with Jet Li, Tony Leung, and Zhang Ziyi. But it’s just one of the most visually sumptuous things I’ve ever seen in my life. Every character is represented by a color. And it reminds me a lot of Akira Kurosawa’s “Ran.” Which again, it’s something that plays with different factions and different characters being explained by color, or influencing you, the viewer, by the color. It’s another one of these films that I could watch whenever. It’s almost like my eyes are having Thanksgiving dinner almost every 10 minutes. I’ve always had a kind of steady diet of those movies in my life.9. “Whoopi Goldberg on Broadway”I think one of the most influential things for me as an artist, but also for me seeing the world in a new way that’s always stuck for me, is when I used to listen to Whoopi Goldberg. I didn’t get to see her on Broadway, but my parents had the album, and I would listen to her play these different characters. And it was astounding. Here’s this African-American woman who’s playing several characters. She’s playing a woman with disabilities, she plays a young girl who’s Black but she had blonde hair. She’s playing a surfer girl who, as I’m listening to it, I’m hearing her voice, I’m going, “OK, yes, this girl is supposed to be white.”And then she plays this educated junkie. A junkie who travels to Amsterdam and goes to the Anne Frank [House], and talking about, “When I got my degree at Columbia,” and the audience always laughs, and she goes, “What? You think I was a junkie for my whole life?” And it’s one little line in the thing, but you go, “Oh my gosh, that’s so brilliant.” The character becomes this fully realized human in this tiny thing. It’s her using something Jordan Peele called comedic judo. She’s using your expectations against you. And it’s done so deftly.10. “Laughter” by Henri BergsonHe posits these theories about why we laugh. And one of them is about flexibility and malleability in society. So that when we move through society, we all try to be, for the most part, as fluid as we can with each other. Oftentimes, inflexibility or rigidity is what brings about laughter. There are these unwritten contracts that we have with each other, that I’m going to keep this much distance from you, or I walk out of the way as you’re coming down the street. You know, that kind of situation. We have these moments, small, infinitesimal, almost imperceptible negotiations with each other all the time. And when someone refuses to negotiate, sometimes the result is laughter.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘Six’ Tries to Get Back Onstage. Again, and Again, and Again.

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best MoviesBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest TheaterBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Six’ Tries to Get Back Onstage. Again, and Again, and Again.For nine months, the hit musical about the wives of Henry VIII has tried to keep the show going. But that’s not easy in a pandemic.A security guard takes ticket holders’ temperatures before a performance of “Six” in London, on Dec. 5.Credit…Photographs by Suzanne Plunkett for The New York TimesPublished More

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      WarnerMedia Chief Has Become a Movie Villain to Some in Hollywood

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWarnerMedia Chief Has Become a Movie Villain to Some in HollywoodJason Kilar’s decision to release 2021 movies simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max has angered many in the industry, including some of the star filmmakers his company relies on.Jason Kilar, WarnerMedia’s chief executive since May, has been criticized by agents, theater owners and filmmakers in recent days.Credit…Allison V. Smith for The New York TimesDec. 13, 2020, 5:00 a.m. ETLOS ANGELES — When Jason Kilar began his tenure as the chief executive of Hulu in July 2007, some competitors considered the streaming service so likely to fail that they nicknamed it Clown Co. Yet Mr. Kilar, armed with both the conviction that there was a better way to watch television and the backing of two powerful corporate parents — NBCUniversal and News Corp — sequestered himself and his team in an empty Santa Monica office and got to work. He covered all the windows with newspapers, emphasizing the point that naysayers were to be ignored.