MOVIES

Jack Black is Gulliver

Gulliver’s Travels.

Reviewed by Lily Feinberg
Jack Black stars in the 20th Century Fox adaptation of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels with this fantasy-filled comedic production. It’s an exciting, modern, fun film that people of all ages will love! - starting out with Gulliver (Black) working in a mail room and having done so for 10 years. Finally an accidental wakeup call leaves Gulliver on a boat sailing into the Bermuda Triangle with no experience whatsoever and not knowing the danger or excitement he was heading into. Only hours later did he find out: Gulliver was in Lilliput, an island where he is the biggest occupant in comparison to its tiny inhabitants. After saving the city,  Gulliver finally finds out what it feels like to be important. The excitement of the movie kept me glued to the screen for two hours flat. The acting, like the script, and the animation made this fantastic film, like no other film I have seen before! Ask your parent or grandparent to order the DVD from Netflix or other source.

THEATER 
Free! Shakespeare in the Park
All’s Well that Ends Well
Through July 27
_____________________
Measure for Measure
Through July 30

Delacorte Theater
Central Park
8 p.m.

This Summer’s Shakespearian duo focuses presciently on politically incorrect miscreants whose ribald misdeeds might have been ripped from the front pages of the New York Daily News and NY Post. Bardologists regard them as comedies, others as “problem” plays.

Exhibit “A” is All’s Well that Ends Well in which Helena, the orphan daughter of a famous physician, is in love with the son of the Countess, Count Bertram, who has been sent to the court of the King of France. In spite of her beauty, Helena has no hope of attracting Bertram, since she is of low birth and he is a nobleman. When word comes that the King is ill, she goes to Paris and, employing her father's arts, cures the fistula from which he suffers. In return, she is given the hand of any man in the realm and chooses Bertram. Her husband-to-be is appalled at the match and shortly after their nuptial, flees France to fight in the army of the Duke of Florence. Helena is dispatched home to the Countess, and receives a letter from Bertram informing her that he will never be her true spouse unless she can secure his family ring from his finger, and become pregnant with his child.  Meanwhile, in Florence, Bertram has become a general in the Duke's army. Helena heads to the city, and discovers that her husband is endeavoring to seduce Diana, the virginal daughter of a kindly widow. Diana wishes to remain a virgin, and so Helena helps her trick Bertram into giving  Diana his ring as a token of his love, and when he comes to her room at night, it is Helena who is in the bed, not Diana.  

(L-R) Reg Rogers is Lucio; Danai Gurira, Isabella; Dakin Matthews,The Provost, and Michael Hayden is Angelo in the Shakespeare in the Park  production of Measure for Measure.

André Holland is Isabella’s brother Claudio. Photos: Joan Marcus.

Exhibit “B” is a favorite play of mine, Measure for Measure, in which depravity and sexual license have become an issue in Vienna. The city’s Duke Vincentio decides to take a sabbatical, appointing Angelo to rule as a strict judge and eliminate the epidemic of 'loose' living. Claudio, a young nobleman, marries Juliet (or so they believe). Due to lack of money, all formalities for a civil marriage have not been followed and Angelo, as the personification of the law, decides to enforce the ruling that fornication is punishable by death. Claudio accordingly is sentenced to be executed. Claudio's friend Lucio visits Claudio's sister Isabella, a novice nun, and asks her to intercede with Angelo on Claudio's behalf. Isabella obtains an audience with Angelo, and pleads for mercy for her brother. Over the course of two scenes between Angelo and Isabella, it becomes clear that he harbors lustful sentiments of her, and he eventually offers her a deal: Angelo will spare Claudio's life if Isabella will yield him her virginity.

The 2011 repertory company for Measure for Measure and All’s Well that Ends Well includes such familiar names as John Cullum (recently seen in The Scots Boys), Michael Hayden (who played Billy Bigelow in Lincoln Center Theater’s masterful revival of  Carousel), André Holland (late of The Whipping Man)  and Tonya Pinkins  (lauded for her title role in Caroline or Change).  

Although tickets are free, they can be hard to come by. A limit of two free tickets for Shakespeare in the Park begin at 1 p.m. on the day of the performance at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park.  The closest entrances to the Delacorte Theater are at 81st St. & Central Park West or 79th St. & Fifth Ave. It’s been my experience that the CPW @ 79th St. entrance is less crowded. Suggest you take along a flashlight to find your way out of the park after the performance.

