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Off-Broadway Play Review—“Scene Partners” with Dianne Wiest

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Sunday, 19 November 2023 23:40; Written by Kevin Filipski

Scene Partners

Written by John J. Caswell Jr.; directed by Rachel Chavkin

Performances through December 17, 2023

Vineyard Theatre, 108 East 15th Street, New York, NY

vineyardtheatre.org

Dianne Wiest and Josh Hamilton in Scene Partners (photo: Carol Rosegg)

Dianne Wiest has been a screen and stage treasure for more than four decades now, giving indelible performances in several Woody Allen films—notably her Oscar-winning appearances in Hannah and Her Sisters and Bullets Over Broadway—along with many theater appearances including Christopher Durang’s Beyond Therapy, Steve Tesich’s Square One and, more recently, Arthur Miller’s All My Sons on Broadway.

In Scene Partners, 75-year-old Wiest plays Meryl Kowalski, a 75-year-old widow who, following her bastard of a husband’s death, decides to leave her boring midwestern life and go to Hollywood to become a movie star—which she does, improbably but determinedly. The year is 1985, when Wiest’s screen career was starting to take off thanks to her memorable supporting turn in Woody’s The Purple Rose of Cairo. Maybe playwright John J. Caswell Jr. is using Wiest’s own career to create Meryl Kowalski, but he’s thrown so much into the pot—absurdism, melodrama, parody, tragedy, even karaoke—that it’s hard to discern any point to it all.

The Hollywood that Meryl arrives in is a clichéd place, populated with mindless agents, acting teachers and actors. The doctor Meryl visits—her sister Charlize, a failed actor Meryl stays with, takes her to him—is named Noah Drake, coincidentally the name of the doctor played by heartthrob Rick Springfield on the soap General Hospital. It’s all silly, but are we supposed to be laughing at Meryl or with her? Is this woman in a wrinkled trench coat a real find as a septuagenarian star, or is she merely delusional?

Even naming Wiest’s character Meryl Kowalski is a double-barreled cheap laugh, name-checking the Oscar-winning Streep and Tennessee Williams’ Stanley in Streetcar. The sophomoric humor extends to the dialogue: when Wiest fires off her first F bomb, a few audience members the night I saw the play practically fell out of their seats with laughter, though it’s not particularly funny as a rule to hear a star say “motherfucker.”

Director Rachel Chavkin has trouble making the bizarre, seemingly random tonal shifts cohere. Her pacing is also slack, as if she’s unsure what to do when, say, Meryl gets on the train to leave Wisconsin for California and it’s populated by Russians, one of whom flirts with her while they sing the Talking Heads’ “Road to Nowhere” (which, to be nitpicky, wasn’t released until a year later) or when Meryl secures a top agent by threatening him with a gun after they discuss the World Series going on between the Cards and Royals.

Screen Partners opens with Wiest onscreen introducing her character in closeup; filmed sequences and other projections dominate the production, and one pivotal scene of Meryl and Charlize being interviewed is shown entirely onscreen, although it would work better onstage, especially in a small theater like the Vineyard. That it’s filmed robs it of immediacy and poignance; its visual punch line—hinting that the entire play might be in Meryl’s head—could have been achieved more cleverly onstage.

Although she at times isn’t even the focus with so much busyness going on, Wiest retains her effortless charm, even singing Corey Hart’s “Never Surrender” with gusto in a goofy karaoke scene. Johanna Day is unfortunately wasted as Charlize; the rest of the cast does yeoman duty in multiple roles, but only Josh Hamilton, as a stereotypically smarmy agent and stereotypically annoying acting coach, is hilarious without being obnoxious, which is quite an achievement in this context.

Juilliard Orchestra Present Finnish Classic

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Friday, 17 November 2023 15:22; Written by Jack Angstreich

Photo by Claudio Papapietro.

At Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, on the evening of Monday, November 6th, I had the exceptional pleasure to attend a terrific concert featuring the excellent Juilliard Orchestra, under the direction of Jeffrey Milarsky.