“Sometimes in life, blocking out that outside noise is a really good thing to do,” he said in a recent interview.Hulu did not fail, and 13 years later Mr. Kilar (the first syllable rhymes with “sky”) is the chief executive of WarnerMedia. Suddenly, he has a lot of noise he needs to ignore.This month, Warner Bros. announced that its 17 films scheduled for 2021 — including big-budget offerings like “Dune” and “The Matrix 4” — would be released simultaneously in theaters and on the company’s struggling streaming service, HBO Max. The move, orchestrated to deal with the continuing challenges brought on by the pandemic, upended decades of precedent for the way the movie industry does business and sent Hollywood into a frenzy.Powerful talent agents and theater executives publicly blasted it. Perhaps most important, some high-profile filmmakers who have worked with Warner Bros. — and whom the studio is counting on working with again — were sharply critical. Christopher Nolan, whose “Tenet” is just the latest of his movies released by Warner, told The Hollywood Reporter, “Some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service.”Denis Villeneuve, the director of “Dune,” wrote in Variety that “Warner Bros. might just have killed the ‘Dune’ franchise.” (“Dune” covers only half of the novel by Frank Herbert. The plan was for Mr. Villeneuve to complete the sci-fi tale in a sequel.) Neither Mr. Nolan nor Mr. Villeneuve, nor most of Hollywood, had been told of Warner’s plans before they were announced.The director Christopher Nolan, whose film “Tenet” was released by Warner Bros. this year, has been a fierce defender of movie theaters. Credit…Melinda Sue Gordon/Warner Bros. Entertainment, via Associated PressMr. Kilar, 49, called the pointed criticisms “painful,” adding, “We clearly have more work to do as we navigate this pandemic and the future alongside them.” But he has spent his career pushing against entrenched systems and was somewhat prepared for the outrage.“There is no situation where everyone is going to stand up and applaud,” he said. “That’s not the way innovation plays out. This is not easy, nor is it intended to be easy. When you are trying something new, you have to expect and be ready for some people who are not comfortable with change. That’s OK.”Mr. Kilar’s boss, John Stankey, the chief executive of Warner’s parent company, AT&T, also defended the strategy, calling it a “win-win-win” at a recent investor conference.Earnest and approachable, Mr. Kilar, who took over WarnerMedia in May, comes across more as an eager do-gooder than a ruthless disrupter. Both the childhood stories he tells about rushing home from school in Pennsylvania to watch “Speed Racer” and the enthusiasm he shows for upcoming projects — he called the adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical “In the Heights” “life affirming” — seem aimed at deflecting the growing narrative that he is the evil villain at the center of a plot to dismantle the very act of going to a theater to watch a movie. (In email exchanges after the interview, he shared a list of movies he had paid to watch in theaters before the pandemic shut things down, writing, “Movie theaters are where I have had some of my most transcendent experiences.”)WarnerMedia’s upcoming film “In the Heights,” which Mr. Kilar called “life affirming.” Credit…Macall Polay/Warner Bros. Entertainment, via Associated PressMr. Kilar has positioned WarnerMedia’s decision to release films in theaters and on streaming as a reaction to the struggles caused by the pandemic, which has shut down the majority of American theaters and prompted most studios to delay releases into next year. (One notable exception to the delay is Warner’s “Wonder Woman 1984,” which will be released in theaters and on HBO Max on Christmas Day.) He has also called the decision an accommodation for audiences, who have become more accustomed to watching films in their living rooms.But Mr. Kilar joined WarnerMedia just two months before the lackluster debut of HBO Max, and it is his job to make the service successful.There are serious challenges. HBO Max is more expensive than other streamers ($15 a month) and has been criticized for lacking any “must see” content. (The mini-series “The Flight Attendant” has recently created some buzz.) Its marketing has confused customers trying to determine the difference between it and platforms like HBO Go and HBO Now. The subscriber total stands at 12.6 million, far behind Netflix (195 million worldwide subscribers) and Disney+ (87 million). Only 30 percent of HBO subscribers have signed up.On top of that, AT&T’s balance sheet features close to $170 billion in debt, prompting some in Hollywood to wonder if the company can invest enough in content to make its objectives a reality.So it’s helpful that beneath that “Ah, shucks, I’m just a kid from Pittsburgh” veneer is a relentlessly ambitious executive who in 2011 wrote, on a Hulu blog, a widely read manifesto that criticized the television business — and that most likely played a significant role in landing him his current job. In his short time, Mr. Kilar has restructured WarnerMedia, laid off about 1,000 employees and begun ridding the company of decades-old fiefs.Business & EconomyLatest UpdatesUpdated Dec. 11, 2020, 6:16 p.m. ETSilicon Valley giant Oracle will move its headquarters to Texas.A surprise savior for Britain’s pubs: Scotch eggs.Stocks dip as Brexit and U.S. stimulus talks remain stuck with time running out.Some employees appreciate his clear direction and focused approach, while others chafe at what they see is a lack of respect for Hollywood tradition. He has become known for sending long emails, often late at night or on weekends, explaining his thinking.