Robert Wilson's gorgeous Berliner Ensamble production of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's classic The Threepenny Opera premiered at BAM last night and it was everything that the Roundabout's dreadful 2006 revival was not: sexy, stylish and very, very German. At three hours the show is a little long (Wilson is a big fan of highly-stylized slow movements*) but it really doesn't matter when the material is this good. And the pitch-black satire that defines Threepenny remains vibrant and relevant more than 80 years after it first premiered in Berlin. If you are lucky enough to catch this production before it leaves BAM at the end of the week, you're sure to walk out humming...and wishing that some soul would take another stab at bringing Mac the Knife back here for a longer run. But maybe in English next time?
BAM's Threepenny Is Sexy, Psychotic, German
Lou Reed And Rufus Wainwright Celebrate Robert Wilson At NYPL
Gather 'round for a night of highbrow art appreciation this Friday at the New York Public Library, which is celebrating the 70th birthday of avant-garde theater director Robert Wilson, with a little help from some of his famous friends. Wilson collaborators like musician/author/elder statesman Lou Reed, operatically inclined singer Rufus Wainwright and dancer/choreographer Lucinda Childs will all be on hand to toast to Wilson's life and works.
Pencil This In
ART: "Drawing Art and Politics" seems like a fitting event to have on the calendar today. "Spend an evening with New York’s renowned graphic artists Jules Feiffer, David Levine, Stan Mack, and Edward Sorel, as they examine the ways in which complex social and political issues are depicted by artists in today’s media. Jules Feiffer will moderate a discussion that explores the roots of political art and social realism in the context of John Sloan’s early 20th-century illustrations of New Yorkers engaging in routine pastimes and pleasures. Presented in conjunction with John Sloan’s New York." More info here.
David Byrne's Perspective
Last night marked the start of David Byrne's "No Boundaries" series at Carnegie Hall. It was the first performance in fifteen years of the complete music from his 1985 music-theater collaboration with Robert Wilson, The Knee Plays. Tonight he continues the four night event called "Welcome to Dreamland". The evening features a handfull of his favorite experimental folk rockers, including: Vashti Bunyan, Cibelle, CocoRosie, and Devendra Banhart. Each with sonic roots in 60s psychedelia, jam bands, world music and more.
Pencil This In
MOVIE: Robert Wilson, a graduate of Pratt, will be at his alma mater tonight for a screening of his film Absolute Wilson. The documentary chronicles the life of the somewhat mysterious artist. David Byrne and Phillip Glass (pictured) both add insight to the artist in the film. After the screening tonight, Wilson and director Otto-Bernstein take questions from the audience.
The Cinecultist's Weekly Movie Picks: Babeling edition
With Halloween coming next week and the fall chill in the air, this is the perfect weekend to curl up with a good scary movie. , starring Tim Robbins and Derek Luke. Set in South Africa during apartheid, Luke plays a family man politicized by the injustice in his country and Robbins is a police officer on the other side.
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