For James Feinberg's review of Measure for Measure, Click here: My Kind of New York - Grandkid's Eye View  - July 2011

CHILDREN’S THEATER 

Virginia Cavaliere as Dora and Ryan Duncan as Scarecrow.

Free Summer Theater Program
Presented by Arrangement
with the Lucille Lortel Theater Foundation
Theatreworks USA’s
The Yellow Brick Road
Lucille Lortel Theater 
121 Christopher St.    
 July 19 Through August 19, 2011
 212-647-1100 ext. 126 
Monday through Friday - 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Sunday - 2 p.m.
Please note: There are no 1 p.m. performances July 19-22, and no 10:30 a.m. performance on Monday, July 25.  There are additional 4:30 p.m. performances July 24 and August 14, and additional 6 p.m. performances August 4 and August 18. Tickets for THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD are Free on a first-come, first-served basis in-person at the Lucille Lortel Theatre Box Office on the day of the performance. Tickets for each day's performances will be distributed beginning one hour prior to the first performance of the day. Limit of four tickets per adult per day.

Move on Down the Yellow Brick Road with your grandkids on a salsa-flavored musical inspired by L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz. In Chicago, the windy city, Dora Inez Garza prepares for her 15th birthday celebration -- the time-honored Hispanic quinceanera.  Though her mother and uncles have worked hard to make it an exciting fiesta for her, Dora, caught between the expectations of her heritage and her desire to be like any other American teenager, doesn't comprehend why the tradition is so important to her family.  With a bit of help from a mysterious woman and her enchanted gift, Dora is swept up into a gran tornado that drops her and her little Chihuahua  in a magical world where she must slip on the ruby zapatillas and take a journey of self-discovery, dancing down The Yellow Brick Road.  She seeks the one person who can help her return to the world she knows -- la Maravillosa Maga de Oz.  Along the way she befriends a tongue-tied scarecrow, a heartless iron chef and a cowardly mountain lion, but a wicked bruja who will stop at nothing to steal Dora's super powerful shoes.  

 With all-new songs written in contemporary Latin musical styles, THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD promises to be a magnifico adventure! 60-minutes. One-act. Ages 7+

Directed by Devanand Janki (Junie B. Jones) and choreographed by Janki and Robert Tatad (Junie B. Jones), THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD features a book by Mando Alvarado and Tommy Newman, and music and lyrics by Jaime Lozano and Newman.
More than 15,000 free tickets will be distributed to THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD this summer. 

The Celebrated Berenstain Bears LIVE!
In Family Matters, the Musical
Manhattan Movement & Arts Center (MMAC)  
248 West 60 St.                                                                            
Between Amsterdam
& West End Aves.
(866) 811-4111
www.BerenstainBearsLive.com
Through Sept. 4
Saturdays & Sundays at 2 p.m.
(Beginning July 23 a 4:30 p.m. show will be added on Saturdays).
Adapted from the classic children’s book series by Stan and Jan Berenstain, The Berenstain Bears LIVE! in Family Matters, the Musical brings everyone’s favorite bear family to life.  This heart-warming new musical with an original score by Michael Borton and a book by Borton and Michael Slade will give your grandkids the chance to fall in love with these characters, just as their parents did when they were growing up.  55 Minutes.

Live Nation Presents
The 2011 Summer Children's Musical Series
NYCB Theater at Westbury
960 Brush Hollow Road
Westbury, NY 11590
(516) 334-0800
Tuesdays at 11 a.m.
These original musical productions with books based on the original best-loved fairy tales are presented in the half round and feature casts of professional actors. Tickets ($15) can be charged via www.livenation.com, at 800-745-3000 or at the NYCB Theatre box office

July 12    Snow White
July 19    Wizard of Oz
July 26    Cinderella
August 2    Jack & The Beanstalk
August 9    Sleeping Beauty
August 16    Peter Pan
August 23    Alice In Wonderland
 

The New Victory Theater
Launches its 2011-12 Season
209 West 42nd St
646-223-3010
NewVictory.org

L. Schupback and Laila Ghasnavi in Little Prince.  Photo: Alexsey Photography.

N. Y. Premiere of Bristol Riverside Theater’s
Adaption of The Little Prince
New Victory Theater
 Oct. 1-16
This touching new stage adaptation of the enchanting French fable by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is directed by Susan Atkinson, with life-size puppets designed by Jim Henson Muppet Workshop member Michael Schupbach sharing the stage with live actors.  Ages: 6+.