“If you were going to design an executive for this day and age on paper, Jason Kilar is the ideal person for the job,” Jeff Shell, the chief executive of NBCUniversal, said in an interview. The two got to know each other this past year while hashing out a deal over the “Harry Potter” series of films that Warner produced and Universal licensed for its various channels.“While it’s well known that he knows tech,” Mr. Shell added, “I do think he has both a respect for content and a relentless desire to pursue where the consumer is going. It was refreshing to see him do such a bold thing.”Mr. Kilar had never run an organization the size of WarnerMedia, nor did he deal directly with talent and other artists in his past work experience.For instance, when asked before Mr. Nolan’s public criticism how he thought the filmmaker, a fierce defender of the theatrical experience, might react to Warner’s move, Mr. Kilar was positive.“I think he would say that this is a company so thoroughly dedicated to the storyteller and the fan that they will stop at nothing to make sure they are going as far as possible to help both the storyteller and fan,” Mr. Kilar said.Whoops.Mr. Kilar does admit that the company should have been more sensitive to how its announcement would be received by actors and filmmakers. “A very important point to make — something I should have made a central part of our original communication — is we are thoughtfully approaching the economics of this situation with a guiding principle of generosity,” he said. That blind spot when dealing with creative talent may point to Mr. Kilar’s emphasis on serving the audience above all else. When making the announcement about “Wonder Woman 1984,” he wrote a memo that used the word “fan” or “fans” 13 times. His most recent one, announcing the 17-picture deal, was titled “Some Big 2021 News for Fans.”Mr. Kilar says that this commitment to the customer took hold during a childhood trip to Disney World. As his story goes, Mr. Kilar, the fourth of six children, was wowed by the company’s attention to detail, from the pristine landscaping to the lack of chewing gum on the sidewalk.A young Mr. Kilar near the entrance of Tomorrowland on a trip to Disney World. “It moved me in ways I had not been moved before,” he said.From there, Mr. Kilar became an expert on all things Walt Disney. He read the biographies, scoured the libraries for more material and finally landed an internship at the company after drawing a comic strip when his letters generated no response. He was most interested in Mr. Disney’s entrepreneurial spirit, a quality Mr. Kilar defines as “the relentless pursuit of better ways.”He sees a direct line from that childhood obsession to his decision as the chief of WarnerMedia to elevate streaming to the level of a theatrical release.The broader movie industry is not as romantic about it. Mr. Kilar’s primary mistake, as the town sees it, is not the deal itself — after all, filmmakers have been making deals with Netflix for years — but rather the nerve to ignore the other stakeholders when making the company’s decision. He is still viewed as an outsider, one who is discussing revolution but, perhaps, really just trying to prop up a faltering streaming product that needs to gain subscribers quickly to earn Wall Street’s approval.“There are some things that you can talk and talk and talk about, but it doesn’t necessarily change the outcome,” Mr. Kilar said. “I don’t think this would have been possible if we had taken months and months with conversations with every constituent. At a certain point you do need to lead. And lead with the customer top of mind and make decisions on their behalf.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Holiday Theater to Stream

