When the Frick Museum featured “Girl with a Pearl Earring” in “Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Hals: Masterpieces of Dutch Painting from the Mauritshius,” its formidable Fall exhibition that just completed a 3-month run, curators could not have anticipated a timely coincidence: that a new documentary in which a humble, self-effacing and very talented inventor seeking to copy Vermeer ‘s “The Music Lesson,” would be taken up by the duo Penn & Teller. Teller’s directorial debut, Tim’s Vermeer, follows Texas-based Tim Jenison as he constructs a room taken from the famous painting; the original is housed in Buckingham Palace. Jenison has one of his daughters model for the young woman at the harpsichord, and essentially repaints the Dutch masterpiece, all on the hunch that Vermeer crafted the work using mirrors. The Frick show underscores Vermeer’s greatness, while the documentary demystifies the notion of high art.
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Good news: the written word thrives downtown. The brainchild of Doctor Amanda Foreman, the author of historical works like Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire, “House of Speakeasy” was founded to keep writers visible, engaged with audiences, and earning money for their craft. At a sold-out salon at City Winery on Monday night, the first of a series, some writers who do, also showed another side of their chops as performers: moderated by humorist Andy Borowitz, authors Adam Gopnik (The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food), Susan Orlean (The Orchid Thief), Simon Winchester (The Men Who United the States), and songwriter Dar Williams sang—in other words, working writers at The New Yorker magazine and other venues– who also earn a living—told stories on the theme of “plays with matches.” -
It would be impossible to imagine two more wrong-headed individuals than Anthony Reilly and Rosemary Muldoon, the next-door neighbors in John Patrick Shanley’s new play, Outside Mullingar. The idea that they would live side by side for their entire lives and not realize their desires for one another strains the imagination. But if the playwright of Doubt is looking for a fresh window into the human heart, or a way to express his inner Irishman, this old school play at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater, produced by the Manhattan Theater Club and directed by Doug Hughes, is surprisingly satisfying, especially in our age of social media with its laconic exclamations.
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For the 18th edition of YoungArts on HBO, Josh Groban, the youngest ever to give such a class, challenges three YoungArts alumni to write a song in two days. Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon, Academy Award winning documentarians, follow the creation and ultimate performances of the SB3 (Super Baby 3), Miranda Scott Johnson, David Stewart, Jr., and Elena Pinderhughes, all the way from brainstorming to the ultimate performance with Groban in Boston. It’s a thrilling ride, entertaining as a reality show, but with Groban’s insights about what works and what doesn’t useful to anyone who is learning anything. Josh Groban charmingly seems surprised as his pupils succeed so well in this process. As a display of what YoungArts, a foundation dedicated to providing life-changing experiences to young artists, can do, this film is both entertaining and inspiring. On Monday night at a special screening at MoMA, they all performed their song, “Fade Away” for family and friends. Everyone could see, these young artists have a big future.Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura
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It’s fitting that the 200th episode of American Masters on PBS features writer J. D. Salinger, an author so influential it is hard to imagine the course of 20th century American literature without his imprint of lost innocence in the novel The Catcher in the Rye. Not only are at least three assassination attempts attributed to this book, but much in the arts bear its stamp. Just look in the Museum of Modern Arts’ Education Center’s display of a facsimile of the first edition, an act of appropriation by Richard Prince, and thereby an appreciation. Featuring interviews with notables: John Guare, Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, A. Scott Berg, Phoebe Hoban and many others, this copiously researched documentary also has Joyce Maynard and the “Esme” girl, Jean Miller, telling their side of seduction and betrayal by Salinger. Back in September, when the film first screened at MoMA, Simon & Schuster published a valuable accompanying volume compiled by David Shields and Salinger’s filmmaker Shane Salerno. -
Among the fine documentaries on the short list for Oscars is HBO’s Life According to Sam. Not your usual leading man, its star Sam Berns was an odd looking teen, bald and pin headed because of a genetic disease, Progeria, so rare few have heard of it. Last summer Life According to Sam made the rounds of the film festivals, garnering praise for the filmmakers Sean Fine and Andrea Nix, the husband and wife team who made the Oscar winning short, Inocente, about a talented artist who was also a homeless teen. At the Nantucket Film Festival in late June, I had the opportunity to meet the filmmakers, Sam, and his remarkable parents, doctors Leslie Gordon and Scott Berns. You could call them Sam’s secret weapon, committed to curing this disease, not only for their son, but for the children worldwide who endure it, dying by the time they reach 13. Creating a foundation, they researched, finding ways to impede Progeria’s quick progression. -
