Woody Allen Strikes Again

Jessica Miglio/Amazon Studios

Wonder Wheel

These rotten reviews for Woody Allen's "Wonder Wheel" are either being politically correct, or they
just don't get it. It is compelling, quoting every B grade classic melodrama you ever heard of and adding scenic and cinematographic effects which just make you gasp. This is Kate Winslet at her prime, as if she has finally been yanked from all those roles in which she was either awful or almost good into this moment of brilliance. Her performance had the same effect, on me, as that of Gena Rolands in "A Woman Under the Influence". The entire cast is a superb ensemble which frames Kate Winslet and makes her dazzle, especially Jim Belushi as the broken down, rough-as-guts husband and Justin Timberlake as a cardboard cut-out life guard. How could people say this film is terrible? I can't believe what I am reading.

Watch the trailer:

 

A Sad Time Was Had By All

Russian Lieder at Paul Hall

Having staggered through Arctic wastes from Grand Central to Paul Hall on Monday night I was more than ready for a heady song fest of the Russians. It started off merrily enough with Glinka's liede about the langorous melancholy of despair followed by Rachmaninov's ode to embarrassing conversations. Rimsky Korsakov and Mussorgsky followed in suicidal mode about abandoned rendezvous and dying of love's wild longing before we were swept up by Shostakovich's "Lament for a Dead Infant", a lullaby for a father in prison in Siberia and a song cycle about collective farming ("I lived in a cramped and damp basement room, worn out by poverty.") It lasted only an hour. Some people left in tears.

La Clemenza di Tito at Manhattan School of Music

Pitch Perfect

This brilliant, pitch-perfect production of "La Clemenza Di Tito" last night was not only the best I've seen, but the fastest. They raced through it, with one interval, and we were all out the door 90 minutes later. So much better than the lugubrious, churchy pace of the Metroplitan Opera production, with the two long intervals needed to move massive and unnecessary sets and let the audience finish their dinner.

The Marriage of Figaro at the Metropolitan Opera

Ken Howard, Metropolitan Opera

Polyamory in Pre-War Thuringia

Titus Groan, or even Hermann Goering, could have starred in the Metropolitan Opera's production of "The Marriage of Figaro" on Wednesday night. None of the hours of preparation I had done for this long and complicated work was adequate for Sir Richard Eyre's pre-war Thuringia setting in what looked like Gormenghast's eerie castle, with gothic turrets throwing spooky shadows, and grim foreboding lurking behind every creaky door and gargoyled gable. Against all this the jolly music and silly adulterous antics were cast in an entirely different light, which I'm really only starting to understand now, almost two days later.

Emmanuel Villaume Conducts the Juilliard Orchestra

Mystification and Adulation

Emmanuel Villaume, whose conducting was so restrained during the Metropolitan Opera's muzak version of "Thais", let loose on Monday when he led a massive orchestra through Ravel's untypically dainty Menuet Antique followed by Debussy's la Mer, three symphonic sketches which were as overwhelming as they were hypnotic. What followed was peculiar as well as spectacular: the bizarre "L'enfant et les Sortileges", a highly visual fantasy about a naughty child's rebellious dream in which dancing tea cups and singing animals are enacted by by a large chorus embedded in the orchestra. Its hallucinatory qualities might be explained by the fact that Collette wrote the lyrics which were then set to music by Ravel while he was in the middle of fighting in WW1. The audience were mystified, then adulatory, and Emmanuel Villaume at last seemed liberated.

Juilliard Vocal Arts Recital

Aneas Humm, (Der Spiegel)

Dazzling Singing (and Couture)

Last night Juilliard pushed its singing students onto the recital drop, resulting not only in an entrancing evening of Duparc, Schonberg, Strauss, Wolf, Ullman and Manuel de Falla but also the most dazzling array of platform fashions, ranging from elegant Greek drapery for the fantastic Felicia Moore(already a regular soloist in New York) and a size XS Dior evening suit with patent leather slippers for the stunning (and slim) baritone Aneas Humm. Natalia Kutateladze, who sang the de Falla in black, wore a giant emerald scarab on her wrist. Rebecca Pedersen (the Strauss) wore ivory YSL, with a silk wrap, and later on I found out that she is not only a perfect pitch soprano, but also that she is deaf, which is amazing.