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Holidays 2020Tame Your Gift MonsterSaying Goodbye to HanukkahHanukkah Dreidel TreatHoliday Gift GuideAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCozy Up With Holiday PlaysStream productions of reimagined fairy tales and Christmas standards like ‘A Christmas Carol’ being staged at theaters around the world.Credit…Luci GutierrezDec. 12, 2020Even a year as extravagantly Grinch-like as 2020 can’t quash holiday shows entirely. Rather than succumbing to despair and too much eggnog, theater companies have instead turned to performance capture, audio drama, livestream, green screen, shadow puppets and virtual reality to deliver festal entertainment. So let heaven and nature sing, unbothered by Zoom time delays. Here are a few suggestions to enjoy virtually.Pantomime? Oh yes, it is!The English tradition of pantomime — with its fractured fairy tales, its playful cross-casting, its audience call-and-response — has never really caught on in America. But this year, several companies have made these comedies available internationally. In England, the Belgrade Theater’s Iain Lauchlan has created a version of “Jack and the Beanstalk,” which includes a good fairy from Britain’s National Health Service and a cow that measures at least six feet, so that the two actors inside can appropriately distance (belgrade.co.uk, through Dec. 31).Meanwhile, the Nottingham Playhouse will stage a version of “Cinderella” with the ball open to all (nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk, from Dec. 19). Sleeping Trees have prepared an antic panto mashup, “The Legend of Moby Dick Whittington” (thesleepingtrees.co.uk, through Dec. 31). Scotland’s Pace Theater Company offer free performances of “Lost in Pantoland” (pacetheatre.com, from Dec. 19). The National Theater of Scotland’s “Rapunzel: A Hairy Tale Adventure” draws parallels between a certain tower-trapped princess and the experience of lockdown (nationaltheatrescotland.com, from Dec. 22). Also in Brit, Perth Theater spreads Southern hemisphere joy with “Oh Yes We Are! A Quest for Long Lost Light and Laughter” (horsecross.co.uk, through Dec. 24).Carol After CarolActual caroling is frowned upon this year (singing really sends those viral particles flying) and “A Christmas Carol” is also a dubious in-person proposition in most places. But the actor Jefferson Mays and the director Michael Arden have filmed “A Christmas Carol” — with Mays playing all the roles, even a potato. The Times critic Jesse Green described the show as “an opportunity to make what was already a classic story feel new, while also making it feel as if it should matter forever.” (achristmascarollive.com, on demand through Jan. 3.)If a one-man “Carol” strikes you as mere humbug, try the relative luxury of Jack Thorne’s “A Christmas Carol” at the Old Vic, directed by Matthew Warchus. (A version played on Broadway two winters ago.) In this production, livestreamed from an empty theater, Andrew Lincoln stars as Scrooge. Thirteen other actors assist in his transformation (oldvictheatre.com, through Dec. 24). Or consider the wizardry of Manual Cinema, which tells the tale with hundreds of paper puppets and silhouettes (manuelcinema,com, through Dec. 20). Or close your eyes as the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future appear via audio in “A Christmas Carol on Air” from the American Conservatory Theater, which takes the theater’s beloved holiday production and adapts it for radio (act-sf.org, on demand through Dec. 31).Holiday Tales, RetoldThis season, many companies have retrofitted familiar tales to better reflect the themes of an unfamiliar year, offering comfort or its opposite. Let’s start with what a story like “Twas the Night Before Christmas” leaves out. Do you really think it’s jolly Saint Nick who sorts out how to distribute all the presents? As a gentle corrective, North London’s Little Angel Theater, offers a free online puppet show, “Mother Christmas,” in which Mrs. Claus organizes the package delivery (available on YouTube). Prefer a darker vision of the Christmas story? Try “Krampusnacht,” a live immersive virtual reality experience that promises to reveal horror beneath that red suit (krampusnachtvr.com, through Dec. 27).Elsewhere, the visionary director Mary Zimmerman reinvents Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Steadfast Tin Soldier” for a wordless, enchanting livestream, hosted by the Lookingglass Theatre Company (lookingglasstheatre.org, through Dec. 27). And Kitchen Zoo and Northern Stage rework another Andersen tale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” into a cockles-warming holiday story of two fashion-conscious con artists (northernstage.co.uk, through Dec. 31).The Christmas-industrial complex is mighty, but for those looking for some Hanukkah counterprogramming, Untitled Theater Company has reworked its children’s theater show “Playing Dreidel with Judah Maccabee” for remote performance. Via Skype, Zoom or phone, an actor will connect with a young person in your household for a time-traveling, dreidel-playing adventure (untitledtheater.com, through Dec. 20).AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Bryn Terfel Returns to the Metropolitan Opera. (Sort Of.)