Ian Cameron and Andy Manley in White. Photo: Douglas McBride

U. S. Premiere of White
From Catherine Wheels Theatre Company
Musselburgh, Scotland
Studio 3A/B in the New 42nd St. Studios
229 W. 42nd
Theater
Oct. 13 – Nov. 13
A whimsical work of contemporary theater, White was created by Andy Manley for Catherine Wheels Theater Company’s first show for under 5’s.  It premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2010 and won the trifecta: the Fringe First, Herald Angel and Total Theatre awards. Ages 2 to 5

(Right) Reed Martin and Matt Rippy in Complete World of Sports. Photo: Meghan Moor.

The Complete World of Sports (abridged)
N. Y. Premiere
Reduced Shakespeare Company
Of Sonoma, CA
New Victory Theater
Oct.  21 – Nov. 6
The lunacy of sports collides with ludicrous wit in The Complete World of Sports (abridged) by the Reduced Shakespeare Company. Featuring the “Bad Boys of Abridgement” – Reed Martin, Matt Rippy and Austin Tichenor – who presented The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) at The New Victory in 2010.  Sports (abridged) explores every sport ever known to man – from “Neanderthal in the Middle” to Quidditch. Ages: 10+

Raw Metal Dance from Untapped. Photo Andrew Fee.

Untapped!
U. S. Premiere
Raw Metal Dance
From Brisbane, Australia
New Victory Theater
Nov. 11 – 27
Untapped! is an olio of tap dance, funk, hip-hop and rock music from Australia. Showcases an all-boy crew of daredevil performers and musicians.   Ages 6+.

Cirque Shanghai’s  Bai Xi. Photo: Aubrey Hughes.

Bai Xi
N.Y. Premiere
New Victory Theater   
Circus
Cirque Shanghai
Dec. 2 – Jan. 1
From climbing a three-story tower of chairs to balancing en pointe on a man’s head, this world-class cadre of acrobats, contortionists, aerialists and gymnasts offer an astounding array of contemporary and traditional circus feats. With choreography by Brenda Didier, Bai Xi thrills audiences worldwide with their strength, beauty and uncanny ability to make the impossible look effortless.   Ages 4+

Zoem! New Dutch Theater
* Creators of theater for young people in the Netherlands are recognized for their daring and artistry.  To introduce New York audiences to some of the Netherlands’ most admired works, The New Victory Theater kicks off the second half of its 2011-12 Season with four U.S. premieres,all performed in English, that will run from January 6 through January 29, 2012:              

*Rumplestiltskin
Stella Den Haag
Den Haag, Netherlands
The Duke on 42nd St. Theater
229 W. 42nd St.
Jan. 6 - 8
In this artful puppetry rendition of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, known to Dutch children as Niemand Weet, Niemand Weet… (Nobody Knows, Nobody Knows…), live music, storytelling and drama intertwine to turn this classic story into a surprisingly contemporary play. Ages 8+.  

*Miss Ophelia
 Het Filiaal
Utrecht, Netherlands
The Duke on 42nd St. Theater
Jan. 13 - 15
In this engaging stage adaptation of Ophelia’s Shadow Theater by Michael Ende (The Neverending Story), two performers use storytelling, puppetry and music to dramatize the tale of Ophelia, a commonplace person, who upon discovering a shadow that “belongs to no one,” experiences something extraordinary.  Ages 6+.

Hands Up!
Lejo
Amersfoort, Netherlands
Studio 3A/B at the New 42nd St. Studios
Jan. 21 - 22
 Solely using his hands, an animated soundtrack and rudimentary props, Lejo (lāhō)—a regular on “Sesamstraat” (the Dutch cousin of “Sesame Street”)—conjures a vast collection of kooky, quirky and clever characters in this wordless puppetry production. Ages 3 to 6.