Woody Allen sat aisle right next to his wife Soon Yi opening night of the new musical Beautiful, about fellow Brooklynite Carole King. Well, everybody has to be somewhere! Where he wasn’t? Picking up the Golden Globes Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award in Los Angeles. Diane Keaton accepted the statue for him. Nevertheless, he endured his own limelight, grimacing as a fan took a picture with an iPhone. Nearby Jerry Seinfeld chatted with Katie Couric, and checked the football scores on the way out. But hey, noted a companion, at least he was there. Elsewhere present: Clive Davis and Phil Collins. Sting and Trudie Styler just back from L.A. joined in for the party at Cipriani 42nd Street. Whatever was going on out west, the place to be in New York on Sunday was the Stephen Sondheim Theater. That’s because the show Beautiful really is. -
When a fan tells him she’s tongue tied, Martin Scorsese becomes wildly animated: “Why? You don’t need to be. It’s just me,” and gives her a hug. You could say his buoyant spirit reflects some optimism. It was Tuesday, and he’d just been nominated for the Directors Guild Award. Now surrounded by friends and colleagues at a luncheon at Michael’s, he would receive an award for collaboration with Leonardo DiCaprio at the National Board of Review gala that night. It was all good. New Year’s week is a bit like the circus comes to town: and in a day or so, they’d all leave town for L.A. and the Golden Globes on Sunday where his film Wolf of Wall Street may pick up a Best Motion Picture-Comedy Award. -
What can’t Meryl Streep do? Presenting a Best Actress award to her friend Emma Thompson, she offered the 700 gala guests of the National Board of Review at Cipriani 42ndStreet an option, a short speech of praise, or a longer complaint. I don’t remember a show of hands. Wearing a souvenir trucker hat emblazoned with the words, “Prize Winner” evoking Woody played by Bruce Dern in Nebraska, Streep launched into her kvetch with full gusto. “I’m not the prize winner,” noted Streep in mock rivalry, “That’s so weird.” Recounting instances of Walt Disney’s gender bias, in her final moments of praise for Thompson, she recited a poem she composed in her honor, ending:
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In 1935, at age 5, Harry Belafonte saw his first movie, Tarzan, and knew he never wanted to be one of those people from Africa. This bit of personal history was the entry point for the 87-year old performer and activist, putting the achievement of Steve McQueen, the British director of 12 Years a Slave in the context of this country’s untoward history. He looked forward to more work from McQueen, but even if his career ended now, 12 Years a Slave was enough to move the conversation about slavery in America to a new place. Belafonte’s speech limning his experience of racial identity was so powerful that when the critics’ group’s choice for the best film, American Hustle, was presented by veteran director and film historian Peter Bogdanovich, the evening’s finale in a night honoring excellent work in cinema, director David O. Russell left the stage at The Edison Hotel speechless.
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The entertaining PBS portrait of composer Marvin Hamlisch, aptly titled, “What He Did For Love,” provides the music, his method for creating it, and the man. Fortunately for producer Dori Berinstein, and for us, Hamlisch was often photographed and the footage of him performing, accepting awards, Pulitzer, Oscars, Emmys, Tonys, so much a part of our recent cultural history, makes our loss all the more poignant: he died a little more than a year ago at age 68, clearly with much more music to give. -
The French provincial brocade couches in Carmine and Dolly’s Camden, New Jersey house in “American Hustle” tell you what you need to know about the characters’ domestic life. But the “American Hustle” soundtrack goes far to define the movie’s con artists’ ethos; for example you hear The Jefferson Airplane’s classic “White Rabbit,” but it’s not The Airplane. So what is it? Another put on? A leitmotif for a fake sheikh from the Emirates? Susan Jacobs, the “American Hustle"'s music supervisor, filled me in about the creation of “White Rabbit” –turns out, in Arabic, and other music backstories. -
Invisibility is perhaps desirable if you are going to be the mistress of one of the most popular writers of all time. The story of Charles Dickens’ mistress, a young actress, Nelly Ternan 27 years his junior is compelling material, Ralph Fiennes’ second feature as director. Known for performances in The English Patient, Quiz Show, Schindler’s List among many other star turns including Lord Voltemort in the Harry Potter films, Ralph Fiennes was celebrated at this year’s New York Film Festival. As director and star of The Invisible Woman adapted from Claire Tomalin’s historic novel, he plays Charles Dickens as a boyish man in love with his mistress (Felicity Jones). Rather than being a woman scorned, the revelation is that Nelly survived potential scandal intact. Even Dickens’ wife and mother of his 10 children played with remarkable compassion by Joanna Scanlan seemed to be okay with the arrangement. -
Not all soldiers are heroes, but in Lone Survivor, director Peter Berg’s film based on the book by Marcus Luttrell, heroism is in full display. The movie’s three acts are well defined: first, the rigorous training of a team of Navy Seals, then a covert mission of four men on a mountain to take out a key target known as Operation Red Wings, and third, an Afghan village in the aftermath of this operation. When asked whether or not this was a movie for or against war, Mark Wahlberg who portrays Luttrell and is also a producer, said, “Neither. This film is pro soldier.” -