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best MoviesBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest TheaterBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyBryn Terfel Returns to the Metropolitan Opera. (Sort Of.)A holiday recital, streamed live from Wales, will be this star singer’s first headlining performance for the Met since 2012.The bass-baritone Bryn Terfel near his home in Wales.Credit…Clementine Schneidermann for The New York TimesDec. 11, 2020The airy studio where Bryn Terfel practices is set a good few yards from the house in Penarth, Wales, that he shares with his wife and two young children. Given his thunderous bass-baritone voice, which has roared through the great roles of Mozart, Puccini, Verdi and Wagner at opera houses around the world over the past 30 years, this is probably essential to family sanity.A few days before a holiday recital that will be streamed live by the Metropolitan Opera on Saturday from Brecon Cathedral, about 40 miles north of here, Mr. Terfel, 55, was seated at his piano in the room for a video call. Visible behind him was an antique poster advertising a Paris-Wales train route, and another for a production of Verdi’s “Falstaff” in Milan, in which he played the jovial title role.But the opposite wall, he indicated as he turned the camera, is dominated by his achievements in America: posters for a “Sweeney Todd” opposite Emma Thompson at the New York Philharmonic; his 1996 Carnegie Hall recital debut; and, signed by its cast, Wagner’s “Ring” at the Met.Mr. Terfel’s most recent performance in New York, opposite Emma Thompson in “Sweeney Todd” with the New York Philharmonic in 2014.Credit…Chris LeeThis wall of New Yorkiana was particularly poignant to see, since Mr. Terfel has not appeared in the city since that “Sweeney” in 2014. In a review in The New York Times, Charles Isherwood wrote that Mr. Terfel “may be the most richly gifted singer ever to undertake the title role.”His recent Met history has been a dark comedy of errors. Shortly after arriving to start rehearsals for a much-anticipated new production of Puccini’s “Tosca” in 2017, he knew something was wrong with his singing, and dropped out to have a polyp removed from his vocal cords. Then, earlier this year, he fractured his ankle and couldn’t appear in another new staging, this time Wagner’s “Der Fliegende Holländer.”“These are things that you never expect to stop you in your tracks,” Mr. Terfel said.The takeaway: He has not appeared at the Met since 2012, so this holiday recital is a return — even if it’s from some 3,000 miles away. He remains well-loved by the company’s audience for his rich, warm voice, his imposing characterizations — and commanding height — and his relish for the words he sings. Memories are still strong of his barreling through the title role in “The Marriage of Figaro,” sneering as Scarpia in “Tosca” and appearing as both the lecherous Don Giovanni and his manservant, Leporello, in Mozart’s opera. If his star turn as Wotan in Wagner’s “Ring” in 2010-12 felt stunted by the physical limitations on the performers in Robert Lepage’s staging, he still exerted a magnetic presence.Deborah Voigt, left, as Brünnhilde and Mr. Terfel as Wotan in Wagner’s “Ring” at the Met. Because of two last-minute cancellations, Mr. Terfel has not appeared there since singing Wotan in 2012.Credit…Ken Howard/Metropolitan OperaHe spoke in the interview about his pandemic year and his plans for the Met recital. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.Do you currently have Met engagements beyond this recital?In New York I’ve performed nearly all the operas I do on a new scale, a new production. Of course it’s such a tremendous strain on your family life to be away that long. That’s something that is always difficult in this career, about signing a contract in New York. So I don’t currently have any contracts, not really. I’m just booking two years in advance, maybe.I have certain interesting things with the Royal Opera House in London. And Welsh National Opera, too. I like Vienna and Munich, where you can rehearse two days and do three performances; a week and a half, and you’re home. And in a run of “Tosca,” you sing opposite maybe three different Toscas, each exceptional.How did this holiday concert, which is part of the Met’s series of livestreamed recitals, come about?In the summer, Peter Gelb [the Met’s general manager] rang me at home and offered me a chance to be a part of this series, which I’m incredibly grateful for. It’s a wonderful way to finish off your year, knowing a vaccine is being rolled out as we speak. He immediately said I should be doing a kind of Christmas program, so I’ve had plenty of time to think about it. I wanted something of the birth of Jesus, which comes in “El Nacimiento,” a Spanish carol I’m singing. There are a couple of songs by Robat Arwyn, a friend I was in school with. There’s “Silent Night,” “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” “In the Bleak Midwinter” and the Welsh song “Ar Hyd y Nos” (“All Through the Night”).A bard here in Wales, Mererid Hopwood, has written these short texts for me to read between the pieces. The arts is all about teams and collaboration, and I’ve tried to assemble a very strong team. My wife, Hannah Stone, will be accompanying me on the harp. It’s a perfect instrument anywhere, but in the cathedral it really feels like it’s come home. I’m so happy to be able to include some young singers, the soprano Natalya Romaniw and the tenor Trystan Llyr Griffiths. And the pianist Jeff Howard, and the folk group Calan. And everyone comes together at the end to start the Christmas spirit.Silence, serenity and peace — that is what I’m going to try and convey. But what will be on my mind will be the frontline workers, and the losses we have all encountered in every country.What was the process of picking Brecon Cathedral?The Met people had this vision they wanted a castle. But in Wales, the castles are either in ruins or the rooms inside are too small. There was the idea of Cardiff Castle, but there’s a wedding there this weekend.