Spring Arts Listing

Regular readers know I haven’t had a lot of free time lately, but that’s soon to change. To fill my now open schedule I want to get out and enjoy the arts, namely theatre, a museum exhibit, possibly a dance festival and if it comes anywhere near New York, a new film from Great Britain.

I’ve already bought my ticket to see a new stage production from playwright Neil LeBute, This Is How It Goes, at The Public Theater. Directed by outgoing artistic director George C. Wolfe, the show stars the immensely talented Jeffrey Wright, Ben Stiller and Amanda Peet, the play is getting good reviews and causing quite a buzz among regular theatre-goers.

Also high on my list is the Pulitzer Prize winning play Doubt, from John Patrick Shanley. Set against the backdrop of a Bronx Catholic school in 1964, the play deals with a strong-minded nun who is faced with a difficult decision: Should she voice concerns about one of her male colleagues, a priest who may have abused a young student, even if she's not entirely certain of the truth? Sounds controversial and timely.

A star-studded cast brings a revival of David Mamet's 1984 Pulitzer Prize-winning Glengarry Glen Ross back to Broadway. Alan Alda, Liev Schreiber, Jeffrey Tambor, Frederick Weller, Gordon Clapp, and Tom Wopat take a behind the scenes look at a cut throat real estate office.

Some other shows have also caught my eye:

-- Monty Python’s Spamalot is the musical theatre adaptation of their hit 1975 film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, starring Tim Curry, David Hyde Pierce, and Hank Azaria.
-- Denzel Washington is Brutus in a modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
-- James Earl Jones makes his long-awaited return to Broadway opposite Leslie Uggams in the revival of Ernest Thompson's acclaimed drama, On Golden Pond.
-- Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin are eating up the stage in the Broadway revival of Edward Albee's 1962 classic tale of dysfunction in a marriage, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
-- And uptown, Andre Deshields is appearing as Caligula at The Classical Theatre of Harlem.

I may or may not get out to see them, but they all sound like great shows.

What also seems like a must-see is the new exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum on the late visual artist and icon of the 1980’s Jean-Michel Basquiat. After a youth spent as a graffiti artist, the Brooklyn born Basquiat became one of the most accomplished artists of his generation, with work sold in the top galleries in SoHo. But an addiction to heroin caused this bright light to dim all too early at just age 27. The exhibition of his work runs until June.

I don’t know if or when it will make its way to New York, but there’s an interesting film out of Great Britain, Bullet Boy, that may do for England what Boyz n the Hood did here in the U.S. Although a fictional story it’s shedding light on a growing problem in that country of gun violence in the inner city. It has received praise at some of the top film festivals, so keep an eye out for it.

The Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival has released its 2005 schedule. Some 19 companies will perform from June 21 to August 28 in Becket, Massachusetts, including the Martha Graham Dance Company, Mark Morris, Savion Glover, Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, and my favorite company, Garth Fagan Dance.

Finally, because I am the unofficial press agent for the sensational Billy Porter, anyone in or around western Pennsylvania should catch his one-man, autobiographical performance Ghetto Superstar at the City Theatre in Pittsburgh, his hometown.

Posted by bernie at April 12, 2005 01:12 AM | TrackBack