Wuthering Heights
Restless Souls
Theater Artemis
Co-produced by Theater Antigone’s-Hertogenbosch,
Netherlands and Kortrijk, Belgium
January 27 - 29
New Victory Theater
This luminous stage adaptation of the Emily Brontë classic love story between Cathy and Heathcliff is performed on a spare set evoking the untamed and mystifying environment of the moors.  Ages 13+

Brazil! Brazil!
U.S. Premiere
World Stage Productions & B’way Asia Int’l
Salvador da Bahia, Brazil
New Victory Theater
Feb. 10 - 26
Fly down to Rio (aka New Victory Theater) with your grandkids for a grand Rio Carnaval celebration, blending the rhythms of bossa nova with acrobatics and soccer-inspired street dance. Brazil’s Football Champion, Arturo, joins a large cast of singers, dancers and musicians to infuse his Pele-esque athleticism and talent into a show for the whole family.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
N.Y. Premiere
Actors Theater of Louisville, The Repertory Theater of St. Louis, Kansas City Repertory Theatre and Hartford Stage
Adapted by Laura Eason from the novel by Mark Twain
March 2 - 11
New Victory Theater
 Mark Twain’s beloved novel comes to life in this impressively staged adaption by Lookingglass Theater co-founder, Laura Eason.  Loyal to Twain’s original text, in what the NY Times calls “a near perfect production,” it captures the whimsy and intrigue of mischief-making, the fickleness of first love and the shivers that linger after a graveyard adventure goes awry. Ages 8+

Lucky Duck
N.Y. Premiere
Coterie Theatre
Kansas City, Missouri
New Victory Theater
 March 16 - 25
From the musical theater team of Henry Krieger (Dreamgirls), Bill Russell (the under-rated Side Show)and Jeffrey Hatcher(Tuesdays with Morrie) comes Lucky Duck, a charming, satirical makeover of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling. Ages 4 +

Ahhh HA!
N.Y. Premiere
Do Jump!
Portland, Oregon
New Victory Theater
March 30 – April 14
Returning to The New Victory after 12 years, this multi-talented Klezmer ensemble fuses corporeal agility, haimish comedy and sets it all to live music by the Afro-Hebrew ensemble Klezmocracy. Ages 4 +.

The Book of Everything
U.S. Premiere
Belvoir and Kim Carpenter’s Theater of Image
Sydney, Australia
New Victory Theater
April 20 - 29
Thomas Klopper takes amazing journeys by dint of his imagination, where tropical fish swim in Amsterdam’s canals, hailstorms rage in mid-summer, and every so often, Jesus stops by. Based on the Dutch novel by Guus Kuijer and directed by Neil Armfield (Exit the King, The Diary of a Madman), The Book of Everything is about finding your own voice, struggling with big ideas and facing fears. Ages 10+

Plop!
U. S. Premiere
Windmill Theatre
Adelaide, Australia
Studio 3A/B at the New 42nd St. Studios
April 26 - May 13
Based on the children’s book, The Terrible Plop, by Ursula Dubosarksy, Adelaide’s Windmill Theater (Twinkle Twinkle Little Fish, The Green Sheep) brings Plop!, a  participatory play for young children, filled with tricks and traps, gadgets and gizmos, rhythm and rhyme, and a chance for everyone to dance. Ages 2 to 5.
 
8cho
N.Y. Premiere
Brenda Angiel Aerial Dance Company
Buenos Aires, Argentina
New Victory Theater
May 4 - 20 
Set in a sultry Argentine nightspot, seven dancers perform solo, in pairs and as an ensemble, experimenting with speed and space to create surreal thrills.  Accompanied by a six-piece orchestra and vocalist, they leap, lunge, swirl and swivel in midair, on the walls—even Fred Astaire-style - upside down. Ages 8+

ADULT THEATER  

Reeve Carney is Spider-Man (aka Peter Parker) © Jacob Cohl

  
Spider-Man
Turn Off the Dark
Foxwoods Theater
213 W.42nd St.
977-250-2929
Officially opened June 14, 2011
Guest Reviewer: Jon Drucker
After all the turmoil, injuries, firings (see Julie Taymor) and late night comedian jokes, the reality is, that the so-called aerial choreography I witnessed went off happily, not haplessly and brought  the audience to its feet, no doubt due to the big bucks shelled out for the seats  from which they leaped. Bono and The Edge's music and lyrics are decidedly middle-drawer and the stage-based choreography is leaden. Should this deter you from taking a child or grandchild? I think not, especially if they iron out a few more kinks from the book and staging, and the word of mouth inevitably becomes more favorable

 MUSEUMS

 
Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA)
1000 Fifth Avenue. New York, New York 10028.
Guitar Heroes:
Extraordinary Instruments Created by  
3 Modern-day Master Craftsmen
Robert Lehman Wing, court level
Through July 4, 2011

The guitar maker John Monteleone (born 1947) "Teardrop" archtop guitar; 2008 Islip, New York, was commissioned by a collector to build his own version of the iconic “teardrop” shape first built by John D’Angelico and later reinterpreted by James D’Aquisto. © Archtop History, Inc., from the book Archtop Guitars: The Journey fromCremona to New York, by Rudy Pensa.