“Silence, serenity and peace — that is what I’m going to try and convey,” Mr. Terfel said of his holiday recital, which will be livestreamed by the Met.Credit…Clementine Schneidermann for The New York TimesHave you been able to perform this year?There have been some terrific moments. I did a new “Fidelio” in Graz; I did a “Tosca” in Munich. The arts in Germany is a whole different kettle of fish. It’s not just the federal government; it’s the city, it’s the state of Bavaria. It was important for the opera house in Munich that they brought back audiences very quickly, even if it was just 500 people. It was still bringing the arts to the people who needed nourishment in some musical form.I’ve just recorded “Chestnuts Roasting” for a music festival here close to me. (And maybe in a couple of weeks Santa might bring something that might resemble a microphone.) I did a concert in the Barbican [in London], a 50-minute online concert that had to be devised around a set amount of musicians. I did Bach cantatas and English songs.And I did a little concert to thank the vaccine team in Oxford, with a new carol by John Rutter. The three words at the end: “The angels sing.” And that’s the hope I think. For our profession now, to bring people back, everyone has to have that confidence. And hopefully by next summer we should have some sense of normality.What are some of your future plans?I had been supposed to do my first Bluebeard in Bartok’s “Bluebeard’s Castle” in June, and I hadn’t even begun with a coach or language coach. In lockdown I’ve been looking at one-act operas a little bit, with a thought what might help opera houses: Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi” and “Il Tabarro”; “The Bear” by William Walton; Donizetti has many wonderful one-act operas; “Bluebeard,” of course.And my constant friend, here on the piano, is Schubert’s “Winterreise,” which I hope to be recording for Deutsche Grammophon. I’ve never performed it; the first time I opened the score was during Covid. I was invited many times to hear Jonas Kaufmann sing it, Simon Keenlyside sing it, but I didn’t want to hear it until I did it myself.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Piano Bars and Jazz Clubs Reopen, Calling Live Music ‘Incidental’

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best MoviesBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest TheaterBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyPiano Bars and Jazz Clubs Reopen, Calling Live Music ‘Incidental’As the coronavirus continues to spread, Marie’s Crisis Cafe became the latest Manhattan music venue to reopen, claiming that it is not a performance venue.Despite the worsening pandemic, Marie’s Crisis Cafe, a West Village piano bar, reopened with a singalong this week. Like other venues, it says its music is “incidental,” and therefore allowed.Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesSarah Bahr and Dec. 11, 2020, 5:00 a.m. ETAlthough most indoor live performances have been banned in New York since the coronavirus began its deadly spread in March, about a dozen people turned up Wednesday night at Birdland, the jazz club near Times Square, for a 7 p.m. performance that was billed as dinner with live jazz. They had reservations.Among them was Tricia Tait, 63, of Manhattan, who came for the band, led by the tuba player David Ostwald, which plays the music of Louis Armstrong. Until the pandemic hit, it had performed on most Wednesdays at Birdland. She admitted to health worries “in the back of my mind,” but said, “Sometimes you just have to take a chance and enjoy things.”While the number of daily new coronavirus cases in New York City has been climbing to levels not seen since April, in-person learning has been suspended at public middle schools and high schools, and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo warned this week that indoor dining in the city could soon be banned, Birdland and a number of other noted jazz clubs and piano bars across the city have been quietly offering live performances again, arguing that the music they are presenting is “incidental,” and therefore permitted by the pandemic-era guidelines set by the State Liquor Authority.Those guidelines state that “only incidental music is permissible at this time” and that “advertised and/or ticketed shows are not permissible.” They continue: “Music should be incidental to the dining experience and not the draw itself.”That has not prevented a number of New York venues that are better known for their performances than their cuisine — including Birdland, the Blue Note and Marie’s Crisis Cafe, a West Village piano bar that reopened Monday with a show tune singalong after declaring itself a dining establishment — from offering live music again.