The program began impressively with a sterling account of the powerful, mysterious Lumière et Pesanteur by the late contemporary Finnish composer, Kaija Saariaho. In her note on the work, she commented:

Lumière et pesanteur is a gift for Esa-Pekka Salonen, inspired by his performance of my La Passion de Simone in Los Angeles, January 2009. This piece is an arrangement based on the eighth station of the Passion, which I know that he especially likes.

Program annotator Noémie Chemali adds:

This version is an arrangement without the electronics that, in the original oratorio, narrated [Simone] Weil's own texts. It was also pared down to the orchestral part without a soprano soloist; this time, the principal trumpet takes the role of the passion play’s narrator.

And about La Passion de Simone, she says:

this multimedia oratorio, created in collaboration with Lebanese-French writer Amin Maalouf and stage director Peter Sellars, premiered in 2006 at the New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna. Written in the passion play tradition, it makes a loose allusion to Baroque oratorio, which historically depicts the suffering of Jesus. This work, instead, explores the life and spiritual journey of the iconic French philosopher and mystic Simone Weil (1909-43). Scored for orchestra, solo soprano, and electronics, it was subsequently performed by fellow Finn, conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, who inspired the orchestral arrangement known asLumière et pesanteur.

A remarkable young cellist, Taeguk Mun, then joined the musicians as soloist for a memorable rendition of Ernest Bloch’s moving, neo-Romantic Schelomo, Hebraic Rhapsody from 1916, earning—and receiving—an enthusiastic ovation, but the second half of the event was maybe even more extraordinary, consisting of an enthralling version of the magnificent Symphony No. 3 of Johannes Brahms. The opening of the initial Allegro con brio is passionate in nature but much of the movement has a quasi-pastoral character—on the whole, the dominant mood is affirmative although not without darker undercurrents. The ensuingAndanteis more subdued but also joyous in general, notwithstanding the abiding tragic cast of the composer’s personality. The melodic and lyrical Poco allegretto is astonishingly beautiful—itshaunting main theme was employed by Serge Gainsbourg for his exquisite song, "Baby alone in Babylone,” which was sung in its immortal original recording by the fabulous Jane Birkin. The Allegro finale—the most dramatic and intense of the movements—is Mendelssohnian at moments. The artists were rewarded with ardent applause, a harbinger of what appears to be an exciting season.

November '23 Digital Week II

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Thursday, 16 November 2023 01:53; Written by Kevin Filipski

4K/UHD Releases of the Week

American Graffiti

(Universal)

George Lucas’ best film remains this 1973 nostalgia trip, a beautifully made, gently touching evocation of the 1950s high school scene—it’s an understated classic, an anomaly in a movie career otherwise engaged with Ewoks, robots and intergalactic battles. It’s also crammed full of young actors giving lively, unaffected performances, including Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Cindy Williams, Harrison Ford, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, Paul LeMat, and even Suzanne Somers in a memorable cameo.

The film looks terrifically aglow in UHD—Lucas’ visual consultant was none other than the master cinematographer Haskell Wexler—and extras include Lucas’ commentary, screen tests and a vintage making-of featurette.

Contempt/Le Mépris

(Lionsgate)

Jean-Luc Godard’s 1963 adaptation of an Alberto Moravia novel was his attempt at a commercial film, starring the great French beauty Brigitte Bardot, whom Godard—at the producers’ behest—shot in various enticing poses and lack of clothing. But, as usual with Godard, the film is a head-swiveling display of satire, melodrama and sunbaked color (Raoul Coutard was, of course, the genius cinematographer).

In addition to Bardot, there are fine performances by Jack Palance, Michel Piccoli, Fritz Lang and Giorgia Moll. But it’s Godard’s singular artistry that takes over. The film looks breathtaking in 4K; lone extra is scholar Colin McCabe’s intro—too bad none of the features from the 2010 Blu-ray edition were ported over.

The Nun II

(Warner Bros)

The inevitable sequel to the fairly standard 2018 horror flick is an improvement over the first incarnation mainly because the scares are not as obvious, even if they are, almost inevitably at times, the cheap jump-scare variety.

