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Keeping the Blue Spruce Company
Now that my tree is bare, one of the interesting things to notice is how the tree trunk I could not see before has, over two decades, leaned outward, toward the southeast. Interesting, but I'd still...
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The Elderly and Beautiful Adventurers
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a surprising pleasure. The main draw, of course, is its exemplary cast, who are introduced in their British habitats precisely in time to leave them.Maggie Smith,...
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Straight Up, Water Back
The bar napkins read: Horvendile and I had planned to meet at 7 at the Algonquin. I arrive at 7, then see his text: Be at the Blue Bar at 7:15. Well all right then. The greeter at the Algonquin...
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Batman's Human Tragedy
The “Batman” comic book series tells a dark story, and director Christopher Nolan captures that in his film trilogy, ending with this summer’s final installment, The Dark Knight Rises. Batman is Greek...
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Inglorious Summer… Ends
Moon over MontaukIt’s been a weird couple weeks. Well, month. In August, I learned of three deaths. Not the usual celebrity deaths of people we don’t actually know and who are way older than my...
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From Gershwin to Glass
Friday to Friday, I saw two musical performances, one 2 ½ hours, one 4 ¼ hours. Those who know me know I believe most stories can be told within 90 minutes. OK, The Life and Adventures ofNicholas...
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Upstairs at the Duplex
The overhead light in one of the only two bathrooms at the Duplex was out. A woman stepped forward and said, “Wait! I have an app for that!” She pulled her boyfriend into the small bathroom to hold...
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Everyman Will Not Conform ... Will He?
The Theatre de la Ville (Paris)’s production of Ionesco’s Rhinocerosplayed for three nights at the BAM Opera House last week. In Rhinoceros, Ionesco’s main character — a sad sack hung over Everyman...
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A Wee Hamlet
Last week, the compact traveling production of Hamletfrom Shakespeare’s Globe was quite entertaining and unlike any Hamlet I’ve ever seen. That said, was it Hamlet? It didn’t feel like Hamlet,...
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Steppenwolf's Scathing Revival
The Steppenwolf Theatre Company's production of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, playing at the Booth Theatre on Broadway, is scintillating, surprising, and still vicious after all these...
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A Creaky Heiress
My friend Matthew said it best after a torturous first act: “Creaky, isn’t it?” The play The Heiress is as rusty as the Tin Man, and that’s not just because it takes place (allegedly) in 1850. The...
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Argo, the Science Fiction Film That Wasn't
Argo is the third Ben Affleck-directed film I’ve seen, and I’m impressed. I’m not a fan of Ben Affleck the actor. He’s there and not there; my eye and ear pass him by. But as a director and writer...
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Friends, Romans, Dutch?
This is not really a review. I am merely contemplating a production I saw the other week. A production of three Shakespeare plays, one after another, intertwined. A long Saturday at the Brooklyn...
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A Phantasmagoria
Faust: A Love Story, a wild and witty production by the Icelandic theatre companies Vesturport Theatre and Reykjavík City Theatre, has two flaws: The first act, despite quirky performances, falls a...
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History and Art Make Movie Magic
Since his TV-movie Duel 40 years ago,we’ve known director Steven Spielberg as a master manipulator, but he left his bag of tricks at home for his new film, Lincoln. Mr. Spielberg directs this film...
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Arterial Spray and Other Bodily Fluids
Quentin Tarantinoloves his arterial spray. Geysers of it, in fact. For his fans looking for that sort of thing, Django Unchained did not disappoint. Something did though. Christoph Walz as Dr....
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A Russian Classic Revamped: Anna Karenina
From the get-go and throughout, Anna Karenina was breathtaking. Bearing in mind that I read the novel only once several decades ago and am not a purist when it comes to Russian literature, I believe...
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Mama's Got the Stuff
The opening of“Mama” is intriguing. A car, its driver’s door open, is parked haphazardly in front of a well-kept suburban home where a little girl is choosing a toy — one for an ever so slightly...
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Where is the Other Place?
KING: Where is Polonius? HAMLET : In heaven; send thither to see: if your messenger find him not there, seek him i' the other place yourself. - Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act IV, Scene...
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Much Ado About Something
The something is a breezy production of Much Ado About Nothing by Theatre For a New Audience. Last winter I saw TFANA’s Arin Arbus-directed production of The Taming of the Shrew with Maggie Siff as...
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