“We think it’s incidental,” Ryan Paternite, the director of programming and media at Birdland, said of its calendar of performances that include a brass band and a jazz quartet. “It’s background music. That’s the rule.”The rules have been challenged in court. After Michael Hund, a Buffalo guitarist, filed a lawsuit in August challenging them, a judge in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of New York issued a preliminary injunction last month preventing the state from enforcing its ban on advertised and ticketed shows. “The incidental-music rule prohibits one kind of live music and permits another,” the judge, John L. Sinatra Jr., wrote in his Nov. 13 decision. “This distinction is arbitrary.”The state is appealing the ruling.“The science is clear that mass gatherings can easily turn into superspreader events, and it is unconscionable that businesses would attempt to undermine proven public health rules like this as infections, hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise,” William Crowley, a spokesman for the liquor authority, said Thursday. He noted that a federal judge in New York City had ruled in another case that the restrictions were constitutional. He said that the state would “continue to vigorously defend our ability to fight this pandemic whenever it is challenged.”But it is unclear what, exactly, “incidental” music means. Does that mean a guitar player in the corner? A six-person jazz band like the one that played at Birdland on Wednesday night? The Harlem Gospel Choir, which is set to perform at the Blue Note on Christmas Day? Mr. Crowley did not respond to questions seeking further clarity on Thursday, or about what enforcement actions the state has taken.Customers at Marie’s Crisis Cafe.Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesRobert Bookman, a lawyer who represents a number of New York’s live music venues, said venues interpreted the ruling as allowing them to advertise and sell tickets for incidental music performances during dinner.So venues have chosen their words carefully. They are taking dinner reservations, and are announcing calendars of lineups for what Mr. Paternite, of Birdland, characterizes as “background music during dinner.” Unlike Mac’s Public House, the Staten Island bar that declared itself an autonomous zone and was recently lampooned on “Saturday Night Live,” they have no interest in openly flouting regulations.Mr. Paternite said that Birdland, after laying off nearly all of its 60 employees in March, is now back to what he calls a “skeleton staff” of about 10 people.“It’s a huge risk for us to be open,” he said. “And it only brings in a pittance. But it helps us out in our agreement with our landlord, because to pay our rent over time and stay current on our utilities and taxes, we need to stay open. But we’re losing massive amounts every day.”If venues don’t reopen now, he fears, they may never do so. The Jazz Standard, a beloved 130-seat club on East 27th Street in Manhattan, announced last week that it would close permanently because of the pandemic. Arlene’s Grocery, a Lower East Side club that hosted the Strokes before they became well known, said it was “on life support” and, without aid, would have to close on Feb. 1.Randy Taylor, the bartender and manager at Marie’s Crisis Cafe, said the last time the piano bar had served food was probably back in the 1970s — or perhaps earlier. “There’s a very old kitchen that’s totally disconnected upstairs,” he said. Its dining options are extremely limited: It currently offers $4 bowls of chips and salsa. “We are required to sell them,” he said. “We can’t just give them away.”Steven Bensusan, the president of Blue Note Entertainment Group, said that he hopes the state does not move to shut down indoor dining.“I know cases are spiking,” he said. “But we’re doing our best to keep people safe, and I hope we can continue to stay open. We’re not going to be profitable, but we have the ability to give some people work who’ve been with us for a long time.”The clubs said that they were taking precautions. At the Blue Note, which reopened Nov. 27, the formerly shared tables are now six feet apart and separated by plexiglass barriers, and its two nightly dinner seatings are each capped at 25 percent capacity, or about 50 people. At Marie’s Crisis Cafe, where the masked pianist Alexander Barylski was ensconced behind clear shielding on Wednesday night as he led a jubilant group chorus of “Frosty the Snowman,” Mr. Taylor said that tables were separated by plastic barriers, and that the venue conducted temperature checks and collected contact tracing information at the door.Daniel Wiseman, left, and Rindi Klarberg are greeted by Moni Penda, right, at Birdland, a noted jazz club that now calls its live music “incidental.” Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesMarie’s Crisis Cafe had been livestreaming shows on Instagram and its Facebook group page, but Mr. Taylor said it wasn’t the same. On Wednesday night, 10 customers belted out holiday tunes through masks, some sipping their first drinks at a venue since March.“There have been some tears,” Mr. Taylor said. “People really, really missed us. We can’t see their smiles through their masks, but their eyes say it all.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More