Still, it’s done with some stylishness by director Michael Chaves, and the acting by Taissa Farmiga as the eponymous heroine and Jonas Bloquet as the boarding-school handyman who becomes possessed by a demon is a notch above the usual for these films. Cinematographer Tristan Nyby’s dark, foreboding look is captured well on 4K; extras are two making-of featurettes.

Violent Night

(Universal)

So you want to see Santa turn into a vengeful Terminator, tracking down and destroying the villains who have entered a rich family’s home on Christmas Eve? Well, here’s your chance.

Although the bloody violence is overdone, there’s a silly sense of humor involved in watching a drunk, downbeat Kris Kringle doing his holiday thing, and director Tommy Wirkola has smartly populated the movie with fine character actors from Beverly D’Angelo to John Leguizamo, with the redoubtable David Harbour making a memorably bad Santa. There’s an excellent ultra hi-def transfer; extras are on-set featurettes, interviews and deleted/extended scenes.

In-Theater/Streaming Releases of the Week

Girls on Film

(Breaking Glass)

Robin Bain wrote and directed this derivative but sexy drama about two young women whose dysfunctions let them bond, at least for awhile, until they discover that there are things they can’t otherwise escape.

Although the acting is variable and there’s too much of a late-night Cinemax feel to the erotic trysts, Bain has made a film that delves a bit deeper than one might expect and, in Dare Taylor and particularly Willow Grey, two performers unafraid to go further than others might dare to.

Jezabel

(Omnibus Entertainment)

The deadly cost of entitlement marks this unnerving Venezuelan drama about the aftermath of the death of a teenager who was part of a group of hedonists drinking, doing drugs and having sex along with trying to get revenge on a hated teacher—who is later convicted of the girl’s death.

Director Hernán Jabes Águila (from his and Eduardo Sánchez Rugeles’ script) has made a difficult to watch depiction of the cost of personal and political corruption that trickles down to ordinary people and where ethics and morals disappear. It’s a daring high-wire act that threatens to collapse but remains compulsively watchable, with a splendid cast leading the way.

The Marsh King’s Daughter

(Roadside Attractions)

Neil Burger’s adaptation of Karin Dionne’s popular novel about Helena, a young woman who’s the offspring of Jacob, who kidnapped her mother as a teenager, took her to the woods and kept as a prisoner for years, is both absorbing and plodding as it follows her confronting him decades later when he escapes from prison.

The narrative beats are all present and everything has a high gloss, but the predictability of the plot—once Jacob escapes we know exactly how this will end—robs it of much urgency, despite strong work by Daisy Ridley (Helena), Brooklynn Prince (young Helena) and Ben Mendelssohn (Jacob).

Rose

(Game Theory)

Sofie Gråbøl gives a powerhouse portrayal of Inger, a schizophrenic woman on a bus trip to France with her sister Ellen, brother-in-law and a group of other Danish tourists, and whose misunderstood behavior affects several others, including Christian, a 12-year-old boy whose clueless dad, Andres, makes his negative feelings toward Inger known.

Once Inger and Christian become unlikely friends, director Niels Arden Oplev’s offbeat drama becomes a sympathetic but prickly portrait, and there’s excellent support from Luca Reichardt Ben Coker as Christian, Søren Malling (best known for his role on the long-running series Borgen) as Andreas, and Lene Maria Christensen as the harried but devoted Ellen.

Subject

(Greenwich Entertainment)

The subjects of this surprisingly emotional documentary were also subjects of earlier documentaries, and directors Jennifer Tiexiera and Camilla Hall catch up with them to discover how having one’s life displayed onscreen has affected them, in ways that are illuminating and often distressing.

The Staircase, The Wolfpack, Capturing the Friedmans, The Square and Hoop Dreams—the people populating these films have been exploited and/or affected personally by their experiences, and Tiexiera and Hall broaden their outlook to the ethical considerations of recording regular individuals’ private lives and if monetary compensation should be used, among other tantalizing sidebars.