Leonardo DiCaprio made a cameo at The Four Seasons on Wednesday at the luncheon celebrating his new movie, Wolf of Wall Street. Brief public appearances are par for the course for this star; we forgave him cutting out before the short ribs. He was en route with director Martin Scorsese to the White House to show this edgy crime, sex and drugs romp to the first couple. Something tells me that they are cool enough to love this hilarious comedy, but may have to keep their exuberance under wraps. Leo stars as Jordan Belfort, a Wall Street stockbroker whose addictions to money, power, sex, drugs, and excess may resonate in a bad way with those still bitter over the pass the financial wheeler-dealers got over their Main Street victims. -
Christmas came early this year. First there was the gift of the documentary “20 Feet from Stardom,” now shortlisted for the Best Documentary Oscar. Then, there were the celebrations: the most recent on Thursday night at the Edison Hotel’s Rum House featuring cast members, Judith Hill and Lisa Fischer, accompanied by pianist Robbie Kondor for Christmas carols. Director Morgan Neville introduced the evening, saying that he never expected the film to have this kind of success: if you haven’t seen it, the documentary tells the story of backup singers with testimonies of Mick Jagger, Stevie Wonder, Sting, Springsteen all singing the praises of the less famous women with the musical chops that make the front men sound so good. In the documentary, Neville unearths a story about race, gender, the consequences of Michael Jackson’s death, making this film resonate in ways larger than the great music performed. -
Never one to miss a quip, Harvey Weinstein introduced the movie August: Osage County at its Zeigfeld premiere, noting Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts were singled out for Golden Globe acting nominations: “We like to promote new talent.” In truth, the Weston family depicted in this tragicomedy is an ensemble, reflected in a SAG nomination. This ensemble is tightly knit, troubled in the way American families can grate and love. Both matriarch Violet (Streep) and daughter Barbara (Roberts) are called monsters, and frankly in terms of the dysfunction, that’s putting it mildly. Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning play by Tracy Letts, the film distills scathing dialogue, and blocks scenes so that the claustrophobic effect of the big house translates to the wide flat plains as well. The Ziegfeld’s expansive screen is ideal for viewing this American tableau. -
After a screening of his American Hustle, at a party at the Monkey Bar sponsored by OPI, director David O. Russell held court. Having paved the road toward Best Actor/ Actress awards for many cast in his movies over the years, actors must be dying to work with him although he made it clear that the American Hustle dream ensemble, a mix of Silver Linings Playbook and Fighter vets is now something of a repertory. This morning, not surprising: Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper were all nominated for Golden Globes. -
Lee Daniels, always a provocateur, addressed the huge crowd at Cipriani Wall Street at this week’s Gotham Awards with a confession: he hates white people. No one gasped. It was not clear whether this proclamation was part of his complaint that no one in the cavernous space was listening to his introduction of honoree Forest Whitaker. Was he merely trying to grab the attention? All night long at this, the annual awards given to “independent” –i.e. non-Hollywood fare, speakers seemed daunted by the noise in the room throwing off the rhythms of, for example, the evening’s host, comedian Nick Kroll, who was decidedly unfunny. Still, Whitaker managed to present a gentle, Zen-like oration. And Steve Buscemi speaking of James Gandolfini delivered a moving tribute to the Tony Soprano actor who died so suddenly this past summer. “What a loss,” he noted of this most beloved actor whose family was present for the tribute. -
After a best actor award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, there’s no stopping Bruce Dern. As Woody in Alexander Payne’s masterpiece “Nebraska,” featured in Toronto, New York, and the Hamptons Film Festivals, he’s a doddering but endearing old fool who takes seriously one of those announcements that he’s a sweepstakes winner, and convinces his son to drive him from Billings to Omaha to pick up his millions. With old school modesty, Dern says that the obstacle to making this film which took a long time—he received the script 10 years ago this week—was not about casting him, a quasi-bankable character actor in the lead role, but that it’s shot in black and white. At lunch at Il Gattopardo this week, he applauded Paramount for letting Payne make his film the way he wanted to make it. And now, there’s no question that Dern will join a line-up that includes Robert Redford for “All is Lost,” contenders for the Best Actor Oscar. -
Casey Affleck has a youthful intensity: he’s too vulnerable to go to the deadly places he explores as a fighter to prove himself in the testosterone fueled “Out of the Furnace,” in theaters this week. The opening scenes are so brutal, with a screw loose Woody Harrelson going ballistic on his date at the drive in, you know that by the time the two meet, nothing good will come of it. After four tours in Iraq, Affleck’s sweet-faced Rodney Baze has so few options in the Pennsylvania town where he lives with a dying father, and with his brother, the incomparable Christian Bale as Russell Baze.I spent a good part of the movie with my hands over my eyes, ruing my presence at a movie that displays boys behaving so badly. That said, in the end, the story resonated at a different level, as a parable about returning war heroes and the bleak opportunities they have connecting with home, family and a meaningful job. Featuring excellent, tough but sensitive, performances by Affleck and Bale, Willem Dafoe, Forest Whitaker, and Sam Shepard against an authentic, gritty, industrial steel mill backdrop, in the end, the themes of revenge and love overshadow the violence.