Three New York master luthiers, renowned for their hand-carved, stringed instruments—particularly their archtop guitars, have been sought after by many of the most important guitarists of the last century. Featuring the extraordinary guitars of John D’Angelico, James D’Aquisto, and John Monteleone, this unprecedented exhibition of approximately 80 musical instruments focuses on the work of these modern-day master craftsmen and their roots in a long tradition of stringed instrument-making that has thrived for more than 400 years and that was first brought to New York from Italy around the turn of the 20th century.

Rosalba Carriera (Italian, 1673–1757). Gustavus Hamilton (1710–1746), Second Viscount Boyne, in Masquerade Costume  1730–31. Pastel on paper, laid down on.

The Flourishing of Pastel Portraits in 18th Century Europe. 
Through August 14
Guest-Reviewed by My Kind of New York Arts Correspondent Marilyn Rosh
Pastels were highly regarded in the 17th and 18h Centuries as a medium for formal portrait paintings. The glass to cover the pastel paintings was very expensive to make and the 17th  century technique of manufacturing the glass limited the size of the canvases. Some of the finest artists at that time were commissioned to portray the aristocracy and other  wealthy patrons. Some of those artists included Gainsborough and Copley, as well as some of the most talented female artists of that time. One of those gifted artists, Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun ,was summoned to Versailles to do a full length portrait of Marie Antoinette. She also did a formal portrait of the Duchesse de Guiche which is included in this remarkable MMA exhibit. Those familiar with the use of pastels can certainly appreciate the brilliant freshness and fluidity of the technique. Rarely has one seen lace painted in such a skilled manner with brilliant luminosity, and for those not familiar with pastels, it is an opportunity to discover  this brilliant portrait technique with 40 notable examples; brightly colored, highly finished, often of large dimensions, and elaborately framed, evoking oil painting, the medium to which they were invariably compared. The powdery texture of pastel and its diffuse, velvety quality were particularly suited to capturing the fleeting expressions that characterize the most life-like portraits. most of which belong to the Metropolitan Museum and, with important exceptions, to museums and private collections in the New York area. It presents Italian, French, and English works, supplemented by several German, Swiss, and American examples.

Frans Hals’s Merrymakers at Shrovetide

This painting by Hals dates from about 1615 and recalls contemporary works by the Flemish artist Jacob Jordaens in its coloring, brushwork, and crowded composition. The subject is Vastenavond (Shrovetide or Mardi Gras), a pre-Lenten feast devoted to fools. Two of the figures are recognizable as stock characters from comic theater: Peeckelhaering (Pickled Herring) with the garland of eggs and sausages, and Hans Wurst with sausages on his cap. The young woman (a male actor, perhaps?) is surrounded by food, objects such as the bagpipe.   

Frans Hals in the Metropolitan Museum.
July 26–October 10, 2011
The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds the most important collection of paintings in America by a favorite of mine and my grandkids: the celebrated Dutch artist Frans Hals (1582-1666), whose portraits and genre scenes were famous in his lifetime for their immediacy and dazzling brushwork.  On view  are 13 paintings  of  Hals’s, 11 owned by the Met including two lent from private collections,  plus several works by other Netherlandish masters.. Frans Hals is one of the most familiar and accessible of the Old Master painters. His name is second only to Rembrandt’s in The Netherlands and equals Vermeer’s in its evocation of the Golden Age of Dutch art. After falling out of favor in the 18th century, Hals’s work was championed from the 1860s onward by such Realist and Impressionist masters  as Courbet, Manet, and  another favorite of mine, Sargent.

 Several of the Museum’s paintings by Hals are famous, especially the early Merrymakers at Shrovetide (ca. 1616) and the so-called Jonker Ramp and His Sweetheart (1623), both bequeathed to the Museum by Benjamin Altman in 1913. The Metropolitan Museum has two other genre scenes by Hals as well as seven fine portraits dating from the 1620s through the 1650s. Also included in the exhibition are two loans from private collections in New York—the small, exquisite Portrait of Samuel Ampzing (1630), on copper, and the well-known Fisher Girl (1630-32). A selection of other Netherlandish paintings from the Museum’s collection by artists including Rubens, Van Dyck, Steen, and Brouwer will set Hals’s work in the context of his native Haarlem and will help clarify how exceptional his animated poses and virtuoso brushwork were at the time.