La Boheme

Cory Weaver/Metropolitan Opera

Cecil B. De Mille at the Met

What a spectacular "La Bohème" at the Met tonight, like Cecil B. De Mille, with intimacy. The
eighty German tourists sitting in the cheap seats, as was I, will remember nothing about it except the rowdy argument they had in German, from the prelude in the garret to the final curtain on Mimi’s rosy corpse. I think that must be what they do at the opera in Germany. Their complete indifference to the performance was probably sophisticated. It reminded me of that bit in "Amadeus" when Mozart is at the vaudeville watching the rowdy parodies of his own music, and he conceives the idea of writing "The Magic Flute." Anyway it didn’t really matter. It was marvelous.

Francoise Grossen at M.A.D.

Francoise Grossen

Gigantism in Textiles

Tonight was "by donation" night at the Museum of Arts and Design so I went to see Lauren Kalman's full blown gold, diamond and pearl jewellery but ended up being fascinated by Francoise Grossen's textiles. They are gigantic and overwhelm everything else, including the jewellery. She says she frees fabrics from the two dimensional weave and instead creates these massive multi -dimensional, sculptures which seem to writhe and intimidate as soon as you look at them; they almost groan at you ... One of them resembles an organismic, pulsating Jackson Pollock.

Nutcracker at New York City Ballet

photo @Andrea Mohin

I had reservations about going last night to see the New York City Ballet's Balanchine Nutcracker, because I prefer Mark Morris' version where the adults get stonkered and fall down drunk behind the sofa while the neglected children sulk and vandalize the Christmas tree. But I succumbed to the NYCB's technical perfection, and all the sugar. Sterling Hyltin and Andrew Veyette did the (in)famous pas de deux with such perfection that it seemed unreal, and by the time the sleigh somehow took off into the sky, pulled by flying reindeer, I was moon - faced and staring in amazement along with the six year olds. Their parents played with their Iphones throughout, doing emails and even taking calls, and the child-weary ushers did nothing to stop them...

Aida at the Metropolitan Opera

More of Latonia Moore

Last night I went to see the great Ekaterina Gubanova sing Amneris in the Metropolitan Opera’s Aida, but I ended up being astounded by Latonia Moore. Back in March she stepped in with one day’s notice when Violetta Urmana got sick. Even though Latonia Moore was originally the understudy, the program note says she has recently sung the role at Zurich, Sydney, Covent Garden, Bergen, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, San Diego, Dallas and Tokyo. So no wonder she is good. Aida is her THING.

Brian Sebert at Bruno Walter Auditorium

Simultaenous Tap Dancing

This evening Brian Sebert, who is the dance critic for the New York Times, promoted his new book about the history of tap dancing by giving a lecture on the subject at the Bruno Walter Theater. He not only discussed the greatest tap dancers of all time, but also, being a trained dancer, demonstrated their signature steps himself. This was the first lecture I have been to which was delivered by someone who was, simultaneously, tap dancing, and I hope it is not the last.

"Flight" at Juilliard

The refugee awaits his detention in Juilliard's production of Jonathan Dove's "Flight." I'd never seen it before. It was as hilarious as it was tragic and topical and the huge orchestra was as absorbing as the people on the stage. Two old fogeys in front of me talked all the way through three acts and two intervals but the backs of their heads had that look which made me think there was little point in telling them to be quiet.

"Curtain Up" at NY Library of Performing Arts

Martha Swope / © The New York Public Library

The Last 40 Years of Theatre in New York and London

Having pushed my way through the barriers which encircle Trump and his nefarious cohorts in downtown Manhattan, I got to see this exhibition which celebrates UK/USA stage collaborations, so quite a crowd of show tune literati were in attendance to dance along to "A Chorus Line"... There was a free screening of the movie "Amadeus," too, which was incredibly long and incredibly good and had Cynthia Nixon in it as a traumatized maid servant. That was something.

Kinky Boots, Al Hirschfield Theatre, Broadway

Award Winning Musicals in Five Steps

How to write an award winning Broadway musical in 5 steps by Harvey Weinstein: (1) Convince yourself there's a story in a shoe factory making sexy boots. (2) Lard it up with emotional metaphors in which love rhymes with heaven above and soul rhymes with dark hole. (3) Throw this at the audience with all the subtlety of a cow in a catapult. (4) When that doesn't work, bring on the drag queens! (5) Yay! That works!

Summer Music in Winter at Juilliard

Sean Shepherd

Sean Shepherd

@shepseanshep

This evening the Juilliard ensemble played summer music to observe the start of the cold season: Samuel Barber, Sean Shepherd and Brahams. It was quite evocative. Shepherd's program note said he had written his Octet in France just before the weather turned and he had to cling to a tree to avoid being blown over by the Mistral. When he took his bow I could see why, because he is only four feet tall.