Blu-ray Release of the Week

The Unknown Country

(Music Box)

Lily Gladstone—currently stealing Martin Scorsese’s masterly adaptation of Killers of the Flower Moon—gives her usual persuasive, natural performance in this diffuse character study by writer-director Morrisa Maltz. Gladstone plays Tana, a woman coming off a crushing personal loss, who attends a family wedding on the Lakota reservation then takes a road trip to find closure.

What follows is meandering but intermittently interesting but, as Tana meets real people living real lives, Maltz has them narrate their own stories, which end up obscuring Tana’s own journey—the final stunning location shots of Tana feel dramatically and metaphorically unearned. It all looks lustrous on Blu, and extras include a commentary by Gladstone, Maltz and editor Vanara Taing; a Mill Valley film fest panel; a Maltz short, Odyssey; a Maltz music video; and a Maltz Q&A from a Chicago festival screening.

CD Release of the Week

Zoltán Kodály—Orchestral Works

(Naxos)

For their latest recording of orchestral works by Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and their longtime music director JoAnn Falletta tackle the engaging suite he made from his folk opera Háry János; Summer Evening, an evocative tone poem; and his three-movement Symphony in C Major.

Falletta and the BPO have already shown their affinity for Kodály’s music, and that comes through again in these spirited performances, especially in the flavorful symphony, which the composer finished late in life after putting it aside a couple decades earlier.

New York Philharmonic Presents "Fate Now Conquers"

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Tuesday, 14 November 2023 14:32; Written by Jack Angstreich

Stéphane Denève leads the New York Philharmonic with Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider Beethoven Violin Concerto. Photo by Chris Lee.

At Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall, on the evening of Thursday, November 9th, I had the considerable privilege to attend an outstanding concert presented by the New York Philharmonic—continuing a strong season of orchestral music—under the impressive direction of Stéphane Denève.

The program began brilliantly with a sterling rendition of the excellent Fate Now Conquers from 2019 by Carlos Simon, which appears to be one of the most frequently performed contemporary works in the classical idiom. About it, the composer has commented, “This piece was inspired by a journal entry from Ludwig van Beethoven’s notebook written in 1815.” The passage reads:

Iliad. The Twenty-Second Book
But Fate now conquers; I am hers;
and yet not she shall share
In my renown; that life is left to
every noble spirit
And that some great deed shall
beget that all lives shall inherit.

Simon added:

Using the beautifully fluid harmonic structure of the second movement of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, I have composed musical gestures that are representative of the unpredictable ways of fate. Jolting stabs, coupled with an agitated groove with every persona. Frenzied arpeggios in the strings that morph into an ambiguous cloud of free-flowing running passages depict the uncertainty of life that hovers over us. We know that Beethoven strived to overcome many obstacles in his life and documented his aspirations to prevail, despite his ailments. Whatever the specific reason for including this particularly profound passage from theIliad,in the end, it seems that Beethoven relinquished to fate. Fate now conquers.

The admirable virtuoso, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, then joined the musicians for a marvelous account of Beethoven’s extraordinary Violin Concerto. The elaborate and ambitious initial movement, marked Allegro ma non troppo, opens dramatically but quickly becomes melodious and joyous in mood—and with a somewhat proto-Mendelssohnian quality—but the composer sustains a compelling sense of suspense throughout it. The ensuing Larghetto is lyrical, reflective and relatively subdued but also affirmative—it is the most Mozartean of the three movements—while theRondofinale—with a tempo of Allegro—is dance-like, ebullient and dynamic, and elicited an enthusiastic ovation. The violinist rewarded the audience with a wonderful encore: the Sarabande from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004.

The second half of the event was at least equally memorable, consisting of a stunning realization of the awesome Symphony No. 3 of Camille Saint-Saëns—it is dedicated to the memory of Franz Liszt—featuring the celebrated Kent Tritle on the organ. The complex first movement begins as a quiet Adagio but rapidly transforms into an exciting Allegro moderato, which also, maybe surprisingly, evokes the orchestral work of Felix Mendelssohn as well as the opening movement of Franz Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony; the music acquires an elevated character when the organ enters in the closing Poco adagio section. The imposing second movement starts turbulently but then becomes more playful, finally building to a thrilling, propulsive, fugue-like conclusion, which drew vigorous applause.

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