Criticism

MNOUCHKINE PRESENTS MINUTIAE OF EVERYDAY LIFE IN “LES EPHEMERES”

By Robert Hilferty

July 6 (Bloomberg) — The 12 intimate stories comprising “Les Ephemeres” include one by the epic drama’s celebrated French director Ariane Mnouchkine. Which story, she’s not divulging — she prefers injecting a bit of mystery into the show.
“Les Ephemeres” begins a two-week run tomorrow night at New York’s Park Avenue Armory as part of the Lincoln Center [...]

“Two Days of Rain”: A Visit to the 2009 St. Lucia Jazz Fest

By Robert Hilferty

 

Local jazz great Ronald “Boo” Hinkson

 
The St. Lucia Jazz Festival is held on one of the Caribbean’s most lush and mountainous islands. This year’s lineup included such talents as Amy Winehouse, Chaka Khan and Patti LaBelle. Journalist Robert Hilferty reports from the tropical paradise.
 
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For the past 18 years of the St. Lucia Jazz Festival, which [...]

The Trouble With Harry

By Robert Hilferty

Gay playwright Jon Marans tackles the Mattachine Society — with the help of Ugly Betty star Michael Urie — in his new play, The Temperamentals.

An Advocate.com exclusive posted May 1, 2009

Before Stonewall and Harvey Milk there was Harry Hay. Pulitzer-nominated gay playwright Jon Marans resurrects this fascinating figure and his daring cohorts in The Temperamentals, which opens May 4 at the [...]

Merce Keeps It Going

By Robert Hilferty

Nonagenarian Merce Cunningham still wows the crowd in Brooklyn with his latest show, Nearly Ninety.
An Advocate.com exclusive posted April 20, 2009

George Balanchine and Merce Cunningham are the two greatest choreographers of the 20th century — yet polar opposites in method, style, and relation to music. But Cunningham is still alive and making new dances in the 21st [...]

Music Around the Clock in the Garden of Evil

By Robert Hilferty

 

 

Savannah Music Festival makes a big impression
March 26 2009   

Savannah is frequently called the most beautiful city in America — and it is. An historic Southern town draped in mesmerizing Spanish moss, you feel as if you’re drifting inside an Impressionist painting when you wander into one of its many charming squares. 

This corner of Georgia is [...]

Bernstein’s Masterpiece Snaps Back to Broadway

By Robert Hilferty

 

Broadway revival of West Side Story: worth the wait
March 20 2009   

The Broadway revival of West Side Story that just opened at the Palace Theatre was supposed to arrive for the show’s 50th anniversary at the end of 2007, but didn’t quite make it on time. Yet it’s worth the wait. Arthur Laurents, who wrote the original book, [...]

Alice Tully Hall Renovation Is A Shining Success

By Robert Hilferty

The newly renovated Alice Tully Hall at New York’s Lincoln Center glows. Literally.

The revamped Starr Theater (photo: Iwan Baan)

As part of the $159 million makeover, the architectural firm of Diller Scofidio + Renfro have embedded quiet LEDs beneath the slick, thin skin of reddish-brown Moabi wood which envelopes the cozy interior, now dubbed the Starr [...]