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Onstage backstage, at the Pearl Theater’s production of “And Away We Go,” six actors celebrate theater history. Set in the detritus of years of costumes, props, deflated dolls, and chandeliers, this new play by the venerable Terrence McNally sits on the most cluttered set north of 14th Street. (Small Engine Repair’s garage at the Lucille Lortel gets the prize south.) The lived-in look works well to convey an atmosphere of well-worn theatrical mayhem. The Greek plays such as Aeschylus’s “Oresteia,” an actor’s dream to perform Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” Chekhov’s “Seagull,” Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot,” all evoked, all supply a turn of phrase, a dramatic diva in this Dionysian and clever pastiche, under Jack Cummings III able direction, featuring the Pearl regulars Carol Schultz, Sean McNall, Rachel Botchan, and Dominic Cuskern, and a pair of newcomers, Donna Lynne Champlin and Micah Stock. -
Ethan Hawke is a manly Macbeth in a leather skirt. The men in “the Scottish play” look good in skirts, even John Glover’s “weird sister,” with pendulous breasts. At this stylish “Macbeth” directed by Jack O’Brien, you pause wondering: Alexander McQueen? Gaultier? Marc Jacobs? Catherine Zuber’s costumes, like the regal sets by Scott Pask, lighting by Japhy Weideman’s, the dark, elegant look of this production throughout including the tinged with blood roses (as if competing with the color tones of “Twilight”) signal the other worldly and worldly at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater. Hecate is a Goth goddess. When Lady Macbeth (Ann-Marie Duff) asks to be unsexed, any gloss will say, for Elizabethans that means to be released from the cares of women. And indeed, childless, murderous and ambitious, she is in every way manly in that sense except for her pale bony back in strapless. (You could see her as Marin Ireland’s Marie Antoinette counterpart; in a recent downtown production, that doomed queen wore red.) Here, in black, this fated queen’s as stylish as this production is sleek, and the effect is thrilling, if not exactly like the more classical approaches to this most often produced of the bard’s work. -
In Amanda Peet’s fine playwriting debut for Manhattan Theater Club at City Center, “The Commons of Pensacola,” Sarah Jessica Parker and Blythe Danner are daughter and mother locked in a domestic dilemma: Judith (Danner) is forced to scale down as her husband has been jailed for a Madoff-mode crime. Becca (Parker) arrives for Thanksgiving with a boyfriend much her junior. Her sister Ali (Ali Marsh) has broken off from their mother for mysterious reasons, so her daughter Lizzy (Zoe Levin) must sneak a visit to grandma now residing in a generic Florida condo. All would be cozy, complete with a fold out couch, except that the wrong couple ends up sleeping there. -
Two benefits this week featured a back stage glimpse into how theater is made: on Sunday night, Stanley Tucci, along with Anne Tatlock, was honored at the Plaza Hotel, at the New York Stage and Film Winter Gala for his contribution to theater. Fitting, the presentation included performances: Li-Manuel Miranda and Anika Noni Rose sang from Miranda’s work in progress, The Hamilton Mixtape. Peter Gallagher sang Cole Porter’s “I Happen to Like New York.” Guests for this event which focused on the organization’s important work in developing and nurturing young theater artists included Patricia Clarkson, Steve Buscemi, Oren Moverman, Jon Tenney, and Oliver Platt who presented the award to Stanley Tucci. While the new Hunger Games: Catching Fire opened this week, with Tucci reprising his role as Caesar Flickerman, he was looking forward to directing theater as he did most recently in Lend Me A Tenor on Broadway.
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